August 21, 2024 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Guest Post: Take a brief SAFE survey to influence the future of California traffic safety
I received the following email from Sonia Garfinkel of Streets Are For Everyone, asking to share a brief survey about California traffic laws.
Since I’m still working with one hand, I asked if I could share her letter in the form of a guest post.
So please take just a few moments to compete this important survey, and help influence the future safety on our streets.
My name’s Sonia, and I’m pleased to be writing a guest post for this great community and readership. My organization, Streets Are For Everyone (known as SAFE), works to improve the quality of life for pedestrians, bicyclists, and drivers alike by reducing traffic fatalities to zero. SAFE is conducting a research project focused on California drivers’ knowledge of driving laws, and we need your responses! We will use the response data to guide SAFE-sponsored legislation that will require the California DMV to provide updated education on existing and new driving laws. In order for this survey to be equitable and representative, we need to collect data from as many communities as possible.
That’s where you come in! We would love for you totake our 5-minute survey on California driving laws. We would also appreciate it if you could share our survey to your networks via social media, email, or any other method. We have created a social media toolkit to make it easier to share the survey.Thank you for your responses, and your help!
On the other hand, I can understand the need to lash out at someone, after something like that.
Which leaves us with a lot to catch up on. So let’s see how much we can get to before I have to pack it in for the night.
And it’s a sad commentary that I’m looking forward to shoulder surgery next week just so I can get a couple good hours of sleep.
………
Photo shows former Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti signing the city’s soon-forgotten Vision Zero plan behind his massive outdoor desk, courtesy of Streetsblog.
………
Just 151 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
In fact, it’s most likely to be noticed as nothing more than just a blip in their busy schedules, if they notice at all.
Move along, nothing to see here.
Maybe we should replace the current city seal with one bearing the “hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil” monkeys. Although, now that I think about it, trained monkeys could probably do a better job building a safer city.
The site also reports that drivers in Los Angeles continue to flee from fatal crashes in ever-rising numbers, with 62 hit-and-run deaths in the the just first six months of this year alone — more than double the total of two last pre-pandemic years, with 28 in 2018, and 29 in 2019.
Which would equate to roughly 10 to 12 deaths from traffic violence in a city of LA’s size, with nearly four million people.
And that’s a hell of a lot fewer than we’re likely to endure this year.
………
This is who we share the road with.
A commenter at a Glendale City Council meeting freely admits that he thinks his time is more important than the life of someone riding a bicycle, and will gladly speed to cut you off.
Maybe someone should have cut him off.
Here’s the guy from the Glendale council meeting who bragged about threatening cyclists with his car. “I will cut you off…and I’m not afraid to say it in front of a police officer…my time is more important to me than you riding your bike.” pic.twitter.com/nCxiRQlvoy
And topping this week’s Tour de Road Rage, two men in Highland, California pulled out guns and shot each other to death — in front of one victim’s kids, no less — after one man clipped the other driver’s car mirror while lane splitting on his motorcycle.
Which is all probably fair warning before you lose your top the next time a driver cuts you off or passes too close, because they may be armed and dangerous.
Then again, they’re already driving a multi-ton lethal weapon, anyway.
Gravel Bike California marks this weekend’s Tour de Big Bear with a series of single-track jewels guided by local host and Dirty Bear organizer Robin Brown.
A large part of the problem seems to come from issues with the program’s administrator, a program known as Pedal Ahead. It was selected under raised eyebrows by CARB back in 2022 and tasked with managing the program. However, (Streetsblog’s Melanie) Curr) insinuates that personal connections between a former CARB board member and the founder of Pedal Ahead may have led to its application being granted extra weight despite proposing a significantly different incentive program than that envisioned by the state…
But a slew of complicated issues still needed to be solved, ranging from how the vouchers would be distributed to what types of e-bikes would be eligible and whether online retailers would be allowed to participate, just to name a few.
Over a year was spent trying to work out answers to these questions and many more, often complicated by rethinking earlier decisions and creating new project proposals.
All in favor of just scrapping the damn thing and starting over say “aye!”
After a good criminal investigation or two, that is.
………
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
A Bend, Oregon family discovered the hard way that the law isn’t always clear-cut when it comes to ebikes, after a middle school student suffered a fractured collarbone and elbow when she was struck by a 17-year old boy riding one — and the cops said there’s nothing they could do.
Researchers from UC Santa Barbara will use a $480,000 Caltrans Sustainable Transportation Planning Grant to train AI to design a bicycle and wayfinding network for Santa Barbara County, while San Jose will get a similar, if considerably smaller, grant from Toyota to use AI to improve traffic safety. Never mind that we’re talking about the same advanced tech that draws people with three legs, thinks some Nazi soldiers were Black, and suggests shows Netflix couldn’t pay you to watch. Or maybe that’s just me.
This is how Vision Zero is supposed to work. Chicago has now installed a spacious curb-protected bike lane on a deadly street where drivers killed two teenagers riding bikes in separate crashes recently, and is in the process of building a nearby neighborhood greenway.
July 8, 2024 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Bike-riding Garden Grove family run down by hit-and-run driver, and charges in 2022 death of Newport Beach bike rider
Just 176 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
………
Before we start, I’m scheduled to have surgery for my torn rotator cuff next month.
They tell me I can expect to be unable work for anywhere from two to four weeks afterwards, depending on my tolerance for pain.
Rather than letting this site go dark for an extended period, I’m hoping someone will be willing to step into my shoes, whether for a few days or a few weeks.
You wouldn’t need to do everything I do. Or anything I do, for that matter.
Anything at all would help, from one or more people to take over this site for a day or two a week, to writing a single guest post to help fill this space. And it could be anything you want to share with the local bicycling community, as long as it’s related to bicycles or traffic safety.
Just email me if you’re interested in volunteering. You can find the address on the About page above.
Reports variously report that one person was hospitalized in critical condition, while others say two children and one adult were critical; the others were said to be in stable condition.
Ronald Elston Benjamin was charged with felony counts of vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated without gross negligence and driving under the influence of a drug causing injury, along with misdemeanor child abuse and endangerment, with a sentencing enhancement for inflicting great bodily injury on the victim.
The victim in the June 10, 2022 collision is identified only as George H., but neither the name or date correspond with anything in my records.
There’s no word on why it took so long to file charges. However, the misdemeanor count and hidden identity of the victim suggest he may have been a child, although there may be other explanations.
Although maybe someone should tell New York’s governor that support for congestion pricing actually wins elections.
Labour wins a record 4 out of 5 seats in London just two months after @MayorofLondon Sadiq Khan swept to a third term. This isn't *despite* fury over the city's low-emission zone but *because* of strong support for policies that have transformed the city. https://t.co/EoKPwT5ms0
In a prime example of major assholism, a British man allegedly assaulted a teenaged girl after her mom stopped short while backing her car out of the driveway, causing the man to fall off his bicycle; he reportedly responded by slamming the car door into her, then slapping her. There is never an excuse for violence, no matter how justified you may feel in the moment. If you feel that anger building, just get on your bike and ride away.
The Bay Area will take a big step backward this fall, with construction slated to begin on ripping out the bike and pedestrian lane on the Richmond-San Raphael bridge, to use the space for an emergency motor vehicle overflow lane Monday through Thursday, though officials plan to offer a bike shuttle bus when the lane is closed.
A kid in Colorado was lucky to escape with minor injuries when someone shot at the child and their father as they tried to reclaim a stolen bicycle from shooter’s yard, leading to a barricade situation with SWAT officers.
Pogačar barely avoided disaster when several riders went down in stage 5, using his bike skills to avoid a center divider and remain upright — although it’s arguably his moves that caused the riders behind him to go down.
Just 183 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
………
Happy anniversary to me. I neglected to note that last week marked the 16th anniversary of this site, which began back in 2008, when I didn’t have a clue what it would eventually become.
So here’s to another 16 years.
Unless Los Angeles suddenly and unexpectedly becomes a safe and enjoyable place to ride a bike. In which case you’ll find me corralling corgis and quaffing craft beer and reposados into my dotage.
Though advocates had been awaiting yesterday’s committee approvals as the next clarifying step for HLA, the brief meeting yielded very little new information. The Public Works Committee approved the HLA items, but put off further departmental reports and council HLA decisions until an August 7 meeting of the Transportation Committee.
Prior to the March election, the City Administrative Officer had warned that the council would need to “make funding decisions immediately” if Measure HLA were to pass. It did pass, and became law on April 9. Now, “immediately” has slipped to “have a rough draft ready to discuss in August, four months after HLA passage.”
Although reading between the lines, what really seems to be happening is that city leaders are looking for ways to water down or sidestep the measure, daring advocates to go to court to force them to comply.
Meanwhile, bike riders and pedestrians continue to be victimized by deadly LA streets, and the people in the big, dangerous machines.
And city leaders don’t appear to give a damn about it. Or us.
………
The Los Angeles Times offers a brief profile of Streets For All founder Michael Schneider, as part of their series on changemakers who are disrupting LA society as we’ve known it.
Schneider, 43, heads Streets for All — the advocacy group behind the successful March ballot measure that aims to level the paved playing field somewhat in the David and Goliath story that is bike riding on the streets in car-loving Los Angeles.
The ballot measure dubbed Healthy Streets L.A. compels the city to implement its own plans to rework some of its most storied boulevards and streets to make space for bicyclists and pedestrians, who die at a rate of about one every three days.
It’s worth a quick read.
Because Schneider has arguably done more in his brief time in bike advocacy with the passage of Healthy Streets LA than many of the rest of us have accomplished in decades.
Myself included.
………
Under the heading of unfortunate headline of the day, comes one about the “impact” collisions have on the behavior of bicyclists.
Researchers interviewed eight experts from different fields to get their perspectives, choosing not to discuss the subject with victims or witnesses because they didn’t feel they could question them reliably enough.
But the findings are certainly worth discussing, if unsurprising, as Cycling West summarizes.
A collision or those caregiving for collision victims could led to changing modes of transportation, taking a new route, or riding on the sidewalk instead of the street. But the results indicated that few people gave up cycling permanently though some did for a while. The main reason for giving up cycling completely seemed to be the need to recover from injuries rather than newfound fear. Near misses didn’t seem to scare bikers from continuing.
Once again, a bike rider in the UK has been seriously injured after being pushed off their bike by a car passenger, leaving the 29-year old victim with serious facial injuries including a fractured jaw, broken teeth, and lacerations, as well as a concussion. Just to be clear, however, this isn’t a prank, harmless or otherwise. It’s a criminal assault, and could justifiably be considered an act of terrorism since its purpose is to force a segment of society off the roads.
A San Francisco bicyclist escaped with non-life-threatening injuries when he was struck by a U-turning driver while riding on San Francisco’s not-so-protected Valencia Street centerline bike lanes. Then again, just because someone’s injuries aren’t life-threatening doesn’t mean they’re not incapacitating or painful.
North Carolina rapper J. Cole is one of us, riding his bike fearlessly “like a normie through the gritty streets of New York City.” Well, okay then.
International
A columnist for Cycling Weekly says if bicycle designers made the same progress the marketing departments are making, bikes would be able to fly by now. Actually, as some of us have learned the hard way, bikes can fly. It’s just the landings that are a little rough.
Life is cheap in Yorkshire, England, where a woman who killed a 58-year old man riding a bicycle walked without a day behind bars after her two-year sentence was suspended; she apparently failed to notice him on the roadway because her nose was buried in her sat-nav system. Proving once again that any form of electronic device can distract a driver, with catastrophic results for others.
March 14, 2024 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Measure HLA maintains lead with 2/3 support, the world’s coolest streets, and misdemeanor charges in AZ massacre
Just 292 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.
As of this writing, we’re up to 1,016 signatures, so let’s keep it going! Urge everyone you know to sign the petition, until the mayor agrees to meet with us!
………
Before we start, let’s all welcome Beverly Hills Bike Law, the newest advertiser on here.
So take a moment to click on the ad over there and check out their site, and let ’em see attention advertising here will get them.
Then tell your favorite local bike shop, so maybe they’ll get the message, too.
………
Measure HLA, the Healthy Streets LA ballot initiative, continues its overwhelming lead with nearly 2/3 of the vote in last week’s primary election.
Election Update- Mar 13 2024 23:44:02
LOS ANGELES CITY MUNICIPAL ELECTION – MEASURE HLA
YES – 65.45% (359989 votes) NO – 34.55% (190013 votes)
— Los Angeles Election Results (@LAelectionbot) March 13, 2024
One interesting point is that we, briefly, already did something like HLA in Los Angeles. At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, cities worldwide created slow-streets programs to allow persons to walk, bicycle, and dine outside – on streets – during a time when COVID transmission indoors was risky and still poorly understood.
We at METRANS studied that program, in work funded by the National Center for Sustainable Transportation. From spring through fall of 2020, Los Angeles implemented 50 miles of these slow streets. We examined the effect of this rapid slow street implementation on shared electric scooter travel in four cities, as a marker to inform how large networks of street infrastructure that supports walking and bicycling can encourage non-car travel. We found that scooter trips increased by 54.78% on COVID slow streets in Oakland, 22.16% in Los Angeles, 74.5% in San Francisco, and 10.77% in Portland.
While we only had data for shared electric scooter trips in our study, the research gives a strong hint that building streets that are inviting for walkers, bicyclists, and others will lead to increases in non-car travel.
On the other hand, news station KNX plays Debbie Downer by asking how the city will pay for HLA, based on the discredited city estimate of $300 million a year. Even though that total includes only marginally related costs that the city is already on the hook for, such as resurfacing streets and repairing broken sidewalks.
Life continues to be cheap in Goodyear, Arizona, where the truck driver who slammed into a group of bicyclists last year was charged with just 11 misdemeanor counts, after the DA refused to file felony charges.
The Maricopa County Attorney refused to bring felony charges, despite the recommendation of police investigators, claiming there wasn’t enough evidence for a conviction.
Even though the sheer number of dead, maimed and injured people would argue otherwise.
Westside Congressman Ted Lieu pats himself on the back for securing $2 million for a trio of Santa Monica projects, including a half million for safety enhancement along the Lincoln Blvd corridor, which won’t include bike lanes.
A new study from my bike-friendly Colorado hometown shows that when the city installed parking spaces for dockless bikeshare bikes and e-scooters, and imposed penalties for improper parking, scooters and bikes blocking sidewalks dropped by 12%.
An editor for Cyclist says there’s no point in being a weight weenie, taking the contrarian view that bike weight doesn’t matter. I never thought so when I kept up with bicyclists on high-end bikes while riding my old steel-framed Trek. But changed my mind when I started dropping them after switching to a much lighter and faster LeMond.
Here’s another one for your bike bucket list — South Korea’s “heart-pounding” Seorak Granfondo, described as a “thrilling journey through some of the most captivating terrain Asia has to offer…against the backdrop of the stunning Seoraksan National Park.”
March 11, 2024 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on EVs present danger to all road users, how Measure HLA ballot measure changed the city, and Laemmle’s bike the Oscars
Just 295 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.
As of this writing, we’re up to 1,010 signatures, so let’s keep it going! Urge everyone you know to sign the petition, until the mayor agrees to meet with us!
In 2019, 43% of people killed by motor vehicles were walking, using a wheelchair or riding a bike.
Motor vehicles kill more than 700 children a day. Traffic deaths occur at the highest rates in Africa and Southeast Asia, and, in the US and Brazil, crashes disproportionately kill Black and Indigenous people.
SUVs, which make up nearly half of car sales globally, are eight times more likely than traditional cars to kill children.
Traffic-related air pollution is linked to circulatory and heart disease, lung cancer, asthma and, according to a cited study, “acute lower respiratory infections in children.”
Other car harms include drunk driving, drive-by shootings, carbon monoxide poisoning and, in the US, traffic stops that “are a setting for police violence against Black, Latine/x, and Indigenous people,” they write.
Access to oil has played a role in a quarter to half of wars between countries since 1973.
The electric car, a juggernaut of the energy transition, “fails to address a majority of the harms,” they write, including crashes, sedentary travel, inequality and cities designed more for cars than people.
The final vote count is still pending, and could take weeks as California continues to count late mail-in ballots. However, NBC4 and the L.A. Times are reporting that the measure has effectively been approved…
As of press time, Measure HLA has a commanding lead with 62.73 percent voting for, to 37.27 percent against. Early votes tend to skew somewhat conservative, so the yes percentage could grow.
Assuming current results hold – they almost certainly will – Measure HLA is a clear mandate for change in the way L.A. configures its streets. Voters have clearly spoken that they want a healthier multimodal city that will be safer for all road users: bicyclists, transit riders, pedestrians, people with disabilities, and yes, safer for drivers, too.
I want to thank the hundreds of thousands of Angelenos who voted for Measure HLA — because of you, our city is going to become safer, cleaner, and more multimodal over time. To our elected leaders that stood with us — thank you for your courage and leadership. To our coalition partners — each and every one of you were key. To our army of volunteers — you all made a huge impact, thank you. To my internal team, you guys are all rockstars and I was privileged to work with you.
For anyone who didn’t vote for HLA, I want to say that I understand your concerns about changing our streets, and I will work hard to make sure the City implements its Mobility Plan in a constructive and collaborative way. I hope we can earn your trust as we now move to the implementation phase.
To anyone in any city or town in the US who is interested in mimmicking HLA where you live, I’d love to help you. We plan on open sourcing our campaign materials and strategy, and you are welcome to copy it all. We also plan on opening up a division of Streets For All that is available for consulting to help others.
………
Greg and Tish Laemmle, owners of the Laemmle Theater chain and descendant of early Hollywood royalty, led a group biking to the Oscars yesterday.
5 years ago, greg &tish @laemmle of the theater chain had @TheAcademy#oscars tix and invited their bikey pals to ride with them to the award show. well, we did it again this year! here's a short clip of our ride (and to my post-ride lunch)! https://t.co/WDH2hofciu@bikinginla
February 29, 2024 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Elderly driver plows into 7 mountain bikers, and NTSB says AZ driver’s steering worked in crash that killed 2 and injured 17
Just 306 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.
As of this writing, we’re still at 1,005 signatures, so let’s keep it going, and urge your friends, family and coworkers to keep signing the petition until the mayor agrees to meet with us!
The victims were allegedly riding on the wrong side of the road when an 85-year-old woman coming from the opposite direction crashed into them. Although other reports indicate the driver veered across the roadway to hit them head on.
Four of the group were injured, two critically, with another in moderate condition.
At this time, there’s no word on why they might have been riding against traffic, or if they were in the traffic lane or on the shoulder of the roadway.
The crash once again raises the question of how old is too old to drive, and how to take away the keys from drivers who shouldn’t have them.
The driver — identified as Pedro Quintana-Lujan — had claimed that the steering on his pickup had locked, causing him to plow through the mass of bicyclists riding in a bike lane alongside the highway, sparing just one of the 20 riders.
Quintana-Lujan was originally booked on suspicion of two counts of manslaughter, three counts of aggravated assault, 18 counts of endangerment and two counts of causing serious injury or death by a moving violation.
But the bicycling community was outraged when the Maricopa County DA released Quintana-Lujan without charges, kicking the case down to the city prosecutor for possible misdemeanor charges.
Just another, you know, “oopsie.”
There’s no word on whether the DA will reconsider filing felony charges now that Quintana-Lujan’s excuse been disproven.
………
No surprise here, as a new study shows that drivers tend to be blamed for crashes with pedestrians in pedestrianized areas, like urban downtowns. And pedestrians tend to get the blame when they’re struck by drivers in areas built to facilitate drivers zooming down the road.
“What we’re seeing in this research is that the built environment is a key factor. People make errors in judgment, but no one deserves to die or get injured for such errors. And they would be less likely to make these choices if there were more pedestrian infrastructure.”
Roads that are designed for driving put pedestrians at an added risk. Not only are they more likely to be hit but they are more likely to take the blame for it. This puts an added burden on those without vehicles or the ability to drive.
When New York City proposed installing a protected bike lane on Skillman Avenue in Queens in 2017, the impact it would have on local businesses was certain — at least according to the plan’s critics.
A devastating loss of customers. Revenue falling by 20 percent. Beloved shops forced to close their doors for good.
Those predictions were wrong.
Data obtained by Streetsblog through a Freedom of Information request shows the economy of Skillman Avenue grew after the city built the new lane in the fall of 2018, with revenue increasing and new businesses setting up shop.
Sales in the stores, bars and restaurants on Skillman’s main seven-block commercial stretch collectively rose by 12 percent after the lane went in, according to the data, which was provided by the city Department of Finance. There was also a net increase of three new businesses on the strip, a jump of 10 percent.
………
More on LA’s Measure HLA on next week’s primary ballot, which would require the city to build out the already-approved Mobility Plan 2035 whenever a street in the plan is resurfaced.
Letter writers to the Times call for passing HLA, arguing that CicLAvia is proof Angelenos are hungry for alternatives to driving, and that we need safer streets, and not just added law enforcement.
Bike Culver City is hosting a Leap Year, craft beer, Handlebar Happy Hour tonight.
Leap Year Gathering! Join us at the Los Angeles Ale Works in Ivy station tomorrow Thursday, February 29th for our latest Handlebar Happy Hour. See you soon! pic.twitter.com/YM3EB6w8GA
A Santa Monica letter writer complains about a new affordable housing development on Santa Monica Blvd, because it has 146 bicycle parking spots, and none for cars. Never mind that at an average cost of $10,000 per vehicle parking spot, the builder reduced costs by $1.46 million.
New York commissioners unanimously passed a pair of bills aimed at reigning in the city’s rising death tolls from lithium-ion battery fires, including one restricting sales of non-UL certified batteries.
January 26, 2024 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Times talks traffic deaths, die-in and Healthy Streets LA; rightwing jock trashes HSLA, speed governors and Sen. Weiner
In all, 336 people died in crashes in 2023 — more than half of them, 179, were pedestrians. That’s the highest number since the city started keeping statistics more than two decades ago.
Graphics by tomexploresla
Meanwhile, “just” 327 people were murdered in the city last year, a decrease of 17% over 2022.
“This is a deadly city and it’s not being treated with urgency,” said Damian Kevitt, executive director of the advocacy group Streets Are For Everyone. “We need to declare a state of emergency on traffic violence and treat it as the public health crisis that it is…”
Enforcement has fallen and the city’s interest in making streets safer has waned, Kevitt says, adding that then-Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s Vision Zero plan that was supposed to eliminate fatalities by 2025 has been largely abandoned.
They go on to mention efforts to pressure city officials to do more to improve traffic safety in Los Angeles.
On Saturday, Kevitt’s group is planning a “die-in” on the steps of City Hall asking officials to take swift action on safety measures such as implementing speed cameras that were approved by the state Legislature last year. A March ballot measure proposed by another advocacy group would force the city to build more protected bike lanes and wider sidewalks.
It’s also a damn good reason to go back up and sign the petition.
………
Speaking of the Healthy Streets LA ballot measure, an op-ed from Streets For All founder Michael Schneider stresses why it’s so desperately needed.
When I first started doing this work via Streets for All in 2019, we used to somberly state that a pedestrian is killed once every three days in Los Angeles. Today, that has increased to a pedestrian being killed every two days. Compared with 2015, when 88 pedestrians were killed on L.A. streets, 176 pedestrians were killed last year. Pedestrian deaths have doubled in just eight years, when they’re supposed to be on the decline.
The nation as a whole has seen a rise in recklessness on the road since the pandemic began in 2020, including driving under the influence, distracted driving, excessive speed and road rage. In that time, Los Angeles has become the most dangerous city in the nation in which to walk. Back in 2022, only New York City had deadlier streets for pedestrians. As of the end of 2023, Los Angeles has now eclipsed New York City, and by a lot (176 deaths versus 114). For the first week of 2024, the city experienced nine fatalities from car crashes, including five pedestrians. That means that more than one Angeleno was dying every day because of traffic violence during the first week of January.
He goes on to point out that the city paid out more in liability settlements for people harmed by traffic violence stemming from our deadly streets than it did to prevent it.
Which is something the HSLA measure would change, though far more Vision Zero funding is needed, as well. Let alone Garcetti’s Green New Deal program.
Schneider ends his piece this way.
If a serial killer were on the loose killing more than 300 Angelenos every year, we would launch a citywide hunt to end the spree. With car crashes among the top causes of death for kids in Los Angeles, and with a decades-high number of pedestrians dying, shouldn’t we treat road safety with the same sense of urgency?
It’s definitely worth taking a few minutes to read the whole thing.
………
Then there’s this steaming pile of windshield biased, reactionary claptrap.
Or as schoolyard bully Kobylt called Weiner, “that emaciated little worm…trying to destroy the automobile industry and destroy our freedom…”
By limiting cars to allowing drivers to break the law by just ten miles an hour, instead of the usual 20, 50 or even 100 mph, in violation of every speed law in every city and state in the Union?
Seriously?
Yeah, that’s definitely taking our freedom away. Next thing you know, they’ll pass a law against killing people with your car.
My favorite line from the KFI clip at 10m50s describing the new curb creation machine being used by @santamonicacity as “A giant dinosaur that poops concrete”
Orange County bike advocate and longtime tandem pilot Mike Wilkerson forwards news of an informal group bike ride in Fullerton on the last Friday of every month.
Which is, like, tonight.
Everyone is invited to a fun ride this Friday evening in Fullerton.
The ride starts at 6:00 pm from the Fullerton Downtown Plaza at 125 E Wilshire Ave. It will be about 16 miles long, all on public streets, some with hills.
This will be a no-drop ride, so come as you are on what ever you ride.
It will be an night time ride. Please bring front and rear lights and wear a helmet.
This ride goes on the last Friday of most months. Put it on your calendar, and enjoy the company of fellow riders along some of Fullerton’s bike-friendly streets!
No surprise here, as Streetblog’s Joe Linton calls out Metro for once again ignoring Los Angeles city standards by implementing wider traffic lanes at the forthcoming Wilshire and La Brea Metro station than the city allows, which encourages speeding and otherwise dangerous driving.
Cycling News says pro cycling needs to take a page from Formula 1, and design bikes specifically for speed, with the tech eventually trickling down to the rest of us. You know, like how car alarms and cup holders eventually made their way down from F1 to the rest of us.
January 22, 2024 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Die-in on the steps of LA City Hall Saturday to mark 337 traffic deaths in Los Angeles last year — including 24 bicyclists
Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.
Note: I’ve lost track of who created the image up there on the left, along with the Spanish-language version below. So if anyone knows, hit me up.
………
Let’s start with Saturday’s die-in at Los Angeles City Hall to protest our ever-rising rates of traffic violence.
As I mentioned last week, I have another commitment that morning I can’t get out of, so I won’t be able to make it this year. But if you have the morning free, I urge you to attend, and add your voice and body to demand safer streets in the City of Angeles.
I’ll let Streets Are For Everyone, aka SAFE, take it from here. And give it a close read, because there’s a lot of vital information there about just how bad things are on our streets.
Dying-In LA 2024:
Advocates Needed For A Die-In At City Hall, January 27th, 9 am.
Sign up here https://mobilize.us/s/0JnZmq to join Streets Are For Everyone,Streets For All, Street Racing Kills, Santa Monica Spoke, and many more to demand that our elected officials prioritize safer streets in 2024. Why? 2023 was a grim year for traffic fatalities, and we need to let City Hall know we have the political will to continue fighting for safe streets. That means starting the year strong by building our movement through community organizing.
2023 was a rough year for Los Angeles. 330 victims died from traffic violence in the city, marking a 9% increase over 2022 and a 14% increase since 2021. This is the highest number of traffic fatalities in over 20 years. In addition to that disheartening number, there were increases in injuries and fatalities across multiple categories, including:
176 pedestrians killed in 2023 – a 15% increase since 2022 and a 35% increase since 2021.
24 cyclists killed in 2023 – a 20% increase since 2022 and a 41% increase since 2021.
29 people killed in DUI-related car crashes in 2023 – a 32% increase since 2022 and a 38% increase since 2021.
105 people killed in hit-and-run crashes in 2023 – a 30% increase since 2022 and a 38% increase since 2021.
The surge in these statistics can be attributed to various factors, including:
Faster, quieter, and larger vehicles are killing more pedestrians.
There is a sharp increase in the use of alcohol, marijuana, and other drugs (both legal and illegal) while driving.
Distracted driving in various forms – cell phones being one of the largest sources but also an increase in the prevalence of smart “infotainment” systems in cars. (Instead of using tactile touch for basic functions like adjusting the radio station or temperature, drivers often fiddle with screens, diverting their attention from the road.)
A decrease in the enforcement of driving laws for various reasons (worth its own article) results in more people driving recklessly, knowing they are less likely to get caught.
While there is no single solution to all these issues, the fact remains that too many of our elected officials continue to ignore this worsening public health crisis.
Join us for a crucial call to action as we unite in this collective effort. Real change only occurs when we amplify our voices and make them resoundingly heard.
Date: Saturday, 27 Jan 2024
Location: Steps of Los Angeles City Hall, 232 N. Spring Street
Set-up Time: 9:30 AM (Coffee will be provided)
Press Conference: 10 AM to 10:45 AM
Volunteers needed: 330 people are required for part of the die-in visual – one for each person who lost their life in 2023. Please feel free to bring bicycles and skateboards. Volunteers are also needed to stand behind the speakers, holding handmade protest signs demanding safer streets.
Parking: You should ride, walk, or take Metro Line B (exit Civic Center/Grand Park Station) to City Hall as parking is limited.
………
Unfortunately, as bad as those numbers are, they don’t tell the whole story.
Anyone want to bet on whether they’ll make it to the three year mark?
………
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
Residents of Coventry, England express concerns that a new bike lane will make bicyclists sitting ducks when drivers back into their driveways in front of bikes doing 30 mph — vastly overestimating the speed of most bike riders, while underestimating drivers ability to check their damn mirrors. Unless maybe their real objection is just having a bike lane on “their” street.
A British coroner says a 41-year old driver was “selfish beyond comprehension” when he killed a 15-year old boy riding a bike, while rushing to meet a woman from a dating app after downing three beers and two glasses of wine.
A “keen” Kiwi/Aussie bicyclist offers advice on winter bike riding in frigid South Korea. Which probably translates to wherever you ride outside of Southern California this winter. And I’ll take “keen” over “avid” any day.
Today’s must read is a deep dive from the New York Times into the culture of driving to explain why traffic deaths are once again surging, thanks largely to dangerous drivers.
The relationship between car size and injury rates is still being studied, but early research on the American appetite for horizon-blotting machinery points in precisely the direction you’d expect: The bigger the vehicle, the less visibility it affords, and the more destruction it can wreak. In a report published in November, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a nonprofit, concluded that S.U.V.s or vans with a hood height greater than 40 inches — standard-issue specs for an American truck in 2023 — are 45 percent more likely to kill pedestrians than smaller cars.
Above all, though, the problem seems to be us — the American public, the American driver. “It’s not an exaggeration to say behavior on the road today is the worst I’ve ever seen,” Capt. Michael Brown, a state police district commander in Michigan, told me. “It’s not just the volume. It’s the variety. There’s impaired driving, which constituted 40 percent of our fatalities last year. There are people going twice the legal limit on surface streets. There’s road rage,” Brown went on. “There’s impatience — right before we started talking, I got an email from a woman who was driving along in traffic and saw some guy fly by her off the roadway, on the shoulder, at 80, 90 miles an hour.” Brown stressed it was rare to receive such a message: “It’s got so bad, so extremely typical,” he said, “that people aren’t going to alert us unless it’s super egregious…”
Then there’s the problem all of us seem to encounter sooner or later, as drivers cut traffic law corners for their convenience, and take their anger out on the most convenient targets.
And aggressive driving, defined by AAA as “tailgating, erratic lane changing or illegal passing,” factors into 56 percent of crashes resulting in a fatality. (Distressingly, this statistic does not cover the tens of thousands of people injured, often critically, by aggressive drivers, or the 550 people shot annually after or during road-rage incidents — or the growing number of pedestrians and cyclists deliberately targeted by incensed motorists.)…
Every year for the past decade and a half, the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety has published something called the Traffic Safety Culture Index — a kind of State of the Union of American roads. I had thought the 2022 edition was bleak (the headline from AAA’s news release: “Going in Reverse: Dangerous Driving Behaviors Rise”), but the 2023 report was equally grim. Of the 2,500 licensed drivers who responded to the AAA survey, 22 percent admitted to switching lanes at high speeds or tailgating, 25 percent admitted to running a red light, 40 percent admitted to holding an active phone while driving and 50 percent admitted to exceeding posted speed limits by 15 miles per hour or more — all within the last calendar month.
Worse, a sizable number of respondents said they knew that people important to them would somewhat or completely disapprove of much of the behavior. They did it anyway, despite the risk of opprobrium and despite the fact that, as the AAA dryly noted in an accompanying news release, “a motorist’s need for speed consistently fails to deliver shorter travel times. It would take driving 100 miles at 80 m.p.h. instead of 75 m.p.h. to shave just five minutes off a trip.”
It’s not a quick read. But it’s worth taking the time to read the whole thing.
Because this is the most detailed examination and best explanation I’ve seen for why things continue to get worse on our streets, despite Vision Zero plans — at least in the cities that have bothered to fund and implement them, unlike a certain SoCal megalopolis I could name.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
A 75-year old New York man died in the hospital, ten days after he was struck by an ebike rider while walking in the Jackson Heights neighborhood. But at least the bike rider did the right thing and remained at the scene following the crash.
Encinitas approved a new bike safety plan, including protected bike lanes, new striping, signage, and school entrances as the first step in addressing the city’s bicycling state of emergency. Maybe if other SoCal cities would declare a bike and pedestrian safety state of emergency, we might actually get somewhere. Are you listening, Los Angeles Mayor Bass?
Florida bicyclists have responded to the recent wrong-way crash on the coast highway that injured seven bike riders, two critically, by forming a coalition of ten bike clubs to demand safety improvements. Which is exactly what we need on PCH, where it would make a huge difference if all the bike clubs who regularly ride the killer highway would start demanding a safer roadway.
Former teammates remembered Melissa Hoskins ahead of the first stage of the Women’s Tour Down Under race, after she was killed falling off the hood of a pickup driven by her husband, pro cyclist Rohan Dennis.
Unfortunately, as bad as those numbers are, they don’t tell the whole story.
