Tag Archive for vulnerable road users

How LA’s inaction led to a child’s death, LADOT “improves” safety by restoring parking, and CicLAvia rolls again

August 18, 2025 / / No comments
Day 230 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Of course he gets it.

Writing for the Los Angeles Times, Streets For All founder Michael Schneider says fourth-grader Nadir Gavarrete did not have to die in a Koreatown intersection earlier this month.

Nadir Gavarrete was riding an e-scooter along with his 19-year old brother when they were run down by a drunk driver, who was accused of blowing through a stop sign to make a left turn.

A stop sign, and an intersection, that shouldn’t have still been there.

Koreatown is one of the densest parts of Los Angeles — at 44,000 people per square mile, it’s more crowded than most New York City boroughs. Nearly every major street in Koreatown is on the city’s “high injury network” list — the 6% of streets that cause 70% of the traffic injuries and deaths. In other words, L.A. knows how dangerous Koreatown’s streets can be.

As a result, 14 years ago, in 2011, L.A. applied for a federal grant to improve safety along several city streets, specifically choosing to focus on the intersection of New Hampshire and 4th for one of its projects. The city won the grant money and kicked off community meetings to discuss installing a roundabout at the intersection, as well as adding enhanced crosswalks and other safety improvements to the immediate area.

Needless to say, a decade-and-a-half later, nothing has happened, this being Los Angeles and all.

Except for yet another needless death, added to a long and ever-growing list of failure.

What will it take for Los Angeles to have a sense of urgency in actually making our streets safer? We currently spend more on legal settlements to those hurt and killed on our streets than we do on Vision Zero, the city’s half-baked effort to reduce traffic deaths. Since Los Angeles declared itself a Vision Zero City in 2015, with the ultimate aim of having no one killed in car crashes on city streets by 2025, deaths and injuries have only gotten worse. In the last few years we’ve had at least three children hit and killed while walking to school. And yet the city’s leaders — facing a budget crisis, much of it of their own making — perpetually underfund LADOT and street safety in general.

Good question.

It’s worth taking a few minutes to read the whole thing.

Because the more things change in this city of fallen angels, the more they stay the same.

And that’s not a good thing.

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Good news and bad news, as LADOT announced plans to remove peak-hour lanes on a number of low-traffic streets throughout the city in an effort to improve safety.

The lanes currently prohibit parking during morning and/or evening rush hours, too often turning them into high speed traffic lanes.

However, the bad news is, instead of converting the lanes to full-time bus or bike lanes, the city is restoring parking throughout the day. Which doesn’t actually improve safety for anyone, just trading one problem for another.

LADOT dangles the possibility of converting the lanes to some other, better use at some undisclosed future time. Although given the city’s financial problems — due in large part to those legal settlements referenced above — that day could be years, or even decades, off.

If ever.

LADOT Begins First Phase of Peak-Hour Lane Removal

LADOT has begun implementing the first phase of a citywide initiative to improve safety and access to street parking by removing peak-hour travel lanes and restoring full-time parking. This initiative, directed by the Los Angeles City Council, aims to enhance safety, improve access, and support the City’s long-term mobility goals.

Phase 1 of this initiative focuses on low-traffic corridors, restoring street parking on corridors where traffic volume is below determined thresholds. Future phases will examine higher-volume streets and may propose alternative uses for peak-hour lanes, such as dedicated bus lanes, protected bike lanes, or expanded pedestrian zones. LADOT will conduct outreach and collaborate with community stakeholders as future phases move forward, ensuring that proposed changes align with neighborhood needs.

In addition to providing greater parking availability to support surrounding businesses, these changes are expected to have minimal impact on congestion while improving street safety, with reduced speeding, fewer collisions, and improved visibility for people walking and biking.

The specific corridors selected for Phase 1 of peak-hour lane removal are:

  • Alpine St, from N. Spring to Yale
  • Alvarado St, Northbound, from James M. Wood to 7th
  • Beverly Blvd, from Rampart to Witmer
  • Broadway, Northbound, from 2nd to 1st
  • College St, from New Depot to Alameda
  • Crenshaw Blvd, from Florence to 59th St
  • La Tijera Blvd, Northbound, from Thornburn to Knowlton
  • Melrose Ave, from Vermont to Virgil
  • Nordhoff St, Westbound, from Corbin to Canoga
  • Pico Blvd, Westbound, from Overland to Sepulveda
  • Ventura Blvd, Eastbound, from Farralone to Tampa
  • Victory Blvd, from Lankershim to Clybourn
  • Washington Blvd, from Vermont to Flower
  • Washington Blvd, Eastbound, from Redondo to La Brea and from Wellington to Crenshaw

Thanks to Dr. Grace Peng for the heads-up.

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A writer for Circling the News was the first to post a report from yesterday’s Culver City meets Venice CicLAvia.

And the first thing they noticed was the bad shape of the road around Venice and Abbot Kinney, saying it was easy to notice if you’re trying to dodge pavement problems.

The second thing seemed to be members of White People 4 Black Lives, several accident attorneys and the Venice High School Cheerleaders handing out free water along the route, the latter as they tried to raise funds.

And yes, it seems a good time was had by all.

Although I had to miss it because of my wife’s health problems, since she still hasn’t bounced back enough to go herself, or to be left at home alone.

Meanwhile, the Militant Angeleno’s guide to highlights along the route was posted too late to link to before the CicLAvia, but you can still check it out to see what you missed.

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

No bias here. A 55-year old Miami man claims he was arrested just for touching a police cruiser, as he tried to ride around the patrol car stopped in a bike lane; police claim he intentionally hit the car hard enough to dent it “four to five times.”

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

A 12-year old Singapore girl was hospitalized after she was knocked cold by a 51-year old man on fixie while riding her bicycle; the older man was being investigated for a “rash act causing hurt.”

A Brisbane, Australia writer offers a carrot and stick solution to the problem of scofflaw bicyclists, saying the answer is more bike paths, while forcing bike riders to wear registration numbers.

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Local 

Two women were arrested for shooting another woman in the arm on Sepulveda Blvd in Culver City earlier this month, in an attempt to steal the victim’s ebike; a search of their apartment also turned up two assault rifles with high-capacity magazines, ammunition and a kilo of suspected cocaine.

 

State

Mark your calendar for September 4th, when the Orange County Transportation Authority will hold a webinar to discuss the OCTA Bikeways Connectivity Study to expand options for bikeways across Orange County.

A mom writing for the Times of San Diego explains how to select the right bicycle for your kids.

California Streetsblog reports on Bike Bakersfield and Calbike teaming up to “flip the script” on a “ludicrous” grand jury report decrying efforts to implement bicycle safety measures.

A local website reports bicycling and pedestrian deaths in Watsonville far outpace the average in Santa Cruz County, and considers four ways to make the city streets safer.

 

National

ABC News says the deadly 85th Percentile Rule that allows drivers to set speed limits with a heavy right foot could finally be on the way out.

Great idea. The White Line — the bicycle safety group founded by the parents of fallen Team USA cyclist Magnus White — put a group of Colorado lawmakers on a bus, and drove them around for a series of mobile town halls to show them the impact crashes have on vulnerable road users.

I want to be like her when I grow up. A Missoula, Montana woman calls a local octogenarian, peacemaker and bicycle evangelist her hero and mentor, the 87-year old woman is known throughout the community for riding around town in a bright vest, with her dog in her basket.

Chicago Streetsblog says yes, the city has a long way to go to become bike friendly, but People For Bikes’ use of it as a poster child for bicycling problems is just a joke.

New York’s Citi Bike bikeshare will now require users to prove they’re over 16 to use the service.

Florida — yes, Florida — is now the first state in the nation to offer ebike education as part of the regular curriculum, at least in some schools.

A 54-year old Miami man riding a bicycle on the city’s deadly Rickenbacker Causeway was killed when he was struck by two kids riding an electric dirt bike.

 

International

Momentum ranks the ten best European city’s for bicycling and the best time to visit, including four French cities, led by Paris.

An op-ed from a Calgary, Alberta bike advocate urges local drivers not to fear road diets, arguing that they can ease the city’s traffic woes.

An expat website explains how to get around the Netherlands by bike like a local.

Here’s another one for your bicycle bucket list, as Travel + Leisure recommends a 560-mile bike trail through France’s Loire Valley, exploring a unique blend of ancient Gaelic history, Renaissance châteaus, and ancient vineyards.

A 65-year old Tallahassee, Florida high school teacher and tennis coach stopped in Madrid, Spain, a little less than a quarter of the way on his attempt to become the oldest person a bike around the world.

 

Competitive Cycling

Remco Evenepoel will now be on the same team as Primož Roglič, as Roglič says he hopes they can do great things together, after the Belgian star signed with the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe cycling team.

 

Finally…

Your next car could be a bike.

No, seriously, that’s all we’ve got this time. 

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

LA Mayor Bass caves to Freeway to Nowhere NIMBYs, and new fed bill aims to protect vulnerable road users

November 2, 2023 / / Comments Off on LA Mayor Bass caves to Freeway to Nowhere NIMBYs, and new fed bill aims to protect vulnerable road users

She gets it.

Los Angeles Times columnist Erika D. Smith asks why the city won’t even study removing the 90 Freeway stub to nowhere, after the mayor and other local officials caved to LA’s notorious NIMBYs.

Mayor Bass had initially supported a federal grant request to fund a two-year study of the project, which would scrap the three-mile, lightly trafficked highway, potentially replacing it with low-cost housing and a massive linear park.

But in true LA fashion, the mayor and other local officials were for it before they was against it, listening to the loudest angry voices instead of the voice of reason.

Now, though, my excitement as well as (Streets For All founder Michael) Schneider’s has given way to familiar feelings of frustration. True to form for NIMBY-indulging Los Angeles, the political support he believed was solid has suddenly turned porous.

That includes Bass: “I do not support the removal or demolition of the 90 Freeway,” she said in a statement last week. “I’ve heard loud and clear from communities who would be impacted and I do not support a study on this initiative.”

L.A. City Councilmember Traci Park agrees with her. After conducting a very unscientific poll of her Westside constituents, she wrote in her newsletter that: “The 11th District does not support the demolition of the 90 Freeway. Your voice is why Mayor Bass rescinded her initial support.”

L.A. County Supervisor Holly Mitchell told me that, despite rumors to the contrary, she never decided to back a study or tearing down the Marina Freeway, which abuts her district in the unincorporated neighborhood of Ladera Heights. “But it’s a moot point now,” she said.

As Smith makes clear, what they’re all now opposing is nothing more than a feasibility study.

No one, at this point, is calling for the actual destruction of anything. And nothing regarding this project would be done for years, if not decades, that would inconvenience motorists in the slightest.

The flip-flopping pols cite a lack of public outreach their rapid NIMBY cave-in. Yet the reason there hasn’t been any is simply because it isn’t time yet.

Extensive outreach would be a major part of the study, and there’s no reason to do any outreach now, because there’s nothing to actually discuss at this point.

In other words, it’s not that it hasn’t been done. It just hasn’t been done yet.

So what’s the problem in just studying whether the project is feasible and practical, or even wanted — without spending a dime of city funds?

If the mayor is going to cave to NIMBY voices this easily, it doesn’t bode well for getting anything accomplished on our streets during her administration.

……..

Inland Empire Rep. Norma J. Torres cosponsored legislation calling on federal government agencies to develop methods to better protect pedestrians and other vulnerable road users, as well as providing grants to cities to improved pedestrian infrastructure.

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Prosecutors in Austin, Texas opened the murder trial of Kaitlin Armstrong for the shooting death of gravel cyclist Moriah “Mo” Wilson, revealing that Armstrong tracked Wilson through Strava to learn where she was staying.

In a chilling note, they also said that the last sound Wilson ever made was a scream of terror.

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A memorial will be held this Friday evening in honor of 69-year old Tania Mooser, the woman killed by a driver in a Santa Monica collision last weekend.

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San Diego is looking for more feedback on the city’s draft mobility plan.

Let’s just hope they don’t adopt, then ignore, the finished document, like a certain megalopolis to the north.

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Tell me again why you need an SUV to carry groceries home.

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

No bias here. A San Francisco letter writer complains that the bike lane on the Richmond-San Raphael bridge “is a joke, foisted on the 40,000 commuters” who use the bridge each day “by the loud and elitist bicycle lobby and its virtue-signaling political allies.” Never mind that the gridlock he complains about is caused by too many people in cars, and won’t be relieved by ripping out the bike lane.

Portland, Oregon is in a dither over whether to rip out a bike lane that was “mistakenly” installed overnight without community input, as bike-riding residents block a large truck to prevent its removal after it was already in the process of scraping the paint off.

No bias here, either. A British mayor faced criticism for his “abysmal failure” to fulfill a campaign promise to rip out a bike lane that has seen several bicycling and pedestrian injuries, in addition to being filled with illegally parked cars. But those injuries couldn’t possibly have anything to do with the parking problem. Right?

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Local 

Incumbent 4th District Councilmember Nithya Raman and challenger Ethan Weaver discussed transportation, transit and public safety issues in a debate sponsored by Streets For All, with both calling for increased efforts to prevent traffic deaths.

This is who we share the road with. The driver of a heavy electric truck somehow went airborne and slammed through the exterior wall of a pizza place in Hollywood. Which explains all the sirens and why there was a police helicopter circling around our apartment Tuesday night.

Santa Monica is creating a “strategic” 700-foot extension to the Michigan Greenway bike/walk project.

He gets it, too. A Manhattan Beach English teacher describes how he gave up his car for a one-hour bike commute to work, asking “why doesn’t everybody?”

 

State

San Diego will hold the 10th Annual Jim Krause Memorial Charity Cycling Ride the Point to support research to combat pancreatic cancer on November 11th.

A man was shot and killed by Riverside County Sheriff’s Department deputies in San Jacinto Tuesday afternoon when he pulled a gun as they ordered him off his bicycle.

Sad news from Bakersfield, where a person riding a bicycle was apparently killed in what the CHP described as a “high-speed collision.”

Santa Barbara is attempting to reduce conflicts between bike riders and pedestrians by installing a bike lane down the center of the city’s State Street Promenade.

San Luis Obispo County will build a 1.25-mile, $7.4 million bike path along the scenic stretch of coastline between Morro Bay and Cayucos, providing an alternative to biking on the busy coast highway.

More sad news, this time from Modesto, where a 36-year old homeless woman was killed by a driver while riding her bike last week.

About damn time. The San Francisco city attorney is suing websites that sell banned license plate covers that drivers use to illegally evade the police, tolls and tickets.

Bicyclists in Napa just got their first buffered bike lane.

 

National

And they get it. Electrek says we need fewer driverless cars, and more carless drivers. They also get bonus points for correctly using “fewer,” rather than the commonly used “less.”

Denial is not just a river in Egypt. The Las Vegas driver who killed BMX champ Nathan ‘Nate’ Miller as he rode his bike in the city claimed he’s a good driver who never had a crash before — despite 19 previous tickets, including for driving without a license.

A Colorado company has developed an online calculator to, um, calculate how much a city could save in both carbon and cash by investing in ebikes. Which serves as yet another reminder that California’s long-delayed ebike rebate program still isn’t rebating anything to anyone. 

Kindhearted strangers pitched in to buy a North Dakota man a new ebike, just one day after his bicycle was snapped in half when he was struck by a motorist.

In another reminder that bikes mean business, a Chicago CEO recounts how he started his waste composting business by pulling a red wagon behind his bicycle to pick up food waste when he was still a kid.

A 45-year old randonneur describes the hit-and-run in upstate New York that left him with a fractured back and sacrum, a trashed bike, and a long recovery.

Artnet News tags along with Filipina American artist Jasmin Sian on her daily 15-mile bike commute on New York’s Hudson River Greenway, discovering how it helps inform her art.

Speaking of NIMBYs, New York’s mayor is attempting to un-install a new bike boulevard that is virtually finished by re-opening a call for community input, while continuing to micromanage bike lane projects and back off campaign commitments to build more.

A Memphis newspaper says the city’s depiction as the nation’s least-bike friendly city doesn’t tell the whole story, and that bicycling in the city is amazing and getting better — despite a death rate 21% higher than average.

 

International

GCN suggests the best Christmas gifts for bicyclists. Can we at least put off the Christmas talk until we put Halloween a little further in the rearview mirror?

Bicyclists in Windsor, Ontario are angry after a recent report showed the city built less than three miles of bike lanes in the last two years.

Life is cheap in the UK, where an “arrogant” speeding driver who killed a 77-year old man riding a bicycle while driving with traces of ketamine, cocaine and alcohol in his system, walked without a single day behind bars, as a prosecutor described his standard of driving as “just below” the threshold for dangerous driving. You would think that, regardless of the drug use, killing someone while speeding would be prima facie evidence of dangerous driving. But evidently, you’d be wrong. 

A British self-described “cycling nut” is suing giant bikemaker Giant for the equivalent of over $243,000, after he broke his back in four places when the fork on his new carbon-frame bike separated from the steerer tube while he was riding, and the bike collapsed under him.

The star of Britain’s favorite TV commercial returned to the same hill he walked his bike up as a child to mark the 50th anniversary of the famous bread ad.

The Dutch city of Maastricht is addressing a plague of “wild parking” — illegally locking bicycles to lampposts or railings — by confiscating the illegally parked bikes and increasing penalties to get them back.

Czech carmaker Škoda’s We Love Cycling website considers why it took so long to invent the bicycle after the Mesopotamians invented the wheel.

Beijing, China is cracking down on traffic violations — and not just the ones committed by the people in the big, dangerous machines.

 

Competitive Cycling

Dutch cycling star Jeffrey Hoogland broke the 1 kilometer time-trial world record in Aguascalientes, Mexico, averaging over 40 mph from a standing start.

 

Finally…

Apparently, bikepacking isn’t for everyone. Your next ebike could be made by Lotus, if you happen to have an extra 24 grand lying around.

And this is what it looks like to ride the world’s steepest street.

Or not.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Tell feds to cancel deadly trucks & SUVs, photos from Saturday’s Beach Streets, and what passes for bike lanes in CD3

May 23, 2023 / / One comment

Here’s your chance to tell the feds to stop allowing massive trucks and SUVs that seem intentionally designed to kill anyone outside the vehicle.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, aka NHTSA, is asking for input to draft new crashworthiness regulations to help improve safety for vulnerable road users, like bike riders and pedestrians.

Tell ’em it’s long past time to make vehicles safer for vulnerable road users like us.

Meanwhile, as long as we’re talking about feds, the US Department of Transportation has introduced their new Equitable Transportation Community (ETC) Explorer.

The tool is designed to help city planners, advocates, and elected officials plan more equitable transportation investments targeting traditionally underserved communities.

Which may be a mouthful, but it’s badly needed to help correct the deadly inequities on our streets, where people in low income communities or communities of color are more likely to be killed while biking or walking.

Photo by David Drexler from Long Beach Beach Streets (see below).

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Yesterday we shared David Drexler’s photos from the official opening of the new Mark Bixby bike-ped path over the International Gateway Bridge.

Today he’s kind enough to share a few photos from Saturday’s Beach Streets open streets event in downtown Long Beach.

Let’s just hope he got there early, and it was more crowded than the photos suggest.

Photos by David Drexler

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Good question.

Unfortunately, you can find substandard bike lanes like this in underserved neighborhoods all over the LA area.

https://twitter.com/gatodejazz/status/1660863095927873538

On the other hand, this is what you end up with when elected leaders actually give a damn.

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Calbike is urging you to contact your state assemblymember to call for passage of AB73, the latest attempt to pass the Bicycle Safety Stop, aka Stop as Yield.

The bill is intended to improve safety by allowing bike riders to roll through stop signs when there’s no conflicting traffic, and it’s safe to do so.

Assuming it can get past Governor Newsom’s veto pen this time.

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Put this on a T-shirt, and I’m all in.

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The creator of Sherlock Holmes was one of us.

And he’s right.

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

No bias here. After an elderly Hawaiian man died crashing his bike in an apparent solo fall, officials said his death wouldn’t count towards the county traffic fatality totals because he was riding a bicycle instead of driving a car.

No bias here, either. The Dallas Morning News reports someone stole a Dallas city bus, then crashed it into several parked cars and a bicycle. But they wait until the penultimate paragraph to mention that someone was actually riding that bike at the time; fortunately, the bike rider wasn’t injured.

A car passenger was caught on camera throwing trash at a British man as he rode his bike, even though he was riding with his four-year old son.

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

Two Louisiana schools were put on lockdown when a man was seen carrying a rifle on his bicycle; police gave the all-clear when they determined he was just taking it to a pawn shop.

Commenters are praising a Dollar General manager who used her car to run down an alleged shoplifter making off on his bicycle, even though she could — and perhaps should — be charged with assault with a deadly weapon.

https://twitter.com/4Mischief/status/1659997986284355586?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1659997986284355586%7Ctwgr%5E100edd9a18e866a2b8543c811c1d87f8ae365e1e%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newsweek.com%2Fdollar-general-employee-chase-down-thief-viral-1801733

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Local 

Streetsblog offers photos and an open thread from LA’s first CicLAmini on Sunday.

Urbanize reports on Saturday’s opening of the new Mark Bixby Memorial Bicycle-Pedestrian Path on the Long Beach International Gateway Bridge, offering expansive views from 205 feet above the Port of Long Beach.

Right now, you can get $600 off a new e-cargo bike from LA-based Cero One.

 

State

San Diego bike riders are dealing with a problem familiar to riders in other parts of the state, as trash and debris from a homeless camp piles up on an Ocean Beach bike path leading to the beach; a homeless advocate blames downtown sweeps that push homeless people to other parts of the city. Although as inconvenient as it is for people on bikes, not having a home is probably worse.

Fresno bike riders will get new protected bike lanes on four busy streets.

Unlike most other major US cities, San Francisco continues to improve safety for bike riders, as bicycling deaths dropped 58% over last year, averaging just 1.4 fatal bike crashes for every million residents. That compares to approximately 3.5 bike deaths for every million residents in Los Angeles last year.

This is who we share the road with. A Sacramento area man was killed by a 17-year old driver after successfully shepherding a family of baby ducks across the road.

 

National

Bicycling warns about the swayback position, saying you should check your posture on your bike if you get lower back pain. As usual, read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you.

Road Bike Action considers how an ebike can help people improve their general health and well-being by leading a more active life.

Men’s Journal recommends the year’s best gravel bikes.

Travel + Leisure recommends the unpaved, 100-mile White Rim Road in Utah’s Canyonlands National Park, which takes three to four days to travel by bike.

Denver’s ebike rebate program is accomplishing its goal of getting people out of their cars, helping replace an estimated 100,000 vehicle miles per week.

A 62-year old Chicago man was the victim of a vicious attack when he was struck with a construction sign by another man while riding along a sidewalk, then beaten with his own bicycle, all for no apparent reason; he was hospitalized in critical condition.

Michigan parent groups are urging the state to adopt a mandatory helmet law for children, even though helmet laws have been shown to reduce childhood bicycling rates.

Anonymous donors have given over $3,000 to a private fund in Kalamazoo, Michigan to help solve crashes involving bicyclists.

New York is producing a series of themed self-guided route maps to encourage people to explore the city by bike.

A writer for the American Conservative says the outrage over the hospital worker who tried to wrest a bikeshare bike from a black teenager just reflects America’s “racism shortage.”

Frightening crime in Mobile, Alabama where a man riding a bicycle was forced off the road by a couple in a pickup, then robbed of his bike at gunpoint.

 

International

Cycling Weekly has declared this ebike week, offering a series of articles offering tips, advice and know-how.

In a result that shouldn’t surprise anyone, the removal of a highly praised bike lane in Vancouver’s Prospect Park has only resulted in more traffic congestion, not less, suggesting that maybe the bike lane wasn’t the problem after all.

A pair of writers for Outside take a blind ride down Quebec’s newest lift-accessed mountain bike park. Which probably doesn’t mean what you think.

Sports journalist Claude Droussent discusses his new crowdsourced guide to the best bicycling routes throughout the continent.

British motorists are “furious” about a confusing new road layout with a center-running bus lane, a spacious two-way bike lane, and walking paths on both sides of the road. All of which seems pretty damn clear to me.

The leader of a Malta bicycle advocacy group says narrowing traffic lanes without providing protective barriers for bike riders will only encourage speeding.

A writer compares riding on the volcanic island of Tenerife to a lava-filled moonscape, ending with a dinner of fresh squid at a bike-friendly hotel.

 

Competitive Cycling

Legendary sprinter Mark Cavendish is calling it a career, confirming that he plans to retire at the end of this year; the director of the Tour de France called him the greatest sprinter in the history of the Tour, and in history, period. Meanwhile, Wale’s Geraint Thomas says he has no plans to follow his friend into retirement.

England’s Lizzie Deignan says the increasing ability of both men’s and women’s cyclists mean the sport is getting harder than it’s ever been, which she says it great.

Retired ‘cross champ Hannah Arensman spoke out about why she quit the sport after losing a podium spot to a transgender woman, who Fox News insists on calling by her former male name.

 

Finally…

Your next ebike could come with a built-in Bluetooth speaker, even if you can’t hear it over city traffic. Evidently, you can still ride a bike, even when you’re next in line for the throne.

And that feeling when you go out for a ride on your ebike, and end up in the Giro.

……….

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

US traffic deaths keep climbing while the world drops, Cyber Monday bike deals, and ’tis the season for bike fundraising

November 28, 2022 / / Comments Off on US traffic deaths keep climbing while the world drops, Cyber Monday bike deals, and ’tis the season for bike fundraising

It’s finally here!

No, not Cyber Monday. It’s the first full week of the 8th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive — your chance to help keep all the best bike news and advocacy coming your way every day!

And what could be better than that?

Just take a moment, and join over a dozen of your friends and neighbors who’ve already given to support this site, and our work shining a light on all the news that effects your safety, convenience and right to ride on the road. 

Give today via PayPal or Zelle.

Or if you’d rather send a check through snail mail, let me know in the comments below; if there’s enough interest to outweigh the cost, we’ll give it a shot. 

And let’s all give a special thanks to James L, Stephen C, Bonnie W, Michael S, Robert K, Anne F, Arthur B, Ted F, Mark J, Bryan B, Jame I, Lorena C, Samer S, Joseph R and Michael S for their generous donations to help keep this site up and running for you. 

So don’t wait. Just click the link, and give now!

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If you think American roads are getting worse, you’re right.

The US was one of just three major countries to see a rise in traffic deaths last year, tying Switzerland with a five percent jump, while Ireland increased a more modest two percent.

That compares with a whopping 27 percent drop in Italy, followed closely by Hungary, Turkey, Spain, France and Sweden.

And not surprisingly, it’s the people outside of cars paying the brunt of the price, according to the New York Times.

In 2021, nearly 43,000 people died on American roads, the government estimates. And the recent rise in fatalities has been particularly pronounced among those the government classifies as most vulnerable — cyclists, motorcyclists, pedestrians.

Much of the familiar explanation for America’s road safety record lies with a transportation system primarily designed to move cars quickly, not to move people safely.

“Motor vehicles are first, highways are first, and everything else is an afterthought,” said Jennifer Homendy, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board. “Other countries started to take seriously pedestrian and cyclist injuries in the 2000s — and started making that a priority in both vehicle design and street design — in a way that has never been committed to in the United States,” Mr. Freemark said.

In fact, the paper reports that the US and France had similar traffic fatality rates in the 1990s.

But one of those countries made major changes to improve safety. And that country was not the US, where drivers now kill road users at three times the rate of French motorists.

Other developed countries lowered speed limits and built more protected bike lanes. They moved faster in making standard in-vehicle technology like automatic braking systems that detect pedestrians, and vehicle hoods that are less deadly to them. They designed roundabouts that reduce the danger at intersections, where fatalities disproportionately occur.

In the U.S. in the past two decades, by contrast, vehicles have grown significantly bigger and thus deadlier to the people they hit. Many states curb the ability of local governments to set lower speed limits. The five-star federal safety rating that consumers can look for when buying a car today doesn’t take into consideration what that car might do to pedestrians.

Or people on bicycles, for that matter, as we all pay the price for government inaction on our roads.

US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg promises that’s going to change.

Let’s hope so. Because it has to.

………

Today’s common theme is Cyber Monday bike deals.

Wired lists the best deals on ebikes and e-scooters.

Electrek offers their picks for the best Cyber Monday ebike deals.

Cycling Weekly recommends the sales on Adidas bikewear and bike shoes.

CNN goes all in on REI’s Cyber Monday deals.

Meanwhile, Road.cc warns that scammers may try to cheat you out of your hard-earned cash by setting up fake websites for companies, including FSA/Vision, SRAM and British mountain bike and dirt jump bikemaker DMR.

………

We’re not the only ones asking for your hard-earned money over the holidays, with Giving Tuesday just one day away.

CicLAvia wants to give you a chance to win new Brompton in exchange for a donation through tomorrow.

Streets For All is hosting a fundraising party on December 9th.

And a fundraiser for LA’s legendary bike co-op Bicycle Kitchen is hoping to raise $20,000 to celebrate their 20th anniversary; it stands at a little over $5,400 now.

………

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

A driver in New Mexico faces charges for the road rage shooting of a bike rider that began with a punishment pass for the perceived crime of riding in the roadway, and escalated into a shoving match before the man pulled out a gun and shot the 22-year old victim in the cheek.

London’s former bicycling commissioner Andrew Gilligan says forget the fake claims and bad journalism, because the city’s Low Traffic Neighborhoods, aka LTNs, really do reduce traffic — and usually reduce pollution, too.

After a London man explains what led up to a viral road rage incident in which an SUV driver ran over his bike, a self-proclaimed driver and cyclist seems to put much of the blame on the victim, while saying ego seemed to get the best of both of them.

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

A San Francisco man faces multiple charges for stealing a city bus and going on a nearly two-mile joyride through the city, crashing into ten cars in the process; bizarrely, one of those charges is for operating a bicycle without “breaks.” Which should serve as a reminder to always take breaks during your bike ride if you plan to hijack a bus.

Murder charges have been filed against a bike-riding Las Vegas woman who repeatedly hit 53-year old woman in the head with a rake, for no apparent reason; there was also no explanation for why she even had one on her bike.

A standard poodle was seriously injured when he was run down by a hit-and-run rider on a bikeshare bike while walking on a London pedestrian-only path, leaving the dog’s owner with a $2,400 vet bill.

This is why people keep dying on the streets. An English bike rider was fined a lousy £2,500 — the equivalent of just over $3000 — after being convicted of careless and inconsiderate cycling for the crash that killed a motorcyclist, and left him with life-changing injuries.

Forget doping. A cheating Chinese marathon runner was banned for life after allegedly riding a bikeshare bike for over four and a half miles of the 26-mile course.

………

Local 

Three LA city councilmembers have introduced a motion banning the practice spot road widening, in which private builders are required to widen a small section of roadway in anticipation of widening the entire thing at a later date; LA bike riders were recently blamed for a half-block long “bike lane to nowhere” on Santa Monica Blvd that actually isn’t.

Developer Rick Caruso spent $162.42 for every vote he received in his losing campaign for Los Angeles mayor, while Mayor-elect Karen Bass spent a relatively paltry $10.15; newly elected City Controller Kenneth Mejia spent a frugal $1.30 per vote.

The Port of Long Beach is now accepting concept papers for new bike and pedestrian infrastructure projects that could qualify for grant funding.

 

State 

A 14-year old San Diego boy suffered serious injuries when police allege he rode his bike through a stop sign, and into the path of an SUV driver.

San Diego City Councilmember Stephen Whitburn is calling for lower speed limits on the city’s most dangerous roads, taking advantage of a recently passed state law allowing cities to set speeds as low as 15 mph in some cases.

Troubling news from Riverside County, where a bike rider was hospitalized in life-threatening condition after being struck by a driver Saturday morning; unfortunately, no details are available.

A Berkeley man in his 30s was critically injured when he was rear-ended by a driver while riding his bike Friday evening.

An “anti-capitalist” Berkeley bike shop is closing after 51 years to make room for a 26-story apartment building. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.

Bad news from Oakdale, where a 67-year old man was killed when police allege he swerved his bike in front of an oncoming driver in what sounds like a Single Witness Suicide Swerve.

 

National

Cycling Savvy offers advice on fixing and preventing flats on your ebike.

They get it. The 150-year old Popular Science says ebikes could be the future of transit in urban centers — if cities take steps now to encourage and accommodate them.

VeloNews considers ten ways riding a bike can improve your mental and physical health, from lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease to improving sleep and sex life. Although you may have to sign up for a free account to get past their paywall.

A writer for Outside says he spent $800 fixing up a very mediocre 1990s era Diamondback Topanga, and couldn’t be happier. I want to do the same with my old 1981 Trek if I ever have the money.

A Washington driver was charged with DUI, vehicular assault and child endangerment after she seriously injured a bike rider while driving under the influence, then rear-ended a truck attempting to flee the scene — with her two kids riding in her car, sans seatbelts.

Anchorage, Alaska may not be the first place you think of for progressive urbanism, yet the city just eliminated all off-street parking requirements for new buildings, while adding a requirement to include bike parking.

After his high-end Pinarello bike and a laptop were stolen in a burglary, a Texas man got them both back within hours, thanks to an assist from a local bike shop.

Going over his handlebars after hitting a chunk of pavement may have saved a Texas pastor’s life, after the doctors treating him discovered he had cancer.

A 2022 book from a former adjunct professor at the University of Minnesota details the conversations she and her husband had traveling 14,000 miles in 14 months with two fully loaded bicycles.

A Pittsburgh newspaper takes the state GOP to task for cynically torpedoing a popular bike safety bill by attaching an unrelated bill appointing a special prosecutor in southeast Pennsylvania, in an effort to force out Philadelphia’s popular progressive DA.

 

International

Whew. Road.cc readers conclude that it’s okay to stand your bike upside down when you take a break.

Nice gesture from Rapha, who marked Black Friday by donating $150,000 to World Bicycle Relief to provide much-needed bikes in Africa.

More Dutch bicyclists are ending up in the emergency room while drunk or stoned, with a whopping 84% increase since 2012.

A pair of self-employed Frenchmen avoided the World Cup crowds at the Doha airport by riding their bikes three months and roughly 4,350 to see their home team compete, while promoting the benefits of sustainable travel.

In one of the rare stories that’s not hidden behind their paywall, VeloNews reports 23,385 people have now successfully Everested — that is, ridden uphill equal to the 29,032 feet elevation of Mount Everest. But only one man from Austria has done it on a unicycle.

An Indian firm has invented a wheelchair that converts into a road bike.

A South African car finance company would be more than happy to write a loan for a $15,765 Pinarello Dogma F, but no one has taken them up on it yet.

The Philippines honored people on two wheels with yesterday’s National Bicycle Day, as advocates call on the government to take steps to ensure the safety of bike riders.

 

Competitive Cycling

VeloNews questions who will dominate women’s cycling after the great Annemiek van Vlueten retires. But again, you may have to sign up for a free account just to read it.

 

Finally…

That feeling when a bike-riding Queen Victoria becomes a squid-faced woman on a bike. Your next EV could be the 3D-printed illegitimate child of a small passenger car and an ebike, complete with hexagonal wheels.

And who needs a kid’s carseat when you can just hook a baby carriage onto your bike?

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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