Tag Archive for Westwood Blvd

West LA CicLAvia coming next month, LA speed cams and photo bike lane ticketing, and new helmet may be safest ever

March 31, 2026 / / No comments

Happy César Ch…uh, Farmworkers Day, to all who celebrate. 

And Erev Tov!

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The next CicLAvia will roll just three miles from Westwood to West Los Angeles, along Westwood and Santa Monica Blvds on Sunday, April 26th.

The ride will offer an opportunity to consider long-gestating plans to build protected bike lanes on Westwood between Westwood Village and the E Line; an earlier proposal for painted bike lanes was killed by former CD 5 Councilmember Paul Koretz because he felt like it to satisfy wealthy homeowners.

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Los Angeles is finally getting around to installing the speed cams authorized by a 2023 law.

The legislature, in a typical compromise to avoid passing any major traffic safety legislation, approved a pilot program allowing speed cams in six cities, three in Northern California and three in Southern California.

Streetsblog reports San Francisco and Oakland already have their speed camera programs up and running, while Long Beach and Glendale have finalized locations and approved vendor contracts; San Jose is the other NorCal city included in the program.

The law was later amended to allow a handful of desperately needed speed cams on PCH in Malibu, as well.

The six-city pilot program was a compromise to get a bill that would have legalized them statewide out of committee.

According to Streetsblog, Los Angeles was the last city to move forward with its program, as usual for the notoriously risk-averse and driver-shy city. But the city finally finalized the speed cam locations last week, and will send the contract out to bid with a goal of getting them installed and working by the end of the year.

Yay, us.

In other long overdue news, Streetsblog adds that Los Angeles is trying to work out the details on a program to use cameras to ticket drivers parked in bike lanes.

Here’s a thought.

Let the people who actually use the bike lanes enforce the law by submitting their own photos and videos of drivers blocking bike lanes, and just send the owners a ticket, already.

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The new Si road bike helmet from Vancouver, BC’s PIKIO LABS has been rated as the safest bike helmet ever tested by the Virginia Tech Testing Lab.

The helmet scored a 4.61, more than two points better than the next highest rated helmet.

It’s based on the company’s proprietary OBLIK impact management system, designed to reduce both linear and rotational forces; the nearly 20-year old MIPS system only reduces rotational forces.

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

Someone may or may not have tried to sabotage an Iowa bike path, after the bomb squad destroyed a suspicious device packed with nails and explosive materials left in a backpack along the trail.

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

This is what it looks like when a hundred or so kids on bicycles and ebikes attempt to enter a San Francisco freeway the wrong way, even if the CHP can’t seem to hold the damn camera steady or even make a decent edit.

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Local 

A new pocket park and recreation center called the Slauson Connect project will rise on a narrow strip of land along the north side of Slauson Ave between Budlong and Normandie Avenues next to the new Rail to Rail shared use path.

 

State

Two separate HIV/AIDS fundraising rides will replace the late, great AIDS/Lifecycle ride, with a three-day ride from San Francisco to Guerneville and back benefitting a Bay Area nonprofit, while the three-day Center Ride Out will take bicyclists from Los Angeles to San Diego, to benefit the Los Angeles LGBT Center.

Santee is the latest California city to crackdown on ebikes, without apparently distinguishing between e-motos and non-street legal dirt bikes, and Class 1, 2 & 3 ped-assist ebikes.

A recent University of Arizona grad from Humboldt is setting off with his dad on a 9,600-mile ride to visit all 30 major league ballparks. Although if they really wanted a challenge, they should try riding to all 120 minor league parks in the US alone. 

 

National

A new bi-partisan bill in Congress would give the Consumer Product Safety Commission the authority to define and regulate ebikes and other electric micromobility devices at the national, rather than state, level. Although whether there’s anything left of the CPSC after Elon Musk’s DOGE cuts remains to be seen. 

Outside recommends the year’s best mountain bikes as chosen by the pros at Pinkbike. And they might actually be this time, for a change. 

There’s not a pit in hell deep enough for the co-founder of the Bellingham, Washington edition of the World Naked Bike Ride after he was busted on kiddie porn charges; he claimed he was doing research for a children’s book about a child who runs around naked — even though his book was published six years ago.

Alaska’s Lael Wilcox will attempt to beat her own 108-day women’s world record for riding around said planet, attempting to shave 30 days off her previous time for the 18,000 mile ride to beat the outright record of 78 days, 14 hours; she’ll set off from Chicago on June 7th.

Now drivers aren’t even waiting for bicycles to leave the shop before running them down, as a Colorado driver somehow plows in and through an Aurora bike shop.

 

International

An Oxford, England traffic cam installed to catch drivers making illegal left turns — the equivalent of a right over here — has generated the equivalent of nearly $800,000 at one of the most dangerous sites for bicyclists in the UK, which see around 12,000 daily bike trips per day when Oxford University is in session.

Bicyclists in the London borough of Havering have launched a safety campaign asking candidates for the local council to commit to building bike infrastructure where the city’s department of transportation has identified the need.

Former Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo looks back on her dozen years leading the French capital — which included a massive bike and pedestrian friendly makeover of the city streets — saying “Changing a city is complicated.” Which is probably why no one has succeeded here in the City of Angels, and few have even bothered to try. 

Authorities in The Netherlands are considering introducing a quality mark to show ebikes meet legal EU standards. Which would be a pretty good idea over here, too. 

A Delhi-based white-collar worker swaps his car for a bicycle to commute to work for four months to see if biking every day can help improve the city’s air quality crisis, and finds he can get to work on a bicycle as fast as in a car. A few years back, I spoke with a Delhi-based bike accessory maker, who was comfortable riding that city’s seemingly chaotic streets, but just couldn’t imagine how we manage riding the mean streets of Los Angeles. 

The London Times asks if Tokyo can manage to rein in its sidewalk surfing bicyclists, especially all those darn moms on their mamacharis. 

 

Competitive Cycling

Swiss prosecutors have closed their investigation into the death of 18-year old Swiss cyclist Murier Furrer without charges, concluding there was no evidence of criminal wrongdoing even though it took 85 minutes before anyone even noticed she was missing following a crash in the 2024 Road World Championships in Zurich.

Somehow we missed this one last week, as a pro-Palestinian and environmental protestor caused a major smashup in the Tour of Bruges by sitting in the middle of the road as the peloton approached; the same man disrupted the finale of the 2022 Tour of Flanders by running across the roadway, splashed paint on Vermeer’s Girl with the Pearl Earring, tied himself to a goal post during the Belgian FA Cup final, and sprayed the British Embassy in Brussels with red paint. Yet somehow, he was still allowed within 50 miles of a bike race without adult supervision. 

A 21-year old Philippine food delivery rider set a new national track cycling record riding the same bike he uses for his delivery work, with the frame and wheels worth the equivalent of less than $250.

 

Finally…

Seriously, when you’re carrying a concealed gun, meth, and illegal prescription pills on your bike, and riding with an active arrest warrant, stop for the damn stop sign. Or if you nearly hit a police car while riding your bike drunk, put a damn light on it, already (the bike, not the cop car).

And your next ebike could be the world’s skinniest car.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Elderly woman kills 3, injures 4 crashing into Westwood market; study shows ebikes boost mental health in elderly

February 6, 2026 / / 4 comments

I can’t speak for anyone else, but I’m just glad this damn week is over. 

I mean, it is over, right? Tell me it’s over. 

It’s just been one damn thing after another. And as soon as you think you’ve caught your breath, something even worse happens. 

But on the plus side, Sunday offers one of the best days to ride a bicycle, with virtually traffic-free streets until the game is over. Or gets out of hand, anyway. 

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay.

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This is who we share the road with.

An elderly woman — the media was all over the place reporting her age, throwing out seemingly random numbers from 70 to 87, before apparently settling on 92 — crashed into the 99 Ranch Market on Westwood Blvd early Thursday afternoon.

Three people were killed on the spot — two men, ages 30 and 55, while the other was a 42-year old woman.

She also critically injured two 35-year old men, and two other men suffered minor injuries, one 37 and the other 38.

The horrific incident started when the woman struck a bike rider at Wellworth Ave and Westwood Blvd, then reportedly continued down the sidewalk before crashing through the glass windows into the store’s bakery department.

At least the guy on the bike walked away, as did the woman behind the wheel.

So far, police have termed it a tragic accident.

You know, just another oopsie.

Just a kindly old lady who just got confused, lost control of her car, and didn’t mean to cause any harm.

Not one word, at least to this point, discussing whether someone that old should have even been behind to begin with. Never mind that for most people, cognitive abilities decline with age, eyesight weakens, and reaction times slow.

No one is saying she’s not a nice person, and no one can say whether she was at fault for the initial crash with the bicyclist. Or that she doesn’t need a car in this damnably car-centric city.

But it’s hard to believe that a younger driver wouldn’t have been able to come to a stop before plowing into a building a full block away.

We continue to allow elderly people to continue driving, even as their abilities to do so safely decline. I mean, what’s the worst that could happen?

Four dead people and an unborn baby, the victims of two drivers well over 80 in less than a week.

Just the normal cost of getting from here to there, I guess.

Thanks to Andy for the heads-up. 

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No surprise here.

A new study on the effect of cycling in older adults published in the PLOS One medical journal shows that bicycling improved cognitive function and mental health in the test subjects, whether they rode regular bicycles or ebikes.

According to the abstract,

For executive function, namely inhibition (the Stroop task) and updating (Letter Updating Task), both cycling groups improved in accuracy after the intervention compared to non-cycling control participants. E-bike participants also improved in processing speed (reaction times in go trials of the Stop-It task) after the intervention compared to non-cycling control participants. Finally, e-bike participants improved in their mental health score after the intervention compared to non-cycling controls as measured by the SF-36. This suggests that there may be an impact of exercising in the environment on executive function and mental health.

In fact, the ebike riders actually showed more improvement than the regular bike riders.

Perhaps because ebikes are easier on older bodies, encouraging people to ride both more, and more often.

Just a guess.

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They get it.

In a surprisingly commonsense editorial, the conservative Orange County Register urges Irvine, and by extension other OC cities, to go slow when it comes to regulating ebikes.

We don’t have a problem with cities enforcing some sensible rules and reminding e-bike riders that they have a responsibility to be respectful of pedestrians and those who use traditional bicycles. Still, we worry that in their zeal to regulate, cities are tamping down on the core benefit of these e-bikes: providing people with that wonderful freedom of travel.

Which, at its core, is exactly what ebikes offer. Whether you’re young or old, healthy or otherwise.

It’s not that ebikes are better than regular bikes. They just meet different needs for different people.

And that shouldn’t be taken away just to rein in a relative few out-of-control kids.

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In better news, Gravel Bike California takes in the gravel and wine experience riding around Temecula.

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

Confusion reigns over Ireland’s proposal to require helmets and hi-viz for bike riders, even as a deputy prime minister insists they didn’t mean to include regular bicycles, just ebikes and the ilk.

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Local 

The Los Angeles Daily News profiles the owners of Spoke N’ Wheel, the oldest bike shop in the San Fernando Valley, as it nears the half-century mark. Which is only four years older than my ’81 Trek. 

 

State

The California Transportation Commission continues to flush the overwhelming majority of a newly released $1 billion transportation fund down the highway-expanding induced-demand toilet, while giving a small boost to transit and active transportation.

Volunteers maintaining the La Jolla Bike Path are calling on the city to post more signs to discourage people from building their own unauthorized bike trails, after discovering a number of such trails carved into the hillside. Because as we all know, posting a sign is almost as effective as a sternly worded letter to the editor in deterring scofflaw behavior. 

The annual Tour of Palm Springs rolls this weekend, resulting in a number of street closures in the area. Or openings, actually, since they’re only closed to cars.

Hats off to Alameda, which was elevated to a Gold-level Bicycle Friendly Community.

There’s a special place in hell for the man who attacked a ten-year old boy in Valley Springs and stole his bicycle, as the kid was riding with friends. Or for anyone else who’d attack or rob a little kid to steal their bike.

 

National

Like Dylan at the Newport Folk Festival, Trek goes electric with a 28 mph “car-replacing” ebike. And yes, I’m going to keep trotting out that reference until I find someone else old enough to remember it.

An opinion columnist for the Seattle Times relates how he took his stolen ebike back from someone who claimed he bought it for 400 bucks, recognizing it as the man rode by and confronting him at a red light.

Well, no shit. The annual Minneapolis Frostbike trade show was cancelled due to ‘current law enforcement activities.’ Apparently, they didn’t want to risk anyone getting inadvertently deported or shot by ICE agents. 

No surprise here. Immigrant advocates and older adults decry New Jersey’s draconian new ebike law as discriminatory; the law requires licensing and registration for every ebike, without distinguishing electric motorbikes and dirt bikes from ped-assist commuter bikes.

The Philadelphia Bicycle Coalition complains about snow removal from bike lanes, saying the city’s winters are comparable to Copenhagen, which does a much better job. Although that’s not a problem Los Angeles riders usually have to deal with. 

I want to be like him when I grow up. A 73-year old Georgia man is planning to ride 950 miles to Washington DC to honor fallen service members and support the families they left behind. As we’ve noted before, however, there’s a big difference between planning to do something and actually doing it. So wake me when it’s over.

A Florida design website profiles local artist JC Franchevich, who paints images of Fort Meyers when he’s not off on long distance bicycle rides, including Bolivia’s famed Death Road.

 

International

Welcome to 1890. A 25-year old London man faces charges of “wanton and furious driving” for killing an ebike rider while driving a horse and cart. Yes, the original one-horsepower vehicle. 

Bicycle production in Spain was off 8.1% last year, while ebike production plummeted by 21.4%, even as the bicycle market in the country booms.

Sun’s out, buns out. An Aussie writer says now that the sun is out Down Under, it’s time to consider how to not feel the burn and stay comfortable while you ride. Which seems to be good winter advice here in sunny California, too.

 

Competitive Cycling…

Hi-viz and a flashing light didn’t seem to help Italian WorldTour cyclist Gianmarco Garofoli, who was run down from behind by a hit-and-run driver doing around 60 mph while on a training ride; fortunately, he wasn’t badly injured, and spotted the car as he returned to his hotel and alerted authorities.

Jens Voigt says we live in a golden era of cycling, adding “Every now and then you have Pogacar or Einstein being born.” Although I’d take Pog over Einstein on a hilly descent any day. 

USA Cycling announced the return of the Collegiate All-Star Program, mentoring colleges stars as they take the step up to elite cycling, and compete as a team in this year’s Redlands Bicycle Classic.

 

Finally…

Who really needs actual, factual bike news, anyway? Now you, too, can visit the world’s first hotel catering strictly to mountain bikers, though you may want to start boning up on your conversational Norwegian.

And you gotta eat sometime.

Let alone catch up on the day’s — hopefully factual — news.

https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:7vpdxcialxa6j5s7yh5g5jhf/post/3me2gommmjc2t?ref_src=embed&ref_url=https%253A%252F%252Froad.cc%252Fcycling-live-blog-5-february-2026

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Thanks to Jordan for an unexpected donation to help support this site, and keep all the best bike news and advocacy coming your way every day.

And thanks especially for the nice comment that accompanied it.

If you’d like to join him in supporting this site, just click here. Kind words optional.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

 

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

Round 2 of HLA appeals this Friday, teen e-moto gang in Hermosa Beach attack, and Westwood bike lane battle back on

December 3, 2025 / / Comments Off on Round 2 of HLA appeals this Friday, teen e-moto gang in Hermosa Beach attack, and Westwood bike lane battle back on
Day 337 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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It’s Day 6 of the 11th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive! Not that you probably have any money left to give after Giving Tuesday.

But if you do, we’ll take it.

And by we, I mean me and the corgi.

So thanks to Ben for his generous support yesterday. And thank you in advance for giving what you can, when you can, to help keep SoCal’s best source for bike news and advocacy coming your way every day. 

It only takes a few moments to donate via PayPal, Zelle or Venmo. 

Your support is what keeps this site going through the lean months, and helps ensure the corgi finds a few kibbles in her stocking this holiday season.

Because you don’t want to see a sad corgi on Christmas morning. 

Trust me. 

In today’s photo, the corgi offers her editorial opinion of both the city’s convoluted rejection of HLA compliance, and the prospect of a kibble-less Christmas.

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It’s round 2 of the battle to implement Measure HLA, as the Los Angeles Board of Public Works will consider a second batch of appeals over projects that should have complied with the measure, but didn’t.

All of which were filed by Joe Linton in his personal, rather than professional, capacity.

As with the first round, we can expect the board to routinely reject each of these, regardless of merit, as the city insists on taking the bizarre position that any project involving the application of paint on pavement is merely “restriping,” no matter how much additional work was involved.

That includes a project on Melrose near L.A. City College, where the city removed a peak-hour lane and added more parking for cars — yet left out the protected bike lanes called for in the Mobility Plan 2035.

The whole point of Measure HLA was to require the city to build out the mobility plan whenever they did significant roadwork.

And I’d call that significant.

The only thing likely to force the Board of Public Works to actually reconsider these projects is if supporters of bike, pedestrian and traffic safety turn out in force, and in person, to make them listen.

The meeting is scheduled for 10 am this Friday, in the Edward R. Roybal BPW Session Room, Room 350, of LA City Hall at 200 N. Spring Street.

You can read Linton’s brief summary of the appeals here.

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We keep learning more about the vicious attack on a 57-year old man carrying a pizza in Hermosa Beach, allegedly committed by an ebike-riding gang of kids in their early teens.

Although in this case, ebike appears to mean electric motorbikes and non-street legal dirt bikes.

But as for gang, that’s literal.

According to the Los Angeles Times,

The bold and seemingly unprompted attack has outraged the coastal community and stoked simmering frustrations around alleged teen e-bike gangs organizing under names such as the Goons and the Redondo Beach Killers.

Now it appears that some of the alleged attackers came from the neighboring city of Manhattan Beach. In a Sunday email to parents, Manhattan Beach Middle School Principal Matthew Horvath said that students at the school were involved in the incident, the Manhattan Beach News reported. Representatives for the district did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In this case, however, the Goons and RB Killers may not be what you normally think of when you see the term “gang.”

I’m told by someone who lives in the area that the gangs accused of “assaulting and terrorizing” beachside residents are the products of privileged homes and indulgent parents, who too often stand in the way of accountability for their kids until it’s too late.

And now it is.

Although it’s apparently not too late for angry residents to vent their frustration at city officials.

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Los Angeles wants to know what you think about the long — and I do mean long — gestating Westwood Boulevard Safety and Mobility Project.

The project, which has been batted around in one form or another since for at least the past two decades, is intended to improve safety for bike riders and pedestrians along the dangerous corridor between Westwood Village and the Metro E (nee Expo) Line.

According to the Westside Current,

The department says the project is being developed in line with Healthy Streets LA and Mobility Plan 2035, which identify Westwood Boulevard as a priority for transit, bicycle and pedestrian upgrades. LADOT is gathering feedback on “transportation safety concerns, access challenges and ideas for how the street could function better for everyone,” and says staff will review all comments before drafting recommended infrastructure changes.

It’s nice to see the city actually working with Measure HLA, rather than fighting it, as they’ve done with virtually every other project up to this point.

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Richard Fox, author of the enCYCLEpedia guidebook to Southern California’s scenic bikeways, forwards his rave review of the newly mostly completed CV Link in the Coachella Valley. 

Mostly, because the wealthy enclaves of Rancho Mirage and Indian Wells wanted nothing to do with it, and it was too expensive to build around them.

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Canada’s CTV network offers a review of fat biking in honor of Fat Bike Day.

Which sounds sort of like Fat Bear Week, but isn’t.

Thanks to Megan for the video.

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If you want to know why bike riding is booming in London, here’s a pretty good explanation.

Since 2016, we've expanded London's Cycle Network by over 475% – and there is much more to come!

— Will Norman (@willnorman.co.uk) 2025-12-02T10:47:14.594Z

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A bike-riding British influencer is teaching her dad how to be a bicyclist on his second-hand road bike.

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

A British Colombia letter writer almost gets it, asking if bicyclists should be treated more like pedestrians than motorists. But then goes on to say we’d be better off sharing sidewalks with pedestrians like “many places in Europe,” and wouldn’t mind wearing “highly visible license plates” if it finally allows us to get off the streets. Um, that’s a hard no.

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

Bicyclists in the UK even get criticized for not riding in a bike lane when it doesn’t even exist yet.

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Local 

Streetsblog reports work on expanding Baldwin Park’s Barnes Park is “trooping along,” and a new connection from Walnut Creek Nature Park to the greenway walk/bike path is nearly finished.

Los Angeles is getting what appears to be its first pump track in Arroyo Seco Park, near the border with South Pasadena (scroll down).

LA-based social justice apparel brand For Your Viewing Pleasure is releasing a four-piece collaboration with Palestinian paracycling team the Gaza Sunbirds, with 100% of the profits going to benefit the Gaza team.

 

State

‘Tis the season. The San Diego Padres surprised students at a local elementary school with 100 team-branded bicycles.

An ebike rider in San Luis Obispo got the blame for crashing “into the side of a car,” even though the driver cut him off by making a “left cross” turn across his path; the victim suffered “undisclosed” injuries.

After a more than 30-year career in advertising, I can assure Morgan Hill-based Specialized that if nearly everyone doesn’t get their ad, they screwed up, not everyone else who didn’t get the joke. Although they beg to differ.

San Francisco is planing to rip out a neck down installed to slow traffic, because drivers don’t like it. And really, isn’t their happiness all that really matters?

 

National

Cycling Weekly recommends 15 Christmas present ideas for bicyclists, picked by “people who ride thousands of miles a year.” Or maybe 12 Chanukah gifts, plus an extra three for birthdays, anniversaries and such.

We touched on this yesterday, but it’s worth mentioning in more detail that Seattle is testing out the nation’s first protected bike lane barriers made of recycled car and truck tires, which not only offer a lower price, but are easier to repair and cause less damaged to cars that hit them. Thanks to Mike for the heads-up. 

A Las Vegas writer says riding a fat tired bike through Death Valley on a roadway closed to cars, but not bikes, is nirvana on two wheels.

Go ahead and enjoy riding in Arizona, just don’t cross any intersections — the state ranks third in the US for the deadliest intersections, behind only Florida and Delaware. Meanwhile, California ranks all the way down at, uh, seventh.

A church in Joliet, Illinois held a fundraiser to pay funeral expenses for a 25-year old man who was killed in a hit-and-run while riding his bike to work.

In a story that will sound familiar to many bicyclists, an Ohio city is reviewing a 2008 ordinance that actually required bike lanes on certain streets, many of which were never built.

A Brooklyn man says he was iced out of a contract to install 500 bicycle parking pods across New York, after nearly a decade of fighting for them.

A volunteer organization in Memphis is using bicycles to deliver food to the homeless.

America’s oldest bikemaker is still making bicycles the old-fashioned way despite moving to South Carolina after more than a century in New York.

 

International

‘Tis the season, part two. An Ontario, Canada organization donated 90 bicycles to children in need.

 

Competitive Cycling

The American Criterium Cup returns for a fifth year, with a series of six races starting with June’s Tulsa Tough, although the $140,000 purse is up for grabs as last year’s men’s champ Maurice Ballerstedt returns to racing in Europe.

Thirty-one-year old American pro Veronica Ewers says she needs to step away from the sport for awhile to let her body recover, addressing the severe toll cycling takes by admitting medical tests show her bones are weak, and she hasn’t even had a period since 2014.

Now you, too, can own four “ultra rare” Colnagos, including the bike Sothebys says Tadej Pogačar rode in Toulouse, when he was actually busy riding up Mont Ventoux.

 

Finally…

Throwing your bicycle at a cop during a burglary is not one of its many approved uses. Your next bicycle could be a Ducati.

And turning your old bike wheel into a new musical instrument.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Metro proposal would remake Westwood for bikes and pedestrians, and first world digital bike conference this month

March 3, 2020 / / Comments Off on Metro proposal would remake Westwood for bikes and pedestrians, and first world digital bike conference this month

Metro recently sent out a letter looking for input on a draft first mile/last mile plan for the upcoming Westwood/UCLA Purple Line Station.

Although the deadline for comments is today, unfortunately.

Westwood/UCLA Community Members:

As you aware, Metro is developing a First/Last Mile (FLM) Plan for the Westwood/UCLA Station Purple Line Station.  At this time, we invite your feedback on recommended plan improvements prior to Board consideration this Spring.

The Plan is intended improve this “first last mile” experience for users of the future station by identifying projects for efficient access and safety.  Projects identified in the Plan are then positioned for further study as part of a preliminary design phase through early 2021.

The conceptual plans included with this email are a product of over a year of field research, consultations, and community engagement.

With this email, please find four documents:

  1. Instructions
  2. Pathway List
  3. Project List
  4. Comment Form

Please carefully read the instructions and returned your completed comment form to me (liebj@metro.net) byTuesday March 3, 2020.

The comment form can’t be attached on here, so send your comments to the email address above.

There’s a lot to like here.

Especially the promise protected bike lanes on Ohio, as well as Westwood Blvd through Westwood Village — despite CD5 Councilmember Paul Koretz’ pinky swear promise to Village business owners that he’d never allow bike lanes on Westwood Blvd.

Let alone protected ones.

It also includes plans several bike boulevards throughout the Westwood area, otherwise known euphemistically by the City of Los Angeles as bicycle friendly streets. Which raises the question of whether any of this has been run by the city’s transportation department before being released.

And whether it has the support of LADOT and city leaders, or if it’s just the planning equivalent of vapor ware, waiting for Koretz or someone else to shoot it down.

Meanwhile, the Planning & Mobility Committee of the Westwood Village Improvement Association will meet tomorrow.

Maybe they should hear a few words of support, too.

Thanks to Dr. Michael Cahn for forwarding the letter.

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Thanks to Marvin D, who writes to let us know former pro Jens Voigt is hosting Digital WorldBike 2020 on March 31st, the world’s first free digital bicycling and safety conference.

Nice to see Jensie using his immense popularity to advocate for better access and safer streets for all of us on two wheels.

Which is exactly what Lance could and should be doing to redeem himself after his doping-fueled downfall. But isn’t.

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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes goes on.

Or in this case, e-scooters, as a Baltimore man says he was intentionally run down by a van driver, who naturally fled the scene.

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

Life is cheap in Calgary, Alberta, where a bike rider walked with a lousy $1,000 fine for killing a 75-year old man who stepped into the crosswalk when the light changed.

There’s a special place in hell for the bike-riding robber who stole a purse from an elderly British woman, knocking her off her crutches in the process.

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Local

Metro is offering free fares for today’s Election Day, including one free Metro Bike bikeshare ride; all LADOT transit systems, Antelope Valley Transit Authority,  Culver CityBus, Long Beach Transit and Pasadena Transit buses are also free today. On the other hand, you may have trouble finding an e-scooter to ride to the polls.

Bike the Vote LA has a voter’s guide for today’s election if you haven’t voted yet, while CiclaValley offers a list for Valley voters. I voted early, and cast my vote for challenger Sarah Kate Levy in the CD4 race last week.

StreetsForAll will meet next week to discuss the Venice Blvd For All proposal, which would remake one of the city’s most dangerous corridors.

Caltrans will be shutting down the 5 Freeway sometime in the near future to demolish the existing Burbank Blvd bridge to make room for a new and improved bridge, complete with bike lanes and wider sidewalks; the existing bridge will be closed to all traffic, including pedestrians and bicycle, by the end of this month.

 

State

The San Diego Association of Governments, aka SANDAG, is hosting the 30th annual San Diego Bike to Work Day on May 14th, and wants your help to pick the color of their official T-shirt. I’d vote for purple, especially if they feel like sending me one. Thanks to Robert Leone for the heads-up.

Speaking of San Diego, the city’s smart streetlights could be spying on you.

The San Francisco bike shop owner who complained about plans for a protected bike lane in front of his shop swears he’s just misunderstood, and really just prefers another option that would be less safe for his customers and others on two wheels.

A San Francisco bike rider says the city’s protected bike lanes aren’t.

A group of Sacramento bike riders will parol the city’s popular bike path along the American River.

Nearly 200 bike riders took part in a Chico charity ride to raise funds for bicycle safety and advocacy; the annual Tour de Ed Bike Ride began in 2008 after a local bike advocate was paralyzed in a bicycling crash.

 

National

A retired Iowa cop, who should have known better, pled guilty in the hit-and-run death of a man riding a bicycle.

OKC police busted a BMX-riding bank robber who made off with over $2,250 from an Oklahoma bank.

Rapha is following its Walton family owners to Bentonville AK, home of the Walmart chain founded by their grandfather.

A New York state legislator offered proposals to require vehicles to be rated on the risk they pose to others, and eliminate the need to prove drivers knew their actions were reckless to get a conviction.

No bias here. A Staten Island writer responds to a New York state law allowing police to seize vehicles from drivers for repeated speed cam or red light violations by claiming they can pry his car out of his cold, dead fingers.

 

International

As Vancouver continues to roll out new bike lanes, less than half of the people are comfortable using them.

British shops are encouraged to participate in Local Bike Shop Day on Saturday, May 2nd; hopefully it will spread to this side of the pond, as well.

A London ebike rider was acquitted of careless driving in the death of a pedestrian who crossed against the traffic light, despite traveling 10 mph over the speed limit and leaving the scene after the collision; he reportedly sobbed after the jury foreman announced the verdict.

Indian bike riders confront the heat and humidity to ride 75 miles roundtrip to catch the sights of seafront Chennai.

Bike advocates say it’s only a matter of time before someone gets killed after a heavily used Sydney, Australia bike route was ripped out to make room for highway construction; judging from the video, they’re probably right.

 

Competitive Cycling

When you’re making plans for the upcoming weekend, clear some time for the Tour de Murrieta,; rather than road races, it’s actually two days of crits, which are more fun to watch anyway. Thanks to Robert Leone for the link.

Discovery is teaming with UCI, cycling’s governing body, to create a new track cycling league designed to be more fast-paced, entertaining and engaging for spectators and online viewers.

Four cycling teams remain quarantined in the United Arab Emirates following the UAE Tour, which was halted with two days to go after two Italian team staffers tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

 

Finally…

Who needs batteries when you can generate your own power while you ride?And who needs a car alarm when you’ve got a high-pressure sprinkler installed in your truck?

……..

Thanks once again to Matthew Robertson for his monthly donation to support this site, which comes just in time to pay my email service fee every month. 

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

Morning Links: Bike rider murdered on LA River path, Westwood NIMBYs rise again, and LA makes bad list of best bike cities

December 10, 2019 / / Comments Off on Morning Links: Bike rider murdered on LA River path, Westwood NIMBYs rise again, and LA makes bad list of best bike cities

I’m not usually one to leave a job half done. 

But evidently, I’m okay with knocking off when it’s just two-thirds finished.

Especially when I don’t have any choice. 

I’ve been struggling with low blood sugar most of the night, ranging from dangerously low to just extremely nauseatingly low. 

Despite which, I’ve somehow managed to get this far with today’s post. But I can’t make it any further. 

At least not tonight. 

But don’t fret.

I promise to catch up on the rest tomorrow, when I’ll (hopefully) be feeling better.

………

Evidently, nowhere is safe for LA County bike riders.

The LA Times reports that a man was found shot to death next to his bicycle on the LA River bike path just before 11 pm Sunday night.

The vicim was discovered suffering from a single gunshot wound to the upper body on the pathway near Clara Street and River Road in Cudahy.

There are no known suspects.

Anyone with information is urged to call the LA County Sheriff’s Department at 323/890-5500.

Thanks to Eban Lehrer for the heads-up.

………

The decidedly bike-unfriendly Westwood Neighborhood Council is raising its ugly NIMBY head once again.

The group, which is dominated by wealthy homeowners in the area, is calling for a motion to block proposed bike lanes on Westwood Blvd from just below Wilshire Blvd to the UCLA campus.

Even though the North Westwood Neighborhood Council, where the lanes would actually be located, overwhelmingly favors them.

And even though they could help revitalize the rapidly dying Westwood Village, while improving safety for UCLA students, staff and employees, along with what few shoppers, diners and movie goers remain.

New LA advocacy group Streets For All is calling for everyone to contact area Councilmember Paul Koretz. Though it’s questionable what good that will do, since Koretz is the one who singlehandedly blocked bike lanes along the lower portion of the street below Santa Monica Blvd at the behest of a handful of homeowners.

More effective could be their final suggestion.

3 – Show up at Westwood Neighborhood Council’s meeting – and encourage any friends that live in Westwood to join you. We will be passing out signs to hold up. Give public comment supporting Metro’s bike lanes on Westwood Bl. and opposing their interference in part of Westwood that isn’t even in their neighborhood council district.

When: Wednesday, December 11, 2019. 7pm.

Where: Belmont Village Senior Living, 10475 Wilshire Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90024

………

I don’t want to frighten you.

But before you read this next item, you need to sit down.

Now set down your coffee, tea or whatever you’re drinking. You don’t want you to ruin your laptop, phone or any other device with an unplanned spit take.

Because what I’m about to say may come as a shock. Or maybe a laugh.

Or in my case, a damn good guffaw.

Because Los Angeles finally made a list of the most bike-friendly cities.

No, in the world.

Seriously.

Even though we can’t even make a list of the most bike-friendly cities in California. Or barely in LA County, for that matter.

Let alone with criteria like this.

For this edition of the ranking, we have evaluated and ranked over 60 cities from around the world using 7 factors including biking infrastructure, bike safety, roadside rentals, bike-share index, friendliness (designated bike lanes), road connectivity, and bicycle culture (the shops, routes, and attributes that make each city a great place to ride). These are the best cycling cities in the world. Did your city make the list?

Clearly, they didn’t deduct for LA’s angry, aggressive and distracted drivers. Or elected leaders who seem to like the way Vision Zero looks on LADOT’s website, as long as they don’t actually have to do anything.

Never mind the steadily rising toll of fallen bicyclists that disprove the city’s meager efforts to date.

But not only did LA make the list, we apparently made it twice.

Magazine placed Oslo in sixth on the list ahead of Bremen, and Antwerp. San Francisco and Helsinki round out the list at nine and ten, respectively. Los Angeles, Los Angeles, Portland, Boulder, and Seattle came out as the top five most bike-friendly cities in the United States.

CEO Magazine, which created this list, may or may not be legit.

But LA’s inclusion on it is total bull.

The Onion, on the other hand, get it right with a story saying Los Angeles is now adding lanes for bike riders to recover from getting hit by drivers.

………

Yesterday we posted video of a road raging Texas truck driver blocking both lanes of a narrow highway to tell off a group of bicyclists, which made it look like the riders may have been taking up both sides of the road.

Today we get additional video from another angle, making it clear they weren’t. And that she was going way too fast.

………

This is who we share the roads with.

………

‘Tis the Season.

Four hundred Coachella Valley 4th graders got new bikes and helmets courtesy of Variety of the Desert.

Around a hundred volunteers pitched in to build 123 bikes for a Pennsylvania nonprofit, marking more than one thousand bikes the group has given away since 2008.

Even Fox News is getting in on the bike building act.

Meanwhile, Bike Radar has eco-friendly gift ideas for the bike rider in your life. Or maybe something for the bike-riding lesbian on your list.

And the New York Post has advice on gifts to avoid so you don’t end up like the Peloton husband.

………

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

A bike-riding Grinch made off with a San Jose family’s Christmas decorations.

An Illinois man was busted for pedaling his bike up behind a woman to steal her purse in a Walmart parking lot. Even if the headline suggests he was trying to sell his bike, instead.

………

It looked for awhile like Monday would be the first day with no donations to the 5th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive.

But appearances can be deceiving. 

So let me offer a heartfelt thank you to William S for coming through at the last minute with his generous donation help keep all the best bike news and advocacy coming your way every day!

………

Local

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton offers photos from Sunday’s West Valley CicLAvia, while CiclaValley offers a video recap. And no, my fumble fingers never gotten used to typing CicLAvia and CiclaValley in the same sentence, and probably never will.

Yet another reminder that Los Angeles will close Hollywood Blvd at the drop of a hat for a movie premier. But somehow can’t create a pedestrian plaza to improve business and save human lives.

 

State

California planners are already telling LOS to get lost.

San Diego’s popular Rose Canyon bike path will be closed this week to pave the final segment.

San Francisco will close a section of Octavia Street in the Hayes Valley neighborhood to cars, and fling it open for people on bicycles. Permanently. Maybe Los Angeles can take the hint.

 

National

Bicycling lists the ten most popular Strava segments from across the US, with a heavy emphasis on the West Coast.

The magazine also looks at Utah’s shrinking Bears Ears National Monument, warning that oil wells could soon replace a bikepacking paradise.

A coalition of conservation groups have filed suit against new federal rules opening National Park trails to ebikes if other bikes are allowed. Evidently, the wilderness is only for the fit and able bodied, as far as they’re concerned.

Trek recalled their 2017-19 Super Commuter+ 8S ebikes because, as the Miami Herald points out, nobody expects the wheels to come of a $5,200 bike. Actually, no one expects the wheels to come off any bike, regardless of price.

A Colorado bike advocate is blown away by biking in Portland. Just imagine how blown away she’d be by Los Angeles, which scored 15 places higher on that list up above.

Life is cheap in Texas, where you can kill a seven-year old little girl in front of her school and walk without even a ticket.

With no apparent sense of irony, a Providence, Rhode Island letter writer says bike advocates should have a more inclusive vision for the city, while insisting there’s no room for bike lanes on the city’s streets.

Streetsblog accuses New York Mayor Bill De Blasio of hypocrisy for encouraging corporate ebike deliveries while banning ebike food deliveries. Meanwhile, the state’s governor is sitting on a bill that would legalize ebikes throughout the state because of an unrelated dispute with the bill’s sponsor.

New York doormen are worried about conflicts between customers and people on bicycles as bike lanes expand throughout the city. Or they could just assume that bike lanes are meant for people on bicycles. Not tourists with suitcases.

 

International

British six-time Olympic gold medalist Sir Chris Hoy offers tips on how to teach your child to ride a bike. Because everyone knows Olympic track cycling is the ideal background for the best sidewalk bike coaches.

Get your next H&M order delivered by bicycle. But only if you live in the Netherlands, of course.

 

Finally…

Now you can gravel grind and ride epic singletrack without ever leaving the comfort of your own home. It’s not a bicycle, it’s an artist’s brush.

And it’s one thing to attack the leader of Britain’s Labour Party. But making fun of his bike is going too damn far.

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

Morning Links: Koretz calls for climate change mobilization but still no bike lanes, and Bikes4Orphans BBQ ride

June 28, 2017 / / Comments Off on Morning Links: Koretz calls for climate change mobilization but still no bike lanes, and Bikes4Orphans BBQ ride

No hypocrisy here.

Bike lane-blocking LA City Councilmember Paul Koretz joined with author Naomi Klein to call for a World War II style mobilization to fight climate change.

Los Angeles took on the needs of the entire United States and much of the world during World War II by embracing wartime mobilization. Its existing population and hundreds of thousands of new residents not only contributed massively to aircraft and ship manufacturing, they also volunteered to aid the Red Cross by the tens of thousands. I’m calling on all Angelenos to mobilize once again.  We need a World War II-scale mobilization in order to keep our City safe and our planet habitable and resilient. And we need to ensure that we do it in a way that honors frontline communities, ensures equity, and protects workers.  I’m asking the creative minds of Los Angeles to join with the grassroots activists in creating the City of the future, not some fictional Tomorrowland, but here, on the ground, in the City of Angels we all love.

Of course, one of the single best steps LA could take to fight climate change would be to get people out of their cars, and onto non-polluting sources of transportation.

Like bicycles, for instance.

But that would mean building the kind of on-street bikeways on arterial streets that Koretz has actively opposed since being elected to the LA City Council, after being termed out of the state legislature.

Let alone calling for an outright bike ban on the boulevard.

So we can only assume that Koretz has had a change of heart, and will now approve the shovel-ready bike lanes on Westwood Blvd and other Westside streets.

Or maybe he’s not serious about that WWII-style mobilization — or fighting climate change — after all.

Thanks to David Wolfburg for the heads-up.

………

Bikes4Orphans will hold a fundraising BBQ ride on August 20th; the Pasadena-based non-profit sends bicycles to children around the world to help them stay in school.

 

………

VeloNews looks at how the leader in the Tour de France gets a yellow bike to match his yellow jersey. Or not.

Britain’s Chris Froome is the overwhelming favorite to win this year’s Tour, which starts on Saturday in Dusseldorf.

A rider on Alberto Contador’s Trek-Segafredo team has been replaced for the Tour after testing positive for EPO. It’s refreshing to still see old school blood doping in this modern age of motor and poop doping.

Bicycling offers tips on how to watch the Tour de France without cable TV. The magazine also talks with newly crowned national champ Amber Neben about how she reclaimed the title at 42 years old.

Iowa’s Sarah Cooper talks with a local TV station following her RAAM victory.

A lawsuit against British Cycling seeks to have the country’s Olympic athletes declared employees before a claim of discrimination can be heard; they aren’t currently considered employees, despite signing a contract and receiving a monthly salary.

………

Local

The innocent victim killed in a drive-by shooting as he rode his bike past people arguing after a traffic collision in South LA has been identified as a 17-year old Los Angeles man; a GoFundMe page set up to pay his funeral expenses has raised less than $1,000 of the $10,000 goal.

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton points out the irony that the anti-safety group looking to reverse the lane reductions in Playa del Rey is stealing the Open Streets name from the popular carfree ciclovías spreading across the US. Also note in the comments that the changes to Vista del Mar have proven as unpopular with some cyclists as they have with drivers.

Los Angeles pledges $1 million to improve safety on the LA River bike path.

You know there’s something positive going on when a reporter for the San Gabriel Valley Tribune can ride his bike to a music festival next to the Rose Bowl.

The Metro Bike bikeshare will come to Culver City next year, with 600 bikes at stations throughout the city, as well as in Palms, Mar Vista, Del Rey and Playa Vista. However, the bikes will be incompatible with the bikeshare in neighboring Beverly Hills.

You can beat the traffic to Santa Monica’s free Twilight Concerts on the pier with a free bike valet or the city’s Breeze bikeshare. However, that’s “or”, not “and,” since the bike valet does not accept the bikeshare bikes.

 

State

A San Diego cyclist and former sheriff’s sergeant is fighting a severe form of brain cancer; a fund to help defray medical expenses has raised just under $35,000.

It might be the most dangerous intersection on San Diego’s El Cajon Blvd, but apparently, it’s not dangerous enough to fix.

Ford has pulled a controversial 24-hour pass for its new Bay Area bikeshare over fears it would destroy the local bike rental industry. However, they were beaten to the punch by a new dockless — and unpermitted — bikeshare that dropped 100 ebikes on the streets of San Francisco.

San Francisco Streetsblog questions why more isn’t done to protect bike riders during construction projects. Here in LA, riders are usually just thrown to the wolves during construction.

Caught on video: A San Francisco bicyclist documents the difficulty riding through the homeless camps that have taken over a popular bikeway.

 

National

America’s only remaining Tour de France winner has won again, getting a temporary restraining order against a pair of professional cybersquatters.

A Minneapolis paper looks at the 200-year history of the bicycle, noting it’s gone from being considered risky to healthy.

Detroit continues to be in the news, as a bike shop is closed until next week after an incident in which a black customer berated a black mechanic at the store using derogatory racial terms, then claimed on Facebook that he’d been jumped by the employees when they ask him to leave.

An 11-year old Ohio boy is rewarded with a new bicycle and helmet after using his own money to help pay for his great-grandmother’s funeral.

A Brooklyn man could face more serious charges for sucker punching a man as he rode past on his bicycle; his victim is still in a coma three weeks later.

Baltimore bike advocates reach a settlement with the city to keep a protected bike lane in place, after filing suit when the mayor threatened to rip it out.

 

International

A Toronto columnist says it’s crazy to suggest that lower speed limits could make the city’s streets more dangerous by increasing driver frustration and aggression. Although taking away a traffic lane certainly seems to push them over the edge.

A new play about the death of a London woman on her bike is crowdfunding money to stage a premier this fall.

A change in British law to give priority — aka right-of-way — to people going straight over people turning at intersections could improve safety for bike riders and pedestrians, while reducing delays up to 38%. That’s also the law here, though it’s often ignored.

 

Finally…

How can it be a bicycle café if there aren’t any bicycles? It’s stretching it to call something that can do 60 mph an ebike — even if they make you promise not to go that fast on the street.

And no, don’t grab a tow from a backhoe.

 

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

Morning Links: Koretz calls for banning bikes from Westwood, and protected bike lanes are coming to Lankershim

February 23, 2017 / / 5 comments

Yes, he really said that.

Speaking at a candidate forum Tuesday night, incumbent CD5 city councilmember Paul Koretz called for banning bicycles from Westwood Blvd.

Never mind actually building the bike lanes he’s personally blocked from being installed on the boulevard.

And never mind that it’s against state law to ban bikes from any public street where cars are allowed. Which he should know, as a former state Assembly member.

But then, nothing seems to get in the way of his apparent desire to keep Westwood dangerous, and filled with failing businesses and empty storefronts, as he strives to maintain automotive hegemony over the street.

Which could be, but isn’t, why the LA Daily News endorsed his opponent Jesse Creed over career politician Koretz. Although you’d think they might have mentioned the obvious hypocrisy of blocking bike lanes while claiming to be an environmentalist.

You can do something about it by joining Bike the Vote LA in their get out the vote effort from 12 to 4 pm this Sunday, at 109 S Robertson Blvd, between 3rd Street and Alden Drive.

………

Local

Great news, as Los Angeles will undo a small portion of the damage wrought by former Councilmember Tom LaBonge by installing 2.2 miles of protected bike lanes on Lankershim Blvd in North Hollywood, from Magnolia to Vanowen; like Kortez, LaBonge had blocked a previous shovel-ready plan for bike lanes on the boulevard in an apparent attempt to keep the street dangerously auto-focused.

CiclaValley writes about Monday’s North Hollywood death of a bike rider identified, as Stanley Martin Digerose, who was killed when he stopped to retrieve a ball that had rolled into the street from a nearby park.

Loyola Marymount will open a free bikeshare system on campus; the center will eventually offer seminars teaching students how to fix, tune, and repair their bikes, as well.

Pasadena installs a combination bike repair and hydration station near the rose Bowl.

 

State

A new bill in the state legislature would require Caltrans to improve safety on state highways that run through urban areas and neighborhoods by installing safer sidewalks, crosswalks and bike infrastructure — and more importantly, by providing the funding to pay for it. Streetsblog says it would force Caltrans to follow its own Complete Streets guidelines.

Needless to say, reaction to a proposed bill to allow the Idaho Stop Law in California hasn’t been entirely positive.

Speaking of Idaho Stops, the Union-Tribune shows where bike riders are most likely to get a ticket for stop sign violations. Thanks to Frank Shunkan for the heads-up.

San Diego’s already bad roads are getting worse after the winter rains, leading to lawsuits from drivers and injured bicyclists. Potholes and cracks may be an expensive annoyance to drivers, but can be dangerous for bike riders.

 

National

A new study of male athletes suggests riding too long and hard could affect your sex drive and fertility. Previous studies have shown a similar affect on women.

A bicycling website ranks the top ten bike-friendly cities in the US. Guess which one isn’t on the list?

Lifehacker offers advice on how to buy a bike off eBay without getting hosed.

Your next fat bike could be half scooter.

A Washington high school offers a bike academy to train students for jobs in the bicycle industry.

A popular Tucson bike path is closed down for construction without adequate notice or a detour around the project site. Not that there’s anything unusual about that.

An Op-Ed in the Denver Post says Colorado faces a $2 billion transportation shortfall, and the state must invest in multimodal transportation, including bicycling, instead of building more roads.

The hit-and-run driver who dragged a Las Vegas teenager’s bike under his truck for two and a half miles before tossing it in a dumpster is a convicted felon, though the story doesn’t say what he was convicted of; thankfully, his victim is slowly recovering from his injuries.

A new Chicago plan calls for wetlands and bike bridges leading to a massive industrial area.

No, seriously. Who could have possible imagined that a killer drunk driver would lie to a Chicago courtroom to save his own skin? Thanks to Matt Ruscigno for the link.

Teenage Staten Island bike riders get busted for performing stunts while weaving in and out of traffic and riding salmon. So in their infinite wisdom, authorities filed criminal charges against them. Seriously. For riding bikes.

A Virginia deputy isn’t angry at the 19-year old girl who stole his bike to get home after she was stranded following the Super Bowl. Especially since she brought it back the next day with a note asking for forgiveness.

It’s the cover-up that gets you caught. A Florida woman is caught using a bike to cover her tracks after skipping 1.5 miles of a Ft. Lauderdale half marathon.

 

International

Now you can get Strava on your iWatch, assuming you have one. Or want one.

Toronto considers new rules to keep bike lanes from being used as parking and loading zones for construction sites.

London is the latest city to get the subway-style bike map treatment. Which would just show a bunch of disconnected lines if they tried it here.

Caught on video: This is why drivers have to give a safe passing distance, as a Brit cyclist is clipped by a passing driver who apparently didn’t see him, despite his hi-viz. Or maybe just didn’t care.

A UK paper is shocked and appalled that someone would ride in a bike lane with no hands and no helmet. Although he does seem to have his bike under control, even making a hands-free left — and signaling, though I initially missed that.

After video of a woman bike rider ripping off the wing mirror of a van goes viral, the Guardian says the race for clicks is undermining the credibility of the press. Although a HuffPo writer says she wishes she had the courage to do it.

Irish drivers could face a the equivalent of an $84 fine for passing a bike rider with less than five feet distance on roads with a speed limit over 31 mph, and 3 feet on streets with lower speeds, under a “radical” plan under consideration.

Nice story of an Indian man who rode his bike 7,000 miles to Sweden in the 1970s to be with the woman he loved; they’ve now been married 40 years.

One of China’s app-based bikeshare systems is about to drop 500 bicycles on the streets of Cambridge, England.

A lawyer says the Malaysian driver who killed eight teenage bike riders in a collision over the weekend deserves the blame for hitting them from behind, not her victims or their parents.

 

Finally…

If you get pulled over for DUI, probably best not to do cartwheels when the cop asks you to walk a straight line. What to say to those foul-mouthed, bell-happy cyclists when you innocently park in their bike lane.

And someone really needs to give this dog a dope test. Seriously.

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

Morning Links: Creed calls for a safer Westwood, SaMo PD gets Share the Road wrong, and bike rap & Corgi bikes

January 12, 2017 / / 14 comments

Maybe there’s still hope.

Yesterday morning, Jesse Creed, who’s running against incumbent Paul Kortetz in LA’s 5th Council District, announced that his one of his first actions as a councilmember will be to call for a safety study of Westwood Blvd, saying “a safer, better Westwood will the bedrock of a more vibrant Westwood Village.”

Photo by Eric Bruins

While it’s not an outright endorsement of the shovel-ready bike lanes Koretz singlehandedly killed at the behest of wealthy homeowners, it’s a huge step towards improving the dangerous street following its shameful removal from the city’s Mobility Plan.

It should be noted that a study of the proposed bike lanes was already underway when Koretz halted it, insisting that they would not be built no matter what the study showed. And even though I’ve been told by multiple sources that it would have shown the bike lanes would improve safety, with no significant impact on travel times or parking.

While Westwood is part of LA’s Great Streets program, it’s also part of the Vision Zero High Injury Network, indicating that it’s one of the city’s most dangerous streets — especially for pedestrians and the many bike riders who have no other viable route to get to Westwood Village from the Expo Line or other areas further south.

As Creed notes, despite the Great Streets designation, nothing has changed on the street under Koretz’ watch, unlike some of the others which have made great strides since receiving the designation. And despite the councilmember’s apparent belief that the best solution to a dangerous street is to keep it that way.

Creed seems to get that Westwood — or any other street, for that matter — can’t be a Great Street if it’s not safe and inviting for everyone who uses it, and that it needs to serve more than just a handful of local residents who claim it as their own.

You can see video of the full press conference on the Bike the Vote LA Facebook page.

………

Santa Monica police revive a three-year old victim blaming bike safety spot that twists the meaning of Share the Road; the ad ran on yesterday’s KABC-7 evening news.

………

Now get the bad taste that left you with out with a little nerdcore bike rap from Santa Monica’s Public Bikes.

https://vimeo.com/198397594

And somehow, I’d forgotten about their Corgi-themed holiday video, which is still worth a watch even if the holidays are over.

………

VeloNews profiles the slow and steady rise of Megan Guarnier, calling her America’s best cyclist, male or female.

A final verdict may never be reached in the Italian pay-to-race cycling scandal after lawyers and officials were driven from the hearing room by a broken heating system.

After taking up cycling to keep up her fitness in the offseason, a Canadian skier became the first from her country to compete at three different Olympics in three different sports; now she’s set her sights on becoming just the sixth person to medal at both the summer and winter games.

………

Local

Evidently, LA had an ulterior motive in agreeing to host the world para-cycling championships at the last minute, hoping it would boost the city’s chances of winning the 2024 Olympics.

After experiencing the walkable streets and pedestrian plazas of New York, DTLA Rising’s Brigham Yen calls on LA to cut the backward bullshit and focus on road diets to create a more walkable — and by extension, bikeable — city.

The LACBC will host their rescheduled Ask An Officer panel discussion, featuring representatives from the LAPD, LA County Sheriff’s Department and the CHP, along with bike lawyer and BikinginLA title sponsor Jim Pocrass, on the 30th of this month.

LA’s Groundwork Coffee opens in NoHo’s restored Historic Train Depot, offering a bike repair and accessories shop, and plenty of bike parking.

Pasadena will likely approve bikeshare next month, but the locations are still to be determined following public workshops.

Speaking of the City of Roses, the Brooklyn Bicycle Company offers a photo bike tour of the city. Thanks to Vesley Reutimann for the heads-up.

 

State

Despite projections of a budget shortfall, Governor Jerry Brown proposes increasing funding for active transportation by $1 billion over the next ten years; Calbike notes that the funds are prioritized for disadvantaged communities.

A New Jersey website recommends Orange County as a cyclist’s mecca for riders trying to escape the state’s cold winter.

The San Diego Union-Tribune wants your bike commuting stories. Actually, they want everyone’s commuting stories, which means they’ll need bicyclists and pedestrians to balance out all those people in cars.

Riverside plans to use a state grant to repair trails on Mt. Rubidoux, while installing benches, bike racks and a water fountain for cyclists along the Santa Ana River Trail in nearby Carlson Park.

 

National

New bike composites that blend polypropylene, polyethylene or steel with carbon fiber offer light weight and strength with less fragility.

Continuing their recent focus on clickbait, Bicycling recommends six ways to make sure you’re seen on the streets.

Like Ikea, modern furniture company Blu Dot is offering their own bicycle; the company will donate a bicycle to World Bicycle Relief for every one of the Handsome Cycles-made single speed bikes made by they sell.

It was nice while it lasted. Colorado Springs CO caves to NIMBY’s demanding they undo a road diet and remove buffered bike lanes on a formerly six lane street, even though it carried less than half the traffic it was designed for.

After failing to hire an engineer to oversee the city’s bike plan, Dallas spends $171,000 in bike lane funding to hire a consultant to design eight miles of bike lanes.

A new Minnesota study shows bikes are good for the economy and the people who ride them.

An Indiana couple who built a bike park in honor of their son after he was killed in Afghanistan receive an invitation to the presidential inauguration from bike-riding VP Elect Mike Pence.

Nice story from Cincinnati, where a cyclist spotted a familiar bike in unfamiliar hands, and assuming it was stolen, bought it from them and set out to find the real owner.

Nashville plans a low-stress bike network designed to make the city’s scary streets inviting to everyone.

A former soldier came back from serving in Kuwait with a back injury that kept him from riding a bike; now he runs a New York-based company building pedal-assist ebikes for others with disabilities.

A Canadian man depended on the kindness of strangers as he rode his bike from Montreal to Mexico, until one of those strangers stole his bike and all his belongings in Philadelphia.

Thrillist looks at New Orleans’ unique bike culture as the city takes steps to become more inviting for bike riders.

 

International

Road rage, yes; assault, yes; hit-and-run, only in the most literal sense, as Scottish police are looking for a cyclist who punched a driver through an open window following an altercation.

The UK’s Cyclist site offers advice on how to avoid solo crashes.

In a truly bizarre ruling, a British court gives a motorcyclist a year behind bars for speeding while fleeing from police, but only six months for actually killing another human being on a bicycle by riding carelessly in another case.

Indian politicians are battling over who gets to use the bicycle as a symbol of their support for the common people. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the link.

Life is cheap in Singapore, where a driver is appealing his three-week sentence for killing a cyclist instead of thanking the judge for the gentle caress on the wrist.

 

Finally…

Police rescue a purloined bike cow. If police try to stop you for riding without a headlight, just stop already.

And your next bike computer could do everything but fix your flats for you.

 

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

Morning Links: Arrest made in beating of Beverly Hills doctor, and more on bike lanes removed from Mobility Plan

September 13, 2016 / / Comments Off on Morning Links: Arrest made in beating of Beverly Hills doctor, and more on bike lanes removed from Mobility Plan

They got one of them, anyway.

KABC-7 reports a 19-year old Whittier man has been arrested for allegedly pistol whipping a prominent Beverly Hills doctor after demanding $150 dollars, and claiming he had somehow damaged his bicycle.

Jerome Ingram was booked on charges of attempted robbery, battery, assault, and false imprisonment by violence.

No word on whether police are closing in on the woman and another man suspected of involvement in the attack.

The Hollywood Reporter offers the definitive story on the assault.

………

Both KPCC and Curbed report on last week’s city council vote to removed Westwood Blvd and Central Ave from the LA Mobility Plan, shunting riders off onto problematic side streets.

The best way to guarantee the failure of any bikeway is to put it where others want people ride, instead of where the people on bikes want to.

Or already do.

……….

You’re invited to ride with East LA’s own four-time national road race champ “Fast Freddie” Rodriguez in the free Powered by Pink Taco Event this Sunday; Compton’s national crit champ Rahsaan Bahati will be there as well, along with LA native Justin Williams, a two-time national champ.

Thanks to David Huntsman for the heads-up.

………

Cycling Weekly offers five things they learned from this year’s Vuelta a España.

………

Local

A great Op-Ed in the Times says traffic crashes disproportionately affect people walking or biking, and LA can no longer afford to prioritize the movement of vehicles at the expense of safety.

Santa Monica Spoke is hosting a return of their popular Ice Cream Ride on the 24th.

CicLAvia is hosting a Play Day in LA this Saturday to raise funds for the city’s iconic open streets event.

 

State

A bike riding San Francisco mugger grabbed a woman by the hair and dragged her before riding off with her cellphone and ID.

Streetsblog asks if San Francisco cyclists are guilty until proven innocent, after a bike rider is blamed for the crash that left him seriously injured, based strictly on the testimony of the motorists that hit him, even though that would have been physically impossible. In other words, just like cyclists everywhere else.

The rich get richer, as San Francisco is about to get still more protected bike lanes; meanwhile, Calbike reminds cities that protected lanes are not only legal, but actually encouraged.

 

National

Business Insider looks at 13 “amazing” bike accessories it says will make your ride smarter and safer. Amazing being a relative term, of course.

A Las Vegas cyclist was the victim of a drunk driver, even though he was riding on the sidewalk when the driver jumped the curb, fatally striking him before crashing through a wall and fleeing the scene on foot; the driver was taken into custody at his home, still showing signs of impairment.

Inspirational story, as a Denver lawyer has walked or biked up 58 of Colorado’s 14,000 foot high mountains and 47 peaks over 13,800 feet, as well as riding or walking from one climb to the next — despite being told as a teenager his severe asthma would confine him to an oxygen tank by the time he was 30.

A Chicago protected bike lane has helped improve the appeal of surrounding neighborhoods, leading to new construction that blocks the bike lane.

Chicago’s Streetsblog responds to the latest anti-bike diatribe from a Tribune columnist.

A Kentucky driver says the sun was in her eyes after plowing into five cyclists; fortunately, no one was seriously hurt.

New York sets a new record by building 18 miles of fully protected bike lanes, beating the city’s goal of 15 miles.

The best part of the Wall Street Journal’s story about a 57-year old female bodybuilder who balances working out in the ring with long distance bike rides is the headline.

Actor Damian Lewis is one of us, as he rides his mountain bike through the streets of Gotham.

No bias here. A black Brooklyn bike rider says the road raging passenger of a passing car called him a racial slur and spat on him, before he was intentionally doored by the driver after catching up to the car, then repeatedly punched and his bike run over. Yet somehow he was the one who spent a night in jail.

Atlanta is building a 22 mile rail-to-trail bike and pedestrian beltline around the city.

 

International

The head of a Canadian truck association says trucks are bigger than bikes and should have the right-of-way, dammit. And bikes should be forced to stop prior to an intersection so we won’t interfere with turning trucks by making them run over us.

A Montreal website asks what it will take to make it bike friendly, saying they just want the city on their side so they can get to their destination safely. Which is pretty much what bike riders everywhere want, and seldom get.

A new line of women’s bikewear currently raising funds on Kickstarter includes reflective patches to improve visibility at night; they have just 17 days to raise another $14,000.

Visit London’s Bamboo Bicycle Club for your very own bespoke bamboo bicycle.

The UK’s Cyclist magazine offers advice on how to beat back pain caused by bicycling.

A British paper talks with the TV sports personality who nearly died after contracting malaria on a 3,000 mile bike ride to the Rio Olympics.

 

Finally…

Now that’s what I call a fast woman. If you’re going to break a man’s glasses in a road rage altercation, don’t brag about it online.

And workers score a waterlogged bike along with the scum at Echo Park Lake.

 

Category: Morning Links, Violence & Crime / Tags: , , , , , ,

Morning Links: Clueless think tankers get bike funding wrong, and LA TranspoComm votes to screw cyclists

August 25, 2016 / / Comments Off on Morning Links: Clueless think tankers get bike funding wrong, and LA TranspoComm votes to screw cyclists

How does someone get a job at a think tank when they’re this clueless?

The San Diego Reader talks with Cato Institute Senior Fellow Randall O’Toole, who goes to great lengths to stress that he is, in fact, a cyclist himself, in discussing the city’s planned downtown bikeway network.

When I spoke with O’Toole, he wanted to make sure that he wouldn’t be construed as anti-bicycle or anti-public transportation. His stance is that the best form of transit is the one that pays for itself, which leads, he says, to vital questions: Why should the government subsidize non-automotive transportation, and if said modes can’t make it on their own, why should they be preferred? O’Toole urges governmental neutrality when it comes to how Americans choose to travel, adding, “That neutrality should extend to financing. There should be no subsidies to any form of travel.”

Never mind that the automobile is the most heavily subsidized form of surface transportation in the US.

So sure, let’s level the playing field.

Let’s stop subsidizing freeways and road expansions, traffic signals, traffic enforcement, pothole fixing and the whole auto-industrial complex that is funded, not out of gas taxes, but out of the same general fund everyone pays into.

Bike riders included.

You’d think even someone with a Koch Brothers funded think tank would know that.

And we’ll see how long it takes for drivers to rise up in revolt when they suddenly have to pay the full cost of the roads they use, and every other associated service, out of their own pockets.

Then there’s Baruch Feigenbaum of the libertarian-leaning Reason Institute, who also gets it wrong when it comes to who pays for the road.

And a lot more.

If the streets are underused and there’s room for the bicycle lanes, I have no problem with San Diego putting them in. They’re relatively cheap to install, assuming all you’re doing is re-painting lines or painting the bicycle lane green. That’s fine. The challenge is that when you have a lot of car traffic in that area, the bike lane will make congestion worse. Since car traffic seems to be dominant in San Diego, motorists are the folks we should actually be building the infrastructure for. There is a subsidy for automobiles, but it’s typically much smaller than the ones for other forms of transportation. Cyclists don’t pay for the use of the infrastructure they’re utilizing; there’s no ‘bicycle tire tax’ or anything like that. But we should be planning for the way people actually commute, not the way we’d like them to commute. Since most San Diego residents are driving, I’m hesitant to take away lanes for cars and allocate them for bike use unless there’s excess capacity.

Never mind that taking those lanes away can improve safety, livability and air quality, along with a host of other benefits to the general community.

And never mind that studies consistently show that up to two-thirds of the American people would like to ride a bike if they felt safe doing it.

Or that with many of our streets already at or over capacity, the only way to improve traffic congestion is to get people out of their cars by providing them with viable alternatives to driving.

Which is exactly what San Diego is doing. And what LA desperately needs to.

You’d think someone with a high-paying job at a prestigious think tank would get that.

But evidently, you’d be wrong.

Thanks to Frank Lehnerz for the heads-up.

………

No surprise here.

Streetsblog reports the LA City Council’s Transportation Committee voted to adopt the anti-bike amendments to the Mobility Plan, stripping bike lanes planned for Westwood Blvd and Central Ave out of the plan.

Especially since Paul Koretz, who has led the fight against the Westwood bike lanes on behalf of a small group of entitled homeowners, sits on the committee.

Although it’s disappointing to see CD4 Councilmember David Ryu vote to support Koretz’ ill-advised motion to keep continue to depress business and keep Westwood Blvd dangerous.

Now all that’s left is for the full council to rubber-stamp the decision in a week or two; as we’ve noted before, the fix is in, and has been for some time.

………

Vuelta officials apologize for a bollard near the finish of Wednesday’s course that left Dutch rider Steven Kruijswijk with a broken collarbone; Chris Froome narrowly avoided the crash.

………

Local

A website talks with Manny Silva, owner of Manny’s Bike Shop in Compton, who claims to have invented the lowrider bicycle.

Westwood officially became the only section of the city where it’s legal to lock a bicycle to a parking meter, as LADOT installed hoop racks on the meters. However, the law against locking up to parking meters is rarely enforced.

The LACBC is now looking at families who ride together with the new LACBC Family page, leading to a family bike ride next month; the site profiles LA Bike Dad Terence Heuston, who we met here last week.

LA’s Eco-Village is planning to develop a Koreatown lot currently containing an auto repair shop into a four story, carfree mixed use building.

Evidently, Haley Joel Osment is one of us, as the paparazzi catch him going into a Burbank bike shop.

The nation’s first Raleigh store opened on Main Street in Santa Monica over the weekend.

The LACBC is hosting their Beach Cities Sunday Funday ride on Memorial Day weekend.

The inimitable Seth Davidson will host the fourth annual South Bay Cycling Wanky Awards on October 22nd. I’d probably need a hankie if I won a Wanky.

And mark your calendar for the return of Long Beach’s Beach Streets open streets event on November 12th.

 

State

An Encinitas cyclist is recovering from a hit-and-run that nearly left him paralyzed earlier this month, but the driver remains at large; a gofundme account has raised over $5,000 for a reward.

Coronado, where bike lanes make local residents dizzy, has installed a pair of city-owned bike repair stations. Which means residents are probably sharpening their pitchforks and prepping their torches for the next city council meeting.

A Ramona cyclist raised nearly $29,000 for Alzheimer’s research on a 9-1/2 week ride across the US to honor his late wife.

Two years later, opinions are still split on a Riverside road diet, even though crashes are down 29%; bike crashes increased from two to four after the bike lanes were put in, perhaps because ridership also doubled.

Katy Perry is one of us, too, as she admits to singing while riding her bike on the way to a Santa Barbara studio to record her new album.

A Redding driver, who says he’s a cyclist himself, says bike riders need to share the road too. Even though he seems to think that means we should get the hell out of his way.

 

National

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says go ahead and keep using that cellphone while you drive.

Co.Exist lists 50 reasons why everyone should want walkable streets. Virtually all of which apply to bicycling, as well.

Bicycling, the magazine, adapts Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to bicycling, the sport/transportation mode.

A Kickstarter project is funding a locking wall bike mount that could secure your bike in your home, garage or office.

Portland proposes considering all road users, including bike riders and pedestrians, in setting speed limits, which could result in slashing limits on several streets. A similar interpretation of the deadly 85th percentile rule could improve livability and save untold lives here in Los Angeles.

A Seattle area blogger says he’s quit bike commuting due to the terrible state of bike infrastructure on the east side of the city.

A Utah truck driver, who apparently doesn’t have brakes on his rig, warns cyclists not to ride abreast and to get the hell out of his way when he honks because he doesn’t want to kill them.

A Wisconsin bike shop owner says you don’t have to be a pro to get out on your bicycle.

A Wisconsin woman gets just 60 days for fleeing the scene after crashing into a nine-year old boy, despite trying to cover-up the crime by removing her hubcaps and dying her hair.

The mother of a fallen Chicago bicyclist calls on the Catholic school her younger kids attend to lift its ban on biking to school. Meanwhile, a Chicago advocacy group starts a public campaign to stop people from blocking the bike lanes.

A newly re-configured New York protected bike lane appears to be protecting cars instead of bike riders.

Philadelphia police are on the lookout for a bike-riding serial groper who sexually assaults women in dresses.

 

International

Great ad campaign from the Whistler Mountain Bike Park in the Canadian Rockies says if you’re not riding, you’re not really awake.

An Ottawa man now walks wearing a t-shirt reading “Use your bell” after getting knocked down by a bike rider. I find saying “passing on your left” works better than a bell, since it tells people exactly where you’re going, and usually get thanked for it. Although Bike Snob somehow finds that rude.

A Toronto personal trainer offers tips on how to mitigate the negative effects of cycling on your body.

A coalition of British cycling groups says drivers should have to interact with cyclists as part of their driving test. So who wants to volunteer to be the driving test crash test dummies?

A new Swedish apartment building is the country’s first built around the needs of bicycle and cargo bike riders, with no motor vehicle parking.

Mayor Anne Hidalgo is committed to giving Parisians back the space cars have stolen from them.

A writer for the Guardian asks if Sydney, Australia’s draconian anti-bike laws have gone too far, as a rider gets $531 in fines — including a $106 fine for not having a bell — and bike riders will soon be required to carry ID at all times. Gee, you think?

 

Finally…

No, seriously. Don’t ride up to a driver, punch him in the face and steal his sunglasses. Just don’t. Call it the Swiss Army Knife of Kickstarter smart bike gadgets.

And your next Brooks product could go on the other end.

 

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