Tag Archive for West Hollywood

Morning Links: Help Metro rank their budget priorities, and WeHo unveils its new bike/ped mobility plan

March 1, 2017 / / 2 comments

Metro wants your input on their proposed budget for the 2018 fiscal year. You can respond online or in person at any of the meetings below.

And be sure to rank Active Transportation at the top of your priority list.

Which hopefully means more than just running to catch the bus that’s leaving without you.

………

West Hollywood unveils its draft Pedestrian and Bicycle Mobility Plan, which promises to deliver real networks for bicycling and walking.

Hopefully sooner rather than later.

………

Now you, too, can make your pancakes like the pros do.

An entire Iranian cycling team gets banned after two of its riders test positive for steroids.

Just like sidewalk cyclists in cities around the world, pro cyclists Peter Sagan, Greg Van Avermaet and Sep Vanmarcke could face a fine. They should do their racing in Los Angeles, where riding on the sidewalk is legal.

And despite Sagan’s example, a mouthful of candy probably isn’t the best way to refuel on your ride.

………

Local

KPCC looks at the CD1 city council race between embattled incumbent Gil Cedillo and four challengers, most notably our own Joe Bray-Ali.

This month’s LACBC Sunday Funday ride will be a feeder ride from Highland Park to the 626 Golden Streets event.

Metro unveils the locations of Pasadena’s coming bikeshare system.

 

State

Fresno releases their $1.3 billion Active Transportation Plan, despite not building out the city’s previous plans. Not unlike the languishing plans found most cities, where new bike and pedestrian plans are usually forgotten as soon as they’re written.

A San Francisco bike rider was the victim of a violent mugging when someone whacked him with a crowbar and stole his bike. One more reason to always wear a helmet.

Oddly, if you fail to remove parking meters from the curb next to a raised San Francisco bike lane, drivers will continue to park there.

Caught on video: A Sacramento cyclist is lucky to be alive when his back wheel is clipped by a speeding train after riding onto a railroad crossing. No word on whether he rode through the barriers, or even if the crossing had crossing arms or warning lights.

Security video was posted online that shows the fatal shooting of a bike rider in Redding last month; the driver claims it was self defense, though the victim may have been reacting to a near collision.

 

National

Schwinn invites you to relive your childhood with a new limited edition Lemon Peeler Stingray.

Mountain bike legend Gary Fisher says e-mountain bikes are the next big thing, because they remove all the work and just leave the fun. Which kind of takes the fun out of it.

Like pretty much anything else from Ikea, their new bike requires some assembly, but Fast Co-Exist says you’ll have a very rideable urban bike when you’re done.

This is the cost of traffic violence. One of the nation’s leading experts on bioterrorism was killed in a collision when he was collateral damage in a wreck between two cars in St. Louis.

Friends of a killer Minnesota driver blame a possible undiagnosed brain tumor instead of intoxication for the crash that took the life of a runner in a crosswalk.

CNBC talks with MIT physicist Assaf Biderman, maker of the Copenhagen Wheel, which promises to turn nearly any bike into an ebike.

A New York driver cuts a teenage bike rider off as he rides on a sidewalk, then blames him for getting mad.

A New Orleans writer calls Mardi Gras a gateway drug that turns people on to the possibility of two-wheeled transportation because it’s the most efficient way to get around during carnival season.

Bike-riding medics protect the crowd at the Mobile AL Mardi Gras celebration.

 

International

The family of a fallen British bicyclist call for reforming the country’s sentencing laws after the driver who killed him cops a plea for a reduced sentence.

Britain could cut serious bicycling collisions by a third just through better enforcement of safe passing laws.

A British man decides he needs a change, and bikes 9,000 miles from his hometown to South Africa, while expecting to get jumped by a lion along the way.

The leading Dutch bikeway engineering guide gets an update, showcasing the country’s best bike practices. Which means the best practices, period.

Five German woman have been attacked by an acid-throwing bike rider since December.

 

Finally…

If at first you fail to hit a cop with a bicycle, try throwing a tricycle. Is it still a three state challenge if there’s only two?

And if you’re going to flee from a failed break-in, remember to take your bike with you.

 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , ,

Morning Links: Woman injured by cyclist in Elysian Valley, and sidewalk cyclist injured in WeHo right hook

October 12, 2016 / / Comments Off on Morning Links: Woman injured by cyclist in Elysian Valley, and sidewalk cyclist injured in WeHo right hook

My apologies for the continued lack of email notifications for subscribers. We’re still working on it.

………

This is why you always have to ride carefully around pedestrians.

According to the Elysian Valley Neighborhood Watch, a woman was critically injured in a collision with a cyclist this past weekend.

This past Saturday, a senior citizen, a mother, grandmother, active member of the Jardin del Rio Community Garden and a beautiful EV neighbor sustained life threatening injuries while on her morning exercise walk on the Elysian Valley Pedestrian/Bike path. She is said to have been struck from behind by a speeding cyclist at or around 8:00 AM, near the Riverdale Ave. street access to the path. Minutes ago, I visited her at the USC Medical Center with her son, where she is in ICU (intensive care unit) with head injuries that have her intubated and with a “no bone flap on right side” of her skull.

The Elysian Valley Neighborhood watch has called for safety on the path and necessary City correction from the inception of the bike path, a flawed design that neglected area historical pedestrian use and that today has a beloved neighbor battling for her life. The decision by City officials to favor the cycling community and to respond to area calls for safety improvements with bandaid approaches makes the city complicit in this injuries and grossly negligent.

Unfortunately, there’s no word on whether the rider stopped following the collision, or just fast he or she was actually traveling.

It’s always possible the victim may have stepped into the path of the rider without looking, something familiar to many of us who have used shared pathways.

But regardless, it’s up to all of us to ride in a safe and careful manner around pedestrians, to slow down and give them as much passing room as we’d expect from a motor vehicle. And give some kind of audible warning before passing to avoid tragedies like this, whether it’s “passing on your left” or a cheerful “good morning.”

Because this is what can happen if we don’t.

However, the writer goes on to call for immediately closing the bike path to cyclists until improvements are made — even though no one would ever demand all cars be banned from a street if a driver hit someone.

Let’s hope this woman pulls through, and makes a full and fast recovery.

And that the local community will work with bicyclists to find solutions that will benefit everyone.

Thanks to Patrick Pascal and Colin Bogart for the heads-up.

………

A woman was injured in an apparent right hook collision with a big rig truck while riding her bike in a West Hollywood crosswalk yesterday morning; unfortunately, there’s no word on her condition.

This should be a reminder to always use extreme caution when entering an intersection if you’re riding on the sidewalk. Or better yet, ride in the street; statistics show you’re actually safer on the roadway where you’re more visible to everyone.

………

You’d think for $12,000, the wheels would stay on.

Specialized is recalling 1,000 of their high-end Venge bicycles because the rear wheel can come out of the dropouts, fracturing the rear triangle and causing the rider to lose control and fall.

Which is a bad thing.

Thanks to Mike Wilkinson for the tip.

………

Stunt rider Danny MacAskill is out with his latest video; Red Bull discusses the making of a Wee Day Out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCmXzq-iWNc

………

Local

A new “cycling lifestyle” shop is scheduled to open in Echo Park this Saturday; Banker Supply Co. is the second outlet of a Pittsburgh store designed to appeal to a wide range of non-spandex clad riders, including women.

The leader of rising band Warpaint goes for a bikeshare ride through DTLA.

DTLA’s Metro Bike Share will expand to Pasadena next summer with at least 400 bikes in 34 stations; however, most of those stations will be south of the 210 Freeway, potentially underserving the poorer communities to the north.

The Daily Breeze reports on Palos Verdes Estates’ decision to overrule the PVE Traffic Safety Committee and not place “Bikes May Use Full Lane” signs on the city’s streets, saying it would cause confusion since they aren’t posted in other cities on the peninsula. Even though those signs only clarify to drivers what bicyclists are already allowed to do under state law.

A Long Beach student paper says it pays to bike to work, as an Aussie study shows bike commuters saved an average of nearly $7.70 per day compared to motorists.

 

State

San Francisco cyclists get nifty new wayfinding signs.

Construction has been completed on the fully separated bike path on the east span of San Francisco’s Bay Bridge, although it won’t open for another few weeks. And even though it only goes halfway across the bay.

Santa Rosa nears the opening of a new pump track bike park, thanks to the unrelenting efforts of a local cyclist.

 

National

Keep your cool out there. A new study from the American Heart Association says exercising while angry triples your risk of a heart attack.

Colorado authorities file hate crime charges against a pair of men caught on video attacking another man, allegedly because he was gay, as he tried to ride away on his bicycle.

Texas police and fire departments surprise a Wataburger employee with a new bicycle after hers was stolen from behind the shop on Monday.

A Chicago fire lieutenant is the latest rider to lose his life in the Windy City; the city has already exceeded its average yearly total for bicycling fatalities.

The Minneapolis Bike Coalition questions whether bicyclists are being stopped for biking while black, after stats show nearly half of the tickets written to cyclists went to black riders in the overwhelming white city.

Once again, a Michigan driver has killed multiple cyclists, as a 76-year old man drifted across the fog line and rear-ended two women riding on the shoulder; that comes just four months after five riders were killed in the drug fueled Kalamazoo massacre.

 

International

Unbelievable. Police blame a Canadian cyclist after he’s hit by a city road patching truck, even though he was walking his bike in a crosswalk after suffering a double flat.

Caught on video: A London cyclist directs a driver out of a protected bike lane.

An Irish writer says she nearly killed three cyclists in just the last week because they were dressed in black and riding dark bikes, insisting it’s a disgrace that helmets and reflective vests aren’t mandatory. She’s got a point about riding with lights, although if she’s had that many close calls in a single week, the problem may not be with the people on the bicycles.

The head of Ireland’s no-frills Ryanair goes off on cyclists once again, ranting that Dublin’s city council had destroyed the city center through “nonsensical pandering to bloody cyclists;” it was only five months ago he said cyclists should be shot.

Britain’s Duchess of Cambridge visits an American-style bike co-op in the Netherlands, helping kids work on a bike wheel despite her haute couture outfit.

As bicycling booms in cities around the world, bikes are being crowded off the streets of Vietnam, where bike riders are seen as poor or low class.

 

Finally…

Evidently, doping is one thing, motor doping another — especially if it hadn’t been invented yet. It looks like sabotaging bikeways is nothing new.

And when the water’s over your wheels, maybe you should find an alternate route.

I’m just saying.

………

Thanks to Samuel Kuruts for his generous donation to support this site. If everyone who visits this site today donated just $10, it would fund BikinginLA for a full year.

 

Category: Bicycle Safety, Injuries and Fatalities, Morning Links / Tags: , , , ,

Morning Links: Bike lanes on WeHo’s Fairfax, news from the ‘cross Nats, and bike riding kung fu Buddhist nuns

January 11, 2016 / / Comments Off on Morning Links: Bike lanes on WeHo’s Fairfax, news from the ‘cross Nats, and bike riding kung fu Buddhist nuns

scholar_womens_44276c94-aece-4b4e-8573-e68d4cdda98f_1024x1024Just one more week to help someone you know win a new bicycle. Read more about our first-ever bike giveaway and suggest who deserves to win a free bike from Beachbikes.net.

Even if that person is you.

………

Fairfax Ave could soon have a continuous bike lane from Hollywood Blvd to Melrose Ave.

West Hollywood is moving forward with plans to place bike lanes on that city’s section of Fairfax between Fountain and Willoughby Aves, transforming this…

Fairfax south of Santa Monica

Fairfax south of Santa Monica

…into this.

Fairfax south of SaMo 2

The lanes would connect with existing bike lanes on Fairfax north of Fountain, as well as planned lanes between Willoughby and Melrose in the City of LA. The WeHo website suggests they might even extend below Melrose; however, that would likely require removing parking from the narrow, small business-lined street.

Which isn’t likely to happen given the city’s risk-averse culture.

Still, it’s nice to see a little coordination between the two cities to provide a badly needed north-south route for bike riders in that part of town.

Thanks to the West Hollywood Bicycle Coalition for the link.

………

The amazing Katie Compton wins her 12th national cyclocross championship; Jeremy Powers only has nine more to go after winning his third straight men’s title.

Cyclocross Magazine offers full coverage.

………

Local

Santa Monica will create a new coastal zoning plan, taking into account the new bikeshare program, as well as future sea level rises due to global warming.

The Daily News looks at Winnetka’s five-year old Girlz Gone Riding mountain bike club, which has grown to include chapters in San Diego and the Inland Empire. Note to Daily News: 1,000 Facebook members sounds impressive, but chances are, they’re no more real than Facebook friends.

 

State

An Oxnard cyclist was critically injured in a broadside collision Sunday afternoon.

A musician’s cross-country bike trip from West Virginia to Santa Paula inspires a web series and a new album.

Palo Alto’s My City Bikes is trying to encourage people to save money and stay fit by riding bikes.

 

National

NPR looks at Kurt Searvogel, the new holder of the year record.

A bike-riding TV news producer says older riders need to encourage the next generation of bicyclists.

The Austin TX Ghisallo Cycling Initiative, named after the patron saint of cyclists, teaches older adults to ride three-wheel bikes to provide them with better health and greater mobility.

A Mississippi physician bikes the route of the Underground Railroad north to Canada.

Orlando FL gets its first sharrows. Which work a lot better for wayfinding than they do for improving safety or encouraging drivers to share the lane.

 

International

In a shameful assault, a Canadian man rode his bike past a group of Syrian refugees attending a Vancouver welcome event, and pepper sprayed at least 30 men, women and children.

If you build it, they don’t always come. A bikeshare program operated by a British rail system has averaged only one rental per station every six days.

Remarkably, all five candidates for London mayor have endorsed banning cars from one of the city’s busiest, and most polluted, streets, as well as implementing an Idaho stop law. Maybe we could get the losers to run for office here.

A road raging Brit bike rider is confined to a curfew for attacking a driver who allegedly passed too close. Seriously, keep your anger and your fists to yourself, no matter how much you think the other party might deserve it. On the other hand, if a bike rider is smashing in your window and threatening to kill you, you may not have given “ample room” after all.

Now that’s a good dog. A British police dog sniffs out a stolen mountain bike worth over $4,300.

This could be the last year for the Tour of Oman.

Officials of the United Arab Emirates get on their bikes to encourage their citizens to bike to work this Tuesday, though some of those citizens say the streets of Abu Dhabi are too dangerous to ride.

Adventure Journal relates the story of Polish cyclist Kazimierz Nowak, who twice rode the full length of Africa in the 1930s as the world was building up to global war.

A Kiwi expat competes in 14 mile time trial on Friday and goes a 46 mile bike ride on Saturday, then gets married that night.

The death of a young bike-riding mother leads to a campaign for more and safer bike lanes in the Philippines.

A Singapore cyclist offers a whopping $10 to forget the whole thing after crashing into a three-year old and knocking out his tooth.

 

Finally…

A bike for people who aren’t ready to give up the car. The world needs more bike riding kung fu Buddhist nuns.

And go ahead and fire it up; a new study shows weed won’t affect your ability to ride a bike.

Though you may want to pack more munchies for the ride.

 

Category: Morning Links, Streets and Infrastructure / Tags: , , , , ,

Morning Links: 3 important bike meetings, 1 last endorsement in WeHo, and what to do at CicLAvia Pasadena

May 27, 2015 / / One comment

The seemingly endless series of LA area elections is finally drawing to a close with next week’s vote in West Hollywood, where Bike the Vote LA endorses John Heilman for city council.

……..

Lots of important meetings this week.

A meeting will be held from 5 to 7 pm this evening to discuss improvements to 7th Street in DTLA, including possible plans for protected bike lanes. It takes place at the Ratkovich Company, 700 S. Flower Street, Suite 2600.

The Los Angeles Planning Commission will consider the city’s draft Mobility Plan — which includes the previously approved 2010 bike plane — tomorrow on the second floor of the Van Nuys City Hall, 14410 Sylvan Street. According to an email from the LACBC, the updated plan includes a focus on protected bike lanes and complete streets; however, opponents of some projects, including the embattled bike lanes on Westwood Blvd, are fighting their inclusion in the plan. Bike riders are urged to attend, or email James Williams in the City Planning Commission office at cpc@lacity.org to voice their support.

The Griffith Park Advisory Board is meeting at 6:30 pm tomorrow at the Griffith Park Visitor’s Center, 4730 Crystal Springs Drive. The topic of interest is discussion of the Vision Plan for the park, which should focus on removing cars while maintaining access for people, rather than reopening previously closed streets as in the recent Mt. Hollywood controversy.

……..

CicLAvia offers a list of activities along Sunday’s Pasadena route.

……..

Corona del Mar’s loss is Portland’s gain.

Prominent Newport Beach bike advocate Frank Peters writes to say he’s given up on SoCal sunshine — and waiting for safer streets — and moved to the damp, but bike friendly city to the north.

The author of cdmCyclist and a member of the committee that helped draft the city’s bicycle master plan, Peters has been one of the leading voices calling for bike safety in Orange County in recent years. And more importantly, actually doing something about it.

But as he points out, while those safer streets are coming, they’re not likely to be built out in his lifetime.

He will be missed in the OC.

Let’s just hope he doesn’t rust up there.

……..

Local

Employees in the LADOT division responsible for striping streets received an average of over $48,000 in overtime last year. If bike lanes were responsible, as the story suggests, they should have been able to build out the entire bike plan by now.

Streetsblog honors Streetsie Award winners LA City Councilmember José Huizar and bike videographer Nate Lucero with a short ride in Eagle Rock this Friday.

The LACBC is joining with Metro to offer a series of free bike safety classes around the county.

Rancho Cucamonga has developed a comprehensive multi-modal transportation plan that includes “robust” bike and pedestrian networks.

The Long Beach Gazettes says this summer could be the best yet for urban bike riders, thanks to the city’s first Beach Streets ciclovía and a new pedestrian path separating walkers from bikes on the beach.

The third annual Jewel City Ride rolls through Glendale on Sunday, June 7th, with three routes ranging from seven to 50 miles.

 

State

A Rancho Mirage resident says city leaders are embracing a dying economic model in opposing a planned 50-mile bike path connecting the Coachella Valley.

A Fresno bicyclist died 10 days after he was injured in an alleged suicide swerve. Amazing how many bike riders turn into the path of drivers. Or could it be that the drivers are just passing too closely and blaming the cyclists for their mistakes?

Oakland challenges LA’s unofficial title as the hit-and-run capital of the state; the OPD solves just 2% of all hit-and-runs in the city.

Sad news from St. Helena, as a young Midwestern woman visiting on vacation was killed in a collision with a box truck; the story reports she was turning left from a driveway when she rode her bike into the side of the truck. Update: The victim was a 31-year old Ohio woman celebrating her first anniversary; her husband was riding 20 feet behind and witnessed her death. She may not have been familiar with how to stop the rented fixed gear bike she was riding. 

 

National

Colorado police are still looking for leads in last week’s fatal shooting of a bike rider considered the town’s unofficial mayor.

A Minnesota professor blames social media for last weekend’s water gun assault on Pedal Pubs. Or maybe some people just don’t like them.

The driver who killed a Kentucky cyclist during a bike event is a really good guy with a possible drinking problem, according to his wife, in an attempt to shift blame the victim. Even though police say her husband admitted drinking six beers and smoking dope before they caught him trying to flee the scene with the victim still in the bed of his pickup. But other than that, he’s a champ, right?

Pittsburgh preps to become the latest city to have bike share before Los Angeles. At this rate, we may be the next-to-last city to get one.

New Orleans drivers are ignoring one of the city’s bike lanes, and police are ignoring their violations. Thanks to Erik Griswold for the heads-up.

A Savannah cyclist says he knows several people who have given up bike riding because they’re afraid of aggressive drivers, but never the other way around.

The closure of a Miami causeway for reconstruction will force cyclists onto a deadly, high-speed bridge that’s already taken too many lives.

Miami police team with a local bike shop to offer a new twist on gun buyback programs; the first 50 people to turn in any gun will get a free bike.

 

International

Vancouver police tell drivers to shoulder-check for cyclists before making turns or lane changes. I’m not sure suggesting that drivers perform any kind of body-check in hockey mad Canada is a good idea, though.

An Ottawa writer says the city has lost the mythical war on cars.

UK bike injuries are on the increase despite a boost in safety funding, even while pedestrian and motorcycle injury collisions drop dramatically. Of course, the rise could be due to a jump in ridership, which could mean the rate of injury collisions has actually stayed the same or maybe even dropped.

A British runner died of a brain injury after a collision with a cyclist; police have found the bike rider but say there’s no suggestion of criminality. Sounds like the NYPD after any cyclist or pedestrian gets run over.

 

Finally…

Cycling Weekly says chow down on chicharróns to power up for your next ride. The Brit bike rider who plowed into the side of a bus after running a red light blames it on a broken brake cable.

And a new study says pedaling backwards is actually better for you. Though it’s probably best practiced on a bike that isn’t moving for any extended time.

 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , ,

Morning Links: Bikes could sway the race in LA’s CD4; WeHo candidates debate banning sidewalk riders

January 27, 2015 / / 3 comments

It’s election time once again in and around the City of Angels.

The LA Times looks at the very crowded race to replace Tom LaBonge in CD4, where LA’s pitiful voter turnout and 14 candidates splitting the vote means it could take only a few thousand votes to win the race.

Which means that a single dedicated group — like bike riders, for instance — could be enough to sway the outcome.

Let’s hope the candidates remember that. And that we do, too.

Meanwhile, candidates for the West Hollywood City Council discuss pedestrian safety and whether to ban all sidewalk cycling in the city.

………

Local

Public Radio station KPCC wants to know how you learned the rules of the road. Would that be the legal rules of the road, or the ones we have to live by to survive on them?

UCLA Transportation shares an infographic that makes the case for protected bike lanes.

A man walking on a Santa Clarita bike path is pepper sprayed, then whacked on the head with an unknown object.

 

State

The good news is, it’s not going down; the bad news, it’s not going up. Caltrans’ director assures legislators that the state’s funding for active transportation will remain unchanged for the next two years.

San Diego’s Business Association has discovered a great new way for its members to network and get to know each other: form a bike club.

A Salinas teen receives a national extraordinary courage award for competing on his school’s mountain bike team after losing a leg to cancer.

Nice. After a pancreatic cancer patient on a national bike tour had his bike and equipment stolen in Turlock, locals pitch in to get him back on the road.

A cyclist killed in a rear-end collision on a Sunnyvale highway over the weekend was allegedly under the influence of alcohol, which is likely where the investigation will both begin and end, regardless of any other factors.

 

National

It should come as no surprise to anyone that 75% of people who have had their licenses suspended continue to drive anyway, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Shocking, but not surprising.

People for Bikes offers up five reasons why you should talk your boss into allowing a lunch ride; personally, I usually get my best ideas on a bike.

Bikes are under attack once again in bike-friendly Oregon, as a bill in the state legislature proposes licensing all riders over 18, instituting a mandatory $10 bike registration plan, and barring the use of state highway funds for bike projects.

I don’t even where to start with this one, as a teenage St. Louis-area driver is charged with the hit-and-run death of a man sleeping on a bike path.

Evidently, they take human life seriously in New Hampshire, as the unlicensed driver who killed two cyclists when she plowed into a group of riders while under the influence of drugs gets up to 40 years in prison, with a minimum of 15.

 

International

Next City says cyclists and pedestrians are the best of frenemies, as a Canadian study shows shared paths and sidewalks increase the risk of severe injury. Which you probably already know if you’ve ever ridden the beachfront bike path through Santa Monica.

No. Just no. After a man calls out a bike rider for rolling a stop sign, the rider returns a few minutes later and beats him with a baseball bat.

In an interview with the BBC, Lance Armstrong says if he had to do it all again, he would do it all again.

A cyclist in a UK city suffers two broken fingers when he’s kicked off his bike by a moped rider, something that seems to happen there every January.

A 65-year old woman sets off on a 5,000 mile tour around the British Coast to raise money for charity, and takes her golden retriever in a trailer behind her. Which is exactly what I’d do if my wife ever kicks me out, except she’d probably keep the dog.

Bike riding is booming in Ireland; unfortunately, deaths are on the rise, as well.

Government officials debate whether to pull the cord on Melbourne’s troubled bike share program or exempt it from Australia’s ill-advised mandatory helmet law.

Once again, a Facebook page is accused of inciting violence against bike riders, this time in New Zealand; operators insist it’s not a hate site, despite the death threats to cyclists. Well, what the hell did they think would happen?

 

Finally…

In today’s nod to literature, an ode to a nun on a bike. And for those of us who are cash-challenged, the next edition of English bike scribe Carlton Reid’s excellent Roads Were Not Built for Cars will be published online for free.

 

Category: Advocacy & Politics, Morning Links / Tags: , , , ,

Morning Links: Protected bike lanes are now legal; WeHo considers removing crosswalks to improve ped safety

September 22, 2014 / / Comments Off on Morning Links: Protected bike lanes are now legal; WeHo considers removing crosswalks to improve ped safety

It’s perfect bike weather in LA.

And the tourists are gone, most of them, anyway. Which means it’s relatively safe to return to our usually over-congested bike paths.

So tell your boss you’re coming down with a bad case of bike flu. And hit the road to show your bike some much needed love for a few hours.

Work will wait.

And so will today’s post. I promise we’ll still be here when you get back.

As for my bike, it’s still sitting in the corner of my office feeling neglected, waiting sadly for the day I can get back on it.

And so am I.

……..

Governor Brown signed two new bike bills, one permitting protected bikeways — which are currently considered experimental under state law — and another allowing voters to add a $5 fee to car registration on a local basis to fund bike infrastructure.

AB 1193 directs Caltrans to develop standards for protected bike lanes, while at the same time allowing cities to use guidelines included in the NACTO guide, rather than rely on Caltrans, which tends to be overly conservative and decades behind the times.

SB 1183 allows local governments to impose an additional $5 fee on car registrations to fund bicycle networks. However, it requires approval by a two-thirds majority. And getting two-thirds of voters, almost all of whom are drivers, to tax themselves to pay for bike lanes seems pretty damned unlikely.

……..

Under the heading of they just don’t get it, West Hollywood authorities consider removing crosswalks and increasing traffic speeds to improve pedestrian safety. No, really.

Maybe someone can explain it to them.

……..

Very sad news from Portland, as Kerry Kunsman, a League Cycling Instructor and board member of the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition, is critically injured in a rear-end collision while on border to border bike ride. The SDCBC asks for your prayers for his recovery from a severe brain injury.

Update: The news gets even sadder, as I’m told Kerry Kunsman passed away this morning. My deepest sympathy and prayers for him and for all his family and friends.  

………

According to the New York Post, bikes kill; a bike-hating writer for the paper calls even average cyclists assassins on wheels — neglecting the fact that cars kill roughly 5,000 times more people than the average of six people killed in collisions with bicycles in the US each year.

Meanwhile, the paper is still raging over the recent collision between a cyclist and a pedestrian, who sadly passed away over the weekend.

……..

Bike racing’s governing body will try out on-bike cameras and real-time GPS positioning at this week’s road cycling world championships.

BMC wins the men’s time trial at the world championships; Teejay van Garderen says it’s the highlight of his young career. Specialized-Lululemon takes the women’s title for the third year in a row.

And pro cycling’s God of Thunder calls is a career.

……..

Local

Hats off to the LACBC, which filed a public records request with the LA County DA’s office for information on the Milt Olin case.

Bicyclists respond to the anti-bike letters in the LA Times. Meanwhile, Walk Bike Burbank responds to anti-bike letters in the Burbank paper.

A Glendale letter writer says bicyclists should pay a “fairness fee,” failing to realize that cyclists and other non-drivers subsidize our streets for the benefit of motorists; what would be fair is giving every bicyclist, pedestrian and transit user a refund on the portion of their taxes spent on roadwork.

 

State

Orange County opens another two-mile segment of the planed OC Loop, which will eventually create a continuous 66 mile bikeway through the county.

A Fountain Valley woman barely avoids falling debris from a crippled airliner as she rode along the bike path in Huntington Beach.

A helmetless San Diego area cyclist suffers a fractured skull in a solo fall. This is one of the rare instances when whether the victim wore a helmet is actually worth reporting, since relatively slow speed falls are exactly what bike helmets are designed to protect against.

Yes, you’re required to pull over when five or more vehicles back up behind you and are unable to pass, just like any other slow moving vehicle. But only when it’s safe and there’s space to do so.

 

National

Elly Blue looks at the future of bicycling and how to ensure everyone has a seat at the table. Or on a bike, anyway. Which brings us to the good, the bad and the ugly of marketing bicycling to women.

Bicycling offers the 10-best car-free bike paths in the US, and calls the newly combined Bike Index and National Stolen Bike Registry the most powerful tool to fight bike theft.

A survivor of the horrific 1970 plane crash that killed most of the Wichita State University football team plans to ride from the school’s football stadium to the site of the crash in Colorado.

If you’re going to steal a bike, probably not the best choice to snatch one from a San Antonio bike cop. Or one in Zimbabwe for that matter — especially not if you’re a fellow cop.

Delaware is the nation’s second most dangerous state for cyclists on a per capita basis.

What will it take to make Macon GA safe for cyclists and pedestrians?

 

International

A shift to bicycling, walking and transit could save 1.4 million lives by 2050; Hamburg Germany plans to go car-free in 20 years; could other cities follow suit?

The oldest Tour de France stage winner in the post-war era passed away in Belgium on Saturday at age 92, 51 years after he won he race’s ninth stage.

An Aussie take on exploring The Hague by bike.

Explore Israeli history by bike. Though you might want to wait until things settle down just a tad.

British bike advocacy group Sustrans applauds an Australian state’s consideration of bike safety reforms. But why does even a bike website think the Idaho stop law is radical?

 

Finally…

As if cyclists didn’t have a bad enough reputation, are we ready for the Bieb on the bike? For God’s sake, someone buy that boy a belt, already.

And caught on video: a Russian bike rider barely avoids becoming collateral damage in a traffic collision — twice.

 

 

Category: Advocacy & Politics, Morning Links, Streets and Infrastructure / Tags: , , , , , ,

Embarrassing video shows Sheriff’s deputy doesn’t know what a sharrow is or what it means

July 24, 2013 / / 18 comments

They should be embarrassed.

Or maybe we should, since the LA County Sheriff’s Department is supposed to work for all of us.

Yet as this new YouTube video from WesHigh shows, at least one Sheriff’s Deputy has no idea what a sharrow is. Let alone that bicyclists aren’t required to ride to the ride on a non-sharable lane.

As the video points out, sharrows are not just wayfinding symbols that indicate a Class III bike route, but indicate the preferred position for bike riders within the lane. While you’re not required to ride on the sharrows, if you position yourself on the point of the arrow, you’ll be in the exact spot traffic engineers think you should be within the lane.

Those charged with enforcing the law should know that.

Yet from what I heard from other bike riders, the Deputy’s misconception, while an extreme example, isn’t that unusual for the department.

Many riders have complained about Sheriff’s Deputies demanding that they ride as far as possible to the right, in violation of CVC 21202, which only requires bicyclists to ride as far to the right as practicable. And then, only when traveling below the speed of traffic.

If you’re riding as fast or faster than the vehicles around you, you can legally ride anywhere you damn please, as long as you travel in the direction of traffic.

Yet even if you’re just crawling along, there are countless exceptions to the requirement to ride to the ride — including riding in a non-sharable lane, which is defined as any lane too narrow to share with a motor vehicle. And that includes allowing for sufficient space to avoid the door zone, which is one of those hazards the law refers to.

Which means that virtually every right lane in the Los Angeles area should be considered non-sharable. Especially if it allows parking on the right.

The officer is also mistaken in his insistence that the rider was obstructing traffic. Under California law, that only applies on two lane roadways, and by definition, requires five or more vehicles stuck behind the slower vehicle and unable to pass. If drivers can pass, or if there is another lane to the left they could use to pass if they chose to do so, the rider is not legally obstructing traffic.

As the video shows, this was a four lane street. And drivers were able to pass with ease — including the officer who dangerously chose to speak with a moving cyclist without pulling over to the curb first.

Unfortunately, this brings up a much bigger problem.

While the LAPD has worked with local bike riders to clarify the laws applying to cyclists, and developed a training session to train their officers in just how to — and how not to — enforce traffic laws relating to cyclists, the LASD, to the best of my knowledge, has not.

Just what training their officers receive in bike law isn’t known outside of the department and the officers who actually receive it. Or not.

And while the department may feel their officer training is adequate, this video — and complaints from bike riders around the county suggesting a lack of knowledge and inconsistent enforcement in various areas of the county — would suggest it isn’t.

It’s long past time for the Sheriff’s Department to step up and work with cyclists to ensure their officers understand bike law and enforce it correctly, and fairly.

In the meantime, this video prepared by the LAPD in conjunction cyclists participating in the department’s bike task force remains the state-ot-the-art for bicycle traffic law training among SoCal police agencies.

Even then, it’s only as good as department’s commitment to ensure every officer views it.

And learns it.

Category: Advocacy & Politics, Bike Cam Video, Bikes & the Law, Law Enforcement / Tags: , , , , , ,

A little this, a little that — missing NY green lane, WeHo bike workshop, SaMo bike shooting suspect

June 12, 2013 / / One comment

Just a little light reading to get you through your Wednesday.

………

Remember those vivid green bike lanes that Hollywood says don’t exist anywhere else and are impossible to remove in post-production?

Evidently, not a problem in New York.

………

West Hollywood will host a workshop to help overhaul their bicycle and mobility plan this Saturday. The meeting takes place starting at 9 am at the WeHo library, 625 N. San Vicente Blvd; the West Hollywood Bicycle Coalition encourages anyone who rides or walks in the city to attend to help make the plan as powerful as possible,

………

Sign the petition to keep the bike lanes on Westmont Drive in San Pedro; thanks to Jennifer Gill for the link.

………

Santa Monica police have identified a suspect in the shooting of a bicyclist last Sunday. Oddly, they say it doesn’t appear to be related to the shooting of two men, one fatally, in the same area Tuesday morning — let alone the nearby shooting rampage on Friday.

You might want to avoid the area south of Pico Blvd in Santa Monica for awhile until things settle down.

………

A 13-year old L.A. boy has been missing since he was last seen riding his bike on Sunday. Bicycle Fixation looks forward to CicLAvia on the Miracle Mile. Bike Nation is seeking a Fortune 500 company to sponsor their bike share program; I could use one of those myself. A sponsor, that is. The Los Angeles Bicycle Advisory Committee now has a Facebook page. It’s a busy bike weekend at Flying Pigeon, with a Streetsblog fundraiser on Friday, LACBC’s RideFigueroa Saturday, and a Get Sum Dim Sum ride on Sunday. A look at the World Naked Bike Ride, L.A. edition. The L.A. Sheriff’s Department is fixing unclaimed bikes — actually, the inmates are — to donate to kids throughout the county. The woman who helped put bike lanes in Rolling Hills Estates has passed away. A Sierra Madre cyclist suffers minor injuries when a motorist fails to yield; thanks to John Lloyd for the heads-up. How not to lock your bike.

More money for bike and pedestrian projects in the new state budget, but Safe Routes to School programs are at risk. Santa Ana will build two secure bike parking facilities holding a total of just 36 bikes; evidently, not many riders need secure parking down there. It seems the facts are however you spin them, as a San Francisco grand jury says the city must do more to prevent bicyclists’ deaths — but all a Bay Area website hears is a call to crackdown on scofflaw cyclists.

Nice read on being an unwitting role model for little girls. A new Tucson Walgreens didn’t eliminate a bike lane in front of the store after all. If you’re going to make your getaway by bike, try to steal one your own size. Traffic laws apply to cyclists, even in Idaho. The teams have been announced for this year’s USA Pro Challenge. Colorado man spots his stolen mountain bike on eBay, leading to the arrest of a serial bike thief. A lesson from Kansas for all drivers — don’t kill people with cars; damn good advice if you ask me. A new Cincinnati app allows cyclists to report harassment and collisions.

Brit drivers are more miserable than they’ve been in 25 years. If you really want to be seen, ride a Penny Farthing. An Irish writer demonizes cyclists — literally — in calling for greater courtesy around pedestrians. A look at bicycling in Paris. Johan Bruyneel, former sports director for Lance’s various cycling teams, denies being a demon or putting anyone’s health at risk.

Finally, a self-identifying cyclist criticizes a “small, tiny, sub-section of cyclists” — the cam-wearing, lycra-clad aggressively mentally ill subsection, evidently. Something tells me the conversation he relates may not have occurred exactly the way he tells it.

If it occurred at all.

Category: Advocacy & Politics, Bikes & the Law, Streets and Infrastructure, Violence & Crime / Tags: , , , , , , , ,

West Hollywood needs your help — planned La Brea bike lanes could be replaced by sharrows

February 21, 2013 / / 6 comments

I’m not a big fan of sharrows.

Yes, they have their place, providing on-street wayfinding for riders and positioning them out of the door zone, while sending a clear signal to drivers that we have a right to ride in the traffic lane.

But they don’t give us any rights to road we don’t already have, or one inch of real estate we aren’t already entitled to. And they don’t move riders out of the way of heavy traffic and impatient drivers.

The strictly vehicular crowd will tell you that sharrows are better than badly designed bike lanes that put riders in the door zone. But they are never preferable to a well-designed bike lane that safely positions riders out of traffic and away from danger.

And unlike bike lanes, sharrows do little or nothing to encourage more timid riders to take to the road.

Yet West Hollywood has decided that sharrows make more sense on heavily travelled La Brea Avenue than the long-planned bike lanes that were supposed to be installed in the next few years. And which were supposed to connect with bike lanes that will be installed on the Los Angeles portions of the street under the current bike plan.

Apparently, they’ve concluded that a wide, landscaped median that would beautify the street is more important than bike lanes that would encourage bike riding, reduce congestion and improve safety for all road users.

LACBC regional chapter West Hollywood Bicycle Coalition is leading the fight to keep bike lanes on the redesigned street. So I’ll let them take up the story from here.

Did you know that the city of West Hollywood is planning a huge redesign of La Brea Avenue? It’s is an amazing opportunity to fix a street that currently suffers from some of the worst congestion and hazardous intersections in West Hollywood. Fortunately, La Brea also enjoys a high concentration of great destinations, diverse growth, and proximity to pleasant neighborhoods. A bike lane would be an easy, inexpensive way to capitalize on West Hollywood’s easternmost assets, and effectively reduce the inconveniences of a city that’s growing by leaps and bounds.

Sound the Alarm

WeHo’s Notice of Intent to Adopt a Negative Declaration incorrectly claims that LA plans to paint sharrow stencils on La Brea. But the city of LA has proposed bike lanes — not sharrows — for La Brea Ave in its 2010 bike plan.

If West Hollywood’s portion of La Brea isn’t built with connectivity to LA’s future bike lanes, it could cost a lot of money to fix — and it could even cost lives.

Follow the Existing Guidelines

As luck would have it, the city of West Hollywood has already conducted a study that calls for bike lanes on La Brea. The recommendations of the Bicycle Task Force include the installation of Class II (that is, non-buffered) bike lanes on La Brea Ave. The report was unanimously approved by City Council in December of 2011.

La Brea bike lanes are also indicated by West Hollywood’s Climate Action Plan, the General Plan, and even the request for proposals for this very project.

Wouldn’t Bike Lanes Just Slow Traffic Down?

No. It might seem counter-intuitive at first, but when done correctly, bike lanes can help move traffic along faster.

How’s that? Well, bike lanes keep cyclists separated from faster-moving traffic, eliminating the need for cars to change lanes or suddenly slow down to pass bikes. They also reduce conflicts between bikes and cars at intersections. And dedicated lanes allow bikes to move safely forward through traffic, rather than swerving hazardously between stopped cars.

And of course, the biggest benefit of all: with more bike lanes, more people bike instead of drive, so there’s an overall reduction in traffic on the road.

Safety Over Aesthetics

What’s more important for La Brea: a giant landscaped median that simply looks nice, or bike lanes that can actually save residents’ lives?

There’s no argument that bike lanes will make La Brea safer for everyone — not just cyclists, but pedestrians and motorists, too.

When Long Beach installed bike lanes, bike accidents decreased by 80%, vehicle accidents decreased 44%, and sidewalk-riding decreased from 70% to 28%. LADOT’s own study showed that bike lanes can reduce accidents by 35%. That reduction isn’t just for cyclists — it also includes collisions between cars.

With numerous new pedestrian-oriented projects under construction on this already-busy street, bike lanes are an easy, cost-effective way to reduce accidents and injuries. If the street’s wide enough for a median, it’s wide enough for bike lanes.

So what can you do?

Contact the City of West Hollywood and let them know that we need bike lanes. The comment period for the Notice of Intent to Adopt a Negative Declaration closes very soon: 5pm on February 28.

Send your comments here:

Donn Uyeno, P.E.
Senior Civil Engineer
City of West Hollywood Department of Public Works
8300 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069
Tel: 323-848-6457 | Fax: 323-848-6564 | Email: duyeno@weho.org

And of course, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and email newsletter to get updates on our progress with this and other projects.

West Hollywood has just one more week to get the redesigned La Brea Avenue right the first time. So take a moment to take a stand for a safer, complete bike network that would benefit everyone on what is currently one of the area’s busiest and most dangerous streets.

I’ll be emailing them before the week is over. And I hope you’ll join me.

One other brief note.

The West Hollywood Bicycle Coalition is one of the area’s most dedicated and effective groups fighting for better bicycling in the Los Angeles area. If you live or ride in West Hollywood, you owe it to yourself to get involved with them; if you’re an LACBC member, you automatically qualify for membership.

If not, what are you waiting for?

Category: Advocacy & Politics, Streets and Infrastructure / Tags: , , , ,

LAPD seeks yet another hit-and-run driver; West Hollywood is in the market for a bike plan consultant

November 25, 2012 / / One comment

Los Angeles police are looking for a driver who ran down a cyclist near USC and fled the scene, leaving him to bleed in the street.

The rider was hit by a small white car at the intersection of Vermont Ave and 36th Street around 1:30 Friday morning. The cyclist, described only as non-USC student in his 20s or 30s, suffered major non-life-threatening injuries.

Anyone with information is urged to call LAPD South Traffic Division at 323/421-2577.

It’s long past time to get heartless cowards like this off the streets and behind bars where they belong.

Thanks to Richard Risemberg for the heads-up.

………

The City of West Hollywood is looking for a firm to help update the city’s bike plan.

Let’s hope WeHo, self-proclaimed as The Creative City, will take a creative approach to carving out a significant chunk of street space to keep cyclists safe and encourage more people to ride. While the city has made some recent moves to accommodate bikes, it’s time to show cyclists the same welcome and tolerance they famously show everyone else.

You don’t have to do a lot of riding, walking or driving in West Hollywood to realize that the relatively compact, traffic-choked city could benefit greatly by providing more viable alternatives to driving. Aside from some steep climbs on the lower reaches of the Hollywood Hills, it is — or at least, should be — a near ideal location for promoting bicycling.

And maybe they could show the Biking Black Hole to their west how it’s done while they’re at it.

While it’s still early in the process, the best way to ensure your voice is heard in the new plan is to join the West Hollywood Bicycle Coalition, an LACBC affiliate chapter that does a great job of engaging civic leaders and fighting for the rights of bike riders.

Many thanks to Matt Baume for the tip. And hey, I’m more than willing to consult, if they’re willing to waive all those technical requirements and stuff.

………

The first section of the Glendale Narrows Riverwalk bike and pedestrian path is scheduled to open on December 12th. Richard Risemberg notes the new BMW of Beverly Hills bike shop. Everybody has a favorite bike shop, right? A Napa motorist faces up to one year in jail for killing a cyclist last August.

Looks like America’s only Tour de France winner is officially out of the bike business. Alta Bicycle Share is looking for a Portland-based Marketing Director. The Blackhawk CO bike ban heads to the Colorado Supreme Court. A Montana man says a local road diet was imposed by unelected D.C. bureaucrats, and implies cyclists belong on sidewalks. An Albany NY cyclist becomes collateral damage when he’s killed by a fleeing driver in a police chase. Jackson, Mississippi considers joining other local cities in requiring helmets for cyclists. An Arkansas father and minister is killed while riding in Georgia. Nice to know a Florida deputy didn’t run over a cyclist on purpose.

A fight for the leadership, and nature, of the Belize Cycling Association. Good to know Canadian drivers can kill a cyclist without doing anything wrong. UK bike scribe Carlton Reid points out that hatred of cyclists has a long, rich history. The Evening Standard asks how we can make London safe for cyclists. Seven tips for effective bike lobbying. Cyclists touring Bath, England will soon enjoy Europe’s longest cycling tunnel at over a mile long. An Edinburgh cyclist blames bad roads for a serious fall. Danish cyclists complain a new law requiring bike lights is unenforceable. How a single picture started the Cycle Chic movement. An Aussie cyclist suffers a broken collarbone when someone slaps her on the ass from a passing car.

Finally, a UK hospital receives well-deserved criticism for removing bike parking for a smoking area, even if it will result in a net increase in bike spaces. And it may not necessarily be bike related, but I love these haunting photos of Scotland in winter from my favorite Scottish novelist and bike blogger.

Category: Bicycle Safety, Car vs Bike, Hit-and-Run, Injuries and Fatalities, Streets and Infrastructure / Tags: , , , , , ,
  Recent Entries »
Wordpress Theme by ThemeZee