Tag Archive for Vista del Mar

Two more innocent victims on Deadly del Mar, and 81-year old dies 2 weeks after OC teen on illegal e-moto crashed into him

May 4, 2026 / / No comments

Deadly del Mar just got deadlier.

Just four miles long, Playa del Rey’s Vista del Mar is, mile for mile, one of the deadliest streets in Los Angeles; according to the Washington Post, eight people have lost their lives on the beachfront street in the past ten years — a fatality rate nearly equal to the death toll on PCH on a per-mile basis.

Or maybe even worse now, after a 25-year old man and a 1-year old child were killed in a head-on hit-and-run collision early Sunday morning.

A woman was also hospitalized in critical condition, while another man was taken to the hospital with unknown injuries. KABC-7 identifies them as the father and aunt of the one-year old child.

The crash occurred at 4:34 am near the intersection of Vista del Mar and Culver Blvd, when a southbound vehicle crossed into the northbound lane and struck the other vehicle head-on.

The driver of a white Jeep fled on foot, as the victims in the other car can be heard in an apparent Ring video screaming in shock and pain.

If the street sounds familiar, it’s because it received lane reductions in 2017 to slow traffic and improve safety after a 16-year old girl was killed crossing the street — only to be ripped out when then-LA Mayor Eric Garcetti caved to angry pass-through commuters and shock jock radio hosts, who blamed the nonexistent bike lanes.

Since then, the death toll has continued to mount. Now you can add two more innocent victims, who were just on their way home to Van Nuys after a night at the beach.

………

This is who we share the road with.

Heartbreaking news from Orange County, where 81-year old Vietnam vet Ed Ashman died Thursday, two weeks after he was struck by a 14-year old boy who was popping wheelies on an electric motor bike in the middle of a Lake Forest street.

The next day, the Orange County DA’s office upgraded charges against the boy’s mother, Tommi Jo Mejer, to involuntary manslaughter. 

She had originally been charged with child endangerment and accessory, because she had been warned that the bike required a license, the kid was too young to legally ride it, and he was doing so in a dangerous manner.

And she faced criminal charges if she kept letting her son ride it, which was 16-times more powerful than a standard ebike.

Now elderly man is dead, and a mom faces up to four years behind bars.

No word on whether the kid will face charges, too.

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A Los Angeles LGBT newspaper highlights the $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the hit-and-run driver who killed a bike rider in LA’s Jefferson Park neighborhood last month.

The reward is part of the city’s standing reward program for hit-and-runs, ranging from $1,000 for simple property damage, to $25,000 for hit-and-runs resulting in serious injuries and $50,000 for fatal crashes.

The victim in the crash was identified Saturday as 37-year old Melvin Salgado.

The only description of the suspect vehicle is still just a dark-colored Jeep Wrangler, with no model year given.

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Metro Bike is holding a free Bike Month drawing for one-year bikeshare pass and swag, as well as offering free rides on Bike Day May 21st.

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

No bias here. The London Times says that despite recent panicked stories that 1,300 bike riders were caught jumping red lights in the city last year — an average of 3.5 a day — drivers get caught running red lights an average of 380 times a day.

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

Um, no. A British Columbia letter writer and 60-year bicyclist says there’s no shortage of bad drivers and bad bicyclists, but there’s more of the latter, since drivers have to pass a test. Except studies have shown both break the law in equal measure, but most drivers break the law for convenience while most bike riders break the law out of perceived safety — and drivers who do pose a far greater risk to others. 

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Local 

Los Angeles is preparing to toss out the baby with the bath water, as the city council instructed the city attorney to draft an ordinance banning ebikes from the city’s outdoor trails, restricting legal Class 1, 2 and ped-assist bikes along with somewhat less-legal e-motos and dirt bikes, like the one the 14-year old in Orange County was riding.

Streets For All wants to know why it costs $10,000 to install two curb cuts in Beverly Hills, $15,000 for Caltrans — and $50,000 to do the exact same thing using the same materials in Los Angeles.

Hundreds of runners took part in Saturday’s Finish the Run in Griffith Park in honor of Regan Cole Graham and her unborn baby daughter Ophelia, both killed by an elderly driver while biking in Playa del Rey, just blocks from where yesterday’s victims were killed; several hundred bicyclists were expected to take part in yesterday’s Finish the Ride in their honor, as well.

The owner of Boyle Height’s Esquina Bicycle Shop is volunteering his time and skills, along with other volunteers, to refurbish nearly 280 bicycles abandoned in the basement of LA’s long-shuttered General Hospital, giving away 45 bikes to mark last month’s Earth Day. Read it on Yahoo if the paper blocks you. 

BikeLA, Los Angeles Walks and Sunset For All are teaming with LADOT and Metro Bike to host a bike ride to Clockshop’s Kite Festival at LA State Historic Park on Saturday.

The West Hollywood City Council will vote today on hosting July’s Meet the Hollywoods CicLAvia, which apparently isn’t a done deal yet. So show up at the 6 pm council meeting or contact your councilmember before then to urge them to sign off on it. 

The Signal highlights the Santa Clarita bike trails, as well as the city’s new. bike park, saying they offer a variety of terrain for every type of rider.

Santa Monica kicked off Bike Month by deploying California’s first AI-powered cams to enforce illegal parking in bike lanes, which will be mounted on parking enforcement vehicles.

The Press-Telegram highlights Bike Month events in Long Beach, from tomorrow’s Pedal to the Metal May Ride, to a Bike to Work Week popup on the 15th and a nine-mile Moonlight Mash bike ride on the last day of the month. But you’ll have to get past the paper’s paywall to read it. 

 

State

An annual bike ride honoring the memory of Shannon Morris, a 21-year old woman who died from suicide, raised $32,000 for UC Irvine’s Psychological Services Center in just its third year, more than twice what the ride brought in last year.

Coronado’s Pedal Beach Tours nonprofit e-pedicab service is fighting the city’s one-size-fits-all ebike ban, after the city refused to renew the company’s permit, jeopardizing their annual Christmas giving program for people in need. Sometimes I feel like I’m beating a dead horse — or a dead ebike — but that’s the problem with ebike bans and restrictions that don’t differentiate one type of ebike from another, which is like banning all cars because people in sports cars are speeding. 

A 12-year old boy suffered life-threatening injuries when his ebike was struck by a driver as he tried turning left from the westbound bike lane on Del Mar Heights Road onto Old Carmel Valley Road in San Diego’s Carmel Valley neighborhood, and was struck by a Tesla driver traveling in the same direction, the boy required emergency surgery for a broken collarbone and multiple brain bleeds.

A Victorville bike rider was hospitalized after he was struck by a hit-and-run driver, who fled on foot, Saturday afternoon; no word on his condition, but it appears his bike was flattened when the driver ran it over.

Tragic news from the town of Atwater, in Central California, where a ten-year old boy was killed when he was hit by a truck while riding his bike — although the local TV doesn’t bother to mention that the truck had a driver until the last of 17 paragraphs.

 

National

PeopleForBikes says the next two to three months will determine what bike infrastructure funding and policies — if any — make it into the final federal transportation bill. The GOP has seemed more focused on a return to highway funding since Trump got back in office, so we may have to fight for every scrap we can get.

The runner-up on The Traitors TV game show is one of us, as Rob Rausch ended up with facial cuts and a concussion after going over his handlebars when dog ran out in front of him — and after he had loaned his helmet to a friend he was teaching to ride a bike.

Seattle will pay a whopping $9.25 million settlement to a 25-year old man who suffered a severe traumatic brain injury that his lawyer blamed on a bad bike lane design resulting in a blind spot, which led to a driver turning in front of him.

Forbes makes the case for why you should try gravel riding, calling it the hottest trend in bicycling.

Speaking of PeopleForBikes, the bike industry advocacy group looks to an Iowa City, Iowa bike library to make the case for how and why bike libraries increase bicycle access for everyone.

Roughly 32,000 people fought their way through strong winds to take part in Sunday’s 48th annual TD Five Boro Bike Tour in New York City, while New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani became the first sitting mayor to ride the tour and stop in all five boroughs.

 

International

A New Brunswick woman has given away thousands of bicycles and tricycles over the past 14 years, including 400 in the last year alone, just to see the joy on kids’ faces.

The London-based bicycle and ebike subscription service Buzzbike is selling their bikes to subscribers at a substantial discount, as the company shuts down after the collapse of its largest shareholder.

A travel site considers Europe’s best bike trails, from the Atlantic Coast to the Black Sea.

A judge told a 27-year old woman to expect a long prison sentence after she pled guilty to killing a 27-year old music student as he was riding a bicycle in London, while she was high on nitrous oxide and doing 52 mph in a 20 mph zone; the judge criticized her for not taking any responsibility until she walked into the court, and worried she wouldn’t afterwards.

A British husband and wife team is setting off on an 18,000-mile bikepacking trip, attempting to set a new record for riding around the world in a 150 days or less.

Even as war continues in her homeland, a 35-year old Iranian woman is riding more than 3,700 miles across Asia with a message of peace.

Dozens of Wellington, New Zealand bicyclists stood in the street to form a human bike chain — aka a people-protected bike lane — to protest infrastructure cuts in the city. Thanks to Megan for the heads-up.

Ebike sales have seen a three-times increase in Darwin, Australia, as Aussies struggle to cope with the rapid rise in gas prices resulting from the war in Iran.

 

Competitive Cycling

Sad news from Italy, where former Formula 1 and CART race car driver, and paracycling champ Alex Zanardi died suddenly on Friday; after losing both of his legs crashing in the US CART series in 2001, Zanardi took up hand-cycling, winning four Paralympic gold medals, as well as 12 rainbow jerseys. He was just 59.

Not only is LA native Sean Quinn competing on the WorldTour, he’s also creating his own beats along the way.

The Tour du Rwanda relies on an elite bike mechanic named Jean de Dieu Rafiki Uwimana, better known as Rafiki, to keep the cyclists’ bikes humming.

A Missouri newspaper looks back fondly to the only world championship held in the area — an 1887 bike race on a 20-mile road course, using ordinary bikes, or what we’d know as a Penny Farthing.

 

Finally…

Your next bike camper trailer could feature a built-in toilet. Who says you can’t ride a bike with a bag over your head?

And somehow, you know bikes got the blame for this.

Twitter post

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

The abject failure of Vision Zero in America, the dangers of conflating ebikes and e-motos, and Calbike’s 2026 agenda

December 5, 2025 / / Comments Off on The abject failure of Vision Zero in America, the dangers of conflating ebikes and e-motos, and Calbike’s 2026 agenda
Day 339 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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It’s Day 8 of the 11th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!

Thanks to Phaedrus and Michael for their generous support to keep SoCal’s best source for bike news and advocacy coming your way every day, and ensure the corgi will find a little kibble in her stocking this year.

So don’t wait. It only takes a few clicks to donate via PayPal, Zelle or Venmo. 

And no, she won’t stop staring until you give her something. So start clicking. 

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They get it.

The Washington Post takes a hard-hitting, and heartbreaking, deep dive into the abject failure of Vision Zero in the United States, with a focus on Los Angeles.

And deadly Vista del Mar, aka Deadly del Mar, in particular.

And I do mean heartbreaking.

LOS ANGELES — As the sun set over the Pacific Ocean one Sunday this past spring, Cecilia Milbourne returned from a walk on the beach with her dog, Gucci. To reach her parked Tesla, she had to cross a road that city officials have known for years poses a danger to people on foot.

Eight years ago, as part of a national initiative to stem traffic deaths called Vision Zero, the city shrank the number of lanes on the road, Vista Del Mar, and several connecting streets in the shoreside community just south of Venice. But they restored it to four lanes after an uproar by drivers — among them Octavio Girbau, who railed against a city official in a 2017 Facebook post stating he was stuck on one of those intersecting roads “in the traffic hell you created.”

On March 16, Girbau was driving south on Vista Del Mar as Milbourne was about to cross in a spot with no crosswalk and no sidewalk — just a concrete curb separating her from the moving cars. Girbau bumped another car, lost control and struck Milbourne on the side of the road, sending her flying as his Mercedes flipped onto the beach, according to a police report. Milbourne, 29, a hairdresser and actor who had moved to Los Angeles from Atlanta, was pronounced dead at the scene. Her dog died with her.

Deadly del Mar, to refresh your memory, is where then-Councilmember Mike Bonin ordered a road diet after the city settled with the family of a 16-year old girl killed crossing the roadway from Dockweiler Beach for a whopping $9.5 million.

Just one of the eight people killed on the little four-mile street since 2015.

Then gutless former Mayor Eric Garcetti pulled the rug out from under Bonin by ordering the roadwork ripped out, and restored to its dangerously high-speed previous state, in the face of outraged pass-through commuters, mostly from wealthy Manhattan Beach.

Which effectively marked the death of Vision Zero in Los Angeles.

In addition to pushback from outraged, or even slightly peeved, motorists, WaPo cites too little funding for the death of Vision Zero.

Like the $80 million called for initially in Los Angeles to even put a dent in traffic deaths, which never materialized.

And that has led to endless delays in making the safety improvements the city already knows we needed. Like in Koreatown, for instance.

In some cases, Angelenos have died as planned safety upgrades stalled.

It has been over a decade since the city decided to put a roundabout at the corner of 4th Street and New Hampshire Avenue in Koreatown, a neighborhood where 34 people have been hit by cars and trucks and killed between 2015 and 2023. But there was a dispute between the city and the state over funding, and some objected to the plan to include bike lanes. The roundabout was delayed.

On July 31, Nadir Gavarrete, a 9-year-old, was killed at the intersection while crossing the street on his scooter by a driver in a motor home.

LA guerrilla activists responded by painting their own DIY crosswalk at the intersection days later, working in broad daylight.

Which the city promptly painted over.

Meanwhile, Mayor Karen Bass is busy cutting ribbons at coffee shops, instead of addressing solutions to traffic deaths, which her office says she’s “working on.”

After all, she’s only had three years to come up with something.

Anything.

But back to Deadly del Mar, which Los Angeles is considering for one of the speed cams authorized by a state pilot program passed and signed two years ago.

None of which have yet been installed in the City of Angels, as city leaders continue their usual dithering and obfuscation.

One of the first locations being considered is the spot where Milbourne was killed on Vista Del Mar. This fall, Kevitt and some of his colleagues did their own radar testing on the road. They found that about half of drivers are going above the speed limit during rush hour. In the morning, more than a quarter of cars are going over 50 miles per hour.

Milbourne died near two sets of stairs that lead from the wide expanse of Dockweiler Beach to Vista Del Mar. At the top, there is barely space to stand between the sandy bluff and the road. Cars whip by fast enough to be heard over the sound of planes taking off at Los Angeles International Airport, which sits just east of the beach.

Inevitably, the first response to complaints about speeding drivers is to call for greater enforcement. Except, of course, from the speeding drivers themselves, who fear getting ticketed because they’re unwilling to actually slow down.

But there aren’t enough cops in California, let alone Los Angeles, to patrol every street in LA 24/7. Or even enough to make a difference.

The equation is simple. Lane reductions, aka road diets, slow drivers, sometimes by causing greater congestion at peak hours. But drivers don’t want to slow down, and definitely don’t want to get stuck behind other drivers, blissfully unaware that they themselves are the cause of that congestion.

Not road diets. Not bike lanes.

Not even other drivers.

Even on Deadly del Mar.

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They get it, too.

Velo argues that the reason ebike injuries are up 1800% has little to do with ped-assist bicycles, and everything to do with e-motorbikes.

When a teenager crashes an “e-bike” at dangerous speeds, communities call for sweeping bans. When batteries ignite and cause a fire in apartment buildings, local governments restrict where electric bikes can be charged. And when pedestrians are struck by riders on sidewalks, cities work swiftly to cut riding speeds or discuss implementing licenses.

The problem? Many of these e-bike injuries and incidents can be avoided if only we defined what makes an electric bicycle.

Several of these incidents involve what cycling advocacy group PeopleForBikes calls an ‘e-moto’: electric motorcycles and mopeds sold as “street legal” e-bikes that don’t need a license or registration.

Many – but not all – of these e-motos sell new following standard e-bike Class 1,2, or 3 speed classifications. But with some modifications, they can reach speeds of 30, 40, or even 50 miles per hour, and are causing growing problems nationwide.

The solution, they say — as does People For Bikes — is federal legislation classifying anything with a built-in capability exceeding ebike specifications to “be classified as a motor vehicle, period.”

That’s just the first step.

They also call for requiring more truthful advertising as to what is actually “street legal,” as well as standardizing state laws regulating ebikes, just like bicycling regulations are virtually identical from one state to another.

It’s worth taking a few minutes to read.

Because as long as anything with an electric motor is considered an ebike, regardless of power or speed capabilities, we risk ill-informed crackdowns on, and condemnation of, all of us.

Like this hit piece in the anti-bike New York Post, which says a plan to create a separate lane for ebikes and e-scooters in Central Park is “plain crazy,” once again conflating dangerous e-motos with standard ped-assist ebikes.

………

Calbike posted their recent webinar to unveil their new legislative agenda for the coming year, and answered some of the questions they didn’t have time for.

Although a recap would have been nice, for those of us who struggle to find time to sit through an hour-long video this time of year.

So let me know if there’s anything in there about hit-and-runs.

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‘Tis the season.

Raising Cane’s founder Todd Graves donated 500 new bikes to the Boys & Girls Club of Harlem, with Batchelor and Batchelor in Paradise contestant, and season 16 Bachelorette ,Tayshia Adams on hand to help hand them out.

Sixty-two 3rd graders in Fayetteville NC got new bicycles, after telling the assembled that four kids earned one of the new bikes by winning in an essay contest, then announcing that everyone else would take one home, too.

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

No bias here. Chicago residents complain about new bike lanes causing traffic to overflow onto surrounding streets and alleys — except what’s causing the backup is the construction work to build the bike lanes, not the bike lanes themselves. And a former daily bike commuter says he doesn’t think bike lanes are even necessary, apparently not grasping that bike lanes are for the people who don’t feel comfortable mixing it up with motor vehicles, rather than those who do.

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Local 

The Snake is once again raising it’s seductive, if ultimately ugly, head, reopening six years after the dangerous 2.4-mile winding stretch of Mulholland Highway was closed due to the Woolsey Fire and subsequent mudslides; the road offers one of the area’s most popular bicycling climbs, while also attracting speeding motorcyclists and supercar drivers.

A CicLAvia-style open streets event is coming to East LA next weekend, when about 1.6 miles of City Terrace Drive and Hazard Ave will go carfree for the benefit of pedestrians, bicyclists, joggers and runners. As well as just plain, you know, people.

 

State

Longstanding Fountain Valley-based ebike maker Pedego has changed hands, and countries, after they were purchased by Chinese intelligent-ebike brand Urtopia.

 

National

Shockingly, the CEO of People For Bikes considers what the world’s happiest countries all have in common, and discovers the answer is — bikes.

Honda wants to move deliveries out of the traffic lane and into bike lanes, as it unveiled its new e-cargo bike storage locker on wheels; meanwhile, foldie maker Tern’s electric cargo bikes have covered more than one million miles of commercial delivery work in New York City. After all, most drivers would tell you no one is using the bike lanes now, anyway.

If your kid is wearing an Outdoor Master bike helmet purchased from Walmart or Amazon in the past year, get ’em a new one, because the feds have issued a recall notice saying they pose a “risk of serious injury or death.”

You know awareness of traffic safety is growing when lane reductions reach even Sparks, Nevada.

Life is ludicrously cheap in Montana, where a driver walked with a gentle caress on the wrist for killing a seven-year old boy riding his bicycle in a crosswalk, after prosecutors reduced a negligent homicide charge down to misdemeanor careless driving, and he was sentenced to a lousy $1000 fine — which the judge deferred for a year, meaning it could be dropped entirely if he keeps his nose clean.

In news that is equal parts heartwarming and heartbreaking, the family of a 13-year old Huntsville, Alabama boy who was killed by a driver while riding his bicycle have installed a Christmas tree at the roadside memorial marking where he was killed, and asked the public to come place an ornament on it.

 

International

Road.cc argues that the bicycle industry is not sustainable by design, and they could do their part to save the environment by returning to steel frames instead of carbon fiber, without sacrificing performance.

Toronto is moving to get around the provincial government’s prohibition on removing traffic lanes to build bike lanes by narrowing 12 miles of traffic lanes to make room for them.

A “passionate cyclist” from the UK is suing Lime over a crash that snapped his leg in four places, claiming the rear wheel unexpectedly skidded out when he braked to avoid pedestrians, leaving him with life-changing injuries.

That’s more like it. A British distracted hit-and-run driver got nine years behind bars for killing a bike rider, after swearing he didn’t know he hit anyone and just thought his van’s engine had blown up; he’d avoided a previous driving ban for distracted driving by claiming he needed to drive for his job. Yet another example of keeping a dangerous driver on the road until it’s too late.

More on the new Irish study showing that protected bike lanes don’t slow emergency vehicles.

Bicycles provided by World Bicycle Relief are giving Kenyan farmers a route out of poverty by providing a safe alternative to paying for dangerous motorbike trips to get their produce to market.

 

Competitive Cycling

Norwegian pro Johannes Staune-Mittet learned the hard way that riding with earbuds isn’t allowed in Spain, even for WorldTour cyclists, when he was fined the equivalent of $116 after cops caught him using them on a training ride.

 

Finally…

We may stress about LA drivers drifting into bike lanes, but at least we don’t have to worry about who’s going to plow the drifts already in them. Now you, too, could own Tadej Pogačar’s Tour de France bike for the low, low price of 70 grand.

And nothing like getting an admitted doper and multi-time ex-Tour de France champ to narrate a doc about an iconic 130-year old bike brand.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Ghost bike and rally for fallen WeHo bike rider, the worst states for bike commuters, and LA pays dearly for Deadly del Mar

July 15, 2025 / / Comments Off on Ghost bike and rally for fallen WeHo bike rider, the worst states for bike commuters, and LA pays dearly for Deadly del Mar
Day 196 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Let’s start with an update on 26-year old Blake Ackerman, the lawyer and bike commuter killed by a hit-and-run driver in West Hollywood last Thursday.

A ghost bike will be installed tomorrow at 9 am in a small ceremony at Fountain Ave and Gardner Street. The public is welcome to attend.

A larger vigil will be held on Friday, July 18th, starting at 6 pm at Fountain and Gardner, followed by a short march to West Hollywood City Hall for a rally and press conference. Everyone is urged to attend and participate.

And I do mean everyone.

And yes, that includes me this time.

Meanwhile, a crowdfunding page to raise funds to support Blake’s mother and sister has raised nearly $160,000 of the newly increased $200,000 goal.

There’s still no word on the identity of the heartless coward in a white, older-model BMW sedan who left Blake Ackerman in the street.

It’s also worth taking some time to look over WeHo’s two-year old Vision Zero Plan. Because Fountain isn’t the only street that needs to be fixed before it’s too late.

Again.

Photo of Blake Ackerman in better days from GoFundMe page.

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A new study from a bike insurer ranks Texas as the nation’s second-worst state of bike commuters, behind only South Carolina.

California comes in at a relatively safe 18th best. Which really makes you wonder just how bad the other 32 states behind us must be.

Vermont was rated the best state for bike commuters, followed by Oregon, Minnesota, Alaska and West Virginia.

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They get it.

Streets For All says Los Angeles is caught in a money-draining spiral of spending millions to pay for deaths and injuries caused by our dangerous streets, rather than spending to fix the streets and avoid the damn injuries in the first place.

As a prime example, they call out Playa Vista’s Deadly del Mar, aka Vista del Mar, where 20 people have been killed in the past 20 years.

That includes five deaths since 2017, when the city briefly installed safety improvements following a nearly $10 million settlement for the death of a 16-year old girl, which were promptly ripped out at the order of former “World Climate” Mayor Eric Garcetti to appease entitled commuters from Manhattan Beach.

(Click this link if Elon Musk’s “improvements” keep the video from embedding.)

Twitter post

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An anonymous source forwards a Reddit post highlighting a problem too many people fail to consider, myself included, as a Deaf Scottish woman posts a plea for a little more consideration from bike riders on shared trails.

(Click on the post if it doesn’t embed in full)

Reddit post

I have always relied on a shouted “passing on your left” to warn others of my approach. But neither that nor a bike bell will do any good if the other person can’t hear you.

She then followed up on the over 100 replies her post received with this.

“Thanks all for the comments and insights, really helpful!” she said. “Not intending to diss cyclists or anything; I know people have opinions of them.

“My post genuinely was just asking for a bit of respect/shared responsibility although some people don’t seem to get that my being deaf, they seem to think it’s somehow my fault for nearly getting spooked by someone coming behind me.”

As the person who emailed me points out,

It is an important issue to raise because hearing people don’t often think about the fact that sometimes yelling or a horn is not going to be effective. Deaf people are more likely to respond to lights, but even that might not work if you’re coming up behind someone on a path in the open so slow down and avoid close passes of people moving more slowly than you are.

My emailer also pointed out something else I was familiar with, but maybe don’t consider as often as I should, referring to a story based on the Reddit post from Scotland’s Daily Record, which seemed more biased against bicyclists.

They also lower cased “Deaf” when the OP clearly identifies as upper case “Deaf” (which is not just a medical condition, but a culture and thus capitalized when someone identifies as part of that culture).

It’s very easy to go through life — and yes, riding a bicycle — seeing it only from the lens of someone who is hearing and sighted. But it’s important that we also consider the needs, safety and dignity of those who aren’t.

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Bike Talk talks tactical urbanism in two cities, with diametrically different results.

Bluesky post

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Okay, that is a little close.

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

Despite the Ontario provincial governments efforts to rip them out, most Toronto residents support bike lanes and mixed-use roads.

Huh? A rightwing commentator says the solution to Britain’s immigration crisis is to make all aspiring British citizens pass the country’s cycling proficiency test.

A Dublin, Ireland journalist says that as a new bike rider, she’s “astonished” by the amount of aggression she saw from drivers on her daily commute.

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Local 

Next City says Denver solved it’s sidewalk problem by reclaiming responsibility for fixing broken sidewalks from property owners, suggesting it could be a solution for Los Angeles, aka “the city of broken sidewalks” in the words of the late, great Donald Shoup.

Streetsblog calls attention to a series of Metro meetings continuing this week and next to discuss the NoHo to Pasadena Bus Rapid Transit project, and the Sepulveda Transit rail project to connect the Valley with West Los Angeles, where rich Bel Air residents are demanding an inefficient monorail so no one will have to dig a subway tunnel under their very expensive homes.

Santa Monica hosts yet another in a continuing series of bicycle and pedestrian safety operations in SoCal cities, this time on Friday, July 18, 2025 from 5 am to 8 pm. Even though they say it’s targeted at dangerous driver behaviors, police are legally required to enforce the law equally against all violators, regardless of mode of travel. So ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limit line so you’re not the one who gets ticketed. 

West Hollywood sheriff’s deputies issued just 46 tickets during their recent bicycle and pedestrian safety operation, but it doesn’t break down who got the tickets or why.

 

State

Laguna Beach is looking for public input on a proposal to build a mountain bike pump track.

San Francisco wants to expand the Embarcadero protected bike lane, which would require removing up to 30 parking spaces and 15 palms trees. Which is okay because palms are just giant grasses that suck up water and don’t shade anything. 

She gets it. A San Francisco letter writer says “If you oppose bike lanes, pedestrian improvements or expanding public transit, you’re voting for more congestion.”

Residents of the Bay Area’s Alameda County can enter a lottery to receive up to $1,500 towards the purchase of an ebike from the local energy company. To which LA’s DWP responds <crickets>.

Sacramento city officials are upset that the city received a failing grade in People For Bikes new City Ratings, arguing they should have been rated higher. Never mind that Sacramento was rated a full ten points higher than lowly Los Angeles, and not one city official here even gave a damn. 

 

National

Authorities in Oregon are using drones to search for a 52-year old man described as an experienced mountain biker, who disappeared after leaving on a ride Friday morning; searchers found his cellphone in his car, which could have helped pinpoint his location. Which is a reminder to never, ever leave yours behind when you ride. 

Thousands of bike riders took part in the annual 200-mile Seattle to Portland bike ride.

It’s now illegal for Utah drivers to block a bike lane. And yes, Deseret News, that does make it safer for everyone. 

A New Mexico letter writer says most drivers are really polite and considerate, and have your best interests at heart — but if you want to stay safe, you need to dress like a DayGlo clown. Sadly, he may have a point. About that last part, anyway. 

That’s more like it. An Indiana festival combines bicycles, whiskey and bluegrass. So who’s going with me?

An MIT transportation researcher and self-identified car enthusiast says you can love cars, and still support public transportation and decarbonization.

Six hundred people from 37 states descended on New York to bike the full 400 miles of the Erie Canal to mark the canal’s 250th anniversary.

A Manhattan community board called out New York’s mayor for cutting bike and bike lanes out of his auto-centric redesign of the city’s iconic 5th Avenue.

Seriously? A study from a Florida law firm shows that Bay County is the state’s most dangerous county for bicyclists — but instead of demanding safer streets or better drivers, a Florida political site says “wear a helmet.”

 

International

For once, police in the UK are asking for someone riding a bicycle to come forward when they’re not in trouble, as police in Yorkshire look for a bike rider who may have witnessed a driver kill a pedestrian.

An Irish food delivery rider settled a lawsuit over a dooring for the equivalent of $70,000, which required surgery to fix a broken little finger.

Dutch advocacy groups says forget helmets and bicycle speed limits, and upgrade the infrastructure, instead.

A pair of New Zealand Olympians are riding 2,500 miles through Africa to train for the ’28 Games while raising funds to buy bicycles for people in the towns they’re riding through.

 

Competitive Cycling

The Tour de France peloton stormed into Tuesday’s rest day with a major upset, as Irishman Ben Healy took the yellow jersey off Tadej Pogačar’s back, moving from nearly four minutes back to become the first Irish cyclist in yellow since Stephen Roche in 1987.

Britain’s Simon Yates celebrated Bastille Day by winning the Tour’s stage 10 yesterday, coming out on the right end of a long-range breakaway that was slowly whittled down from 28 cyclists to just six at the end.

Bike Radar visits France’s volcanic Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, which hosted the finish of Monday’s Tour de France stage for the first time in the race’s 122-year history.

A Mexican news site celebrates the country’s newest cycling star, after 21-year old Isaac del Toro won last week’s Tour of Austria, to go with his second place finish in the Giro.

 

Finally…

You know things have gone too far when even Jesus objects to ebikes. If you see a pedestrian in a bike lane ahead of you, should you blame the government or deploy torpedos?

And when you’re riding a bike on the 4th of July while smoking crack, and with an outstanding warrant on a meth charge, put a damn light on it, already.

And don’t be a famous musician, for Pete’s sake.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Nearly a death a year on Vista del Mar, no statute of limitations for CA hit-and-runs, and fight fed cuts to active transportation

March 24, 2025 / / 2 comments
Day 83 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

It’s even worse than we realized.

Last week, I mentioned that at least five people have been killed on Vista del Mar since former Mayor Eric Garcetti ripped out the road diet that was installed in 2017, after Los Angeles shelled out nearly $10 million to settle a lawsuit over the death of a 16-year old girl crossing over to the beach.

Now it turns out, according to LADOT, another 14 people were killed along Vista del Mar from 2003 to 2016.

That’s 19 lives needlessly lost in less than 23 years on the short, four-mile roadway, thanks a wide four-lane design that makes the seemingly bucolic beachfront street a virtual speedway for anyone with a heavy foot.

Yes, an average of nearly one death a year.

So maybe the three-county PCH isn’t SoCal’s killer highway after all, at least on a per-mile basis.

………

About damn time.

Somehow, we missed the news last year that the California legislature passed Carson Assemblymember Mike Gibson’s bill to eliminate the statute of limitations for hit-and-run.

AB 2984, named for the three-year old son of Gibson’s wife, who was killed by a hit-and-run driver 36 years ago, was signed by Gov. Gaven Newsom and is now law.

Which means the driver, who was never caught, could now be prosecuted if they ever find them.

Along with all the other heartless cowards who think they’ve gotten away with it, in a state where the overwhelming majority of hit-and-run drivers are never caught, let alone tried.

Gipson also sponsoring a bill in the current session that would require that drivers convicted of reckless driving install intelligent speed limitation systems in their cars, similar to how a breathalyzer can be required for drunk drivers.

Which is also about damn time.

………

This is exactly what I’ve been warning about.

Whatever your politics, cuts to funding for active transportation puts your safety, and everyone else’s, at risk.

So fight back.

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Meanwhile, several states have banded together under the Clean Rides Network to find ways to fund projects the feds have abandoned.

And yes, California is one of them.

………

Streets For All is hosting a virtual lunch tomorrow with Dr. Ian Walker, who they describe as “an Environmental Psychologist who studies motonormativity – the shared bias that prevents us from judging motorized transportation rationally.”

………

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

Once again, someone appears to be deliberately sabotaging a bike trail, as a volunteer group warns about shards of barbed wire intentionally placed on Sacramento’s American River Parkway; so far, the only damage is flat tires, but someone could easily be seriously injured as a result of a blown tire.

A woman in Houston, Texas says a road-raging driver tried to intentionally ram her as she road her ebike, then yelled obscenities and attempted to provoke a confrontation when she tried to take a photo of the driver’s license plate; police say they are investigating.

No bias here. A writer for The Telegraph accuses “rich, Lycra-clad cyclists” of tearing through red lights while riding “hugely expensive” bikes paid for by taxpayers as part of Britain’s Cycle to Work rebate program, as if getting well-off people out of cars and onto bikes somehow doesn’t benefit everyone. Let alone all the not-so-well off people who have also benefitted.

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

A Miami cop has been disciplined for sitting on her ass while a dispute between a bicyclist and a motorist devolved into a full-on assault on the driver by bike riders taking part in an apparent rideout, remaining in her patrol car while the riders “kicked, punched, stomped, smashed a window and even hurled a bike” at the victim’s car.

………

Local  

City Watch looks forward to April 6th’s Koreatown Meets Hollywood CicLAvia.

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton reviews the documents, and says it will probably be up to a judge to determine whether Measure HLA, which requires that the city build out the mobility plan whenever streets get resurfaced, applies to Metro.

The former South Bay Bicycle Coalition, now known as SBBC+, offers a community proposal to reconfigure Redondo Beach’s Prospect Ave as a Complete Street.

A new play in Long Beach looks at life through the eyes of a child riding a red bicycle.

The LA County Sheriff’s Department is offering a $30,000 reward for the men who shot and killed Jose Manuel Rangel, following a confrontation on the Clara Street Bridge in Cudahy two years ago as he rode his bike home after visiting his mother.

 

State

Calbike has come out in opposition to AB 612, which would give fire departments more power to veto street safety projects, despite their obvious lack of traffic engineering training; as we’ve seen, fire fighters often oppose projects designed to save lives, citing unspecified delays in response times that are seldom born out in real life.

No bias here. The San Diego Union-Tribune questions whether it makes sense to pursue the city’s “preposterous” climate goals, arguing that its commitment to building transit and bike lanes is an “embrace of what feels like costly and empty virtue signaling.”

San Francisco becomes the first California city to install speed cams under a pilot program allowing a limited number in three Northern California and three South California cities, as well as on PCH in Malibu. Meanwhile, Los Angeles continues to sit on its ass and do nothing, as usual, as speed-related deaths continue to mount. 

 

National

A writer for The Atlantic sings the praises of ebikes, saying they may be slower than a car, but make your family life so much richer; meanwhile, another writer says they’re great, but not for everyone.

Bloomberg sings the praises of the late, great autodidact and polymath Lewis Mumford, who called out the dangers of overly car-centric cities over 70 years ago.

Take your dog or cat with you everywhere with a new $300 combination pet stroller/bike trailer that converts to a backpack. Hopefully without the animal in it.

Houston lawmakers decide to reinvent the wheel, sponsoring a bill to study whether bike lanes improve safety, as if all the other studies showing they do somehow don’t apply in Texas.

Maine’s highest court has sided with a 62-year old man who was ticketed for not riding single file as he was out with a friend, ruling that the state’s requirement to ride as far to the right as practicable is so vague it’s unenforceable, since only the person riding can decide how far to the right is safe to ride.

Seriously? A Boston cafe owner worries about the survival of her business after a new road diet and bike lanes were installed, as if being located on one of the city’s most dangerous streets for pedestrians is somehow good for her business.

 

International

No surprise here, as the world’s happiest countries are also places with the highest bicycling rates.

A writer for Momentum shares the most important things she learned on her first bike tour.

Bike Magazine shares the world’s ten most popular mountain biking destinations for your offroad bike bucket list.

Hundreds of Londoners turned out for the return of a drum and bass bicycle rave, led by a bicycling DJ and his cat.

More proof that bikes are good for business, as a rural Scottish cafe catering to bicyclists says if they didn’t they wouldn’t even be in business anymore.

A rising British comedian warns about the dangers of drunken bicycling after crashing his bikeshare bike while riding under the influence.

Life is cheap in Ireland, where a 29-year old mother of three will spend just four years behind bars for the hit-and-run death a 68-year old man riding a bicycle, while driving at not one, not two, not even three times the legal alcohol limit, but a full nine times over the line — yes, nine — after downing a dozen martinis before getting behind the wheel.

Famed painter Henri Matisse’s brother-in-law was one of us, as the struggling artist tried to borrow 150 francs to buy a Van Gogh in 1899, only to learn the other man had blown 500 francs on a new bicycle.

A 66-year-old Chinese grandmother has already biked solo through 12 countries across three continents, on a monthly pension of just $414 a month, despite taking up bicycling just a dozen years ago.

Bike riders in Sydney, Australia may soon have fewer stair to climb, with a $39 million ramp longer than two football fields replacing the stairs they’re currently forced to climb if they want to bike across the harbor.

 

Competitive Cycling

Dutch pro Mathieu van der Poel won Milan-San Remo after an early attack by Tadej Pogačar failed, leading to a three-way sprint to the finish joined by Filippo Ganna.

A British company plans to bring the world’s best cyclists back to the US next year for the first time since 2019, the five-stage Tour of Colorado will launch in September, assuming they can get all the necessary permits and clearances, and get it on the pro calendar.

 

Finally….

Your next bike seat could play grab-ass while you ride. Your next bicycle could be a knitting machine; thanks to Steven Hallett for the heads-up.

And build a custom bike for the tallest man in America, and make a friend for life.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

NM kids face murder in death of bike-riding scientist; killer Playa street claims fresh victim; Metro threatens suit to prevent safer streets

March 20, 2025 / / Comments Off on NM kids face murder in death of bike-riding scientist; killer Playa street claims fresh victim; Metro threatens suit to prevent safer streets

This is getting old.

Nearly two weeks in, I’m still struggling with Covid, and need a few more days before I get back to our usual updates. Just another of the many joys of diabetes, which can make Covid hit harder and last longer than it might otherwise.

Hopefully, we’ll be back on Monday to catch up on what we missed.

But there are a few stories this week that can’t really wait, so let’s do a quick update in the meantime.

………

It’s happened again.

Or rather, it happened last year, and the authorities are just now catching up.

According to multiple sources, three Albuquerque teenagers face charges for stealing a car, and intentionally crashing it into a man riding a bicycle while they recorded themselves laughing.

And if that sounds familiar, it should. And more than once.

The victim, a beloved physicist at the nearby Sandia National Laboratory, was killed when the kids “bumped” him with the car.

The 13-year old driver and the 16-year old egging them on from the back seat both face murder charges — as could the 11-year old waving a gun and laughing from the passenger seat.

Yes, I said eleven. With a rap sheep of violent crimes that makes John Gotti seem like an extra from Westside Story.

Apparently, New Mexico law allows them to be publicly named, and charged as adults.

Police became aware of the video shortly after the May 29, 2024, murder of 63-year old Scott Habermehl, but it apparently took until now to uncover the identities of his teen and preteen killers.

Habermehl was a dedicated bike commuter who was said to have ridden more than a quarter million miles over the last 30 years, and did absolutely nothing to cause his death.

The older teens each face felony charges of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, leaving the scene of an accident involving great bodily harm or death, and unlawful possession of a handgun.

The younger boy is likely to join them.

Thanks to Joel Falter for the heads up. 

……….

It’s happened again, again.

Because once again, an innocent person has been killed on Vista del Mar in Playa del Rey, eight years after then Councilmember Mike Bonin tried to fix the deadly street, only to have then Mayor Eric Garcetti rip it out after caving to angry pass-through drivers.

According to the Los Angeles Times, two cars — excuse me, drivers — collided in the 8200 block of southbound Vista del Mar, near Dockweiler Beach, with one car spilling over the embankment and killing a woman walking below.

Twentynine-year old Cecilia Milbourne died at the scene. A 70-something man also suffered minor injuries.

The crash occurred exactly where a road diet had been installed by Bonin after the city paid $9.5 million to the family of 16-year old Naomi Larson, who was killed by a cab driver as she was crossing the street in 2015.

That road diet was removed, along with other nearby bike lanes and other safety improvements, when Garcetti pulled the rug out from under Bonin, ordering them to be ripped out to appease drivers who were apparently willing to sacrifice a life or two if it meant they could have a little faster commute.

And reverting the road to a four lane speedway.

It only took a few years after that before the deadly roadway claimed another life. And two more after that.

Now, after another woman has been killed — at least the fifth in just ten years — that blood is on Garcetti’s hands, and everyone who demanded the removal of the safety improvements just so they could continue to go “zoom! zoom!”, innocent victims be damned.

Not to mention whoever designed the damn thing.

………

Metro has bizarrely come out against bus lanes and safer streets.

According to a post from Streets For All, the ostensibly safety-oriented county transportation agency is threatening to sue if they are forced to comply with Measure HLA when they make changes to the streets.

Even though the law clearly applies to any significant street projects, regardless of who is responsible for them.

Twitter post

Which is kind of like Metro arguing that speed limits and traffic signals don’t apply to them, either.

Here’s how Streetsblog’s Joe Linton responded to Metro’s threat.

So, Metro will fight the city in order not to install bus lanes, bike lanes, crosswalks, curb ramps, all approved a decade ago.

Metro is blocking routine upgrades to all the ways their riders get to bus stops and rail stations, plus blocking bus lane facilities that would improve Metro bus speeds.

Really.

Really, indeed.

It’s worth noting that Metro’s board is made up of elected officials and appointees from cities throughout LA County, and led by board chair and County Supervisor Janice Hahn.

So you know where to direct your anger.

………

Finally, Glendale is hosting their own CicLAvia-style open streets event May 31st on South Glendale Ave, in conjunction with Metro and Community Arts Resources (CARS).

Here’s how the press release describes it:

GLENDALE, Calif. (March 18, 2025) — Southern California’s newest open streets event, Let’s Go Glendale, will transform a portion of S Glendale Ave into a car-free space on Saturday, May 31 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The community is invited to explore the area on foot, bike, scooter, wheelchair or any other way that moves you.

The City of Glendale’s Open Streets Event, Let’s Go Glendale, is presented by Metro and produced by Community Arts Resources (CARS). This free day features a full schedule of carefully curated performances and activities along a meaningful vehicle-free route through the city’s south. People of all ages are invited to discover local businesses, enjoy delicious food, listen to live music and connect with the city’s vibrant cultures in the open streets. It’s an opportunity to walk, roll, shop and stroll through Glendale with a whole new perspective! A full schedule of event locations, activations and a detailed route map will be announced in April.

WHEN: Saturday, May 31 from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

WHERE: City streets along S Glendale Ave will be closed to car traffic and opened to pedestrians. Full route details will be released soon.

ADMISSION: This event is free to attend and open to the public.

MORE INFORMATION: For more information visit, letsgoglendale.com

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

Two teens killed in crash where Vista Del Mar road diet removed, and elderly driver plows through a dozen French school kids

June 6, 2024 / / 2 comments
Just 208 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
Stop what you’re doing and sign this petition demanding Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we all face on the city’s mean streets.

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

We’re up to 1,190 signatures, so don’t stop now! Let’s get it up to 1,200 before I send it to the mayor’s office!

Photo by Artyom Kulakov from Pexels.

………

This is why people keep dying on our streets.

Back in 2019, a four-year old girl was tragically killed by a driver as she crossed the street in Koreatown, while holding hands with her mother.

In a crosswalk. With the light.

Alessa Fajardo and her mom did everything right as they crossed Olympic at Normandie that October day, yet she died anyway. Even though Los Angeles officials knew long before about the dangers of that area and intersection.

In fact, the school they were going to was ranked the city’s 13th most dangerous campus just six years earlier, while Koreatown as a whole was rated LA’s fourth most dangerous neighborhood for bike riders and pedestrians.

That’s pedestrians, like little kids crossing the street with their mothers.

It took four-and-a-half years, and a $9.6 million dollar settlement before anything was done about it.

Los Angeles Times reporter Ryan Fonseca took a deep dive into why.

Starting with the problem of each city councilmember acting like little kings in their own districts, responsible for identifying and approving any improvements before they are made.

Or not.

Neither former District 10 Councilmember Herb Wesson, who represented the district when Alessa was killed, nor his successor, Mark Ridley-Thomas, secured that funding. Ridley-Thomas was indicted on federal corruption charges, suspended from the council and later convicted and removed from his seat in late March 2022. Nobody represented the district until Heather Hutt was appointed that September.

Hutt identified and allocated $530,000 for the new signals in June 2023, but the installation work did not begin until April 2024, four months after the family’s suit against the city was settled.

District 10 staff would not comment on the record about why they could not secure the funds in 2020, 2021, 2022 and early 2023.

No surprise there.

Then again, even on the rare occasions when councilmembers really do try to do something, angry motorists too often rush for their torches and pitchforks — and threats of recall elections.

Tuesday night, two teenagers were killed, and three people seriously injured, in a head-on collision on Vista Del Mar in Playa del Rey.

And if that sounds familiar, it should.

Two years before little Alessa was killed in Koreatown, the city agreed to another $9.6 million settlement, this time with the family of a 16-year old girl killed crossing — wait for it — Vista Del Mar to get to her car after leaving Dockweiler Beach.

The same beach where the kids were killed on Tuesday.

Then-CD11 Councilmember Mike Bonin responded by ordering long-delayed safety improvements on Vista Del Mar, and a handful of other streets in Playa del Rey. Both because too many lives had already been lost on the deadly roadway, and because the next settlement, for the next inevitable death, would be exponentially higher.

Yet the resulting lane reductions and bike lanes were unceremoniously ripped out weeks later on the orders of then-Mayor Eric Garcetti, after angry residents and pass-through drivers from Manhattan Beach rose up in anger — aided by angry rants from conservative KFI shock jocks John and Ken.

Hence that failed recall, as well as a lawsuit from anti-urbanist group Fix the City.

It only took another four years before there was blood on Garcetti’s hands, and all those who chose their own convenience over the lives of others.

Now just three years after that, two more people have needlessly lost their lives on that same bloody stretch of road. And despite a breathless report from Fox-11, police reports said there was no indication either driver was under the influence.

Never mind that the settlement for this one will likely be exponentially higher than the last one, since Los Angeles installed, then removed, safety improvements that might have prevented it.

Yet despite at least four deaths on the same section of roadway in just nine years, some people still seem to think they should have the unfettered, God-given right to go zoom zoom whenever and wherever they want, innocent lives be damned.

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If you want to know why we can’t manage to do anything about the ever-rising rate of needless deaths on our streets, that’s it.

And it would be nice if our current mayor and council would somehow show they actually gave a damn, since the previous ones clearly didn’t.

………

Once again, a car was a weapon of mass destruction, when an elderly driver plowed through a group of 12 schoolchildren at a French resort.

Three of the kids were critically injured when the 83-year old driver hit them head-on as they rode single file, leaving the children screaming in terror and pain amid their mangled bikes.

She was arrested at the scene, then released and taken to a hospital after police concluded she wasn’t in a “fit state” for questioning.

………

Speaking of deadly roadways, here’s your chance to fight for bike lanes on PCH in Long Beach.

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………

No surprise that a town known for wealthy, entitled NIMBYs would choose to prioritize their convenience over the lives of bike riders.

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………

Bike Culver City offers a full schedule of bike events this month, including a screening of mobility justice leader Yolanda Davis-Overstreet two short film docuseries on Biking While Black on the 13th.

https://twitter.com/BikeCulverCity/status/1798102948452651350

………

It’s now 168 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.

For a change, though, California wasn’t the only state whose competency was question, after Minnesota’s planned ebike rebate program was called off for now when the website crashed within minutes of launching.

………

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

Police in Surrey, England released video of a violent attack on a bike rider, who was knocked off his bike by two “masked thugs” on a motorbike while riding on a bike path.

One of the UK’s leading young women’s cyclists is out of this year’s Tour of Britain after she was struck by a hit-and-run driver; Kate Richardson was on a training ride when she was knocked off her bike by the impatient driver, who came back to verbally abuse her before driving off again.

 

A man in Cork, Ireland was irate after a driver pulled over directly in front of him in a bike lane to chat with a friend on the sidewalk, while he was riding uphill with two kids on his cargo bike.

Campaigning for the European Parliament, a Dublin, Ireland politician went on a “jaw dropping,” “reactionary” anti-bike lane rant, in which she compare them to a Berlin Wall dividing the city in two.

A bike rider in Brussels, Belgium is lucky to be alive after he was knocked off his bike by a driver who tried to pass him and his companion while driving in a clearly marked bike lane, then the enraged motorist got out and slashed the victim’s throat with a knife; the victim managed to escape with just six stitches when the driver barely missed his jugular.

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

A New York rabbi suffered a broken leg when he was struck by a rogue, salmon-riding hit-and-run ebiker as he was crossing a bike lane.

Residents of Glasgow, Scotland called for food delivery ebike riders to be required to wear identifiable numbers on their backs, as a result of a number of collisions and near misses. You know, sort of like prison inmates, but without having to be convicted of anything.

A couple of teen ebike riders naturally got the blame after they quarreled with a “crew of cranky elderly” Aussies — even though the reporter admitted he had no idea what the discussion was about or who caused it.

………

Local 

Streets For All urges support for a proposed 28-mile The Hill to Sea transit corridor traversing 13 cities and unincorporated communities from Pasadena to Long Beach, which would “aggressively reduce car dependency by prioritizing high quality bus service, safe protected bike paths, and improved sidewalks for walking and businesses.”

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton asks what’s next for Measure HLA as Los Angeles continues to slow walk new bus and bike lanes.

Urbanize LA has more details on the planned Complete Streets makeover of Hollywood Blvd, with bike lanes scheduled to be on the ground next year.

Los Angeles is building more than four miles of bike and pedestrian corridors in South LA west of the USC campus.

Glendale is delaying a planned Complete Streets makeover of La Crescenta Ave to search for additional funding, after initial estimates came in over budget.

 

State

Orange County supervisors voted to crackdown on ebikes, including restrictions on sidewalk riding, imposing speed limits and reclassifying bikes that generate more than 750 watts through their motors — even though the latter two could put them in direct conflict with existing state law.

Police in Cathedral City released a description of the suspect vehicle in the hit-and-run death of a bike rider last month; they’re looking for a dark-colored 2014-2019 Nissan Versa with major front-end damage, as well as missing parts.

A 52-year old bike rider in Apple Valley was airlifted for treatment after suffering major injuries when the victim was rear-ended by a driver on Monday.

A Heyward man was sentenced to nine years behind bars after pleading no contest to vehicular manslaughter and hit and run in the death of a 52-year old man riding a bicycle while driving a stolen car.

 

National

CleanTechnica sings the praises of Bike Index for registering your bike, which you can do right here for free, for life.

Bloomberg talks with University of Colorado-Denver professor Wesley Marshall about his new book, Killed by a Traffic Engineer: Shattering the Delusion that Science Underlies Our Transportation System; he’s the one who did a study several years back showing drivers and bicyclists break the law at the same rate — but bike riders do it for perceived safety, while drivers do it for their convenience.

Colorado took a step forward by creating a dedicated $7 million funding stream for “proven small infrastructure projects that improve safety for vulnerable road users,” such as bike lanes, sidewalks and other pedestrian improvements. While that’s far too little — even for a relatively small state — it’s a hell of a lot more than most are willing to commit to.

A Tulsa, Oklahoma man faces charges after he led police on a chase while driving on a bike and pedestrian pathway.

Police in Missouri are continuing to look for the SUV driver who nearly hit a man riding his bike, causing him to fall over a guardrail and down an embankment, where he lay in pain yelling for help for 13 hours.

Lawmakers in Michigan want to increase the penalties for drivers who strike vulnerable road users, while tightening the rules for who is considered one.

Vampire Diaries actress Nina Dobrev underwent successful surgery to repair an undisclosed issue resulting from an electric motorbike crash last week, as media sources continued to misidentify it as an ebike.

The Washington Post belatedly discovers bike buses can provide a viable alternative to the standard SUV school run.

Sad news from DC, where a 34-year old White House staffer was killed while riding his bike when he crossed the center line on a sharp curve during a fundraising ride, and was struck head-on by an oncoming motorist; Jacob Thomas Brewer was the husband of Fox News contributor Mary Katharine Ham.

 

International

Momentum explains why bicycles are the perfect vehicle for the 15-minute city, while offering policies to help your city go Dutch.

A writer for Cycling Weekly says forget talk about the “golden age” of bicycling, when there were ten times the number of bicyclists killed in the UK in 1950 compared to now.

A group of Queensland, Australia researchers consider what can be done about the bad weather, hills and dark nights that keep people from bicycling, particularly women. Ebikes can easily flatten the hills, but can’t help with the dark or bad weather.

 

Competitive Cycling

Bicycling reports the annual Red Bull Rampage freeride mountain bike competition will finally welcome women as something other than spectators. As usual, read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you.

People Magazine wants to catch you up on what’s happening with America’s best-known ex-Tour de France winner. But fails to explain why anyone should give a damn. 

Huh? Twenty-five-year old Australian cyclist Robert Stannard received a four-year ban for “abnormalities” in his biological passport, with the ban backdated to 2018. Which is pretty much the same as no ban at all.

Former pro Peter Sagan takes the party on the water in a new beer ad.

 

Finally…

Why spend thousands on a gravel bike, when you can do the Gravel Unbound on a Walmart cruiser? Who the hell would steal a Penny Farthing?

And Hitch was one of us.

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………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Bike riding Sacramento amnesiac identified, calling out Manhattan Beach hypocrisy, and bikeshare for circus bears

September 24, 2021 / / Comments Off on Bike riding Sacramento amnesiac identified, calling out Manhattan Beach hypocrisy, and bikeshare for circus bears

One quick note before we get started.

It’s my birthday this weekend.

One I’ve tried to put off as long as possible, because it’s one of the big ones — marking the official demarkation between angry young man and crotchety get-off-my-lawn curmudgeon.

So do me a favor.

Ride just a little safer and more defensively for the next few days. Because we don’t want to ruin your weekend, or mine.

And I want to see you back here on Monday.

Even if I will be a crotchety old fart.

Photo by Karolina Grabowska from Pexels.

………

Good news from Sacramento, where the man who lost his memory after he was hit by a driver while riding his bike, and had no idea who he is, has finally been identified thanks to tips from the public.

Unfortunately, we may never learn who he is, though, because the hospital won’t identify him, citing patient privacy.

And yes, it’s yet another reminder to always carry some form of ID with you when you ride.

………

This pretty much puts it in perspective.

Manhattan Beach commuters insisted on keeping Vista Del Mar a deadly throughway, while following a completely different set of rules in their own community.

Twitter post

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This tweet from the UK kind of sums up the current state of bike commuting almost anywhere.

https://twitter.com/TheCycIist/status/1441020478978764809?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1441020478978764809%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Froad.cc%2Fcontent%2Fnews%2Fcycling-live-blog-23-september-2021-286571

………

Here’s your chance to be a somewhat different kind of bike messenger.

Twitter post

And you can still use the bike lane.

Twitter post

………

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

No bias here. A Yorkshire, England county councilor insisted that people on bicycles “do drive motorists somewhat insane,” and are “making themselves a great number of potential enemies and therefore dangerous situations.” And as an added bonus, trotted out the old myth that bike riders don’t pay for the roads.

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

A 19-year old Missouri man was busted for vandalizing homes by riding a bicycle around his own neighborhood with a backpack full of spray paint, and marking walls with phrases like “Blood Gang” and “Death to America.”

An op-ed writer says the only things keeping Brussels, Belgium from being a pedestrian-friendly city is a long list of problems, from bad drivers to embarrassingly reckless bicycle riders. (Emphasis hers.)

………

Local

Long Beach is finally getting around to building the long-delayed Wrigley Greenbelt Project along DeForest Avenue from 26th Way to 34th Street, including what appears to be a meandering bike path.

Residents of remote Del Sur in the Antelope Valley are outraged after their hand-built BMX track was plowed under by the city.

 

State

Encinitas is the latest California city to adopt Vision Zero. Let’s hope they take it seriously, unlike a certain megalopolis to the north we could name.

San Diego belatedly installs car-tickler bendie posts along the bike lane through Balboa Park, too late to save the lives of a bike-riding woman and a scooter-riding man in recent months. But at least they’re doing something.

A writer for San Francisco Streetsblog says traffic engineers and DMVs need to learn from the aviation industry how to make Vision Zero work.

Life is cheap in Contra Costa County, where prosecutors have apparently concluded that the killing od long-time NFL coach Greg Knapp was no big deal, declining to file criminal charges against the driver who swerved into the San Ramon bike lane Knapp was riding in to run him down from behind; Knapp died five days later. More proof, if we needed it, that a little stripe of white paint doesn’t keep drivers out. And that authorities don’t always care when it doesn’t.

In a case of corporate Biking While Black, a Google product manager says he was stopped by security while biking across the company’s massive Mountain View campus, because they couldn’t believe he worked there.

 

National

Cycling News explains the difference between a hybrid and a gravel bike.

The Washington Post looks at efforts by Congress to combat climate change by encouraging alternative transportation, including a proposed $750 tax rebate for buying an ebike. Although if they were really serious about fighting climate change, they wouldn’t have reduced the proposed $1,500 rebate down to a paltry $750. Especially when e-car buyers get ten times that amount.

Smart Cities says “we can’t forget public transit, walking and cycling in the push to decarbonize transportation,” adding that preserving private vehicle use won’t move us to a more equitable transportation future.

CleanTechnica wants to know why bikes are booming in the US, while sales of electric motorcycles are stagnant.

A new PeopleForBikes campaign encourages commuters to fight climate change one ride at a time.

A commercial trucker’s website says you can thank bike riders, along with early “automobilists”, for today’s highways.

Newsweek says Vision Zero is gaining speed across the US. Unfortunately, so are most drivers.

Spy considers the best bike gloves for every season.

A pair of kindhearted Massachusetts cops dig into their own pockets to buy a new bike for a six-year old boy after his was stolen for the second time in weeks.

A Cambridge, Massachusetts group has refurbished and given away over 340 bicycles since it was founded last summer.

New York’s bicycle delivery riders won first-of-their-kind protections from the city council, guaranteeing them bathroom breaks, minimum delivery payments and the right to keep whatever tips they earn.

A Savannah, Georgia physician and columnist reflects on life’s priorities, and the “vast amounts of irrelevant garbage that distracts us from the wonder of life’s everyday miracles” after surviving a hit-and-run collision while riding his bike.

 

International

The Guardian wants to know why other big bike brands aren’t following Trek’s lead by tracking their environmental impact. And then doing something about it.

Tragic news from Ontario, Canada, where a man was found dead in ditch next to his bicycle; he is believed to be the 81-year old man who went missing after leaving home on a bike ride a week ago.

A Canadian op-ed writer pens a loving ode to the amazing bicycle.

He gets it. A UK letter writer says it’s angry and selfish driving that kills people on bicycles, not the actions of the victims.

An Irish woman was convicted of dangerous driving for running over a bike rider following a collision; the woman, who was driving alone despite only having a learner’s permit, said she panicked after the crash and hit the accelerator instead of the brakes.

Belgian ebike maker Cowboy is coming to America, after rapidly becoming one of the most popular brands in Europe, although they’re only making one model available in the US for now, at an early bird price of $1,990.

Here’s another one for your bike bucket list, as the Croatian town of Vodnjan has built walking and bike trails to explore the city’s many churches, some several centuries old, as well as hundred of artworks and holy relics dating back to the fifth century. Okay, maybe just my bucket list. But still.

A man in Bangalore, India is lucky to be alive after he was knocked off an overpass when a motorcyclist sideswiped his bicycle; he survived by hanging onto some loose wires dangling over the side.

Hundreds of Mumbai bike riders took to the streets on two wheels to celebrate World Car Free Day.

 

Competitive Cycling

Road.cc says no, the pros aren’t switching to disc brakes just to get you to buy a new bike.

Cycling Weekly looks at UCI’s new gravel bike series, as well as a new ‘cross format and the relatively new sport of Snow Bike.

 

Finally…

That feeling when the nice cops explain you’ve been driving over a mile on walking and biking trails. At last, an ebike with an attached sidecar for your corgi…uh, dog.

And it’s about time Moscow had a bikeshare for circus bears.

………

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

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

Arrest made in fatal Vista Del Mar hit-and-run, PCH shoulder closing near Point Mugu, and feds cut ebike tax rebate

September 17, 2021 / / 4 comments

It looks like the LAPD got their man.

Police arrested 39-year old Darwin Dantzler for the hit-and-run death of a mother as she carried her three-year old son across Vista Del Mar last weekend.

Wendy Galdamez Palma was attempting to make her way from the beach to her car parked on the other side of the deadly roadway. She reportedly turned away from the onrushing car, sacrificing herself to save her child.

Palma would not have had to cross the street if city leaders had the courage to keep a road diet in place that shifted parking to the west side of the street to protect beachgoers, after a 16-year old girl was killed crossing the street several years ago.

The city settled a lawsuit over that crash for $9.5 million.

Palma’s death will likely cost Los Angeles a lot more, after city leaders caved in to demands from angry pass-through drivers used to using the street as a free-flowing  freeway bypass, ripping out the road diet and returning Vista Del Mar to its previous dangerous state.

And making another death virtually inevitable.

Authorities showed just how seriously they don’t take traffic crime in California, releasing Dantzler on a remarkably low $50,000 bail, given the seriousness of his crime.

Then again, he faces a maximum of just four years behind bars for felony hit-and-run. And if he’s convicted, he’ll likely serve less than half of that with good behavior.

Meanwhile, Wendy Galdamez Palma was — allegedly — given the death penalty at Dantzler’s hands.

And her husband and kids will have to somehow find a way to go on without her.

………

Caltrans will be closing a section of shoulder on southbound PCH in Ventura County for several months to repair damaged retaining walls.

If you ride through that area, you can expect to share the right lane with motorists.

But at least they’ll be dramatically lowering the speed limit through the construction zone. Let’s just hope drivers obey it.

Especially when someone on a bike is in front of them.

………

PeopleForBikes is urging everyone to voice your support for a proposed federal ebike tax credit and bike commuter benefit.

Although Treehugger argues, correctly, that ebike incentives are laughable compared to those for electric cars — especially after the House Ways and Means Committee cut the proposed benefit in half to just 15% of the purchase price, with a max of a lousy $750.

But at least that’s $750 we wouldn’t get otherwise.

Meanwhile, Calbike wants you to email Governor Newsom and urge him to sign AB 122, aka the Bicycle Safety Stop Bill, which will allow bike riders to treat stop signs as yields. Which most of us already do anyway.

AAA and the CHP had an outsized influence on our last governor. Hopefully they won’t oppose this bill. Or if they do, let’s hope Newsom listens to more enlightened voices and signs it anyway

And congratulate him on keeping his job while you’re at it.

It never hurts to suck up a little.

………

Valley Blvd is well on its way to getting shiny new curb-protected bike lanes.

https://twitter.com/boyonabike62/status/1438329554058186753

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More proof, as if you need it, that Bike Index works.

Twitter post

So what are you still waiting for? Get free lifetime registration now, before you need it.

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This could be huge.

Twitter post

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Evidently, the new bike lanes on the Brooklyn Bridge pass inspection.

https://twitter.com/BrooklynSpoke/status/1437880719410442241

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Milan is reclaiming space from cars, and giving it back to people.

So what the hell are we waiting for?

https://twitter.com/_dmoser/status/1438388469785575431

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We may have to deal with LA drivers, but at least we don’t have to worry about avian dive bombers.

https://twitter.com/gplama/status/1437311200002408451

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

I don’t even know what to say about this one, as a cop tells someone on a bicycle that it’s not safe to ride in a bike lane, because of all the cars in it. Thanks to Keith Johnson for the forward.

https://twitter.com/BaltimoreBike/status/1438514018881138692

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

Be on the lookout for bike-riding Santa Monica cello thieves.

Dallas police are looking for a shirtless, purple-pantsed, pistol-packing bike rider who fired a shot into a vehicle Wednesday afternoon.

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Local

Metro Bike bikeshare is now brought to you by Doordash.

Los Angeles approved plans to make street improvements, such as bulbouts, speed humps and traffic circles, to deter street racing, which should improve safety for everyone by slowing all traffic.

CD14 Councilmember Kevin de León will host an open house to discus plans for the NoHo to Pasadena Bus Rapid Transit through Eagle Rock on October 2nd; if you live, work or ride in the area — or want to — show up to support the Beautiful Boulevard Complete Streets plan.

 

State

Caltrans offered an update on $100 million in funding for Complete Streets projects on state roadways, including three projects in Los Angeles County, as well as others in Orange, San Diego and San Bernardino counties.

Yuba Bicycles is moving its HQ to San Juan Capistrano, with a couple new jobs in the front office.

Chico’s Sierra Nevada Brewing is working with a number of bike brands to give away a couple of custom bicycles, to raise funds and awareness for a pair of nonprofits working to repair severe damage to trail systems due to flooding and wildfires in Northern California and North Carolina.

 

National

Bicycling offers tips for better trail etiquette on your next off-road expedition. As usual, read it on Yahoo if Bicycling blocks you.

A Streetsblog op-ed offers advice on how to take on the NIMBYs, and beat opponents of street safety.

A physicians website argues that riding a bicycle to work can make you a better doctor.

Cycling News takes a deep dive into the “unique sizing, geometry and design of gravel bikes.”

Your next bike helmet could filter the air you breathe while you ride.

A new app promises to help you get your bike fit right.

Scary news from Alaska, where a doctor is urging everyone to leave their bikes at home because all the hospitals are full of Covid patients, and they may not be able to treat you if you get hurt.

You’d think it would be hard to go belly up in the middle of a worldwide bike boom, but a Denver bike shop would beg to differ.

An Oklahoma driver had his manslaughter conviction and 19-year sentence for killing a 12-year old, bike-riding Cherokee boy overturned, after the state Supreme Court ruled it had no jurisdiction on Indian lands.

A 74-year old Wisconsin man pled guilty to the hit-and-run death of a teenage boy riding a bicycle on the eve of his trial; he allegedly drove off after the crash, then returned to slowly drive by the crash site before fleeing again, leaving the boy to die in a ditch on the side of the road.

Shades of Vista Del Mar, as a Chicago bike rider was killed by a hit-and-run driver on a street where parking protected bike lanes were ripped out eight years ago, just because homeowners wanted to park next to the curb.

NatGeo sings the praises of Minneapolis as a bicycling city and a leader in the urban bicycling movement.

This one will put a smile on your face, as an Indianapolis paper profiles a 72-year old woman who’s famous locally for riding her pink bicycle everywhere she goes in her neighborhood.

A DC writer argues that every block matters in the fight for safer streets and a better climate.

Nice story from South Carolina, where a young boy riding an old bike crashed into a stranger’s car because he didn’t have any brakes, so instead of screaming at the boy, the man bought him a new bicycle, presumably with brakes that work.

 

International

Cycling Weekly offers a beginner’s guide to shifting.

A woman riding through Mexico discovers firsthand what it’s like to run out of water in the middle of the desert; fortunately, she stumbled on total strangers who saved her.

Britain’s ex-health secretary is one of us, as he was spotted riding a Lime ebike through Trafalgar Square after being forced out of the government over an affair, while leaving his wife to suffer through long Covid alone. Schmuck.

Paris continues to free itself from the tyranny of motor vehicles, as Slate talks with David Belliard, the city’s adjunct mayor for transportation and public space.

Time is running out for Afghanistan’s women’s cycling community following the Taliban takeover of the country; a campaign to evacuate and resettle 28 bicyclists and their families has raised nearly $100,000 of the $250,000 goal.

 

Competitive Cycling

L39ion of Los Angeles founder Justin Williams is attempting to jumpstart the moribund heart of American cycling with a one-day, $100,000 crit in Sacramento next month, including equal payouts for men and women.

Twitter post

Of course, the way they’ve performed this season, there’s a good chance L39ion will just win all of that money back.

 

Finally…

One sure sign you’ve got too much money — paying $65 for an ounce and a half of chain lube; then again, what else would you use on your $12,700 ebike? Your next bike could come complete with a retractable plastic roof.

And always ride with a friend.

Twitter post

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

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

Blood on Garcetti’s hands as hit-and-run driver murders mom on Vista Del Mar, and big pickups blind drivers to little kids

September 13, 2021 / / One comment

We knew it was going to happen.

Just four years after a road diet was unceremoniously ripped out on deadly Vista Del Mar, a mother was killed by a hit-and-run driver while carrying her three-year old son.

And immediately, local residents jumped in to demand that something be done to stop the street’s speeding drivers.

Like this man who was quoted by KCBS-2.

A day after the tragic incident, some neighbors are saying that something needs to be done about people speeding down Vista Del Mar.

“Nobody respects the speed limit here,” said a neighbor Adolfo Navarro. “I mean, you’ll see the cops on motorcycles here during the day enforcing it, but at night, it’s…you can hardly see because the lights don’t even gloom right and then you can only see as far as you can using your headlights.”

Except something was done.

And Playa del Rey residents and Manhattan Beach commuters immediately got out the torches and pitchforks demanding its removal, until our weak-kneed mayor cut the legs out from under the local councilmember to force its removal.

Now every damn one of them have this woman’s blood on their hands.

CD11 Councilmember Mike Bonin had ordered the road diet when the city was forced to settle a lawsuit for $9.5 million, two years after 16-year-old Naomi Larsen was killed while crossing the road at Dockweiler Beach.

Just like 33-year old Wendy Galdamez Palma on Saturday night.

Bonin understood that, without quick action, people would continue to die on the killer street.

And the next settlement would make that $9.5 million look like peanuts.

So he ordered LADOT to implement a long planned, and long delayed, road diet on Vista Del Mar, along with a handful of other local streets.

Unfortunately, the work was done over a weekend, without warning or public announcements, resulting in massive traffic backups and the inevitable hot tempers.

And somehow, everyone blamed bike lanes — and bike riders in general — for the road diet, even though LADOT used diagonal parking to narrow the street, rather than bike lanes, so speeding drivers wouldn’t keep killing people.

So in the face of demands from angry cut-through commuters, as well as lawsuits and threats of recalls — that was back in the day, before recalls were an everyday thing — Garcetti ordered all the road diets and bike lanes that had been installed on other streets removed.

Making Bonin look like a hapless fool.

And making more deaths inevitable.

As an added bonus, the actions of the future ambassador to India undercut virtually every road diet that had been planned anywhere in the City of Angels, as councilmembers ran scared, and quickly concluded they’d rather see more needless deaths than have those angry drivers come after them.

Most notably on LA’s Temple Street, where both CD1’s Gil Cedillo and CD13’s Mitch O’Farrell quickly backed out of a desperately needed, shovel-ready lane reduction.

Which was soon followed by CD2 Councilmember Paul Krekorian cancelling plans for similar safety improvements on Lankershim Blvd in North Hollywood.

That’s how we ended up with bike riders and pedestrians continuing to die on our streets, six years after the city adopted Vision Zero, and just four years until traffic deaths were supposed to be a thing of the past.

Yeah, right.

Never mind an ever rising epidemic of hit-and-runs, as drivers recognized just how unlikely they are to be caught. And just how likely they are to get away with a slap on the wrist if they are.

All of which brings us to the needless death of a mother cradling her child in her arms, who reportedly turned away from the oncoming car to sacrifice her life in order to save his.

I honestly don’t know what to say anymore.

Wendy Palma did not need to die. Steps were taken to tame high speed drivers on deadly Vista Del Mar. And spineless cowards took them out.

Which means the next legal settlement won’t by $9.6 million, but significantly higher. Because the city knew there was a problem there, and not only didn’t fix it, they actually removed the fix.

And the one after that will be higher still.

And the one after that.

And people will keep dying, because the cowards in City Hall don’t have the courage to do anything about it.

Photo shows the road diet that was removed from Vista Del Mar.

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If a driver can’t see what’s on the road directly in front of them, they shouldn’t be allowed on the road.

Period.

Twitter post

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Everyone knows you can’t carry stuff home from the market or hardware store on a bicycle.

Let alone a dozen kegs.

Right?

https://twitter.com/pedalmeapp/status/1436314640825393153

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

This is who we share the road with. A British driver somehow seems to find humor in seeing an injured bike rider on the side of the road. Schmuck.

https://twitter.com/ldnparks/status/1435872982610612224?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1435930878392274949%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es3_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cyclingweekly.com%2Fnews%2Fgrim-viewing-as-video-emerges-of-driver-mocking-injured-cyclist-in-richmond-park

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

London police “nicked” a teenage fake food delivery rider who was dispensing cannabis instead of food, catching him with nine bags of weed and the equivalent of more than $700 in cash.

It takes a major schmuck to punch a British man walking his dog and kick him in the head, just because the man asked a passing bike rider to slow down.

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Local

Speaking of Mike Bonin, the councilmember announced improved bollard-protected bike lanes on Airport Blvd in Westchester (scroll down), even if half the riding area is in the gutter.

The LA County Sheriff’s Department’s Fugitive Task Force busted a man riding a bicycle in West Hollywood who was wanted for a New York murder, after his barber gave away his location by posting a photo of him getting a haircut on Instagram.

Fifty South Bay bike riders honored bicycling advocate Julian Katz with a ride in his memory, three years after Katz passed away at the age of 88.

They get it. The Long Beach Business Journal makes the case that a $20 million reconstruction plan for Artesia Blvd through Compton, Long Beach, Cerritos and Paramount, including an upgraded bike lane, will be good for business growth along the corridor.

 

State

San Diego will be the first US city to get the Bird, as the Santa Monica-based company deploys a fleet of their new ebikes in the city.

Twenty-eight-year old ex-con Martin Valdez Arias has been charged with randomly attacking a woman while riding his bike on a Ventura bike path; he faces charges of false imprisonment by violence and attempted sexual battery.

A travel website offers tips on how to ride your bike across San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge.

 

National

They get it, too. Vox says US cities must be designed to encourage much more biking, walking and transit use to end America’s obsession with driving and fight climate change.

A Denver PBS station looks at the local chapter of Black Girls Do Bike, a nationwide group dedicated getting more Black women to ride bikes. And dispelling the myth that they don’t.

Authorities are looking for a man who went missing not far from my Colorado hometown after he set out for bike ride on Friday, and never came home.

A Missouri construction crew devised a brilliant solution to keep the 287-mile Katy trail open during a bridge replacement project, using shipping containers to form a makeshift tunnel to protect riders from falling debris.

A Chicago group gave away 75 refurbished bicycles to kids from two to ten years old, as well as giving them basic safety training.

This is who we share the road with. A three-month old Brooklyn baby is dead, and her mother clinging to life, after a wrong way driver slammed into another car, and both vehicles spun out onto the sidewalk; the driver, who had an incredible 160 traffic violations in the past four years, attempted — and failed — to jack another car to flee following the crash. Just one more example of authorities keeping dangerous drivers on the road until it’s too late.

Don’t hold your breath. New York’s mayor promises answers after the NYPD turned a new bike lane into their own parking lot.

A New Yorker gets his stolen bike back two months later, after spotting it in a photo of abandoned bikes recovered by the police.

Camila Cabello is one of us, riding her bike with a friend on the streets of New York.

An Atlantic City paper is surprised to learn that county officials have been building a bike network for the past decade, but they support the effort, saying rising bike deaths make it a necessity.

No surprise here. A Pottsville PA cop wasn’t charged for killing a 31-year old man who reportedly was struck when he rode his bike into an intersection; no word on who actually had the right-of-way, or whether the officer was using lights and siren. Unfortunately, police have a well-deserved reputation for blaming the victim in any crash involving a cop.

 

International

If you think traffic is driving you nuts, you may be right. A new study shows exposure to traffic and railroad noise increases the risk of dementia in general, and Alzheimer’s in particular.

A Canadian man is looking for the Good Samaritans who came to his rescue after he did a face plant when a brake cable snapped on a steep descent, while visiting family in Vancouver.

A Toronto columnist says the future of the city’s downtown is not car-friendly. And that’s a good thing.

A man in the UK will spend the next six months behind bars for violating his probation, after being caught in possession of a bicycle that wasn’t registered with police, which was a condition of his suspended sentence for selling weed; he had been allowed back on the streets despite 13 previous convictions.

An Irish paper says carfree housing developments don’t have to be a utopian ideal, and that removing cars from homes can eliminate the risk they pose to children.

A new Netherlands study show bicycling injuries in the country are eight times higher than what has been reported by the police.

United Arab Emirates VP Sheikh Mohammed is one of us, taking to his bike to explore Dubai’s World Expo site ahead of its opening next month. Although he doesn’t look very happy about it, at least in the top photo.

September is the most dangerous month to ride a bike in South Korea, with August second.

More confirmation that Russell Crowe is one of us, as he took his mountain bike out for a spin around Sidney, Australia with his girlfriend.

 

Competitive Cycling

Dutch cyclist Pascal Eenkhoorn was the star of Saturday’s 7th stage of the Tour of Britain for handing his water bottle to a young fan who pedaled furiously along the sidewalk to keep up with the lead breakaway.

 

Finally…

Let’s be honest, it would probably be worth the $6.51 fine to ride with a jet engine on your bike. That feeling when you’re tired of horseshit bike lanes — no, literally. Or get attacked by a pair of naked and mostly naked men.

And who says you need a surfboard to ride the waves?

Twitter post

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On a personal note, yesterday marked the 14th anniversary of the Infamous Beachfront Bee Incident. But I’m still here, and the bees aren’t.

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

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

Morning Links: Vision Zero in reverse on Vista del Mar, and an indignorant self-pious anti-bike lane cyclist

August 29, 2017 / / 4 comments

This is not how Vision Zero is supposed to work.

Bowing to complaints from angry motorists, Los Angeles reversed the road diet on Vista del Mar in Playa del Rey last week.

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton reports the reconfigured street is now a “desolate, 4-lane highway,” with nothing to keep drivers from exceeding the already too high 40 mph speed limit.

And exceed it, they will. And already are.

Which means it’s just a matter of time until the next death on a roadway that has already seen far too many.

Except this time, the inevitable lawsuit will settle for far more than the $9.5 million paid out by the city recently in the death of a 16-year old girl. Because they had a chance to fix the problem and not only didn’t do it, but undid the fix they made.

A cost that will be born, not by the South Bay drivers who use the roadway as their personal speedway, but by the people of Los Angeles.

Or the South Bay cities that believe in calming traffic, but only inside their own city limits, for that matter.

It’s too early to give up on Vision Zero.

But this is exactly the wrong thing to do. And for exactly the wrong reasons.

Photo of deconfigured Vista del Mar by Streetsblog’s Joe Linton.

………

Once again, the specter of an indignorant, self-pious cyclist raises its ugly head.

This time in the form of a San Luis Obispo columnist who says he obeys the law when he rides, but accuses the city council of appeasing those damn scofflaw bike zealots with a cycle track he insists no one else wants anyway.

Maybe someone should tell him that many law abiding bike riders desperately want safer places to ride their bikes, and better bikeways have been shown to reduce illegal bike behavior.

And no, drivers don’t pay all the taxes and fees for the construction and maintenance of our roads.

Or even most of them.

………

BikinginLA sponsor Thomas Forsyth will team with Wolfpack Hustle to host the Forsyth Cup at the Encino Velodrome on September 16th.

………

Team USA announced the women’s team for the coming world road championships, including 42-year old defending world time trial champ Amber Neben, Chloe Dygert, Megan Gaurnier and SoCal’s own Coryn Rivera.

The Colorado-based Cannondale Drapac cycling team — home to Taylor Phinney, Alex Howes and Rigoberto Uran — has reluctantly started a crowdfunding campaign to stay afloat after losing a key sponsor for next year; the Denver Post reports it’s already raised around $1.5 million.

Chris Froome shrugged off concerns that his Team Sky has an unfair financial advantage over the other teams, comparing efforts to level the playing field to communism. Which is easy to say when he’s guaranteed a job for next year.

Good thing the doping era is over. This year’s Dana Point Grand Prix winner Kayle LeoGrande was banned for a whopping eight years after a drug test revealed seven separate prohibited substances.

……….

Local

West Hollywood’s WeHo Pedals celebrates its first anniversary tomorrow at Sal Guarriello Park at Santa Monica Blvd and Holloway from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm. In case you’re wondering, the traditional gift for a one-year anniversary is paper; do with that what you will.

Pasadena’s planned two-way Union Street cycle track could start construction before the projected 2021 kickoff date.

Santa Clarita sheriff’s deputies will be conducting a bike and pedestrian safety enforcement program tomorrow, ticketing people for behavior that can jeopardize the safety of either, regardless of who commits it. Which means ride to the letter of the law until you’re out of their jurisdiction, which extends beyond the city limits.

The Expo Line bike path continues to be closed for maintenance work between Centinela and Stewart Street in Santa Monica; SaMo is also conducting a bike technology demonstration project at the intersection of Pico and 11th this week.

 

State

The OC Register gives you the lowdown on California ebike laws.

Nearly 20 special needs kids in Ventura get new adaptive tricycles, thanks to a Los Angeles-based nonprofit.

A Fresno school bus driver apparently right hooked a teenage bike rider, and just kept going.

The victim of Sunday’s Guerneville hit-and-run that killed a bike rider as he checked his phone on the side of the road has been identified as the chief legal counsel for UC Berkeley; a 28-year old Rio Nido man has been named a person of interest in the case.

Sacramento State University students will be greeted with several new green bike lanes leading to campus, as well Sacramento’s first bike boxes and bicycle traffic signal on a dangerous corridor near the school.

A large landslide nine months ago will keep a popular Sacramento riverfront bike trail closed until at least next spring.

 

National

PlacesForBikes’ Michael Andersen says improving bicycling is as much about slowing traffic speeds as it is building bike lanes.

A Seattle woman celebrates bike riders of all sizes with stickers reading With These Thighs.

The war on bikes continues, as a 72-year old Arkansas bike rider was seriously injured when he ran into barbed wire that had been strung at chest level across a bike trail. Lets hope they catch the jerks who did it and lock them up for a very long time.

A Pittsburgh website says new bike lanes are a good first step, but more has to be done to ensure safety.

Boston cops have accepted an invitation from the founder of a Boston stunt-bike group to ride with them, after the riders were booted from a parade that banned bikes over the weekend.

The New York Times examines dockless bikeshare companies, which are currently banned from the city.

 

International

Montreal bike cops accidently bust one of the United States’ most wanted criminals.

Six-time Brit Olympic champ Sir Chris Hoy says pretty much anyone who weighs more than 112 pounds looks awful in Lycra, and looks ridiculous in fluorescent colors or a full team kit; he later issued an apology for some of his remarks. Although I do have to agree with him about white bike shorts, which don’t look good on anyone.

A paper in the UK offers advice on how to keep your bike from getting stolen.

Organizers of a British mountain bike race face charges for not doing enough to ensure the safety of spectators after a young woman was killed by an out-of-control bike in 2014.

After months of reports that self-driving cars can’t recognize bike and riders would have to wear some sort of transponder to improve safety, German auto parts maker Bosch is introducing a radar system designed to recognize and automatically respond to bicyclists even in heavy fog, as well as spotting riders coming from behind in order to prevent doorings.

A sharp decline in Australian imports of children’s bikes prompts fears that children are less active in the country. It could have something to do with the country’s dangerous, auto-centric streets, and a mandatory helmet law and draconian fines that discourage their parents from riding. Or it could have something to do with dangerous bikes, after an Aussie teenager was impaled by the gear shift on his bicycle.

 

Finally…

Your next foldie could weigh just 15 pounds. Who needs spin class when you can just pedal your desk?

And why let a little thing like a hurricane keep you from riding?

 

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