Tag Archive for vehicular assault

13 years for Santa Ana gang bike theft killing, bust made in deliberate Fullerton crash, and LADOT fills Imperial gap

Day 211 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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A 24-year old man will spend the next 13 years behind bars for killing a Santa Ana man to steal his bicycle five years ago.

Jose Luis Salgado was sentenced after pleading guilty to felony voluntary manslaughter and misdemeanor street terrorism, along with sentencing enhancements for being a gang member.

He was convicted for being primarily responsible for the killing 31-year-old Pedro Morale Chocoj, as part of a gang attempting to take the victim’s bike.

Co-defendant Jesus Gonzalo Ibarra was sentenced to just a year behind bars after pleading guilty to multiple felonies for the same attack.

I don’t know how many times we have to say it — no bicycle is ever worth a human life.

Period.

Photo by Suzy Hazelwood from Pexels.

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Fullerton police have made an arrest in an alleged intentional crash that left a man riding a bicycle hospitalized.

Twenty-two-year West Covina resident Christian Diaz is charged with attempted murder for making a U-turn to slam head-on into the 31-year old victim on the afternoon of July 20th.

Even if KTLA-5 somehow portrays it as a simple wrong-way hit-run, burying the apparently insignificant detail that police believe Diaz acted deliberately deep in the story.

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LADOT has finally closed the long-missing link on Imperial Highway in what passes for a protected bike lane here in Los Angeles, even though it would be called a separated bike lane in any more rational locale.

Because those flimsy little plastic bollards ain’t gonna protect anyone.

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They get it.

Santa Monica police are joining other cities in cracking down on ebikes.

But thankfully, they know enough to distinguish between legal ped-assist ebikes, and illegal e-motorbikes designed for off-road use, impounding a dozen Sur-Ron style bikes at a beach charging station.

Thanks to David and Ellectrek for the heads-up.

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Ukrainian soldiers used a drone to deliver an ebike to a wounded soldier trapped behind enemy lines.

Then used another one, which finally allowed him to escape, after first one was blown up by a landmine when he tried to ride to safety.

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That feeling when your downhill ride is interrupted by a cattle crash.

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

There may be justice after all. An Ontario judge blocked the removal of a trio of Toronto bike lanes, ruling it was unconstitutional because “removal of the target bike lanes will put people at increased risk of harm and death, which engages the right to life and security of the person.”

A Malaysian website says recent headlines have given the impression that bike riders are a nuisance on the roads — if not outright enemies.

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Local 

A Hollywood cinematographer is planning to make a full-length documentary about Jose Yanez, inventor of the bicycle backflip, who spread the move across the country with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus, before ending up homeless in Phoenix.

WeHo residents voiced their anger and concern over deadly Fountain Ave at the West Hollywood Public Safety Commission meeting, demanding action as the Sheriff’s Department offered an update on traffic safety on Fountain. Or rather, the lack thereof. 

Mark your calendar for the Culver City meets Venice CicLAvia on Sunday, August 17th, connecting the two cities by way of Mar Vista. Meanwhile, Streets Are For Everyone is looking for volunteers to help work the event.

Long Beach’s dangerous Pacific Avenue is getting a major makeover, including a road diet and protected bike lanes — some of them curb-level — to fix the street LAist calls long “blighted by speeding and deadly crashes.”

 

State

Calbike will host an online summit session on August 20th to discuss bicycle highways, as a bill to make it easier to build them awaits the return of the state legislature from its summer recess.

A sleek new ebike from Fremont, California startup Morelle claims to recharge in just 15 minutes, rather than hours like other ebikes.

 

National

Momentum offers a look at ten “amazing” urban bicycling trails in the US they say are perfect for exploring cities. None of which are in Los Angeles, of course, although San Francisco’s Wiggle and Sacramento’s American River Parkway made the cut. 

Momentum also lists six reasons businesses want bike-riding customers. Or rather, why they should, since merchants too often oppose the very bikeways that could boost their business.

Bloomberg’s CityLab says we should all be biking along the beach, questioning why beachfront bike paths are so rare in the US when they help relieve beach traffic and mitigate the ill effects of over-tourism.

A woman writing for Cycling Weekly says you can’t call yourself a bicycling community without fat Black women on bikes.

Life is cheap in Seattle, where a cop with an extensive history of preventable traffic collisions walked with a lousy written reprimand and additional training after lying about crashing into someone riding a bicycle, initially saying he came to a full stop before admitting he ran the stop while looking at his onboard computer.

This is the cost of traffic violence. Hundreds of people turned out for a memorial to remember a 37-year old mother of two who was killed by a Denver dump truck driver while riding in an unprotected bike lane six years ago; a protected was built there afterwards, too late to save her life.

A $5,000 reward is being offered for the hit-and-run driver who killed a couple downed in the roadway, after another driver had knocked them off their bikes.

A Great Lakes website takes a deep dive into why Americans don’t bike like the Dutch yet. Short answer, if more people felt safe riding a bike, we would. Longer answer, speeding, drunk and/or distracted drivers need to stop killing us, and traffic engineers need to stop loading the damn metaphorical gun for them, already.

A crowdfunding campaign is intended to help a Memphis restaurant owner, who was left lying in the street with broken ribs and a punctured lung when a heartless coward fled the scene after crashing into his bicycle.

No surprise here, as New York cops ticketed far fewer drivers in the second quarter of this year, as they shifted their focus to far less dangerous bikes and ebikes; The Sun says the crackdown on bike riders is really a “war on people.”

They get it, too. A Greensboro, North Carolina newsletter says cars are king in the city and they’re killing people, as local groups lead efforts to be more bike and pedestrian friendly.

That’s more like it. A Florida woman will spend the next 15 years behind bars for fleeing the scene after injuring a teenager riding a bicycle, and running from police — all with her kids in the car. Although it’s disconcerting that the state can only take her license away for a maximum of five years. 

 

International

Finally, a list of relatively snappy retorss to all the common complaints against bike lanes.

A new study in Nature compares the relative severity of ebike and e-scooter injuries, concluding that e-scooter crashes result in more and worse head injuries, particularly because so many riders are intoxicated.

Singer Lilly Allen is one of us, riding her bike through London’s Notting Hill neighborhood, even if all the press cared about was the new ring on her finger.

If you want to be named the UK’s cop of the year, just borrow a bicycle from a bystander to chase down a jewel thief.

A writer for a travel website takes a bicycle tour of Copenhagen.

Helsinki, Finland proves that Vision Zero is achievable, as the city of over 650,000 people goes a full year without a traffic death.

Bicycling is up 14% in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, over just two years.

 

Competitive Cycling

Mauritian cyclist Kim Le Court reclaimed the yellow jersey by winning stage 5 of the Tour de France Femmes by mere inches, after a premature celebration nearly cost her the race.

Some of the favorites are already out or the women’s Tour.

A pair of team managers may resort to pistols at 20 paces, with a war of words continuing in the wake of a crash that injured Dutch pro Demi Vollering, even though she was able to continue.

Six-time world champ Ellen van Dijk will call it a career at the end of this season; the 38-year old Dutch cyclist has 70 win in all categories so far.

Newly crowned four-time Tour de France champ Tadej Pogačar says he doesn’t see himself continuing in the sport “much longer,” and may start considering retirement in 2028. Which would give him a chance to equal Lance’s non-record for ex-wins. 

Former Guernsey pro cyclist James McLaughlin has filed a lawsuit asking for the equivalent of over $1.3 million, arguing his attempt at a comeback was derailed when a 2020 London dooring left him suffering from depression, memory loss, fatigue and PTSD, and he now requires an emotional support dog.

Tour de Big Bear starts tomorrow and continues through Sunday, including the national mountain biking championships.

 

Finally…

You know ebikes are making a splash when even Fox News gets on board. It’s not a bike lane, it’s an open air ice cream market.

And this may just be the best DIY traffic sign yet.

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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Three WeHo/Hollywood hit-and-runs within 10 blocks and 20 days, and road-raging driver runs down Fullerton bike rider

Day 206 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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This is who we share the road with.

A 33-year old man was arrested for fleeing the scene after crashing into a motorcyclist outside Jones Restaurant in West Hollywood, just eight days after the hit-and-run crash that killed Blake Ackerman just seven blocks away.

And that crash was just three blocks from a hit-and-run crash that killed a 36-year old woman in Hollywood 11 days earlier; unlike the others, no one has been arrested for this one yet.

That’s three hit-and-run crashes, leaving two people dead, within a ten-block area straddling WeHo and Los Angeles in less than three weeks.

Houston, we have a problem.

It’s going to take some major coordination between the two cities to solve it before someone else ends up dead, and another driver flees the scene.

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This is who we share the road with, part two.

A Fullerton man was intentionally hit head-on by a road-raging hit-and-run driver for the crime of simply tapping the driver’s bumper when he didn’t move his car when the light changed, because he was too busy flirting with a woman to pay attention to the light.

The victim, who was just riding his bike home from work, was lucky to escape serious injury, despite being sent flying off his bike.

That was the driver’s second attempt at running him down. The first came when the driver swerved at him from behind and missed.

He was more successful in his second attempt, after apparently turning around and cutting across traffic lanes to target the victim from the other side of the road.

Fullerton police are looking for as a red two-door car, possibly a Dodge Challenger, and hoping to find security video showing the car’s license plate,

Anyone with information is urged to call the Fullerton Police Department at 714/738-6800.

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

No bias here. Yucatán Magazine says bike lanes in Mérida, capital of the Mexican state, are showing mixed results after three years, with some people using them while others still bike in the traffic lanes, while suggesting the mere presence of the lanes contribute to greater traffic congestion. No, too many cars are the cause of traffic congestion. And of course people still ride in traffic lanes if bike lanes don’t take them where they need to go.

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

A former Premier League youth soccer player will spend the next 27 months behind bars for the hit-and-run crash that severely injured a woman crossing a Manchester, England street, while riding an ebike with another man on the back; both men fled, and had to be chased down and caught by bystanders.

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Local 

The Pasadena Planning Commission unanimously voted to turn North Lake Ave into a new Old Pasadena, with plans calling for wider sidewalks, landscaped medians, a comprehensive streetscape strategy, and new bicycle facilities. Which could mean anything from physically protected bike lanes to a few random bike racks.

A 21-year old Claremont man just finished a nearly 6,000-mile bike ride with two college friends, riding across the country from New Jersey to Seattle, then down to the Mexican border before returning home.

Westlake Village became the latest city to join in on the rush to crack down on ebikes, banning all electric micromobility devices from virtually everywhere but city streets, while allowing sheriff’s deputies to ensure compliance, but “only during lawful stops.” Well, that’s comforting.

 

State

Fullerton’s 3rd Annual Christmas in July Bike Ride will roll through the city’s streets tomorrow, with Santa Claus trading in his sleigh for a mountain bike. Please pass along my wish for Santa that someone will find the road-raging SOB who ran down that Fullerton bike rider, and lock his ass up for a damn long time. 

No surprise here, as a fully separated Class IV bike lane is getting pushback from residents in San Mateo, who say they have been ignored in the design process — and would prefer an additional traffic lane to reduce congestion, even though induced demand means that would probably just make things worse.

 

National

A new report considers why more people aren’t mountain biking, finding problems ranging from perceived risk to the sport being seen as mostly white and male dominated.

A woman who grew up parenting herself with a mother suffering from severe depression says learning to ride a bicycle at 35 allowed her to meet the child she never got to be.

Seattle has a newly built, physically protected bike lane along a section of the bike-friendly city’s waterfront.

Scottsdale, Arizona has banned children aged 16 or below from riding any ebike capable of traveling 21 mph or higher.

That’s how to do it right. Minnesota’s popular and successful ebike rebate system returns for another year, with a 10-day portal to apply. Unlike California, which somehow expects over 100,000 people to apply in a single hour without crashing the system. Again. 

Ebike maker eBliss Global will invest over $4 million into a new Utica, New York factory to onshore production of their bikes beginning this fall, hoping to make the area a center for ebike manufacturing.

Virginia Tech University has raised the threshold to achieve their vaunted 5-Star safety rating, resulting in 139 bike helmet models being downgraded to 4 Stars or below.

 

International

A Mexicali, Mexico bike advocate describes what it’s like to ride a bike in the city that recorded North America’s second-highest temperature at 126° Fahrenheit, or 52.4° Celsius, and what can be done to make biking there better.

A Vancouver woman is creating Strava art, riding her bike across the region using the app to draw images including a piggy bank, crocodile and a T-rex.

An op-ed in the Guardian says the bicycle is an important part of Ireland’s past, and Irish cyclist Ben Healy’s brief time in the Tour de France’s yellow jersey can inspire a revival of bike riding in the country.

Ouch. A Kazakhstan paper asks if the country’s largest city is turning into a car-choked Los Angeles clone.

 

Competitive Cycling

Reuters says Australian Ben O’Connor “stormed to a sensational victory,” on yesterday’s stage 18 of the Tour de France, his “eyes blazing with determination,” as he “launched a ferocious solo attack on the fearsome Col de la Loze.” Well, okay then.

Apparently, the Visma-Lease a Bike team will do anything to stop overall leader Tadej Pogačar from winning his fourth Tour, after brake-checking Pogačar with the team car at the start of yesterday’s stage.

Road.cc examines the “unwritten rules” of the Tour de France, how they’re enforced and how they actually determine how the race plays out.

After becoming the first African man or woman to win a Monument, Kim Le Court reflected on her unusual entry to the sport, taking it up because her parents and brothers were bicyclists, after first trying tennis, golf, touch rugby and soccer.

British former world champ Lizzie Deignan is calling it a career after announcing her pregnancy.

 

Finally…

If you get banned from a bike shop during the day, just let yourself in during the night when it’s closed. And the eternal question of why cyclists shave their legs.

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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Ebike-riding Vietnam vet run down in anti-Asian hate crime, and Aussie ex-pro Rohan Dennis walks in cyclist wife’s death

Day 134 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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A Japanese American man was the victim of a racist attack while riding his ebike in Montebello last month.

According to the Los Angeles Times, 71-year old Aki Maehara, an Asian American history professor at East Los Angeles Community College and Vietnam vet, was run down from behind on April 29th in what appears to have been a targeted attack while riding his ebike on Merle Drive, near his Montebello home.

Before he was struck, he heard someone yell an expletive followed by a racial slur targeting people of Chinese descent, he said. He skidded across a yard and was stopped by a brick wall. Maehara said he heard a man’s voice: “Go back to…” using an expletive and a racial slur, before the car drove off.

“It sounded suspicious to me because I wear a full-face helmet … a helmet with a visor,” Maehara said. “No one can see my face. So how the hell did he know I’m Asian?”

Northwest Asian Weekly reports the driver called him a “fucking Chink!” and yelled, “Go back to Chink-land,” as Maehara lay on the ground after being struck.

He is currently confined to home after suffering serious elbow, neck, cheekbones, jaw, hips and lower back injuries as a result of the attack.

A crowdfunding campaign has raised a little more than half of the $35,000 goal to provide in-home care beyond the few hours provided by the VA each week.

No arrest has been made, though Maehara has provided police with the name of a suspect, saying he’s been targeted for harassment in the past for teaching the history of racism and racist beliefs.

Let’s hope they find this schmuck and lock ’em up for a long damn time.

Photo by Polina Tankilevitch from Pexels.

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Life is cheap in Australia, where former pro cyclist Rohan Dennis walked without a day behind bars.

Dennis was given probation after pleading guilty to a pair of charges in the death of his wife, Olympic cyclist Melissa Hoskins, despite driving nearly the distance of a football field as she clung to the hood of his SUV, following an argument between the couple.

Hoskins was killed after attempting to open the passenger door, and slipping under the car’s wheels as he attempted to speed away.

Her benevolent parents did not push for jail time, saying it was time to move on for the good of the couple’s children.

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Calbike will host a webinar on how slow streets can improve our communities on May 28th.

The Slow Streets movement wasn’t new when the pandemic hit in 2020. Berkeley had restricted traffic on neighborhood streets that became bike boulevards decades earlier. But the sudden demand for safe space to walk and bike when everyone was staying home fueled a surge in Slow Streets

Many of the programs instituted by California cities at the height of the pandemic were temporary, taken down once life began to return to normal. But the experience of the freedom of Slow Streets left a lasting impression and a movement for spaces where kids can safely play in urban environments.

On Wednesday, May 28, 2025, at 10 am, CalBike will host a webinar on Slow Streets as part of our Summit Sessions 2025 series. Robin Pam, from KidSafeSF, and Shannon Hake from the San Francisco Metropolitan Transportation Agency (SFMTA) will share experiences from the advocacy and government agency sides of creating and implementing Slow Streets. And Justin Hu-Nguyen and Robert Prinz from Bike East Bay will talk about a Slow Streets pop-up that their bike coalition just did on one of the Berkeley streets that was a Slow Street during the pandemic.

Register to attend the webinar.

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Two examples of how to tell when safety just isn’t a priority in Los Angeles.

Crosswalk request: "Too many cars run the stop signs. I've asked my city council field deputy for help and was told it will take YEARS to get a crosswalk due to sidewalk assessments, etc. Also told that there's no money in the budget."Two crosswalks marked at Sycamore & De Longpre in Hollywood.

Crosswalk Collective LA (@crosswalksla.bsky.social) 2025-05-12T22:11:01.876Z

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Finish the Ride is looking for volunteers for Griffith Park’s Finish the Run and Finish the Ride at the end of the month.

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

Somehow, drivers in Las Vegas have to be reminded not to use a tunnel meant for bike riders and pedestrians as a shortcut or free parking. And they say bike riders are entitled. 

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

A popular restaurant atop an iconic climb on the Spanish island of Mallorca was forced to put up a multilingual sign informing visiting bicyclists that it was not an open air toilet, and begging them not to pee on it.

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Local 

She gets it. A Streetsblog op-ed from Alex Ramirez, Executive Director of Los Angeles Walks, says bikeshare should be treated like the public good it is, with public investment, strong labor standards, meaningful community partnerships, and deep respect for people with the fewest mobility options and the most to gain from a system that serves everyone.

Metro is expanding AI automated bus cam ticketing of drivers parked in bus lanes to buses on Olive and Grand in DTLA.

Pasadena is marking Thursday’s Bike to Work Day with a free pitstop offering coffee, snacks and surprise giveaways on the Garfield side of Pasadena City Hall. That’s Garfield as in the avenue, not the cat.

 

State

Former LACBC — now BikeLA — executive director and transportation social justice warrior Tamika Butler will be honored, deservedly, by the California Black Women’s Health Project this Sunday.

There’s still no sign of the 27-year old Georgia woman who disappeared on a bikepacking trip in Fresno County with her ebike and trailer, despite an intensive five-day search of the backcountry.

Sacramento public radio station CapRadio reports California faces a big decline in funding from the federal government as the Trump administration cancels infrastructure projects and attempts to claw back funding for projects approved under Biden.

 

National

Outside dreads a near future when all mountain bikes will come with batteries attached.

A San Diego writer and two friends took a one week, 200-mile “hut hopping” bikepacking tour through the most breathtaking part of Colorado and Utah.

I want to be like her when I grow up. An 81-year old Cape Cod woman is back on her bicycle after breaking her elbow in a fall last year.

New York’s embattled mayor is claiming credit, along with the city’s DOT commish, for doubling the amount of space available to bike riders and pedestrians by providing each with their own separate lanes on opposite sides of New York’s Queensboro Bridge.

On the other hand, New York bicyclists are none too pleased about the city taking their sweet time to finish a 30-block West Side bike lane, forcing riders to cope with dangerous detours.

Then again, they’re probably not too pleased that the city is issuing criminal summonses for minor bicycling traffic violations, either, including riding through red lights on the walk sign — which has been legal in the city for the past six years.

 

International

Life is cheap in the UK, where a 75-year old man got a lousy ten months behind bars for running down a 63-year old woman from behind as she rode with a friend, claiming he was blinded by the lights of an oncoming car — even though investigators determined their bike lights and safety vests would have made the victim visible from over 200 yards away.

 

Competitive Cycling

Five-time Olympic cycling gold medalist and 2012 Tour de France champ Bradley Wiggins says he was lucky to survive a “functioning” addiction to coke after his retirement from the sport. And no, he doesn’t mean the soft drink.

 

Finally…

That feeling when your new bike pump is full of weed instead of air. Or when your ad for your cycling team’s Chinese sponsor is so bad, people worry you’re being held hostage.

And yes, it’s probably better not to flip off the cop who nearly ran a stop sign and smeared you across the bike lane.

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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

New tariffs could mean higher prices on bikes and parts, and accused road-raging Fresno driver runs down 3 bike riders

Day 34 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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If you were thinking about buying a bicycle, ebike or parts for your bike, you should do it now, before Trump’s new tariffs kick in.

Or be prepared to fork over more money for it.

The overwhelming majority of bicycles, ebikes and components come from China, which will now be subject to a new 10% tariff, in addition to the previous tariffs.

Those previous tariffs already amount to 36%, according to Bicycle Retailer, with the 25% punitive tariff imposed by Trump in his first term, and continued by Biden, added to the previously existing 11% protective tariff approved by Congress.

Which means that with the new 10% punitive tariff Trump imposed over the weekend, the rate will be 46% added to the cost of anything coming in from China.

And despite Trump’s repeated insistence that it will be a tax on and paid for by China, the added costs cost are likely to passed on to the consumer, amounting to a nearly 50% tax on bikes and components that will have to be paid by someone.

In other words, you.

It could also result in shortages if importers balk at the higher taxes, after bike shop are just getting back to full inventory after the pandemic-fueled shortages.

So don’t wait.

Peddle yourself down to your favorite local bike shop now. Or you could be the one who pays the higher prices, or find yourself unable to buy anything at all.

Photo by Kaboompics.com via Pexels.

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A 23-year old Fresno man faces three counts of assault with a deadly weapon, accused of intentionally running down two teenaged bike riders, as well as another man on a bicycle.

The incident started when the driver got out of his SUV to fight with a group of bike riders on the side of the road, after they had argued on the street.

But following the brawl, the man allegedly drove onto the sidewalk to purposely hit the two teenagers as they tried to ride away.

He then backed off the sidewalk and continued down the street, before swerving into a bike lane to deliberately ram the older man, who does not appear to have any connection to the other group.

Not surprisingly, the driver was assaulted by a group of bike riders following his vehicular attacks. And no, that doesn’t mean it was justified, just understandable given the circumstances.

He was hospitalized with minor injuries, apparently stemming from the assault following the crashes

All three victims were taken to a local hospital, but there’s no word on their condition.

The article from the Fresno Bee appears to be hidden by a paywall, but I was able to click through to read it. 

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The Transit Guy is on this week’s Bike Talk, along with LA bike lawyer and BikinginLA title sponsor Jim Pocrass.

Hayden Clarkin is on this week. AKA the Transit Guy. @bikinginla.bsky.social @bikelanesla.bsky.social @bikelaneuprising.bsky.social

(@taylor-biketalk.bsky.social) 2025-02-01T15:45:12.819Z

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Streets For All will host their monthly virtual happy hour next Wednesday, featuring newly elected Culver City Councilmember Bubba Fish.

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Gravel Bike California returns with a ride across the rolling foothills of Bakersfield with Grizzly Cycles.

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

No bias here. Citing insufficient evidence, Florida prosecutors refused to charge a road raging 76-year old woman for attempting to run down a man riding a bicycle, after the two argued when she cut him off in a roundabout — even though the whole thing was captured on the victim’s bike cam, as well as two security cams. Which makes you wonder just what they would consider sufficient.

He gets it. The CEO of Lime Bikes chides Londoners for complaining about a single dockless bikeshare bike parked on the sidewalk, when there are hundreds of parked cars cluttering the streets.

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Local  

Friends and fellow cops held a 37-mile memorial ride for LAPD officer Paul Jordan, who was killed in an off-duty crash on the 118 Freeway while driving home from work last week; Jordan was a frequent road cyclist who reportedly loved bicycling.

West Hollywood may be jumping the gun just a tad, as the city is planning first and last mile connections to the K Line subway, which could be decades away since it hasn’t yet been approved, let alone funded; it also may never even reach the city, with three routes remaining under consideration, two of which would bypass WeHo all or in part. But I do applaud the effort. 

South El Monte decided not to decide between two options for a 1.4-mile bike and pedestrian project on Tyler Ave/Santa Anita Ave, tabling the motion for two months after councilmembers balked at the loss of 99 parking spaces. Once again prioritizing the convenience of motorists over the safety of people on bicycles.

 

State

Calbike will host a webinar on February 20th to discuss creative approaches to funding active transportation funding. Which is even more important now, in light of the freezing of federal funding. 

Now you, too, can see Santa Barbara by bike through the eyes of a longtime local.

 

National

Sigh. A writer for Streetsblog says Trump is putting safety last and politics first by freezing the federally funded “Road to Zero” program, in an apparent attempt to undo anything approved by the Biden administration, even though the funds were intended to improve traffic safety in both red and blue states.

An automotive website says there is no truth to the rumor that Tesla is building an ebike, revealing it was dreamed up by a freelance industrial designer and the internet ran with it. But would you really want an electric bicycle made by the manufacturer of the “the polarizing and fault-ridden Cybertruck,” anyway?

Once again, an innocent bike rider was collateral damage for a driver fleeing from the cops, this time in Las Vegas, where police were chasing a juvenile and allegedly unlicensed DUI driver accused of sideswiping an SUV at a high rate of speed, then crashing into another SUV before both vehicles spun onto the sidewalk, killing a 41-year old man riding a bicycle; a St. Louis bike rider was also injured by a driver fleeing from the cops.

This is why people keep dying on our streets. A middle school teacher in my Colorado hometown was convicted of misdemeanor careless driving for killing a bike-riding 10-year-old boy while driving distracted, after previously pleading guilty to another lousy misdemeanor for deleting texts and tampering with physical evidence. Because evidently, killing a little boy and trying to hide the evidence just isn’t a big enough deal to warrant a single felony count. Or at least that’s the message drivers will take from this kind of chronic undercharging. 

A Cary, Illinois man is suing the local village after he was right hooked by an on-duty cop while riding in the crosswalk with the light.

The kindness and generosity of the bicycle community is on display once again, as West Springfield, Massachusetts’ Bob “The Bike Man” worked with local boy and girl scout troops to package gear to get the city’s homeless people through the worst of the winter; he’s best known for refurbishing bicycles to give to people in need.

Charlottesville, Virginia is the latest city to offer ebike vouchers, distributing $100,000 to 100 residents this year in the form of $1,000 “mini-grants” intended to encourage ebike use; the grants are available to any resident over the age of 18.

A Tampa, Florida woman marked her 50th birthday by riding 50 three-mile laps around a local island in honor of her father, who had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease, while raising funds  fight to Parkinson’s through Team Fox and the Michael J. Fox Foundation.

 

International

An Ontario bike rider responds to the provincial plan to rip out Toronto’s bike lanes by saying “I don’t want to be in this province anymore.” Which is a feeling a lot of us can relate to when government actions — or inaction — threaten our safety.

A new Toronto study shows that a full ten percent of the city’s bicycle traffic consists of delivery riders delivering food.

Cycling Weekly takes up the burning question of why bike lanes in the US and Great Britain end abruptly without connecting to other bikeways . Which pretty much describes most of the bike lanes in the LA area. 

The Guardian’s Laura Laker recommends the best panniers and handlebar bags.

Life is cheap in the UK, where a delivery driver was fined the equivalent of a lousy $1,200 and banned from driving for an equally lousy 12 months, after leaving a woman with a broken neck when he cut across the bike the victim was riding in

Bicyclists in Chennai, India — formerly known as Madras — call for more bike lanes and better infrastructure, and government action to “sensitize” drivers of heavy vehicles to traffic safety. Showing once again that we all face the same issues, regardless of where you ride.

Le Monde Diplomatique reports that Taiwan’s bicycle industry relies on migrant labour and “dodgy employment practices.” But you’ll have to find a way around their paywall if you want to read more than the first few paragraphs.

 

Competitive Cycling

Once again, a promising young cyclist has been killed, this time in the UK, where 18-year old national junior champ Aidan Worden was struck by a driver while on a training ride in Lancashire, England.

A writer for Cycling Weekly says maybe we need more unpredictability in pro cycling, and really don’t want the top riders to compete against each other more often.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you need new-age bike accessories, apparently so you can burn sandalwood incense while you meditate while riding. Evidently, French bike riders can fly over the heads of horses and pedestrians.

And please dismount before breaking your neck riding down the stairs to the Bike Hub at the bottom.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Booting bike advocates for advocating for bikes, and mental health eval for driver in 2022 Palm Springs vehicular rampage

We’re now 14 days into LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

……..

No bias here.

A pair of Danville “councilmembers run amok” are trying to kick a pair of bicycle advocates off the city’s Bicycle Advisory Commission, after failing to disband the commission a year earlier.

Apparently for the crime of “annoying” city staffers by trying to advise them on bicycling policy.

Which would seem to be the whole purpose of a bicycle advisory commission, but maybe that’s just me.

According to a columnist for the Mercury-News, Councilmembers Newell Arnerich and Robert Storer are attempting to remove original members Al Kalin and Bruce Bilodeau from the commission, all because they insist on a data-driven approach to bicycle safety,

As opposed to just throwing darts at a map, evidently. Or maybe the esteemed council folk don’t want to know about anything that might adversely the ability of drivers to continue thinning the city’s bicycling herd.

To wit, as columnist Daniel Barenstein puts it,

Kalin and Bilodeau led efforts to identify collision hotspots in Danville and document the very real dangers of posts installed too close together just before street crossings along the Iron Horse Regional Trail, which runs through the town.

It was exactly what the commission was charged with doing when it was directed to, among other things, “assess the conditions, operations, and safety of existing bicycle facilities and non-motorized transportation…”

There’s been a troubling lack of specifics about what Kalin and Bilodeau have done wrong. In a verbal lambasting at a council study session last month, Storer did provide one example, criticizing the study of the poles, also called bollards:

“I don’t care about the sizing of the bollards on the Iron Horse trail,” Storer said. “I care about the (street) crossings on the Iron Horse trail. That’s what we should be looking at.”

Maybe because bollards only protect bicyclists and pedestrians, while a focus on street crossing protects every motorist’s God-given right to go “zoom, zoom” to their hearts content, without having to use that little stoppie pedal thing on the floorboard.

………

Well, no shit, Sherlock.

A sentencing hearing for 30-year old Palm Springs resident Juaquin Mercer Moraga was suspended when his attorney requested a mental health evaluation.

Moraga was convicted last March on three counts of felony assault with a deadly weapon, two counts each of misdemeanor assault and misdemeanor vandalism, and one count each of felony vandalism and misdemeanor battery for a bizarre hours-long series of physical and vehicular attacks on multiple motorists and a man riding a bicycle in 2022.

He attempted to run down the latter head-on, gunning his car from the opposite side of the road and jumping the median at an estimated 60 mph, forcing the man to jump off his bike to avoid getting hit.

All accompanied by shouted non-sequiturs demanding people stop following him or challenging them to fight, telling one driver “you’re not man enough to use a gun.”

According to the trial brief filed by the defense, Moraga was in the throes of paranoid delusions due to major depressive disorder and cannabis use disorder, while suffering from post-traumatic stress.

The evaluation will determine whether Moraga is eligible for a post-conviction diversion to Mental Health Court, as opposed to a pre-trial mental health provision.

It sounds like he should be a shoe-in, under the circumstances.

………

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

A British letter writer pleads for someone to consider the poor, forgotten children instead of wasting money on bike lanes that could be used by those same poor, forgotten children riding their bikes.

Once again, someone has boobytrapped bike paths in a deliberate attempt to injure people riding bicycles, after someone used fence wire to string across multiple pathways near Adelaide, Australia, injuring at least three people and causing extensive damage to their bicycles.

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

Police in Lakewood, Colorado are on the lookout for a bike-born butt slapper, who glides up behind women on an ebike and smacks them on the ass, making him subject to sexual assault charges once they find him.

………

Local  

An Australian man evacuated from last week’s Palisades wildfire on his bicycle along with his 18-month old daughter, stopping on his way out to knock on neighbors doors to warn them about the flames.

 

State

A UC Santa Cruz sociology professor says she found people working to solve problems while riding her bike along the backroads of Kansas.

 

National

A new Congressional bill would require automakers to install automatic emergency braking systems on new vehicles designed to obey speed limits, detect vulnerable road users, and recognize different skin tones and complexions, as well as clothing and protective gear.

New York bicyclists are grumbling about a price hike for the city’s Citi Bike bikeshare service, but most say they’ll continue to use it anyway.

 

International

Bosch wants to deter thieves by enabling you to lock your ebike battery using a smartphone app.

Forty-two people have now been charged with riot-related offenses following the deaths of two Welsh teenagers who crashed the ebike they were riding as they were being followed by the cops, although police insist they weren’t actually pursuing them and didn’t crash into them.

A British PhD candidate examines the role women bicyclists played in the “uphill climb to equality.” Then again, you seldom hear about anyone climbing downhill or across level ground.

A Malaysian website says biking to work in the country isn’t for the faint-hearted, yet a “small but determined group of bike commuters” brave the hazards to embrace the freedom and sustainability of bicycling.

 

Competitive Cycling

Czech carmaker Škoda’s We Love Cycling website highlights the women’s cyclists to watch this year in multiple disciplines, from road cycling to BMX. Although it does seem to be a little light on women from this country.

NBA star Lebron James isn’t the only dad who wants to compete alongside his son, as 42-year old Venezuelan climbing specialist José Rujano came out of retirement to ride the eight-day Vuelta al Táchira stage race next to his son Jeison.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you waste your roadie upgrade funds on pointless weight weenie exotica. And use our chain lube or you, too, could die of cancer.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Protected bike lanes preferred on PCH, road-raging footballers attack bike rider, and Pasadena makes best bike lanes list

Just 57 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

There may be hope for SoCal’s killer highway after all.

At least in Malibu.

According to the Malibu Times, a recent survey conducted by Caltrans showed that protected bike lanes were heavily favored over painted bike lanes by respondents, with one-way lanes on both sides slightly favored over two-way bike lanes.

According to Caltrans rep Ryan Snyder, California’s new law mandating Complete Streets on Caltrans projects requires bike lanes on the full stretch of highway through the ‘Bu.

“SB 960 mandates that we create bike lanes for the entire length of PCH in Malibu.” He said. “In what is often referredto as the 8 to 80 principle, we must adhere to the concept that bike lanes should be safe for any users between the ages of 8 and 80.  We propose that we build buffered/colored and/or protected bike lanes on Las Flores on the mountain side as well as between Las Flores Road and the Malibu Pier area and between the Pier area and the western city limits.”

Respondents preferred a landscaped median to other alternatives, while lane reductions and traffic circles are also under consideration to make space and slow traffic.

Photo shows Los Angeles demonstration demanding protected bike lanes.

………

Evidently, getting cut from the football team following rape accusations wasn’t enough for a former University of Washington football player.

He had to follow it up with a road rage attack on a bicyclist.

In a case we’ve been following since March, the victim was riding his bike home after just learning about the death of his college roommate, when Tylin “Tybo” Rogers and his teammate, Diesel Gordon, began following him in their car, honking and yelling at him for the crime of simply being in front of them on the roadway.

The victim responded, as I probably would have, by flipping them off.

Rogers, who was already facing charges for the rape accusations, and Gordon then tried to hit him with their car, before getting out and chasing the victim down a stairwell.

That portion of the attack was captured on security cam video, which was released by investigators on Friday.

Gordon can be heard calling the victim a homophobic slur, then spits on him several times before Rogers shoves the victim to the ground. Rogers then hits him in the face with enough force to send his glasses flying, which he then stomps on.

Both players have pled guilty to misdemeanor assault — which is a gift under the circumstances.

They each face a maximum of just under a year in county jail, and a lousy $5,000 fine.

Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.

………

People For Bikes ranks the year’s best new bike lanes in the US.

None of which are in Los Angeles, of course.

However, Pasadena’s Union Street two-way protected bike lane comes in at a very respectable #6, which the magazine praises as a “cyclist-friendly corridor (that) connects key destinations and aligns with Pasadena’s commitment to sustainable transportation.”

The new 17th Street complex in Santa Monica was ranked 16th.

Maybe someday, a Los Angeles bike lane will once again make the exclusive list. But today is not that day, my friends

………

It’s now 319 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And a full 41 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

………

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

Seriously? Residents of Queens are fighting a planned 16-mile bike path along the waterfront over fears it will turn the suburban area “into another bustling urban district” and attract scooter-riding bandits, amid the usual cries of “where are we going to put our cars?” I could make a suggestion.

An Ontario, Canada bicyclist says Provincial Premier Doug Fords plans to rip out bike lanes isn’t really about the lanes, it’s about bringing cancel culture to people who live differently from the rest; meanwhile, a Toronto columnist warns that Ford’s proposal is a trap.

A Scottish ebike rider says he suffers from PTSD and is scarred for life after he was run down by a road-raging driver and sent skidding 16 feet across the roadway; the driver was sentenced to a well-deserved 44 months behind bars for using his car as a “weapon.”

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

A British tabloid is appalled by the “shocking” moment a man on a Lime bike crashed into a small boy as he ran across a bike lane to get to a floating bike stop — before acknowledging the bicyclist did try to stop before hitting the kid, who darted out in front of of him.

………

Local  

Culver City’s more conservative government continues to rip out the successful MOVE Culver City protected bike lanes, in an apparent effort to let drivers go “zoom, zoom!” to their heart’s content while returning the roadways to their previous dangerous state.

 

State

Sad news from San Jose, where a man has died 11 years after he was struck by a motorist while riding a bicycle in the city, and placed into long-term care; the victim was not publicly identified, and there’s no word on whether the driver ever faced charges.

Good question. Fast Company asks if San Francisco can’t turn coastal highway into into a linear park, who can?; the proposal to permanently close the 100-year old Great Highway faces a ballot measure Tuesday to keep it open.

A San Raphael lawyer and founder of an ebike advocacy group says he’s all in on ebikes, but there has to be restrictions on throttle-controlled electric motorcycles posing as bicycles.

 

National

Cycling Weekly considers what tomorrow’s presidential election means for bicyclists, before concluding it all really hinges on control of Congress.

A new product pledges to give you realtime bike tire PSI readings as you ride; evidently, a lot of people want it, because the Kickstarter campaign has raised more than $105,000 over the very modest $3,000 goal.

Bicyclists in Portland are calling for greater safety and accountability after two people were killed riding bikes in the same neighborhood on the same day.

Denver bicyclists took over a street to protest the city’s decision to backslide on a previously committed protected bike lane, after business owners protested the loss of a couple hundred parking spaces; the riders demonstrated the need for protection by lining the street with red solo cups marking out a bike lane, which were all run over within minutes.

Once again, a New York motorist has killed a bicyclist while fleeing from the cops, after a minivan driver fled a traffic stop and ran down a man in his 30s a few blocks away; NYPD cops are still looking for the hit-and-run driver.

Chappell Roan is one of us, going for a group ride with friends in New York, sans costume, prior to her Saturday appearance on Saturday Night Live.

How New Yorkers make room for their bikes in cramped apartments with no room for bikes.

Dockless bikeshare and e-scooter provider Lime says it’s ready for an IPO on the NYSE, once market conditions improve.

A 22-year old Florida man is back behind bars for stalking and shooting at a man driving away from a convenience store, just nine months after he was released on probation after killing another man in an argument over a bicycle when he was 17.

 

International

Bike Radar asks mountain bike brands why so many are getting into the gravel bike business. Short answer, because that’s where the money is. Longer answer, it’s the fastest growing category in the bicycle industry.

The Guardian’s Peter Walker says yes, speeding ebike riders are a menace, but the solution isn’t to kick bicycles into the roadway, as Birmingham, England considers banning all bicycles from the city’s pedestrianized streets — especially when the real problem is illegally souped-up ebikes belonging to food couriers.

A new UK government study shows that after taking a bicycle awareness course, driving instructors are less likely to believe that bike riders are “nuisances,” or that collisions are usually the bicyclist’s fault.

A Czech driver faces up to five years behind bars for allegedly fleeing the scene after running down a 42-year old man riding a bicycle, before returning to collect evidence of the crash, including the victim’s mangled bike wheel.

In this country, distracted drivers face a lousy ticket for using their phone behind the wheel; in Japan, distracted bike riders could face jail time for simply scrolling while pedaling. And don’t even think about biking under the influence, which could net you up to three years behind bars.

 

Finally…

Your next e-mountain bike won’t be a Yamaha, after all. American hit-and-run drivers often claim they hit a dog or a deer; Down Under, they claim it’s a kangaroo.

And mounting your exercise bike on a scooter does not a roadworthy vehicle make.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin

LA considers easing bollard applications to protect buildings — oh, and us, too; and bike-riding boy bitten by OC coyote

Just 67 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

Photo from the World Bollard Association Twitter/X account.

………

About damn time.

The Los Angeles City Council took the first of many steps that will be needed to fulfill the promise of a carfree 2028 Olympics, advancing a proposal to fast-track applications for bollards to protect us from motor vehicles.

Or maybe not.

According to My News LA,

“Vehicle ramming attacks, where a perpetrator deliberately rams a vehicle into pedestrians or buildings, have been increasing around the world in recent years,” the motion reads. “With the city hosting major international events in the next few years … the city should look at ways to safeguard residents and visitors from these types of attacks.”

So, the plan is actually to protect buildings and pedestrians from vehicular terrorists, rather than the more pedestrian form of terrorism we face from the people in the big, deadly machines on a daily basis.

But wait, there’s more.

In addition to safety at events like the 2028 Olympic Games, bollards could also enhance protection for bike lanes across the city.

At least we’re an afterthought, anyway.

………

As if loose dogs aren’t a big enough danger to people on bicycles, a ten-year old kid was bitten by a coyote while riding his bike in Irvine Tuesday morning.

Fortunately, the boy wasn’t seriously injured.

But there’s always a danger of rabies or other canine diseases with a bite like that from a wild animal, so let’s hope he’s okay.

………

A Calbike guest post from the executive director of dblTilde CORE, Inc discusses the results of the 50+ Cycling survey they conducted in partnership with the Mineta Transportation Institute.

Not surprisingly, it pretty much shows what you might expect.

Mobility habits naturally evolve with age. These habits can be described as a bell curve that follows childhood to adulthood to the third stage of life, going from dependent mobility to independent mobility and back. Many older adults eventually stop driving due to physical or cognitive changes. In fact, AARP data indicates that while 80% of people over 65 are still driving, this number drops sharply to 35% by age 80.

The 50+ Cycling Survey shows that cycling remains an attractive option for those looking to stay active and independently mobile. For many older adults, cycling can be a key mode of transportation for independent mobility, so they don’t have to rely on others or public transportation.

You can take this year’s survey here.

………

Sounds like you won’t want to miss this week’s Bike Talk.

………

And you definitely won’t want to miss North OC Bikes monthly family friendly bike ride tomorrow night.

………

It’s now 309 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And a full 40 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

………

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

Hundreds of Toronto bike riders turned out to protest proposed legislation that would give the conservative provincial government veto power over all new bike lanes, allowing their installation “only where it makes sense.”

………

Local  

The Los Angeles Times recommends riding a bicycle to Dodger Stadium and locking up at one of the stadiums numerous bike racks for tomorrow’s first game of the World Series, as part of their five ways to avoid parking and traffic headaches — as long as you’re willing to ride up some hills.

Streets For All calls on the National Cemetery Administration to reopen Constitution Ave through Westwood’s Los Angeles National Cemetery, which has been closed since the 9/11 attacks — apparently out of the well-founded fear of walking or bicycling terrorists attacking the thousands of dead service people buried there. You have until next Monday to get your comments in.

This is who we share the road with. After a homeless man was killed by an alleged drunk driver near the Santa Monica Pier last week, the Santa Monica Daily Press says it reflects the growing trend of traffic violence in the LA Area.

 

State

Coronado is moving forward with their own ebike regulations, including barring kids under 12 from riding them.

A Carpenteria letter writer says organizers of the “the Ride Santa Barbara bike race” — note the key word “ride,” not race — left an “insane” amount of colored stickers and spray-painted arrows on the street near his house, wondering why that’s not vandalism. Um, maybe because they had a permit, and it should eventually go away with weather and wear. 

 

National

A Ukrainian couple went from a happy life in Kyiv to living with their kids and running a bike shop in Boulder, Colorado after the Russians invaded.

No surprise here, either. A new study from Cambridge, Massachusetts shows bicycling use soars after the installation of a physically separated bike lane.

Police in New York are on the lookout for burglary suspects who killed a woman riding a bicycle while fleeing from cops who tried to pull them over; the three suspects fled on foot after slamming into the woman, who was described as an avid cyclist. Yet one more example of the dangers of police chases to innocent people. 

New York officials finalized plans for a $2 million ebike trade-in program to get dangerous lithium-ion ebike batteries off the streets.

Nice program from Louisiana’s Iberia Parish, where officials are calling for bicycle donations for victims of domestic violence, in a city with no public transportation options.

 

International

Momentum highlights seven “stunning” national bike trails, ranging from Europe to Asia and the Middle East, with a stop in the US for the Great American Rail-Trail.

Researchers from the University of Toronto are using machine learning to optimize the placement of bike lanes, discovering that optimizing for equity results in a more spread out map, with less concentration in the downtown area.

Scottish bicyclists are calling for improvements to a narrow, “unsafe, unacceptable” shared-use path — which is nothing more than a striped highway shoulder —  over fears strong winds could blow riders into high speed traffic.

 

Finally…

That feeling when your brand new pro bike ends up 50 feet down a cliff. And always wear a hoodie emblazoned with “Crooks” when you steal an ebike, so cops have an easier time identifying you afterward.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin

Multiple drivers accused of intentionally running down bike riders; Congress looks at why bigass vehicles are killing us

Just 196 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025..

………

Happy Juneteenth! 

My apologies for yesterday’s unexcused absence. Even though the situation is getting better, I’m still ending my days exhausted after caring for my wife and the corgi, while still dealing with my own injuries.

And Tuesday night it just got the better of me. 

………

Apparently, they really are out to get us.

Video captured a truck driver appearing to intentionally run down pair of Texas bicyclists from behind, before fleeing the scene, running over one of the bikes — and possibly one of the victims — in the process. Thankfully, a still photo shows the driver being led away in handcuffs by police.

Thanks to TacoTheCat for the heads-up.

Meanwhile, a bike rider in Hamilton, Ontario is urging police to charge a road-raging driver who appeared to intentionally crash into him, breaking his pelvis; the driver conducted a punishment pass with his pickup and trailer, after approaching from behind honking and swearing — then swerved his trailer into the victim, knocking him off his bike. He later found video the driver allegedly posted online showing him following and swearing at other riders.

And police in the UK are looking for a driver who filmed himself deliberately running down an ebike rider before fleeing the scene, leaving the victim with serious, but not life threatening injuries.

………

About damn time.

Streetsblog is reporting that the Government Accountability Office, aka the investigative arm of Congress, has launched exactly that into the question of why today’s massive motor vehicles kill so many bicyclists and pedestrians.

Hey, it’s Congress. Nothing is obvious to them these days.

The ever-growing stain our national reputation is partially attributable to our ever-growing cars, trucks and SUVs, some experts argue. Between 1993 and 2023, the average vehicle on U.S. roads swelled by 1,000 pounds, while simultaneously getting four inches wider, 10 inches longer and eight inches taller — bloat that’s driven by the increasing sales of pick-up trucks and SUVs.

That’s enough to bring the hoods of America’s best-selling cars, like the Ford F-series pick-ups, up to chest level for many adults, all but guaranteeing crashes that cause to vital organs rather than the legs, which are more survivable. The swelling size of the U.S. fleet has also increased the size of blind zones so much that drivers often can’t even see long lines of children right in front of them, and made it far more likely for pedestrians to be pulled under the wheels rather than pushed up onto the hood, where they’re less likely to be killed.

Let’s hope they get to the bottom of it, and discover what’s behind this perplexing — to government officials, anyway — jump in traffic deaths.

And actually do something about it for a change.

………

The great bike helmet debate goes on, fueled by celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay’s call to wear one following his bicycling crash, which somehow angered a lot of people.

However, it didn’t anger a bike-riding UK writer who insisted Ramsay was right, while expressing her astonishment at “reckless cyclists without helmets,” who she argues can be more threatening that people in cars.

No, really.

………

Streets For All says they’ll be at Sunday’s South LA CicLAvia, with a booth at the Exposition Blvd Hub. Which just happens to be located right next to the Expo/Western Metro Station on the E (nee Expo) Line.

………

It’s now 180 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And three full years since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

Meanwhile, a whistleblower has filed complaints with the San Diego Association of Governments, aka SANDAG and the California Air Resources Board, aka CARB, alleging that the CEO of San Diego nonprofit Pedal Ahead faked data for the ebike distribution program and mixed the program with his private businesses.

Pedal Ahead is the organization that has been selected by CARB to operate California’s moribund ebike voucher program — which is now likely to be dead in the water until the state can claw back its funding, and find someone else to run the damn thing.

And a Mastodon user writes that demand is high for Atlanta’s ebike voucher program, with 1% of city residents applying. But says infrastructure has to catch up. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up. 

………

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

This is what people who call for licensing bicyclists are really asking for. And why.

Residents of a wealthy Sydney, Australia suburb have filed a civil right complaint alleging that a proposed new bike lane somehow infringes on theirs.

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

Ventura police arrested a 13-year old boy accused of being just one of a number of “disruptive” teens on ebikes, who allegedly stomped a homeless woman, threw rocks at another woman, and spit on people they passed; however, the rest managed to get away.

………

Local 

Work has finally begun on the long-discussed and much needed makeover of Hollywood Blvd, with the first phase being implemented Gower Street and Lyman Place.

City, county and state leaders unveiled plans to improve LA’s massive Sepulveda Basin, including connecting already existing segments of the LA River bike path on either side of the park.

West Hollywood is cracking down on e-bikeshare and e-scooter users who violate the city’s rules.

The documentary about LA’s killer highway, 21 Miles in Malibu — which just happens to be the exact length of PCH through the coastal city — won three Silver Telly Awards at the prestigious 45th Annual Telly Awards; the film was produced by Michel Shane, whose 13-year old daughter was killed by a motorist on the highway in 2010.

Santa Monica police are conducting yet another bike and pedestrian safety operation, this time lasting this entire week, ticketing any traffic violations that could endanger either group, regardless of who commits them. As usual, ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limit for the rest of this week, so you’re not the one who gets written up.

 

State

Streetsblog’s Melanie Curry updates the progress of traffic safety bills in the state legislature, including a much-needed speed cam pilot program on PCH in Malibu (SB 1297), the ever-shrinking requirement for a warning device to notify drivers when they exceed the speed limit (SB 961) — which started out mandating speed limitation devices to keep drivers from going more than 10 mph over the speed limit — and a bill to redefine ebikes and require only EU or UL certified batteries (SB 1271). Although the latter bill would be a lot stronger if it simply reclassified all throttle-controlled ebikes as electric motorcycles. 

Palo Alto approved plans for protected bike lanes along El Camino Real, along with narrower traffic lanes and restrictions on right turns, overcoming months of opposition.

 

National

Once again, bike riders are heroes, after people participating in an ebike tour in Yavapai County, Arizona rescued a woman who had driven her car off a 20-foot embankment.

A Phoenix, Arizona man has been charged with 2nd degree murder for killing a bicyclist in a hit-and-run as he fled a domestic violence situation.

A boy in New Mexico got his custom lowrider bicycle back just in time for his 12th birthday, after it was stolen from a museum lowrider exhibit.

Convicted murderer Kaitlin Armstrong has been ordered to pay the family of her victim, gravel champ Moriah “Mo” Wilson, $15 million as judgment in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by her parents seeking a more modest $1 million; Armstrong murdered Wilson in Austin, Texas two years ago over a perceived love triangle with pro cyclist Colin Strickland. But good luck seeing any of the money while Armstrong serves her 90-year sentence — and won’t even be eligible for parole until she’s 67.

Chicago bike riders rejoiced as news broke that a driver had been towed for parking in a bike lane.

This is the cost of traffic violence. A retired Minnesota police chief was killed when he was run down by a semi driver while riding his bicycle; the truck driver doesn’t appear to have been charged.

Mauritanian refugees are fixing bicycles in an Ohio city while they wait to learn whether they will be allowed to stay in the US.

Tragic news from Pennsylvania, where a man was found dead after riding his bicycle into downed power lines on a trail.

Leaders of a Black church in DC are demanding changes to a new protected bike lane, alleging the bike lane barriers block access for older parishioners and members with disabilities.

 

International

An editor for Cyclist says stop complaining about the high cost of bicycles, even as the price for high-end ebikes continues to climb.

Momentum lists the world’s top ten bicycling destinations. None of which are Los Angeles. Or in the US, even. 

That’s more like it. Toronto has a page on the city website explaining why licensing bicyclists doesn’t work.

That’s more like it, part two. The city council in Colchester, England has ordered traffic officers to stop ticketing people riding bikes through the city center, after they were accused of running amok by threatening to fine people who were actually riding legally.

A BBC presenter settled a defamation case filed by broadcaster and cycling advocate Jeremy Vine for the equivalent of over $95,000 for calling Vine a “big bike nonce” and a “paedo defender.”

The New York Times goes for a bike ride along France’s three-century old The Canal du Midi through the scenic Occitanie region.

 

Competitive Cycling

Outside examines how Durango, Colorado’s Sepp Kuss became cycling’s “chillest champion.”

 

Finally…

Los Angeles can take pride in being America’s 5th best city to bike in the nude. And the next time someone complains that no one is using the new bike lanes, show them this.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin

Guilty verdict in bizarre Palm Springs attacks, South Pas rips out safer streets, and new CicLAvia summer event maps

Just 277 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we face walking and biking on the mean streets of LA.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.

We’re now up to 1,029 signatures, so keep it going! Urge everyone you know to sign the petition, until the mayor agrees to meet with us! 

Photo by Sora Shimazaki from Pexels.

………

A 29-year old Palm Springs man was convicted on nearly a dozen charges for a bizarre series of attacks against other motorists and a bike rider.

Including forcing a man to jump off his bicycle to avoid getting run over when the seemingly maniacal driver suddenly hit the gas and jumped the median, aiming directly at victim at an estimated 60 mph.

Juaquin Mercer Moraga was found guilty of three counts of felony assault with a deadly weapon, two counts each of misdemeanor assault and misdemeanor vandalism, and one count each of felony vandalism and misdemeanor battery, after less than a day of deliberation.

The defense argued that Moraga was suffering from paranoid delusions at the time of the attacks, as a result of “major depressive disorder,” “cannabis use disorder” and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Which the jury clearly didn’t buy.

………

It’s now 100 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 33 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

………

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

Austin, Texas claims it’s cracking down on people illegally parking in bike lanes. Although it’s hard to call it a crackdown when they’ve cited an average of less than two people a day.

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

London’s Daily Mail reports on “amazing videos” depicting “exploding” rider-on-ride road rage. Which amounts to a motorcyclist gently criticizing bicyclists for riding through a red light, and a trailing bicyclist berating another bike rider for not undertaking a large truck.

………

Local 

Los Angeles Public Press has more on Metro’s decision to give ride-hailing service Lyft the heave-ho, and keep the Metro Bike bikeshare program’s union-managed operating system in place, at least for now.

The LAFD used a hoist to airlift a 19-year old man out of a remote area in Tujunga Tuesday, after he suffered an arm injury while mountain biking.

Los Angeles County will hold a virtual public meeting April 16th to discuss the county’s Bicycle Master Plan.

 

State

Following the death of her friend on a Berkeley street last month, a writer for Cal Matters calls for safer streets through the passage of a pair of Senate bills, which would force Caltrans to adhere to its own Complete Streets policies, and require speed governors to limit the ability of drivers to exceed the posted speed limit by more than 10 mph.

San Francisco marked ten years of the city’s failed Vision Zero program, as the city doubles down despite rising rates of traffic deaths, and city officials pinky swear to do better.

Oakland is down to the last five days for public input on proposals to redesign one of the city’s most dangerous streets by reconfiguring traffic lanes and auditing bike paths. Just please, please, please don’t put the bike paths in the middle of the damn roadway. No, seriously.

 

National

CBS News reports traffic deaths are spiking in the US, despite billions spent on improving safety. Except the $2.4 billion they’re talking about doesn’t go very far when spread among all the cities and states in the US, and doesn’t do a damn thing to reduce the size of SUVs, or get drivers to put down their phones and stop speeding. 

E! Online rates the best bikes and kick scooters for your little kids. Or grandkids. Or whatever.

Good Housekeeping recommends gifts for mountain bikers, triathletes and casual bike riders to put in your Easter, Passover or Ramadan basket this year. 

A 76-year old Oregon man says goodbye to his trusted and rusted J.C. Higgins bike, which was originally purchased from Sears three years before he was born.

Oregon’s bicycle tax, the only statewide bike tax in the US, reflects a significant bike boom in 2022, followed by a moderate bust back to pre-pandemic levels for 2023.

Rounding out today’s Oregon trifecta, federal funds from the 2020 Great American Outdoor Act will pay for new dirt on a “stomach-churning” singletrack trail along a cliff in the Columbia River Gorge.

Colorado’s $450 ebike rebate program kicks off on Tuesday, even though only 24 bike shops in the entire state are participating, after being told they could wait over a year to be reimbursed. Although something tells me the odds are somewhere north of 100% that California’s $750 ebike voucher plan will take even longer — if it ever launches.

Telugu actor Naveen Polishetty is one of us, after breaking his arm recently while riding in Dallas.

An Indiana city repealed its bike licensing law, a registration requirement so old, hardly anyone knew it existed.

Streetsblog considers the disaster on Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, questioning why we treat major transportation tragedies with so much urgency, while ignoring “our collective car crash epidemic” with over ten times the number of victims on the bridge dying as a result of traffic violence in the US every day.

A South Carolina traffic engineer says he’s not ready to tell his peers he represents one of the safest biking towns in the US, when the city’s new bike lanes are just a thin painted strip in the middle of the roadway.

 

International

Gaza’s paracycling team has turned to delivering more then $70,000 in aid, after their dreams of competing in Paris were shattered by the war with Israel.

Velo visits a Giant factory in Taiwan to see how normal-sized carbon fiber bikes are made.

 

Competitive Cycling

Olympic favorite Wout Van Aert faces an uncertain schedule to return to the peloton after surgery to repair multiple fractures, following his high speed crash in the Dwars door Vlaanderen on Wednesday; he could miss May’s Giro d’Italia, as well as the spring classics.

Velo offers the “ultimate guide” to the upcoming gravel racing season.

 

Finally…

Iron Man’s ebike is a Porsche. Many drivers may act childish, but not many actually are one.

And someone’s taking vehicular cycling just a tad too far.

https://twitter.com/motorisms/status/1773566868684505246

……..

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin

Santa Monica cops cool with vehicular assault, opponents misrepresent HLA, and group rides offer up close view of LA

Just 319 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we face walking and biking on the mean streets of LA.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can. Just 55 signatures to go to reach 1,000!

………

I’ll be off for President’s Day on Monday, but we’ll have a guest post from Cal Poly Pomona history professor John Lloyd critiquing the new bill that would impose an online test and permit before anyone without a driver’s license can buy or ride any type of ebike or e-scooter, and ban kids under 12 from riding them. 

Meanwhile, Calbike doesn’t like the damn bill either, saying it “would create an unnecessary new bureaucracy and mostly harm youth of color in California while not taking the steps necessary to make our streets safer for all users.”

………

What happens when you get threatened with a motor vehicle in Santa Monica?

Apparently nothing.

Even if you catch it on video.

In this case, Twitter/X user Mobility For Who reacted to a driver attempting to run a stop sign with a polite “Whoa, buddy!”

The driver naturally responded politely in kind.

Yeah, no. The driver responded with an angry honk as the bike passed in front of him, then revved his engine and squealed his tires in what can only be interpreted as a threat, which had the intended effect of scaring the hell out of Mobility For Who.

Unless you’re a Santa Monica cop, that is.

In that case, they try to blame the victim for using a handheld phone — which isn’t illegal, even if it was true. Also for running the stop sign, which again wasn’t true.

And while the cop was correct that road rage itself isn’t against the law, the actions resulting from it often are. Even just exiting your vehicle to approach another road user is prima facie evidence of assault, according to an LAPD officer.

In this case, what you see on the video is, at a minimum, a misdemeanor case of assault with a deadly weapon — which means threatening someone, rather than actually making contact.

As others pointed out on Twitter/X in response to these posts, had this occurred in Los Angeles, it would have made a good case under the city’s cyclist anti-harassment ordinance.

But not in Santa Monica, or anywhere else in Los Angeles County.

I’ve met with the police chief in Santa Monica, along with representatives of BikeLA Neighborhood Chapter Santa Monica Spoke, to address the department’s lack of enforcement to protect bicyclists and other vulnerable road users.

And left with promises they’d look into it, and ensure the law was enforced fairly against dangerous, aggressive and/or threatening drivers.

But that was four chiefs ago, as the department’s revolving door on the top floor has prevented any continuity or progress in protecting the rights and safety of vulnerable road users. And allowing street level officers to regress in their commitment to protect bike riders and pedestrians, instead of the current policy of just enforcing laws against them.

I encouraged Mobility For Who to meet with the current chief, whoever that may be now, to press their case — if not for this case, then for the next person it happens to.

And yes, I do know the current chief is Ramon Batista.

For now, anyway.

But that’s the problem. Whatever progress we might make by taking our concerns up with the chief would only last as long as he does in that role. And if past history is any indication, you might be better off buying ripe bananas than counting on the Santa Monica Police Chief to stick around.

It’s a problem that will have to be addressed with, and by, city leadership, who can require the department to better protect people walking and on bikes.

Or more likely, the inevitable lawsuit that will come from their failure to do anything.

………

The Healthy Streets LA ballot measure continues to make news.

A rally in support of Measure HLA, as it is referred to on election ballots, brought out four of the six City Councilmembers in favor of the measure to encourage voters to mark yes on their ballots.

According to Streetsblog’s Joe Linton,

Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez spoke movingly of meeting a 29-year-old man who had barely survived a car crash. The victim’s mother told Hernandez that “before, he was very active – he would ride his bike everywhere.” When Hernandez met him, “he was in a bed in a hospital, having been there for months already… he got hit while he was riding his bike…”

Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez spoke of the urgency of passing Measure HLA. “These High Injury Network streets happen to be in the most poor areas of our city – the ones that have historically been redlined – and it’s mostly working class people that are biking, walking or taking public transit… who are being killed every single day,” he said.

Both Councilmembers Nithya Raman and Katy Yaroslavsky spoke of their fears as mothers of young children, and how scary it is to cross unsafe streets just to walk their kids to school.

Raman drew attention to the need for Mobility Plan improvements to be implemented citywide, “in a way that is connected, that enables people to get out of their cars.” She concluded by calling Measure HLA “smart public safety-oriented policy-making.”

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles firefighters union held their own event to oppose Measure HLA, while demonstrating both their lack of understanding of mobility issues, as well as an inherent windshield bias and commitment to car culture.

Take this quote from California Professional Firefighters President Brian Rice, who Linton says was repeatedly dismissive of bicycles and transit, in addition to displaying his own misinformed conservative political bias.

“I hate to tell you men and women, California – and Los Angeles in particular – this is a car community. You may not like it,” Rice declared, “but it is.” Rice derisively asked, “Do you really think you’re going to see buses go faster than 12 miles an hour?”

Rice declared that “a small group of elite… Democratic Socialists” are behind Measure HLA…

However, many of the people behind the measure are far from elite. And while I suspect most probably are Democrats, given the political makeup of LA County, none have cited Marx, Che Guevara or Mao in any of their conversations with me.

But I digress.

Rice concluded his remarks emphasizing fiscal issues that firefighters don’t lead with, but which appears to be among their core concerns: spending money making streets safer competes with more resources going to firefighting.

The city released a misleading cost estimate for Measure HLA implementation: $250 million annually. (Safe streets advocates can only wish that HLA gradual implementation could ever result in that kind of annual investment. Measure HLA proponents estimate annual costs to be more like one tenth of the city’s estimate.) The city estimate rolls in some non-HLA costs, including the cost of the city’s annual street repaving program which already has been and will continue to be in the city budget, regardless of HLA. It also inflates per-mile bikeway and bus lane cost estimates well above what the city currently spends.

Nope. No bias there.

A writer for LA Progressive also takes a very non-progressive stand, saying he’ll vote against the measure because it “ignores two essential criteria that bicycling on LA’s streets must be safe and bicycle paths and lanes must directly connect to each other.”

Except that’s exactly what LA’s mobility plan, and by extension, Measure HLA, does.

Former LA City Planner Dick Platkin adds that HLA offers a “deceptively simple way to solve LA’s traffic congestion, just switch from cars to bicycling and walking.”

Even though it does no such thing, since the mobility plan is based on the assumption that most Angelenos will continue to drive, while offering safe alternatives to those would prefer other options.

He goes on to site Councilmember Traci Park, one of the city’s least progressive councilmembers.

And repeats the city’s extreme $2 billion cost estimate, which Linton explained above includes inflated figures, as well as the city’s entire resurfacing budget, which it is already committed to and HLA has no bearing on.

HLA would only add the cost of paint and any additional barriers, along with the basic design costs for each street restriping.

So maybe Platkin should try writing for a less progressing site.

Oh wait, he did.

Never mind that it was the previous LA city planners and engineers who got us into this car-centric mess to begin with.

………

Nice piece from freelance writer Michael Charboneau for the LA Times The Wild newsletter, introducing four group rides offering an up close and personal view of the City of Angels.

He nails his introduction, kicking it off this way.

Riding a bike in Los Angeles is an act of defiance — against car culture, against endless sprawl, against bike lanes that disappear without warning and against gaping potholes. But on the best days, riding a bike is a pure joy. And I’ve found that you can get even more out of those moments with this one easy trick: Ride your bike with other people.

………

Calbike will host a webinar on March 6th to discuss the state bike advocacy group’s campaign to demand Complete Streets on Caltrans Corridors.

Speakers: Senator Scott Wiener; Kendra Ramsey (CalBike); Jeanie Ward-Waller (Fearless Advocacy); Laura Tolkoff (SPUR); Sandhya Laddha (Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition).

Please join us to learn more about our statewide campaign for Complete Streets and Complete Corridors on Caltrans’ State Highway System. Our joint campaign is bolstered by SB 960, authored by Senator Scott Wiener, which will require Caltrans to implement safe streets for people biking, walking, and using transit. Along with the senator joining us, we will also have state and local experts demonstrating the path needed for Complete Streets and Complete Corridors on Caltrans’ roads that run through your community.

………

CicLAvia will kick off their 2024 season this evening with the release of Los Angeles Ale Works seek-la-VEE-ah West Coast IPA, after it was rained out last week.

(Did I hear someone say “Oh please, not another IPA!”? Or was that just me?)

The free event will be held in conjunction with the Ivy Station Night Market, featuring food trucks, music, games, local vendors and kid-friendly activities.

It comes just over a week before the year’s first CicLAvia a week from Sunday on Melrose Ave between Fairfax and Vermont.

In addition to the usual two-wheeled frivolity, I’m told we can expect the first-ever CicLAvia corgi parade, though the time and location are still TBD.

………

It’s now 57 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 31 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

………

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

No bias here. The president of a San Francisco merchant’s association offers an alternative to the “well-intentioned, but ill-conceived” Valencia Street bike lane, while offering a gratuitous slap at bike advocates, saying “diehard bike advocates can come across as a little sanctimonious and zealous,” even though “they’re doing the Lord’s work.”

Planetizen correctly says New Jersey’s proposed requirement for liability insurance for low-speed ebikes would have a chilling effect on micromobility, effectively halting any transition away from cars.

No bias here, either. A writer for the London Telegraph says bicyclists are the rudest, most entitled people in the UK today, with Lycra-clad boors giving off “an almost palpable air of smug self-satisfaction, even as they make life miserable for fellow road users.” Just wait until someone tells her about drivers. However, you’ll have to either subscribe to the paper or sign up for a free trial if you want to read the damn screed. 

English authorities have launched a murder investigation following the hit-and-run death of a man riding a bicycle, after reports that he was also assaulted by an occupant of the vehicle, either before or after the crash.

A Singapore driver pled guilty to committing a rash act to endanger the personal safety of others, despite claiming she tried to de-escalate a confrontation with a road-raging bike-riding woman several times.

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

And no bias here, either. A 12-year old boy on an ebike somehow collided with a 66-year old Key Biscayne, Florida woman riding a bicycle in the opposite direction, killing the older woman. So local officials immediately called an emergency meeting to ban ebikes and e-scooters, ignoring 1) the crash was caused by one or more people riding where they shouldn’t have in the middle of the street, and 2) the tragic results might not have been any different if both were on non-electric bikes.

………

Local 

Jacobin looks at the LA bikeshare worker’s opposition to the proposed takeover of the Metro Bike operations by Lyft.

LAist offers an overview of the Pasadena city council election.

 

State

A new bill in the state legislature would ensure that all California bridges will remain toll-free for bike riders and pedestrians.

Costa Mesa has received $7.4 million in grants from the Orange County Transportation Authority, aka OCTA, to “create three interconnected, separated bike lanes as part of a major expansion of the City’s bicycle network.”

A Novato driver was busted on felony hit-and-run and driving under the influence of prescribed medication after he ran down two 15-year old boys as they rode their bicycles, followed by crashing into a pickup a block away; fortunately, everyone is expected to survive their injuries.

 

National

The Consumer Products Safety Commission has ordered a recall of Bell Soquel Youth Helmets due to risk of injury resulting from a balky strap.

Portland bike advocates want to change the narrative after bicycling rates rebounded slightly, following last year’s precipitous drop.

Oregon has their own ebike bills under consideration, including one opposed by Portland’s The Street Trust that would create California-style ebike classifications, and legalize ebikes for kids under 15, while banning throttle-controlled ebikes for the same age group.

Denver is down to just four bike messengers for the entire city, including one world champ.

A potential new helmet padding design developed at the University of Colorado could absorb as much as 25% more impact than existing foams, improving protection from bicycle helmets, as well as other types of helmets.

Kindhearted Texas cops bought a new bike for a local boy after his was destroyed by a hit-and-run driver.

New York celebrated a full decade of Vision Zero, despite just a 12% reduction in overall traffic fatalities and a record number of bicycling fatalities last year.

That’s more like it. A Mississippi man will spend 12 years behind bars after pleading guilty to the DUI death of a Tupelo bike rider.

 

International

Bicycling says bike riders in Nuevo León, Mexico are fighting to take back their streets, following two decades of drug cartel violence. As usual, read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you.

The first woman to win the 3,000-mile Race Across America has been disinvited to speak at an Ottawa, Canada Women’s Day event because she served in the Israeli Defense Force 30 years ago.

Canada’s bicycling minister says he didn’t mean what he said when he said the country will stop funding large highway projects. Or so he says.

A new report says Croydon is failing bicyclists and pedestrians, as the only London borough not seeking funding for greater bicycle infrastructure and bus priority lanes. Their semi-pro football, aka soccer, team kinda sucks, too.

The CEO of British foldie maker Brompton answers questions for Cycling Weekly, saying “People see us as a little, quirky, odd bike.” Which is exactly how most people view them.

 

Competitive Cycling

American Magnus Sheffield says he’s “incredibly lucky to be alive” after crashing on the same descent that killed Swiss cyclist Gino Mäder in last June’s Tour de Suisse, adding it’s a reminder of how fragile life can be. Amen.

A Guyana bike race celebrates the country’s “rich history of bicycling excellence.”

 

Finally…

That feeling when something gets lost in translation between Dutch bike infrastructure and Chorlton-Cum-Hardy. Or when a bike needs a new forever home after its owner dies.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin