Tag Archive for Washington Post

WaPo writer complains about “e-bike menace,” Micah Pan funeral today in Chino, and NJ stalker story gets worse

October 3, 2025 / / 2 comments
Day 276 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

He almost gets it.

A columnist for the Washington Post writes about the onslaught of teens on e-motos, almost — but not quite — distinguishing the “e-bike menace” of non-street legal electric motorbikes and dirt bikes from standard ped-assist ebikes.

I was in Hermosa Beach, California, the sweetest little beach town your toes can dig into, when I pressed the crosswalk button. The flashing lights came on, meaning: let’s go. I was one step into the street when a kid about 13 on a bike nearly sent me to my obituary.

But not just any bike. This was one of those e-motorbikes. Have you seen these things? They look like Suzuki dirt bikes, only cooler, quicker and deadlier, since you don’t hear them coming…

But this kid wasn’t just riding his. He was pulling a wheelie on the thing while doing about 40 mph. His front wheel was up so high, it nearly took my face off. Which means he wasn’t looking at any stupid flashing crosswalk lights.

Never mind that under California law, and most states who’ve copied it, ebikes are limited to a max of 28 mph, making anything that can go anywhere near as fast as he said the kid was doing illegal.

But then, he seems to have considered that.

There are tons of e-bike rules and regs, but somehow it’s legal in many states to ride an e-moto on streets as long as it has pedals and can’t go over 28 mph. Kids just go on YouTube and learn how to defeat the speed limiter.

All of which points out the need to clarify the distinction between ped-assist ebikes and e-motorbikes, which Calbike pushed the state legislature to consider this year.

And which they rejected.

Which leaves us with the same problem we’ve faced for the past few years. People who want — or need — a ped-assist ebike to exercise, run errands, replace the family car, or use as a mobility device, are getting lumped in with kids riding overpowered e-motos, and using poor judgement.

Sort of like kids have always done. But with a lot more speed and power at their disposal.

Which means we all get tarred with the same brush.

And the same backlash.

Meanwhile, Seal Beach police claimed a successful crackdown on illegal ebike riding.

A success that consisted of exactly one misdemeanor arrest, three illegal e-motorcycles seized, 22 stops for various traffic violations, and just eight tickets.

Which would suggest that maybe the problem isn’t as big as advertised.

And maybe they would have been better off cracking down on the people in the big, dangerous machines, rather than the little annoying ones.

Today’s photo from Metro Bike Share, showing typical non-teen on non-e-moto.  

………

I received word yesterday that the funeral for Micah Pan will be held at 4 pm today at Calvary Chapel Chino Hills, 4201 Eucalyptus Ave in Chino.

A passionate member of the local bicycling community, Pan was killed by a hit-and-run driver in Chino two weeks ago.

The funeral is open to everyone.

I know it’s short notice, but it would be great to see some members of that same bicycling community show up to support his family.

Meanwhile, a crowdfunding campaign to help his family get back on their feet has raised over $30,000 of the $35,000 goal.

………

It just keeps getting worse.

Because the 17-year boy charged with intentionally running down two 17-year old New Jersey girls riding an ebike turns out to be a relative of the local police chief.

Okay, a distant relative.

But still.

Complicating matters even further, Westfield, New Jersey Police Chief Christopher Battiloro is a close family friend and neighbor of one of the victims.

Must be a small town.

One of the girls had filed a restraining order against her accused killer, while family members said he had been stalking her for months, calling him a “coward of a man.”

The same could presumably be said of the local school district and yes, the police department headed by his “distant” relative, who apparently did nothing to stop him.

A crowdfunding campaign for the two families has raised over $142,000 of the $160,000 goal.

………

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

No bias here. A British driver attacks those “dangerous cyclists” for doing exactly nothing wrong, other than existing on that part of the planet he somehow claims as his own.

………

Local 

A Jesuit priest finished a three-month, 3,800-mile bike ride across the US at the Santa Monica Pier Wednesday to raise funds for Catholic schools in Belize, where he had lived for over a decade.

Nick Patsaouras, a former Metro board member and president of the late Southern California Rapid Transit District, says he was proud to build the kind of bike paths and greenways now deemed “hostile” to cars by the Trump administration. And yes, that’s the same Patsaouras as in the Patsaouras Bus Plaza in DTLA. 

A new analysis reveals Long Beach’s most dangerous corridors for pedestrians, as the city averages nearly one pedestrian crash every day.

 

State

Riverside’s Light Parade has gone from a casual, lowkey ride to a monthly event drawing around 600 people, prompting a fundraiser to pay for city permits and a police escort.

Oakland’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission dreams of transforming the city’s car-centric roads into a tree-lined paradise, calling for an “all-encompassing” citywide greenway. Sort of like bike riders everywhere — including here in Los Angeles.

 

National

Momentum consider’s DoorDash’s plans to send thousands of cute little robots crashing into bike lanes. Which might be good for them, but it ain’t good for those of us on bikes, and of questionable legality. 

A 26-year old Tucson man is being held on $1 million bail after he was charged with second-degree murder for fatally stabbing a man riding on a bike path; the 44-year old victim had gotten off his bike to confront the suspect for throwing things at members of a group ride, and had started riding away before realizing he’d been stabbed.

Apple AirTags even work in Missoula, Montana, where a man got his stolen ebike back thanks to one he had hidden on his bike.

Wisconsin lawmakers are considering changes to the driver’s license renewal process for elderly drivers, in response to the death of a 12-year old boy killed by an 85-year-old driver while riding his bike.

New York police are once again blaming the victims by ticketing bike riders, rather than drivers, at a Williamsburg intersection where a motorist killed someone riding a bicycle just days earlier.

 

International

A couple in Winnipeg, Manitoba are calling for safety improvements after they were both injured while riding bicycles at the same intersection just two days apart.

Candidates for mayor of Montreal insist they don’t oppose bicycling, but some don’t support expanding the city’s bike network, even though the limited loss of parking has generally been offset by an increase in retail sales and livability.

Cycling Weekly says bike theft is effectively being legalized in Britain, thanks to a new policy preventing police from investigating thefts of bikes parked at transit stations for more than two hours. Unlike here, where it’s just not worth the cops time to investigate if the bike is worth less than $1,000, which is only a catch and release misdemeanor under California law.

Cambridge, England is getting the country’s first “official cycle street,” giving bicyclists priority over people in cars.

You’ve got to be kidding. Life really is cheap in the UK, where a 32-year old man walked without a day behind bars for killing a 54-year old woman participating in a bicycling time trial, despite admitting he never saw the victim because he was way too busy looking at his phone. But at least he was banned from driving for a whole year. So if you want to know why people keep dying on the streets, overly lenient sentences like this are a damn good place to start. 

An 18-year old Dutch woman was randomly attacked while riding her bike in The Hague, when a man in his mid to late teens stabbed her in the leg as she rode past a hotel.

 

Competitive Cycling

Sad news from Italy, where former pro Stefano Casagranda died following a long battle against cancer; Casagranda raced for eight years, highlighted by winning a snowy Paris-Nice stage in a 62-mile solo breakaway. He was 52.

Mathieu van der Poel marked the end of his cycling season with a nice, relaxing ride with fans in Los Angeles, checking out the city in advance of the ’28 Olympic Games.

UCI cracks down hard on suspected doping by suspending an entire Portuguese cycling team for <checks notes> a whole 20 days. Because apparently there were no wet noodles left to slap them with.

 

Finally…

If you’re going to ride your mo-ped after drinking, try not to crash into a stopped LAPD patrol car. That feeling when you lock up your bike, and come back to find it’s being used for a stunt jump.

Or when your rocket-powered bicycle can’t even beat an ebike.

Or maybe an e-moto.

……… 

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Dangerous streets keep kids off bikes, Canadian bike riders have a right to not get killed, and CicLAvia rolls on Sunday

August 14, 2025 / / One comment
Day 226 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

She gets it.

A writer for the Washington Post says dangerous streets make it hard to give kids the freedom they need to roam and explore.

In recent decades, many of America’s roads have indeed become more chaotic: Speed limits are higher; vehicles are (much) bigger; drivers are more aggressive and more likely to be distracted by smartphones. When parents see massive SUVs speeding down neighborhood streets or blowing through stop signs, they might feel less inclined to allow their kids to roam freely on foot or bicycle. And though the number of children injured or killed by cars while walking or riding a bike has fallen steadily since the 1970s, research by the CDC notes that this decline is not because streets are safer, but because fewer kids are out and about in the first place.

This pattern, some parents say, can create a self-perpetuating cycle: If drivers are less accustomed to encountering kids on roads, they might be less likely to drive safely around them, which in turn makes parents more anxious and restrictive of their child’s movements.

It’s worth giving the whole story a read.

Because one of the most common refrains from parents is that they would never allow their kids to ride on city streets, in Los Angeles or elsewhere, whether or not they ride themselves.

………

He gets it, too.

In a piece that starts out very tongue-in-cheek before evolving — devolving? — into legalese, a Canadian columnist takes conservatives to task for complaining about a recent court ruling ordering the government not to remove Toronto’s protected bike lanes.

It was judicial activism run amok, they agreed. Canada’s ever-inventive courts had discovered a “right to bicycle lanes.” What next: a right to volleyball courts? Time to invoke the notwithstanding clause, said some.

Well, that was then. When, one week ago, the Conservative government of Nova Scotia, with the province’s forests tinder-dry and fearing a repeat of the devastating wildfires of two years ago, issued a ban on hiking and camping in forested areas, conservatives were again apoplectic.

But the real issue, he says, is whether the government has the right to kill you.

The issue at stake in the bicycle lanes case is disarmingly simple: does the government have the right to kill you? It is not hyperbole but demonstrable, probabilistic fact that banning bike lanes will sentence a certain number of randomly selected Torontonians to death, and cause serious injuries to still more…

That’s also reflected in our Constitution. Section 7 of the Charter does not assert an absolute right to “life, liberty or security of the person” but the right not to be deprived thereof “except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice.”

Because removing bike lanes could predictably deprive some people of their “life, liberty or security of the person.”

And likely would.

Which does not mean the government has to build bike lanes. But it does mean the court had a reasonable basis to prohibit the government from removing them.

Nothing in the decision obliges the government to build new bicycle lanes. As such it involves no “positive rights,” which conservatives are right to oppose. It simply requires that before a government takes the extraordinary step of ordering the removal of lanes that have already been built – an action guaranteed to cost some lives and put many more in peril – it ought at least to have some basis in evidence or logic for doing so.

Maybe we should try that same argument on this side of the border the next time someone wants to rip out an existing bike lane here.

………

 

CicLAvia marks its 61st open streets event this Sunday with the 6.75-mile Culver City meets Venice CicLAvia, connecting Culver City, Mar Vista and Venice.

Hard to believe it’s been 15 years since the first one on 10-10-2010. And even harder to believe now that we thought it would never happen when CicLAvia’s founders came to the LACBC, now BikeLA, board to ask for our support.

Meanwhile, KNBC-4 suggests honoring the Venice lifestyle by skating the whole route.

Thousand, a woman-owned Boyle Heights bike helmet-maker, will celebrate their tenth anniversary by giving away 1,000 helmets at their booth at the Mar Vista Hub.

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The Spring Street bike lanes in DTLA are getting new safety barriers, with enough separation to hopefully prevent the kind of injuries San Diego bicyclists have complained about.

https://twitter.com/LADOTofficial/status/1955736202172092503

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

No bias here. Middlesborough, England is going to spend the equivalent of nearly $3 million to rip out a bike lane derided as “an absolute nightmare” and “exploited by drug dealers,” despite spending just $100,000 to settle injury claims after it went in — and spending $2.3 million to install it just three years ago.

A Dublin, Ireland city counselor accused civic leaders of “pure gaslighting” and treating bicycles “like a child’s toy” by shutting down a popular bicycle route, forcing riders into an “anti-cycling death trap.”

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

British motoring lawyer Mr. Loophole accuses bike cam vigilant Cycling Mikey of using his bicycle as a weapon by pushing it into the path of a driver attempting to illegally drive down a closed roadway, resulting in his bike getting run over and shattered into pieces. So he’s saying it wasn’t a very good weapon?

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Local 

Streets For All released their August newsletter, including calls for protected bike lanes on Pico Blvd and Alameda Street.

 

State

California is hitting pause on a requirement to install bike parking in new commercial and residential buildings, after the legislature passed a bill delaying the requirement until 2027.

A Monterey County woman says there’s no law against kids under 16 riding an e-scooter or a Class 1 or 2 ebike, but maybe there should be. Actually, there is a law against riding e-scooters without a driver’s license. 

Sad news from Yuba County, where a 60-year old man was killed by a driver while towing a trailer behind his bicycle.

 

National

An op-ed writer in USA Today argues that ebikes are driving him crazy, so we need to make them obey the same rules as drivers. Even though most drivers don’t.

Singletracks offers a guide to the ten best downhill mountain bike trails in Idaho.

Portland’s mayor has called a pause on plans to remove diverters and change the traffic flow on two neighborhood greenways, after the bicycle advisory committee increased pressure on the city.

Police in Houston arrested a 40-year old man in the fatal stabbing of a 77-year old man as he was riding his bike to work; the victim somehow made it to his job site before collapsing, and died at the hospital.

This is the cost of traffic violence. A 70-year old cancer treatment specialist in the Indiana University medical system was killed by a driver while riding his bike on Monday.

A Boston writer explains how she fell in love with her ebike after moving here from France, saying biking every day makes her life better.

Princeton, New Jersey banned right turns on red lights as part of the city’s Vision Zero program. Meanwhile, Los Angeles just tells drivers to carry on. 

Arlington, Virginia is joining the ebike rebate movement, offering vouchers for up to $1650 on the purchase of an ebike. Although those ebikes are about to get a lot more expensive, thanks to Trump’s 30% tariff on goods imported from Asian manufacturers. 

An Atlanta photo exhibition documents one man’s journey to bike every single street inside the city’s I-285 perimeter.

A TV station in Lake Charles, Louisiana unmasks a mysterious man on a Mardi Gras-festooned ebike, who says he rides through the community because “he loves to see people smile.” Although something tells me Adorian Hollywood Flavor probably isn’t his real name. 

A Florida teenager was lucky to survive his first day of school when he was struck by a driver while riding his ebike in a crosswalk, after witnesses teamed together to lift the car off him.

 

International

A recent study ranks Victoria, British Columbia as Canada’s most bicycle-friendly city, edging out Winnipeg and Quebec City.

The 134-year old Cycling Weekly introduces the British nonprofits working to transform the lives of refugees and asylum-seekers by providing them with bicycles.

A clueless Conservative city counselor in the UK questioned why disabled bicyclists can’t simply get off their bikes and push them across a footbridge. Um, maybe because they’re disabled?

 

Competitive Cycling

The Cyclists’ Alliance, the union for women’s cycling, is calling for mandatory, annual screening in the wake of Pauline Ferrand-Prévot’s victory at the Tour de France Femmes, amid comments about her drastic weight loss.

Cyclist offers a preview of the three-stage Tour de Romandie Féminin, which kicks off tomorrow.

 

Finally…

What it’s like to suffer for the sake of science on a ten-mile time trial. That feeling when you stop riding in the year’s hottest month because your cleats are haunted.

And we may have to deal with stampeding LA drivers, but at least we don’t have to worry about getting trampled to death by elephants.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Washington Post meets windshield bias, break-in at Hollywood and Vine Bike Hub, and Metro wants their MOVE money back

November 21, 2024 / / Comments Off on Washington Post meets windshield bias, break-in at Hollywood and Vine Bike Hub, and Metro wants their MOVE money back
Just 39 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 
But sure, raise your hand if you’ve heard a single LA city leader so much as mention it. 

………

Washington Post, meet windshield bias.

Marc Fisher, a columnist and associate editor for the paper, penned an essay purporting to tell “the truth about bike lanes,” which largely doesn’t.

Rather, he suggests that traffic calming and bike lanes are more about intentionally gumming up traffic to discourage people from driving, and encourage gentrification to change the ethnic and economic demographics of the city.

In other words, he tells us he doesn’t understand traffic safety and urban planning without telling us.

The District’s planners are intent on putting many of the city’s most important streets on what’s called a “road diet,” which sounds healthy and nutritious but is actually a recipe for traffic constipation and commuter headaches — and maybe a stealth mechanism for encouraging a wholesale shift in race and class in certain neighborhoods…

Across town, on South Dakota Avenue NE, the fight is ongoing, and, as The Post’s Rachel Weiner reported, this squabble reveals an essential truth about bike lanes as weapons of civic planning: They are often installed not to satisfy the barely measurable trickle of residents who pedal to work but mainly to make car traffic worse enough that people will be discouraged from driving.

He goes on to site the reasons given by city officials for DC’s traffic calming efforts, before rejecting them.

“Just as the big, wide lanes we have now induce speeding and reckless driving” Kapur tells me, so too would bike lanes induce slower driving — and maybe more bike riding.

Not so fast he says, citing federal statistics showing the percentage of residents who bike to work has dropped every year since reaching a peak of 5% in 2017, down to 3% — in 2022.

Never mind that the proportion of DC residents who work from home jumped from just over 7% in 2017 to more than 33% just five years later. So of course the percentage of bike commuters dropped, along with every other form of transportation, as more workers stayed home.

Then he makes a quick pivot to the racial makeup of bike riders, citing a Virginia Tech study showing 88% of bike riders are white.

But as he says, not so fast.

The study he cites dates back to 2008, and involves both the urban and suburban jurisdictions of the greater Washington, DC area, including Alexandria, Arlington County, and Fairfax County in Virginia; and Montgomery County and Prince George’s County in Maryland.

In other words, the largely Black and relatively small population of DC is conflated with the largely white, affluent and much larger populations of the suburbs. So even if a higher proportion of Black DC residents biked to work than in other areas, their numbers would be swamped by all the white suburban residents.

Never mind that the numbers he cites are more than a decade and a half out of date.

But taking the time to uncover more recent data might not support his premise that the whole reason to install bike lanes is to gum up drivers commutes and change the racial makeup of the city.

Nope.

No bias there.

………

If you keep your bike — or anything else — at the Hollywood and Vine Bike Hub, you might want to check on it tout suite.

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It’s now 337 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And a full 41 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

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

No bias here, either. A Marin newspaper says the trial part-time removal of the bike lane on the Richmond-San Raphael Bridge makes it clear that the bridge should see a car-only future, in which bike commuters should be happy to be carted across in a shuttle van, climate crisis be damned.

………

Local  

The Complete Streets makeover of Fountain Avenue was the clear winner in the recent West Hollywood election, even if it wasn’t on the ballot. And even if opponents don’t think so.

Metro wants its money back for the MOVE Culver City protected bike lanes ripped out by the city’s recent conservative council majority, sending Culver City a bill for the full $435,000 grant.

 

State

A kindhearted California couple who lost their son to suicide drove across the county to give his bicycle to a young boy who lost his father the same way.

Irvine unveiled the city’s first physically separated, Class IV bikeway, a 1.25-mile route near the city’s Great Park.

Circulate San Diego offers an annual recap of the city’s bicycle and pedestrian OTS safety program.

 

National

Electrek shares ten things you really should know before buying an ebike.

Streetsblog explains everything you need to know about D-list reality TV star and new Transportation Secretary nominee Sean Duffy, amid fears he’ll take an axe to anything that doesn’t burn fossil fuels.

Seattle bicyclists can now use an app to report anything from bike lane obstructions and street sweeping needs to missing bike lane signs and road markings.

A novice New York bike rider shares the insights she gained after being talked into a 79-mile fundraising ride to fight breast cancer.

New York’s Central Park Conservancy calls for a major makeover of the park, with a rendering showing separate running and walking paths, along with a bike lane next to a shared traffic lane, presumably for faster riders.

Finishing our New York trifecta, the NYPD has released a photo of the pickup driver who killed a bike-riding woman as he fled from police, who were responding to a burglary call; a witness says the victim rang her bike bell to warn him, saving his life before sacrificing hers.

A woman in Jackson, Mississippi was shot and killed in a dispute over a stolen bicycle; two people now face charges. As we’ve said before, no bike is worth a human life. Just give it up and live to ride another day.

 

International

Clean Technica recommends improving your safety with “unique” bar-end rear vier mirrors, unless you’d rather have one you can attach to your glasses.

A British startup is installing app-controlled smart bike parking docks, which appear to be standard U-racks with a heavy-ass chain attached.

Amsterdam continues to raise the bar for everyone and everywhere else, crafting a new state-of-the-art main bicycling route along the Amstel River.

Italian bikemaker Colnago goes retro with a Columbus steel framed road bike to celebrate their 70th anniversary.

The government of Hong Kong has postponed a requirement for bike helmets until next year, saying they need more time to work out the details.

China Digital Times offers a brief first-person account of the massive Zhengzhou to Kaifeng nighttime dumpling ride.

 

Competitive Cycling

Columbian cyclist Nairo Quintana took advantage of the opportunity after receiving the country’s Order of Democracy Simon Bolivar to warn that the country’s athletes face massive budget cuts.

Cycling Up To Date examines how Denmark produces such talented cyclists, from Bjarne Riis to Jonas Vingegaard. Although that’s a question that might be better directed towards Slovenia these days.

 

Finally…

Now you, too, can carry your spare wheels in a bigass square backpack. If God is on your side, wouldn’t you actually finish the world championships?

And country star Dierks Bentley is one of us.

 

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Weekend Links: WaPo’s anti-bike drivel, hit-and-run reward fund, and don’t invite cops to see your dope

September 3, 2016 / / Comments Off on Weekend Links: WaPo’s anti-bike drivel, hit-and-run reward fund, and don’t invite cops to see your dope

Got to hand it to the Washington Post.

This is one of the single most biased pieces of anti-bike drivel I’ve read.

Somehow, as they see it, the 1,557 bike riders caught running stop lights on DC’s red light cameras equates to the 84,000 drivers who did the same thing.

Never mind that the risk posed by a law-breaking driver outweighs the risk from a scofflaw cyclist by about two tons.

Let alone the sheer absurdity of painting all bicyclists as aggressive and entitled militants based on the misperceived attitudes of a few, projected from behind the windshield. Sort of like accusing every mom driving her kids to soccer practice of being no different than this guy.

It shouldn’t need to be said that everyone should obey the law. And that the safety of everyone on the road depends on the give and take codified in the vehicle code.

Which means stopping for red lights.

Period.

But if you can’t manage that, at least observe the right-of-way so you don’t end up a bug on someone’s windshield, or force drivers to take dangerous evasive actions to avoid you.

The Post used to be a great paper.

But crap like this is just more evidence that Woodward, Bernstein and Graham have left the building.

………

David Drexler forwards a reminder from Surf City Cyclery in Huntington Beach about the gofundme account for injured Encinitas cyclist John Abate; the account has raised over $6,400 for a reward to find the hit-and-run driver who ran him down last month.

………

No leadership changes in the Vuelta, despite a breakaway that finished half an hour before the peloton, who must have stopped for tea along the way.

Bicycle design could get a lot more interesting as UCI scraps a key rule limiting the shape of frames.

Clearly, it’s not just the pros who dope. A gold medal-winning Aussie Paralympic cyclist has been sent home from Rio after testing positive for EPO.

………

Local

Caught on video: Evidently, bike riders aren’t the only victims of road raging drivers.

Richard Risemberg attends a meet-and-greet for city council candidate Jesse Creed, and comes away convinced Creed deserves your vote if you live in CD5. Then again, considering the alternative is re-electing career politician Paul Koretz, it’s an easy choice.

Smorgasbord LA is now offering a bike valet every Sunday for the gourmet food fest at the Alameda Produce Market in Downtown LA.

Nice move from the Sheriff’s Youth Foundation of the LA County Sheriff’s Department, which donated 69 refurbished bicycles to ministers in Watts area to help kids get to school safely.

Bicyclists say the bike lanes on Santa Monica’s new and improved California Incline are indeed a big improvement, though they could be a little wider.

Speaking of SaMo, the Bike League wants to know what you think, as the city applies for an upgrade in its bike friendly city status. Thanks to Kent Strumpell for the heads-up.

 

State

Caught on video too: A bicyclist passes, then drops, a group of motorcyclists on a 50 mph descent somewhere in California. Then again, it’s not the first time that’s happened.

Oceanside responds to residents complaints about a dark underpass on the San Luis Rey Trail with promises to install solar powered lights to help protect nighttime riders.

Freemont traffic engineers somehow believe placing a green bike lane in between two right turn lanes, so right-turning drivers in the left one have to cut across the bike lane, is better than no bike lane at all.

Napa is seeing a rash of bike thefts, with 24 bikes stolen in three months. Or as we call that in LA, Wednesday.

More heartbreak in the UC system, as a second faculty member lost his life when a UC Davis professor was killed after he was right hooked by a garbage truck while riding in a bike lane. A Nobel Prize winning UC San Diego researcher died last week on an Oregon bike trail. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the link.

 

National

Consumer Reports lists ten ways to avoid a car crash. None of which include remaining sober, paying attention to the road or putting your damn phone down.

A cyclist in one Utah county can credit his life following a heart attack to a requirement that sheriff’s deputies must also be trained as paramedics.

Only five percent of incoming freshmen at Colorado State University know the difference between a bike lane and a walking path.

Chicagoist says the recent Tribune editorial calling on bicyclists and motorists to obey the law and share the road safely creates a false equivalence dressed up as diplomacy.

A lawsuit accuses 89-year old former New York Mayor David Dinkins of hit-and-run after he apparently sideswiped a bicycle delivery man; however, the mayor sees it the other way around.

A New York couple ditches the limo and rides away from their wedding on matching bicycles. Although judging by the photos, matching may be a relative term.

 

International

The Financial Times examines whether urban cycling is worth the risk in a series of articles.

The daughter of a Bangladeshi diplomat was killed in a right hook on what was considered one of Ottawa’s safest bikeways.

Caught on video three: A Toronto bicyclist is doored by the passenger of a transport truck in what is supposed to be a protected bike lane; fortunately, she’s not badly injured.

Somehow, the bicycle Virgin owner Richard Branson crashed has magically become a motorbike. Maybe it’s just too shocking to believe a billionaire adventurer would actually ride a bicycle.

Welcome to Bizarro World. Bicyclists in Seville, Spain are fighting bike lanes, but welcome sharrows.

A Romanian minister promises any new roads built in the country will now have bike lanes, and existing roads will be made bike friendly.

 

Finally…

Before the crash, a mountain biker; afterwards, a competitive beard champion. A shirtless, feuding Rhode Island man opens fire on his neighbor’s house with a corncob-shooting potato gun, nearly taking out a girl on a bicycle in the process.

And if you’re riding your bike under the influence while carrying a machete, maybe you shouldn’t give police permission to go into your home, where the marijuana plants are, to get the ID you forgot to bring with you.

I’m just saying.

………

Barring any breaking news, BikinginLA will be taking the rest of the holiday weekend off. So enjoy the weekend, ride your bike, spend time with family and friends, and try to remember this is the one holiday established to honor America’s much maligned working men and women.

And stay safe out there. We’ll see you back here bright and early Tuesday morning.

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