Tag Archive for universal access

Father seeks witness in Irvine bike crash, powerful look at race and bicycling, and more on the lack of UC accessibility

July 31, 2020 / / Comments Off on Father seeks witness in Irvine bike crash, powerful look at race and bicycling, and more on the lack of UC accessibility

The father of Barbora Kabatova, the 26-year old woman killed riding her bike near the Jeffrey Road connection to the 405 Freeway is begging anyone with information to come forward to help find justice for her.

I am trying to find any witness of this tragic accident.
Any camera on the ground or on the car, anyone biking, driving, walking around when this has happen.
Are there any witnesses do you know someone who witnessed this?
This is big intersection there must have been many people around.
I am desperate. Please help.
Juraj Kabat
Barbora’s dad

Seriously, if you know anything, share it with the police.

Before they find a way to blame the victim for causing her own death.

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Biking While Black seems to be the ongoing theme of the week, as a familiar LA face took over Bicycling for a much-needed conversation about race.

And the magazine has lowered its new paywall on these important stories so everyone can read them.

The founder of Atlanta’s Civil Bikes says there’s a tremendous untold story of Black people on bikes.

A product development quality engineer at SRAM describes growing up surrounded by bias, which didn’t change when he started winning races, saying the more he won, the bigger barriers he faced.

The cofounder of Pedal 2 the People describes what it’s like, and what it means, to never see Black people like her riding bicycles.

A pro cyclist for B&B Hotels–Vital Concept argues that racism in pro cycling should be treated like doping violations, saying no one ever faced consequences for the slurs he encountered from competitors in the peloton.

The founder of Black Girls Do Bike says if you love bicycling, you need to have uncomfortable conversations about race.

The Director of Mobility for the Oakland Mayor’s Office dreams of a day when he can just stick to bicycling without having to worry about anything else, noting there are challenges Black people face riding through any space that others don’t. Seriously, anyone who poses for a national bike magazine holding a corgi is more than okay in my book.

The owner of LA’s Ride On! Bike Shop/Co-op describes being stopped by Beverly Hills cops because he “fit a description;” in other words, he was Black and on a bike.

According to the co-director of PGM ONE Summit, claiming bicycling is colorblind doesn’t help anyone because bikes may not discriminate, but the people on them do.

LA’s own Nelson Vails, the first African American to medal in Olympic cycling, tells a somewhat different story, saying he never felt discrimination in his racing career, but Black Lives Matter opened his eyes to the need to rase the bar on equality.

Ayesha McGowan, America’s first Black women’s pro cyclist, says it’s exhausting making people in white spaces comfortable with her blackness.

The founder of the Level Up Cycling Movement questions how something as innocent as riding a bicycle can make another human being feel discarded, saying she was treated like she didn’t exist when she started riding.

Former LACBC Executive Director Tamika Butler offers advice on how to become anti-racist, on or off your bike. And explains on her own site how this extraordinary edition came together, and why it was necessary.

At this point, it shouldn’t surprise anyone to know that Black bike riders are stopped by police far more often than white riders, and face a much higher risk when they are.

Meanwhile, PeopleForBikes shares their commitment to rooting out racism in the bicycling industry. Maybe they can tackle the industry’s blatant sexism while they’re at it.

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Another reminder that the UC system isn’t accessible until it’s accessible to all.

https://twitter.com/AccessUc/status/1288904877628772353

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Regardless of politics, some things just aren’t right. In Portland, New York, or anywhere else.

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We missed this one earlier in the week, as we lost the last living link to old Hollywood. Along with a truly iconic bike rider.

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Evidently, motorized scooters are nothing new.

Thanks to Megan Lynch for forwarding the tweet.

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Thanks to Adam Ginsberg for sending what instantly became my favorite email of the week.

I’ll look forward to trying the same thing with our new four-footed intern.

After all, if she’s going to work for a bike site, she needs to know what it’s like, right?

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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

A Coachella man will face charges for jumping out of his car and shooting at a group of bike riders, for unknown reasons. Thankfully, his aim seems to suck. Thanks to Victor Bale and Phillip Young for the heads-up. 

A Utah man faces a murder charge for allegedly running over his roommate as the other man was riding his bicycle. Maybe next time, don’t leave your license plate behind at the crash scene. Just a suggestion.

Anti-bike vigilantes are accused of ripping out the plastic ballards protecting a British bike lane. Although a thin, bendable plastic post doesn’t offer much protection anyway.

Sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.

Riverside County deputies busted a cruiser bike-riding man for sexually assaulting a woman on a Temecula bike path.

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Local

LADOT General Manager Seleta Reynolds worries that LA traffic may be worse than ever post-pandemic. Or maybe not, because an economic collapse could mean fewer people can afford to drive. Although both of those problems could be helped with the sort of bikeways other cities are building, but LA isn’t.

Yelp maps out all things bicycle in the City of Angels. As long as your idea of Los Angeles doesn’t extend more than a few blocks south of I-10, or east of the LA River. Thanks to Brandi D’Amore for the tip. 

The Glendale City Council will discuss plans for the Verdugo Wash in an online meeting starting at 6 pm this Tuesday; if you live or ride in the city, let them know what you think.

Pasadena police are planning yet another bike and pedestrian safety operation next Friday, ticketing any violations that endanger bike riders or pedestrians, regardless of who does it. As always, plan to ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limits, so you’re not the one who gets ticketed.

 

State

Seriously? San Diego business owners worry about plans for a socially distanced bicycle scavenger hunt that promises to bring more customers to their community, because they’re unsure about coronavirus protocols. But people coming in cars are perfectly fine, apparently.

The kindhearted members of an Oxnard hip hop organization raised $750 to replace a bike stolen from a 15-year old member of the group.

A pair of coastal bike paths north of Ventura will close for construction this weekend; one will close during the day, while the other will just see overnight closures.

San Francisco opens a new one-third mile, two-way protected cycle track across the Lefty O’Doul Bridge, improving connections with a nearby protected bikeway. Which is exactly what Los Angeles should be doing, but isn’t.

 

National

Essence explains why everyone on your timeline is riding a bike right now. Hint: It’s fun. And good for you. 

Business is thriving for the owner of a Denver coffee bike, after he lost his other job to the pandemic.

A Colorado mountain biker recommends criding — crying while riding a bike — to maintain your sanity in these trying times. Which may just be my new favorite word. Although indignorant is still pretty hard to top.

A Pittsburgh writer says slowing traffic and improving safety on city streets will actually make them more dangerous for kids. No, really.

Former New York Giants coach Tom Coughlin is one of us. Although he may wish he wasn’t right now, after another rider clipped his wheel, leaving him with four fractured ribs, a punctured lung and a bleeding head wound.

New York’s Westchester County considers mandating bike helmets for all bike riders. Apparently attempting to drive down bicycling rates while doing little to actually improve safety. Or at least that’s been the experience in other places that have done it.

 

International

A British Columbia woman is looking for two Good Samaritans and a cop who helped save her life following a crash just days into a cross-country bike tour.

Now there’s a first. London police are asking bike riders to wear helmet cams to help them catch and prosecute dangerous drivers.

The UK’s new focus on bicycling gives local residents the power to close streets to through traffic, as well as prohibiting local governments from building substandard bike lanes. Thanks to Ralph Durham for the link.

Nearly a hundred bike riders died on the streets of Great Britain last year, which represents an improvement of exactly one, as the fatality rate dropped from 99 to 98.

 

Finally…

If you’re going to drive drunk through a drive through, at least secure your bike and fix your flat tire — and maybe leave the machete at home. It may not the best idea to take a shortcut by riding through a shooting range.

And always practice good social distancing when dining.

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Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a mask, already. 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Enough! A fight for full accessibility and inclusive bicycling at UC Davis and the University of California system

July 28, 2020 / / 2 comments

Recently I’ve been trading messages with former South Pasadena resident Megan Lynch, as she struggles with the challenges of being a disabled bike rider attending grad school at an ostensibly bike-friendly university.

Or maybe, bike-friendly as long as you’re physically abled.

She’s struggled with everything ranging from finding safe and affordable handicapped-accessible housing, to simply finding a bike rack that can accommodate her adaptive recumbent bicycle.

Both of which could easily be corrected if someone actually gave a damn.

Big if, evidently.

Because this past weekend, I received this heartbreaking email indicating she’s had enough.

I have barely survived this first year of grad school because UC Davis is so ableist. Grad school is hard for abled 20-somethings in the prime of their lives. It is so much worse for anyone who is not in this society’s hegemonic class.

I went to the Disabled Students Center – they didn’t care.

I went to others at UC Davis – they didn’t care.

I went to my union – they didn’t care.

I went to the wildcat strikers – they didn’t care.

Finally, I saw that no matter how much this place was hurting my health, no one cared. Once more, I was the only person that was going to save me. So I looked around for other disabled students who wanted to work on this. They gave input, but no one made the time. I did this by myself until just the beginning of July when I finally found disability activists at UC Berkeley, UCSD, and potentially at UC Santa Cruz.

It shouldn’t have to be like this.

This past Sunday marked the 30th anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, mandating access for people with disabilities in every aspect of American life, from employment and housing to education.

And yes, bicycling.

It’s a law that has literally been life changing for countless people. Yet one that is too easily ignored when it becomes just a little too inconvenient.

Which is why she’s joined with UC Access Now to release a manifesto demanding change.

Because they’ve been ignored for far too long.

And it’s long past time someone listened.

ADA Is a Floor Not a Ceiling

“Do you know what it means when someone pays you minimum wage? You know what your boss is trying to say? It’s like ‘Hey, if I could pay you less, I would, but it’s against the law.’” – Chris Rock

Attempting to meet ADA and no further is admitting that you’d do less if you could get away with it. In 30 years of ADA, UC still hasn’t fully met ADA conditions. But meeting ADA isn’t enough. For example, accessible cycle racks & lockers are important for transportation to those disabled people that can cycle, especially on a majority cycle campus like UC Davis. But when asked, abled transportation & parking services workers say “Bike racks aren’t covered under ADA”. This is not likely true, but even if it were ruled so, it’s just another argument for exceeding ADA to achieve an inclusive and accessible campus environment.

Here are a few more entirely reasonable quotes pulled from their list of demands.

• Cycling racks & cycling lockers must be U-racks that will accommodate the types of cycles disabled people are more likely to ride such as handcycles, tricycles and quadracycles (both upright and recumbent). Racks must be far enough away from each other and from obstacles like curbs, hedges, and walls for a large cycle (including cargo cycles) to fit and for a large person to be alongside the cycle locking it without being too close to the next person over also locking their cycle at a rack.

• Campus cycling facilities should have staff trained in the maintenance and repair of cycle frames disabled cyclists use like handcycles, recumbents, tricycles, quadracycles, and e-assist cycles of all types.

• Each campus should have a hub for wheelchair and mobility aid repair. In addition to carrying parts and executing repairs, specialized wheelchairs for outdoor recreation on trails and at the beach should be available to rent by disabled students who use wheelchairs.

If there’s anything there that’s unreasonable, outrageously expensive, or too difficult to implement, I can’t see it.

You can follow UC Access Now on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. And contact the administrators at UC Davis and the UC Board of Regents to demand change.

Because people don’t stop riding bikes because they’re disabled.

They stop riding because no one cares enough to accommodate them.

And the same goes for higher education.

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Come back tomorrow for our usual Morning Links to catch up on anything we missed today. 

And meet the furry new BikinginLA intern. 

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