Tag Archive for why people keep dying

Murder charge for OC 3-time DUI driver, Western Ave 3rd deadliest US street for peds, and new demand for ebike vouchers

November 21, 2025 / / No comments
Day 324 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

I’ve finally managed to get to a place where my eyes, head and stomach are all in reasonable agreement, allowing me to gaze upon this screen for more than a few moments, without risk of one or the other exploding in a most unpleasant manner. 

So let’s try to catch up on all we missed this week. This has turned into an epic post, so cinch down that saddle, because it’s going to be a bumpy ride. 

Photo by energepic.com from Pexels.

………

This is who we share the road with.

A 59-year old San Juan Capistrano man faces a murder charge for jumping a pedestrian island with his truck, and killing 13-year old Luis Adrian Morales-Pacheco was he was waiting for the light to change while walking to school with his brother in Dana Point. Then fleeing the scene, until his truck broke down a few miles away.

Police arrested Bradley Gene Funk at the scene for driving under the influence. For the third time.

At 8:15 in the morning.

In fact, Funk was under probation for DUI at the time of the crash — for his second DUI arrest in just three days, back in 2020, while under the influence of both pills and alcohol.

Yet somehow, he was allowed to remain on the road until it was too late.

Now an innocent kid is dead, and Funk faces life behind bars, just because authorities didn’t take the damn keys away from a driver who had already demonstrated he was a danger on the road.

And if you want to know why people keep dying on our streets, that’s a good place to start.

Because there’s nothing easier to avoid than a DUI, let alone killing someone while under the influence.

Just don’t get behind the effing wheel after drinking or using drugs.

………

Maybe you might want to avoid riding on South Western Ave.

Or walking there.

Like, ever.

Because the Washington Post has identified it as one of the nation’s most dangerous stretches of road.

The Post investigation used data from police reports and other records collected by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, focusing from when pedestrian deaths began to climb in 2010 to the most recent year with data available, 2023. It revealed short stretches of road that have become exceptionally deadly. In Albuquerque, 34 pedestrians were killed along a three-mile stretch of Central Avenue between 2010 and 2023. In Los Angeles, 33 people were killed on Western Avenue just south of downtown during that time.

In fact, Western ranks as the 3rd most dangerous street for pedestrians in the US, behind streets in Houston and Albuquerque.

And you can stop smirking, Orange County, because Anaheim’s Beach Blvd ranks tenth on the list.

But the most dangerous city for pedestrians is Memphis, according to the paper. Thanks, in part, to roads like many found right here at home.

The road, seven miles from the city’s heart, has been documented by the city and state as disproportionately lethal but remains mostly unimproved aside from walk signals near where Booker was hit. Cars and trucks roar past apartments, restaurants, corner stores and gas stations, often well above the strip’s 40 mph speed limit. Within two years of Booker’s death, two more people were killed by drivers at the same intersection.

The national data shows how the design of such roads is closely linked to the fatality rate: Those with three lanes or more are by far the most dangerous, because they enable higher speeds. Above 30 mph, fatality risk increases sharply. At 50 mph, someone’s chance of survival when struck is less than 1 in 5.

Then there’s this.

In addition, more than 3,800 people were killed almost immediately when they were struck in 2023, an indication that high speeds and larger vehicles are making impacts more violent. The rate at which pedestrians are declared dead at the scene of the crash has more than doubled, according to The Post’s analysis.

Despite abundant evidence of dangers, state and city agencies have been slow to invest in improvements such as safer places to cross or take steps to curb vehicle speeds, according to experts and former officials. A priority among local transportation agencies remains avoiding traffic jams rather than responding to concerns of pedestrians in the most danger, who are more likely to live in poor neighborhoods and wield less political influence.

The story notes that Los Angeles has taken steps to improve safety on Western.

Not enough, obviously. But let’s hope it takes.

Because that only leaves the rest of Los Angeles, where cars continue to overrule safety.

………

A large coalition of California advocacy groups have come together to demand that the state reinstate the Ebike Incentive Program.

The groups include Calbike, Streets For All, Streets Are For Everyone, Active SGV, Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition, Move LA, Day One and Los Angeles Critical Mass, among more than a dozen others.

According to Streetsblog,

CalBike called for the ebike program to be restored, and earlier this week they sent a letter to CARB Board Chair Lauren Sanchez with a dozen other bicycle and pedestrian advocacy groups amplifying that call. While program execution – by CARB and its partner Pedal Ahead – has been questioned, the popularity of the program could not be denied. “It was also clear that the pilot phase succeeded – over 2,000 low-income individuals were able to obtain high-quality e-bikes, and the demand far outstripped the available incentives,” the advocates wrote…

“This is not what climate leadership looks like. Over one hundred thousand Californians lined up for a modest voucher that would help them drive less, save money, and move freely.” said Kendra Ramsey, Executive Director, CalBike. “Ending that opportunity now ignores that clear demand and walks back hard-won progress.”

………

Streets For All is hosting a mobility debate next month for the candidates running to replace Curren Price in CD9 in next year’s city election.

………

Active SGV is hosting an Easy Access Holiday Ride with SGV Water Action on December 6th.

………

Now that’s what I call a train.

@bikinginla.bsky.social

— Ted Faber (@snorerot13.bsky.social) 2025-11-16T06:01:35.037Z

………

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

No bias here. A writer for the Times of San Diego sarcastically opines about Mission Valley bike lanes and bike racks at a new Home Depot, apparently never having heard of cargo bikes to transport the hefty items typically bought at home improvement stores.

Someone sabotaged a Cambridge, Massachusetts bike lane by strewing tacks across it, with one rider picking up 20 tacks in his tire, in what should only be read as a deliberate attempt to injure bike riders.

A British motorcyclist walked with a suspended sentence after he was caught on video knocking a naked man of his bicycle, telling police he thought the man was “some kind of pervert,” without realizing he victim was participating in the World Naked Bike Ride.

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

No bias here. A website says San Franciscans are supposedly rejoicing as the cops “finally” start ticketing scofflaw bike riders, calling for them to do ebikes and scooters next.

A British man had to view a neighbor’s security cam to learn what happened to him, two days after he was knocked cold by a “brutal” crash with an ebike rider.

………

Local 

Sunday’s Melrose Stranger Things CicLAvia isn’t the only bike-related event this weekend, as the Natural History Museum will host its LA on Wheels Day tomorrow, displaying cars and bicycles, as well as hosting vendors, screenings, historical slides, skate demonstrations, and “activities focused on SoCal’s on-the-move spirit.”

The Los Angeles LGBT Center will host a new Center Ride Out three-day bicycling fundraiser next April, replacing the annual AIDS/LifeCycle fundraising ride.

Los Angeles continues to underperform, installing 35.6 miles of new bikeways in the most recent fiscal year, although about half of that was new pathways — up significantly from last year’s 22.5 miles, but just a fraction of the 251 miles installed in 2012-13 under Mayor (and current gubernatorial candidate) Antonio Villaraigosa.

Streetsblog catches us up on a new — and long delayed — traffic circle in a deadly Koreatown intersection, as well as coming upgrades on a dangerous stretch of Pico Blvd.

An aging woman says she did the right thing by giving up her car and riding a bicycle, but Los Angeles is failing bike riders like her. Although two of her complaints are actually in Inglewood, but still. 

Plans for a remake of Huntington Drive call for a lane reduction, bus lanes, curb protected bike lanes and wider sidewalks.

A NoHo burglar is charged with breaking into 33 restaurants, while making his getaway by bicycle. But at least he took almost three-dozen car trips off the road. 

LA County is asking for state help to close the gap in the LA River bike path through DTLA and parts south, as the project has somehow ballooned from a relatively manageable $365 million to a whopping $1 billion.

WeHo will co-host a bike light giveaway with the West Hollywood Bicycle Coalition on both sides of Santa Monica Boulevard, just east of San Vicente Blvd, from 5 to 7 pm Tuesday.

The Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition calls for connecting bike paths through the Pasadena Community College campus to help complete the city’s network.

Streetsblog says the Pomona North Metro station will get a protected two-way cycle track extending a little less than two miles.

 

State

Nailed it. Calbike calls a proposal from the chair of the US House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee for the next highway bill to only fund “traditional” infrastructure like roads and bridges “car-brain at its logical endpoint” by assuming bike lanes and sidewalks are “not real infrastructure.”

Tell me about it. San Diego’s dangerous Friars Road is getting a makeover from Caltrans, with a separated Class IV bike lane on one side, and a painted bike lane on the other — although a spokesperson for a safe streets advocacy group says she’d hesitate to tell someone to ride on a bike lane with no protection, with cars going 45 mph or more right next to it.

Fontana cops busted a bike-riding man for firing a flare gun at a house, but are still investigating if he’s the same person who threw a couple Molotov cocktails at it. I’d go all in on “yes.”

Sad news from San Francisco, where someone riding a bicycle was killed on a “wide, high-speed street with painted bike lanes and no protection,” as Streetsblog calls it the inevitable outcome of the street design.

Megan forwards news that Chico is is looking for feedback on how to improve safety on the city’s roadways; if you live up that way, tell ’em they need to build more bikeways.

 

National

Bike Rumor asks if we can finally retire the idea of having to clip into a ‘clipless’ pedal.

A group of 34 Congressional representatives demanded that the Trump administration rescind the cancellation of bike and pedestrian infrastructure projects across the United States, and and reaffirm its commitment to building safer, more connected communities.

Trek is recalling 75,000 children’s and Elektra bikes due to faulty coaster brakes, telling users to immediately stop riding them.

In yet another example of allowing a dangerous driver to stay on the road until it’s too late, a Kentucky man faces a hit-and-run charge, as well as driving with expired plates and an invalid license, for killing a man riding a bicycle despite 15 — count ’em, 15 — previous traffic violations. Which is one more argument for impounding their car instead of just taking their damn license away.

Momentum asks where New York is on the latest Copenhagenize list of the world’s most bike friendly cities.

Streetsblog asks if the NYPD’s security demands will smother new mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s habit of taking the train and riding bikeshare bikes.

A North Carolina teenager was charged with murder after killing a 14-year old boy riding a bicycle and seriously injuring a man driving another car; the 16-year old was allegedly driving drunk at twice the speed limit at the time of the crash.

More horrible news from North Carolina, where the body of a 15-year old boy was found in a ravine, overgrown with weeds, 25 days after authorities believe he was killed in a hit-and-run by the driver of a semi-truck while riding his bicycle home from a party. As we’ve said before, the driver should be charged with murder for making the conscious decision to leave the victim to die alone like that, rather than stop and call for help. 

That’s more like it. A 25-year old Florida man was sentenced to 15 years behind bars, along with another five years probation, for the hit-and-run crash that killed a man riding a bicycle in 2023. The same crime in California would have garnered just four years. 

 

International

A new report considers how bicycling can help fight climate change.

Bike Radar consults an expert on how to be more conspicuous on the roads, saying hi-viz ain’t it.

A Windsor, Ontario driver won the door prize, somehow managing to door not one, but two passing bicyclists with a single thrust.

The leader of a BBC children’s charity resigned his post after he was convicted of careless driving for crashing into a woman riding a bicycle in the equivalent of a left cross crash, leaving the victim with life-changing injuries.

More proof that cars are bad for business. Sales in central Madrid went up 9.5% when the city closed the area to cars during the Christmas period; air quality also improved, with emissions nitrogen oxide emissions dropping 38% and CO2 emissions falling 14.2%.

A Manilla paper says the Philippines bike boom isn’t over yet, despite a 26% drop in ridership in the last bike count.

 

Competitive Cycling

Dutch women’s cycling star Lorena Wiebes was lucky to walk away without getting hurt when a driver rear-ended her ebike, though her bike wasn’t so lucky.

Pro-Palestinian protests have driven a stake through the Israel-Premier Tech cycling team, as sports & entertainment agency Never Say Never acquires the team’s WorldTour license and renames it NSN Cycling, with Swiss registration and a new base in Spain.

Speaking of which, a pro-Palestinian protestor charged with disrupting the Toulouse finish on stage 11 of the Tour de France got off with a warning and a fine, saying he wanted to get people talking about Gaza. As if they weren’t already. 

Azerbaijani junior cyclist Artyom Proskuryakov was provisionally suspended after testing positive for meth at the World Championships. Yes, meth. But the doping era is over, right?

 

Finally…

From bodybuilding to building mountain bikes. Your bike parts could become someone’s new prosthetic leg. Why bikes are bad for the economy.

And if you remember this bike, you’re as old as I am.

The Huffy Wheelca. 1968

— Cool Bike Art (@coolbikeart1.bsky.social) 2025-11-14T18:55:30.815Z

But at least I don’t remember this one.

British racer Evelyn Hamilton demonstrated a similar one back in 1936

— Cool Bike Art (@coolbikeart1.bsky.social) 2025-11-15T07:28:01.847Z

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

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

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

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

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

Photo by Artyom Kulakov from Pexels.

………

This is why people keep dying on our streets.

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

In a crosswalk. With the light.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Or not.

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

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

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

No surprise there.

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

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

And if that sounds familiar, it should.

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

The same beach where the kids were killed on Tuesday.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

………

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

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

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

………

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

………

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

………

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

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

………

It’s now 168 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And three full years since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

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

………

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

………

Local 

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

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

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

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

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

 

State

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

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

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

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

 

National

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

International

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

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

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

 

Competitive Cycling

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

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

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

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

 

Finally…

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

And Hitch was one of us.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Feeling suckered by CA ebike voucher program, CD4’s Raman wins re-election, and why people keep dying on the streets

March 15, 2024 / / Comments Off on Feeling suckered by CA ebike voucher program, CD4’s Raman wins re-election, and why people keep dying on the streets
Just 291 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we face walking and biking on the mean streets of LA.

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

As of this writing, we’re up to 1,017 signatures, so let’s keep it going! Urge everyone you know to sign the petition, until the mayor agrees to meet with us! 

Photo by Max J from Pexels.

………

Let’s start with a look at California’s virtually moribund ebike incentive program, and its ongoing failure to launch.

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

Life is cheap in New Zealand, where a woman is demanding action after police determine there’s “not enough detail” to charge a hit-and-run bus driver who just drove off after knocking her off her bike.

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

London’s Telegraph complains that the city is building more floating bus stops, even though some bicyclists don’t stop for pedestrians like they’re supposed to. Seriously, don’t do that. It only takes a few seconds to observe the right-of-way, and let pedestrians pass.

………

Local 

Alhambra’s city council unanimously approved a new bike and pedestrian plan, which was delayed for two months to get more community input. Although as we’ve learned the hard way, getting a plan approved is meaningless unless it’s actually funded and implemented, regardless of apparent support.

A paraplegic Palmdale man says riding a handcycle in Sunday’s Los Angeles Marathon fulfills his wildest dream.

LA County will spend $250 million to widen the Old Road in Stevenson Ranch to six lanes, while adding a protected bike lane in each direction. It costs an average of $1 million a mile to build a protected bike lane, which means they could build ten miles of protected lanes on both sides of the roadway, and still return $230 million change.

Santa Monica once again learned the hard way that free parking isn’t free; it cost the city $26,000 in lost revenue to provide free parking in city lots the last three days before Christmas, which resulted in exactly no benefit to local businesses.

Speaking of SaMo, the city is encouraging bicyclists to register their bikes through Bike Index or Garage 529 before May’s National Bike Month; you can sign up for lifetime free registration with Bike Index right here, as well as report a stolen bike or check their nationwide stolen bike registry. Full disclosure, I don’t get a damn thing for hosting Bike Index on this site, aside from the satisfaction of helping thwart bike thieves.

 

State

Survivors of a fallen Bakersfield bike rider filed a claim against the county, alleging dangerous conditions on the roadway where she was killed by a driver last year, including inadequate lighting, traffic signals and signage.

San Mateo bicyclists and traffic safety advocates are demanding answers after a hit-and-run driver left a bike-riding 62-year old woman with a broken back.

 

National

A new AI-powered device promises to use “computer vision” to alert bike riders to cars and other dangers on the roadway. So they expect us to rely on the same technology that draws people with three legs, and makes up various “facts.”

He gets it. Bike Portland’s Jonathan Maus says the reason more people aren’t biking is too many cars, with too many driven without regard for others.

Now this is a bike travel guide, as a Boulder CO weekly offers tips on where to stop for food and drinks on your next long-distance ride.

Denver promises to plow bike lanes, as the city prepares to get up to 20 inches of snow, though bike riders are warned they may have to share traffic lanes with motorists. And yet, we’re somehow told that no one will ride a bike during LA’s temperate winters. 

Kindhearted Indiana cops gave a new bike to a 12-year old boy whose bike was destroyed when he was hit by a bus; fortunately, he wasn’t hurt.

That’s more like it. A bill in the Vermont legislature will give bike riders priority at intersections and require a four-foot passing distance.

New York Streetsblog celebrates the new Citi Bike bikeshare dock at the former Shea Stadium, now Citi Field, allowing bikeshare users to ride to a Mets game. But then you’d have to actually watch them play, so hard pass. 

A $9.6 million federal grant will fund a nearly nine-mile bike and pedestrian path between two Mississippi towns, as part of a project to widen US 90 from four to six lanes. So call it a win-lose for the environment and induced-demand. 

 

International

Canadian Cycling Magazine argues there should be tax incentives to buy and ride a bicycle. There should be some on this side of the border, too.

A BBC radio host is riding the “staggering distance” of 500 km across the country — the equivalent of 310 miles — to raise funds for Comic Relief’s Red Nose Day. Or as randonneurs call a distance like that, Tuesday.

Bike-riding BBC host Jeremy Vine is suing a former Man City soccer player for calling him a “bike nonce.” Which I might find offensive, too, if I knew what the hell it meant.

 

Competitive Cycling

Cycling Weekly tips two-time Tour de France champ Tadej Pogačar to win Saturday’s Milan-San Remo, the longest one-day race in pro cycling.

The UCI Ethics Commission fined Soudal Quick-Step team boss Patrick Lefevere for making disparaging comments about women, including suggesting that women drink too much, and that many female pros aren’t worth pro cycling’s current minimum wage.

 

Finally…

This is what it looks like when unloved bicycles are left to die alone. Just let the billionaires pay for a pod to change out of your sweaty clothes after a bike commute.

And that feeling when you promise to ride a bike to see your friends, after getting busted for driving an uninsured vehicle with an expired driver’s license.

At 103 years old.

………

Ramadan Mubarak to all observing the Islamic holy month today. 

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Bass visits bike-friendly Paris, gets $900m for LA transportation; living in a state of happiness; and just another Florida oopsie

March 13, 2024 / / One comment
Just 293 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we face walking and biking on the mean streets of LA.

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

As of this writing, we’re up to 1,013 signatures, so let’s keep it going! Urge everyone you know to sign the petition, until the mayor agrees to meet with us!

Photo by Matteus Silva for Pexels. 

………

Fifteen years ago, then-Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa had his eyes opened when he visited Copenhagen, and saw how cities can thrive when they provide safe alternatives to driving.

Let’s hope current Mayor Karen Bass gets the same message on her pre-Olympic excursion to Paris, where Mayor Anne Hidalgo has been removing highways and building bike lanes to create a 15-minute city.

Bass will have plenty of money to spend on it, after the city secured nearly $900 million in federal funding for transportation and infrastructure projects ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics.

Although more than $700 million of that will go to rail projects.

But still. The other $200 million could go a long way towards fixing what ails LA.

………

It’s now 84 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 33 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

………

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

No bias here. A London media personality questions who is at fault in a five-year old crash where a driver cut a corner and hit a bike rider waiting to turn head on — making who was really at fault glaringly obvious.

https://twitter.com/OliLondonTV/status/1766515138654306533

Police in Mumbai, India denied permission for bicycling groups to gather for a silent protest to draw attention to unsafe road conditions for bike riders and pedestrians, despite planning the rally for a spot designated for protests.

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

Authorities in Dublin, Ireland are looking for video evidence after a middle-aged woman was pushed off her bicycle by a “group of lads on bikes,” for no apparent reason.

………

Local 

The two leaders of the nation’s largest homeless rescue mission, Hope the Mission in North Hills, are on their way to DC on a 3,500-mile bike ride to advocate for homelessness programs.

Good news for Pasadena, where bike-friendly former city mayor, Los Angeles assistant mayor and Santa Monica city manager Rick Cole has been re-elected to the Pasadena city council, receiving just over 60% of the vote.

Speaking of Pasadena, the city’s police will conduct a bicycle and pedestrian safety operation on Friday, ticketing anyone who commits a traffic violation that could endanger either group, regardless of who commits it; Santa Monica cops will also hold one on Thursday and Friday. As usual, ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limits, so you’re not the one who gets written up and fined.

Streetsblog talks with South Bay-based writer Peter Flax, whose new book, Live to Ride: Finding Joy and Meaning on a Bicycle, offers a broad look at bike riding, with a common theme that bicyclists have to work together because strength comes from unity. And yes, I’ve ordered my copy.

 

State

This is who we share the road with. An unlicensed driver with four previous DUIs over the past decade hit and killed a pedestrian in Orange Tuesday morning, and was arrested after fleeing the scene and leading police on a short chase. And yes, he showed signs of intoxication as he was taken into custody. Which is what happens when authorities take someone’s license away, but let them keep their keys.

Caltrans will provide millions of dollars for a pilot program to build parks, bike lanes and other amenities to reconnect communities in southeastern San Diego and National City that were divided by the 805 Freeway; the program will also seek to reconnect similarly divided communities in Arcata and San Francisco.

A man suffered major injuries when he was struck by a driver while riding his bike in Palm Desert last night.

 

National

That’s more like it. An Oregon man got 12 years behind bars for killing a woman biking with two friends while under the influence, and in possession of controlled substances. Although it’s shameful that it took seven years for the victim to get justice. 

The horrific story of the Washington mountain biker attacked by a mountain lion gets even worse, with news that the 60-year old woman’s entire head was in the cougar’s mouth for a full 15 minutes before her companions managed to pin it down with a bike frame; a crowdfunding campaign has raised nearly $75,000 for the victim.

They get it. The Baltimore Sun, which was recently purchased by the owner of a conservative media group, asks why bike lanes won’t work there, if they’re so successful in Cambridge, Massachusetts, even though the Baltimore bike plan has recently come under from residents and city leaders.

In news that will undoubtedly confound California officials, the District of Columbia will somehow managed to launch their new ebike voucher program next month, just seven months after it was approved by the city council. Which is 26 months less than California’s moribund program’s failure to launch has taken — and counting.

 

International

Momentum offers 33 reasons to start bike commuting this spring, ranging from reducing your carbon footprint to getting some alone time while connecting to your community. Although they forgot to mention that it’s a lot more fun than driving, too. 

British Columbia will invest $50 million in active transportation projects over the next three years.

He gets it. A Toronto columnist questions why the city is cutting funding for safe streets, when it just experienced the deadliest month for bike riders and pedestrians since the heady days before the pandemic.

The Dutch Cycling Embassy explains how fire trucks and bike lanes can peacefully co-exist, despite the largely debunked belief that they slow response times and limit the ability to respond to emergencies.

An Austrian tech company is training AI to enable smart bicycles to analyze their surroundings. On the other hand, would you want to trust your safety to a technology that draws people with three legs, and gets lawyers sanctioned by making up legal precedents?

Dubai opened two new separated cycle tracks in the residential communities of Al Khawaneej and Mushrif, part of the emirate’s goal of building 1,000 km — 621 miles — of bike paths by 2030.

Here’s your chance to mountain bike the Serengeti this fall, while you help fight poaching.

Bike Radar highlights eight weird and wonderful road, gravel and urban bikes from the Taipei Cycle Show.

Police in Australia are revisiting the seven-year old cold case shooting of a 72-year old man, who was shot multiple times in the head and chest by a man who got out of a parked car to fire at him as he rode his motorized bicycle on a rail trail; he somehow survived, but even a half-million dollar reward hasn’t been enough to solve the case.

An Aussie professor says subsidizing micromobility-share programs can benefit people on low incomes or with disabilities.

 

Competitive Cycling

Pro cycling gets its kicks from caffeine.

Ghana’s Sports Minister blamed the country’s Cycling Federation for the national team’s equipment fiasco at the Africa Games, as cyclists were forced to compete using the same worn gear they’d been training on.

Triple world champion Ellen van Dijk won the time trial in the final stage of Spain’s Vuelta Extremadura Féminas on Sunday, just five months after giving birth, while Dutch cyclist Mareille Meijering took the general classification for the three stage race; no American finished in the top 25.

 

Finally…

That feeling when they build a new separated bikeway, and leave a lamppost in the middle of it. Or when you get a call from your dead friend’s phone asking for his bicycle back.

And a snow covered reminder of why we ride in California.

………

Ramadan Mubarak to all observing the Islamic holy month today. 

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Repeat drunk driver kills OC pedestrian, support Culver City mobility lanes, and bike-riding French Resistance fighter dies

February 23, 2023 / / 2 comments

You might want to rethink plans to ride your bike for the next few days. 

The forecast for LA County is calling for dangerously heavy rains and high winds, with flooding in low-lying areas and blizzard warnings for higher elevations. 

So even with the best rain gear, the smart money is on staying home if possible, or finding some other way to get around. 

Hopefully, it will clear up before Sunday’s Valley CicLAvia. 

Photo by energepic.com from Pexels.

………

This is why people continue to die on our streets.

A repeat drunk driver is on trial for murder and DUI for killing a pedestrian while speeding through an Orange crosswalk in 2021; 40-year old Sitani Pinomi still had a BAC of .10 several hours after the crash.

Pinomi was convicted on two previous DUI charges, and had signed a Watson advisement acknowledging that he could be charged with murder if he ever drove drunk again and killed someone.

Which he allegedly did.

Just one more example of authorities keeping a dangerous driver on the road until it’s too late.

………

This past weekend, my wife and I visited Culver City for the first time since those heady pre-pandemic days, and were struck by how pleasant the city’s Mobility Lane Project made walking in the downtown area.

And how restricting car traffic made other modes more inviting than driving, which is kind of the point.

Now the city is conducting a survey to gauge support for the project, which could be little more than a fig leaf for the city council’s newly empowered conservative majority to rip the entire thing out.

So take a few minutes, and share your love for the city’s safer and more welcoming streets, so maybe they’ll think twice before removing them.

………

The Washington Post remembers World War II’s Girl Partisan of Chartres, after the death of heroic French freedom fighter Simone Segouin,

Her battlefield experience began when she was just 14, recruited by the resistance commander she later married as he hid out on her father’s farm.

The teenager helped him exchange messages with other resistance members on a bicycle she had stolen from a German patrol outside a hotel in Chartres after slashing the tires of their other bikes.

She repainted her bike and, in the guise of a sweet-faced farmer’s daughter carrying baguettes in a basket, moved around the German-occupied countryside without suspicion. Her bike, she said, was her “reconnaissance vehicle.”

She later learned to use handguns, rifles and submachine guns, as well as becoming an expert in explosives and guerrilla tactics. Yet was still just 18 when she captured 25 German soldiers as Allied troops rolled into Chartres, then fought with them to liberate Paris.

She was 97-years old when she died Tuesday.

………

BikeLA, the former LACBC, is teaming with CD4 Councilmember Nithya Raman to host a feeder ride to Sunday’s CicLAvia, beginning 9 am at the Balboa Orange Line Station, RSVP requested.

………

Sycamore Canyon riders are being told you can’t get there from here, at least for the next week.

………

The self-proclaimed Lock Picking Lawyer demonstrates why saving a few bucks on a cheap lock isn’t worth it.

………

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

Once again, someone has sabotaged a British bike trail, as a 41-year old bicyclist suffered a concussion, broken collarbone and three broken ribs after hitting a wire strung across the trail, in what witnesses said was an apparent attempt to steal his bike.

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

Seriously? The local paper takes up the charge after a single UK pedestrian complains about bicyclists riding at “breakneck speeds” in Sheffield’s pedestrianized town center.

………

Local 

Sad news from North Hollywood, where a man in his 20s was killed when a driver rear-ended the e-scooter he was riding on Vineland Ave near Riverside Drive early Wednesday.

Streets For All is hosting an information session March 1st for anyone considering running for their local neighborhood council. And yes, they want you to.

The Los Angeles Times says distrust of politicians is running high in the CD6 special election, following the resignation of former Councilmember Nury Martinez after she was heard making racist remarks on a leaked recording.

Pasadena Now considers plans to close several miles of the Pasadena Freeway to motor vehicles for a few hours, and open it up to bike riders, skaters and walkers for October’s ArroyoFest.

Streetsblog reports Pomona will build a bike path along San Jose Creek from near Ganesha Park to Cal Poly Pomona, providing a safer route to several local elementary schools.

New Congressman Robert Garcia, former mayor of Long Beach, announced a $30 million grant for the Shoreline Drive Gateway project, which will demolish the northbound half of the existing Shoreline Drive to create new park space, including a new bike path.

 

State

The NRCDC says it’s time to cut polluting projects from the state transportation budget, and realign spending with the state’s climate priorities.

The California YIMBY website — that’s Yes In My Back Yard — examines how NIMBYs have hijacked the state’s CEQA anti-pollution laws to block housing and other needed developments.

Ventura County’s Carpinteria Creek Bike Path has reopened, following repairs due to January’s rains. And just in time for this weekend’s coming deluge.

An “avid” Bakersfield bicyclist for the past four decades calls out the poor quality of the city’s bike lanes, saying biking the streets of Bakersfield just isn’t safe anymore. There’s a Buck Owens joke in there somewhere, but it’s escaping me at the moment.

For a change, a bikelash works in our favor, as Palo Alto agrees to rethink a proposal to ban ebikes from local preserves after residents complained about the plan

 

National

House Beautiful offers “ingenious bike storage racks that won’t cramp your style,” many of which actually aren’t. Unless you consider a barn or storage closet a bike rack.

It turns out that one of the two people killed riding bikes in my bike-friendly Colorado hometown was a 76-year old retired FBI special agent and Vietnam vet, who was riding the bike his wife gave him for Christmas.

A Colorado artist and frame painter describes how riding her bike made her fall in love with the state again, saying her bike feels like a drawing tool.

This is who we share the road with, too. A Chicago FedEx driver played the universal Get Out of Jail Free card, claiming he just didn’t see a little old lady crossing the street with her walker before he slammed into her with his truck, killing her.

A Minneapolis news site deflates internet conspiracy theories over why protected bike lanes get plowed faster than traffic lanes when it snows; the answer is simply that there are no parked cars blocking bike lanes. Or at least, there shouldn’t be.

A bikelash worked in our favor in Ohio, too, where an outcry from bike riders defeated a proposal to strip local control over bike lanes from the Ohio budget.

New York Streetsblog proposes a lithium battery trade-in program to reduce the number of dangerous old ebike and e-scooter batteries at risk of fires, with newer, safer models.

Life is cheap in New York, where a USPS driver faces a lousy misdemeanor charge and summons for failing to yield and exercise due care for killing a man riding a bicycle two years ago, despite a long record of reckless driving both before and after he was hired.

The Washington Post seems shocked that older Americans are participating in extreme sports like Ironman triathlons and the Iditarod Trail Invitational, tackling the Alaskan backcountry in subzero temperatures by bicycle, foot or skis. My own brother was in his 60s when he ran his sled dog team in the Iditarod four times, and his 70s when he tackled his first major cross-country bike tour.

 

International

Momentum Magazine offers advice on what to do if bike riding is a literal pain in the back.

The British bike boom has officially gone bust, as bike sales in the UK have dropped to their lowest level in two decades.

British news anchor Dan Walker was unconscious for 20 minutes after he was struck by a driver while riding his bike, which suggests that his bike helmet may have kept his skull intact, but didn’t prevent a traumatic brain injury, aka TBI. Meanwhile, drivers complain that he was wearing dark clothing and wasn’t riding in the glass-strewn bike lane.

After bike-riding Brit broadcaster Jeremy Vine blasted a “maniac” van driver for a right cross turn directly across his path, drivers slam him for not dressing like a hi-viz clown.

Life is cheap in the UK, where a truck driver walked without a single day behind bars for a “perilous maneuver” that resulted in the death of a bike-riding man; a judge imposed community service and a lousy 15 month license suspension.

The self-governing island of Jersey is introducing what they call the world’s first smart cycling scheme, which will use smart bike lights to collect data from individual bike rides, including routes and destinations, as well as road conditions, busy spots and conflicts.

Fans of Dutch bikes can now get an e-Gazelle, starting at the equivalent of four grand.

Your next ebike could have no chain or belt, or any other kind of direct propulsion system, thanks to a new German ride-by-wire drivetrain.

 

Competitive Cycling

Yes, British cyclist Tom Pidcock can descend faster than you. Or me, anyway.

 

Finally…

The right seat could keep gravel riding from being a pain in the butt. When you’re riding your bike at 1 am, with eight — count ’em, eight — active warrants and carrying meth, put a damn light on it, already.

The bike, that is, not the meth.

And not only is Jimmy Carter one of us, so is his wife Roselyn.

https://twitter.com/paulvaldezsf/status/1627818357272592386

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

 

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

High desert man busted for 2nd DUI in 3 months, this is who we share the road with, and lots more ‘Tis the Season

December 19, 2022 / / Comments Off on High desert man busted for 2nd DUI in 3 months, this is who we share the road with, and lots more ‘Tis the Season

It’s the final week of the 8th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!

Just six more days to support this site, and help keep all the best and brightest bike news coming your way every day!

Sadly, though, not one single person donated to the fund drive yesterday; just the second time that’s happened this year. 

So let’s all thank Douglas M, Devin D and Steven F for their generous donations on Friday and Saturday to bring you the latest bike news and advocacy every morning. 

So don’t wait. Donate today via PayPal or Zelle! 

Every contribution, no matter how large or small, is truly and deeply appreciated. And very needed. 

Today’s photo: A very sad fund drive spokesdog and chief fundraiser vows to keep staring until you give in and make a donation today. 

………

This is why people keep dying on our streets.

A Victorville man was busted for DUI while he was already out on bail for another DUI arrest in October.

This is how the Victorville Daily Press described the arrest.

While speaking with Woodward, the deputy said the suspect was “uncooperative,” and several liquor bottles were seen inside the suspect’s vehicle. The deputy determined that Woodward was driving under the influence of alcohol…

Woodward was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol over .08%, reckless driving, and obstructing a peace officer. He was cited and released on Thursday.

Because of the reckless driving charge, Woodward’s vehicle was impounded for 30 days.

Go back and read that again.

The driver’s vehicle was impounded after his arrest — not because he was driving drunk, but because he was driving recklessly.

After his first drunk driving arrest, they apparently just handed his license back to him, and sent him home to do it again.

And chances are, this was just the first time he got caught again.

So if you’ve ever wondered why people keep dying on our streets, you can start with lawmakers who think it’s too dangerous to let reckless drivers keep their cars, but perfectly okay for drunks to keep driving.

Thanks to Victor Bale for the heads-up.

………

This is who we share the road with.

………

‘Tis the season.

A Madera, California Ford Dealership gave away 300 bikes, tricycle and mountain bikes assembled by volunteers earlier this month.

The Butte County, California sheriff’s department is giving away 50 donated or refurbished bikes to local children.

An Albuquerque bike shop teamed with nonprofit group More Butts on Bikes  to give away a free balance bike every day this month.

The Texas A&M women’s basketball team held their first ever bike build, assembling 53 bikes for kids in need before their latest game.

An Oklahoma City TV station gave away over 200 bikes to kids, thanks to help from donors and Walmart.

An Ohio nonprofit gave away four truckloads of bikes to kids up to 17 years old; they’ve distributed over 20,000 bikes in the past 17 years.

Over 200 people turned out, many dressed as Santa or other holiday characters, for a 5.5-mile Ohio bike ride to benefit the victim of a dog attack earlier this year.

Continuing our Ohio trifecta, a local church donated 550 new bikes and 600 toys to families in need for the holidays.

A pair of Louisville, Kentucky women worked though the nonprofits they founded to donate bikes to kids who didn’t have one.

A Pennsylvania Toys for Tots program thanked the local community for coming through for them after thieves stole 25 bicycles that were schedule to go to local kids in need; Dick’s Sporting Goods alone donated 25 bicycles to the program.

Former Washington Commanders pro football receiver Charlie Brown gave away more than 100 bicycles to kids in need through his charitable foundation.

A Baton Rouge, Louisiana attorney handed out 430 bikes and helmets to kids in need for the holidays.

Hats off to the owners and employees of a Dublin, Ireland bike shop, who have donated 1,500 bicycles to Ukrainian refugees.

An Aussie couple turned their own living room into a workshop to refurbish eleven bikes for kids in need.

………

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

Italian bicyclists are up in arms after a judge ruled that hate speech directed at them is not a crime, after someone wrote “Hit one cyclist to educate a hundred” in response to a Facebook post. Although that wouldn’t even be a consideration in the US, where the 1st Amendment protects the right to make stupid and hateful comments.

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

There’s not a pit in hell deep enough for the bike-riding man who attacked a 63-year old man in New York’s Central Park while shouting antisemitic comments and “Kanye 2024.”

Police in Belfast, Northern Ireland are looking for a pair of killers who rode their bicycles to assassinate two different men just under a year apart; investigators have connected the cases, but are still looking for a motive.

………

………

Local 

No news is good news, right?

 

State

Police in Newport Beach gave in to the cliches, and gave coffee and donuts to the adults to improve community relations, and bike helmets for their kids.

San Jose leads the Silicon Valley in bicycle crashes, injuries and deaths, with 3.5 times as many bike crashes as second place Palo Alto. Then again, it also has almost 15 times the population.

Sad news from Sacramento, where an Ohio man was killed in a collision while riding his bike.

 

National

Bad news from Oregon, where pedestrian and bike deaths have topped last year with a month to go.

The author of the Seattle Bike Blog has a new book coming out titled Biking Uphill in the Rain: The Story of Seattle from behind the Handlebars, available for preorder for $29.95.

Heartbreaking news from Denver, where a woman battling leukemia lost her husband the same day she received a stem cell transplant, when a hit-and-run driver ran a red light and smashed into him as he rode his bike; a crowdfunding page has raised over $78,000.

A group of Minnesota bike riders aims to prove that people do ride bikes in the snow.

A band of vigilantes is riding and walking around New York, clandestinely fixing license plates intentionally damaged or obscured by their owners to avoid traffic cams and toll scanners.

Frank Sinatra’s namesake Hoboken street is getting a Complete Streets makeover, complete with raised sidewalks and protected bike lanes, although drivers will have to sacrifice 126 parking spaces.

A Virginia man is under arrest for sexually assaulting a 13-year old girl and stealing her bicycle, after the victim managed to take a photo of his truck as he drove away. See pit, deep enough.

That’s still more like it. A New Orleans man had his sentence reduced for the drunk driving crash that killed two people when he plowed into nine bike riders at a 2019 Mardi Gras parade; Tashonty Toney’s sentence was lowered from 91 years to 65 years behind bars after the appellate court rejected the original sentence.

Hats off to Mississippi history teacher Ed Abdella, who rode his bike for 24 straight hours to raise funds for the school’s band program, covering 343 miles in the process.

Ivanka Trump is one of us, as she took her two sons to a Miami bike park.

A Florida sheriff’s deputy dressed as the Grinch and handed out onions to drivers speeding in a school zone. Although speeding tickets would have been more appropriate, but less fun.

 

International

Three friends from Argentina rode their bikes 6,200 miles through 15 countries in hopes of securing tickets to the World Cup final, won by Argentina in penalty kicks; no word on whether they actually got in.

Canadian Cycling Magazine offers inspiration for when your Christmas Tree has to reflect your passion for bikes.

It’s going to take five months and $400,000 to rip out a popular bike lane through a Vancouver park. Popular with bike riders, anyway; angry drivers, not so much. 

Police in the UK are defending the people installing new bike hangers, after conservative politician complained about the approval process.

A British husband and wife team set a new record for biking around the world on a tandem bike, passing through Berlin’s famed Brandenburg Gate — in a blizzard, no less — just 180 days after setting off from the same spot, presumably in better weather. Thanks to Mike Wilkinson for the link, who assures us he and his wife will not be challenging the new record.

In yet another example of authorities keeping a dangerous driver on the streets, an 81-year old English driver walked without a single day behind bars and got to keep his driver’s license, despite hitting a bike rider during a failed pass attempt — then doing it again moments later.

No surprise here, as bike riders in the Netherlands ride their bikes twice as much as Germans do doing the winter.

Famed Italian bikemaker Ernesto Colnago’s greatest bikes will go on display in a permanent museum.

 

Competitive Cycling

UCI is making sweeping rule changes to World Cup mountain bike racing.

 

Finally…

That feeling when a stand of cottonwoods explodes next to the bike trail you’re riding. A two-mile bike ride could pay for your next hotel stay.

And someone out there definitely knows how to get my attention.

https://twitter.com/LisaNSanders1/status/1604356361323974663

………

Happy Chanukah to everyone celebrating tonight. Or a happy Hanukkah, if you prefer.

Chag Urim Sameach!

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

 

Category: General / Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Bike-riding woman injured in street takeover, and repeat DUI driver busted again five years after killing bike rider

May 3, 2022 / / Comments Off on Bike-riding woman injured in street takeover, and repeat DUI driver busted again five years after killing bike rider

A woman riding a bicycle was injured when she became collateral damage in a Compton street takeover.

She was hospitalized with minor injuries.

Police are looking for the driver of a white car, who left the scene without stopping after the crash.

………

This is why people keep dying on our streets.

A 22-year old Los Osos woman is back behind bars after hitting several parked cars while driving at four times the legal alcohol limit, just five years after she killed a Cal Poly student riding a bicycle in a drunken hit-and-run.

Gianna Brencola was sentenced to seven years behind bars, but somehow released after just two years, and released from parole less than two years later.

Thanks to jmell for the heads-up.

………

Here’s your chance to demand that new vehicles protect the people outside of them, as well as those inside.

https://twitter.com/PedalLove/status/1521158951135367168

………

Local

Streetsblog offers a roundup of LA bike news, including a) Metro extends its Metro Bike contract for another year, b) Metro approved revised funding for South LA’s Rail-to-Rail bike/walk path, and c) new bike lanes on Burbank Blvd in Van Nuys and a one-way bike lane on 2nd Ave in South LA’s Hyde Park neighborhood.

Seriously? Just two days after popular Rapha ride leader John “Panda” Hermoso was killed just outside the city, the mayor of Santa Clarita promotes the joys of bicycling in the city, with no mention of the recent tragedy or any need to improve safety.

Caltrans is proposing a two-way bike lane and a roundabout to improve safety on Angeles Crest Highway.

 

State 

San Diego continues to prioritize bike safety over parking, preparing to install protected bike lanes on a one-mile, newly repaved stretch of Park Blvd in University Heights, despite the objections of local business owners over removing a whole four spaces.

After finding an ebike for sale on Craigslist for half off the retail price in Santa Cruz, a man checks Bike Index and discovers it’s stolen. And does the right thing by alerting the police, and setting up a sting operation to get the bike back. As usual, read it on Yahoo if bicycling blocks you.

Sad news from San Jose, where a man was killed in a collision while riding his bike across a busy expressway.

 

National

Flux Magazine offers six ways you can make traveling by bicycle an adventure. Because evidently, just taking a bike tour isn’t adventurous enough.

Singletracks highlights sales on mountain bikes and gear up to 40% off.

Tucson AZ is making plans for a whopping 200 miles of bike boulevards in the city of half a million people. Which compares favorably to LA’s current plans to build, um, none.

Utah bicyclists are calling for change after too many deaths on the state’s streets, including Whittier’s Bullard brothers, who were killed by an accused DUI driver outside St. George.

A new traffic safety campaign in New York attempts to scare drivers into slowing down by showing an image of a pedestrian flying through the air after being hit by a car. A writer for Strongtowns says campaigns like that just don’t work, while Jalopnik doesn’t like them, either.

Instead of going after the people in the big, dangerous machines, a Maryland sheriff warns bicyclists he’s got his eye on them, and ready to ticket any scofflaw bike riders in his county.

That’s more like it. Florida’s Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles mark Bike Month by offering safety tips for bicyclists and motorcyclists. But for a change, they focus on what drivers can do to drive safely around them.

 

International

Cycling Weekly asks if the bike industry is selling riders bicycles that are too aggressive for them. Short answer, yes. Longer answer, absolutely yes.

An Ottawa, Canada paper traces the history of bicycles in the city back to 1869.

Denmark has started a program asking people to donate their unused bicycles to give to Ukrainian refugees living in the country.

A Japanese company introduces secure vertical bike lockers that can be rented by the hour, with space for your helmet and bike shoes.

A prefecture in Japan has turned the concept of rail-to-trail on its head, turning a pair of bicycles into a pedal powered railcar.

 

Competitive Cycling

Heartbreaking news from Australia, where former juniors cyclist Maddy Marshall died, four and a half years after she was diagnosed with leukemia; she was just 24. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.

Cycling Weekly considers the delicate balance between recovery and competition, after former pro Peter Stetina rode the Belgian Waffle ride with a broken wrist he suffered in a race just three weeks earlier.

  

Finally…

Why wait until the bikes leave the shop before running them down? Another reminder that cars don’t belong in parks.

And yes, you can buy an ebike for less than $1,000.

Whether you really want to may be another matter.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

Wrist slap for fatal Jurupa Valley hit-and-run, prelim for killer hit-and-run socialite, and bank robbing cyclist talks to BBC

April 27, 2022 / / Comments Off on Wrist slap for fatal Jurupa Valley hit-and-run, prelim for killer hit-and-run socialite, and bank robbing cyclist talks to BBC

This is why people keep dying on our streets.

A Riverside County judge rewarded a killer hit-and-run driver with his choice of 364 days in jail, work-release or home vacation confinement, for the crash that killed 30-year-old Rigoberto Guzman Jr in Jurupa Valley three years ago, followed by what the DA described as “a torrent of lies.”

Pizza deliveryman Andrew Scott Walters struck Guzman as he was riding his bike, then got out and pulled Guzman’s bike out from under his car before driving away, leaving the injured victim lying in the road when he was struck and killed by another driver — assuming he wasn’t already dead from the first crash.

Walters went so far as to call 911 to report seeing an injured man down in the road, without bothering to mention his own involvement.

He then went back to the Pizza Hut he worked at, where he explained the damage to his car by telling his boss that a drunk homeless man had hurled his bicycle at him “out of nowhere.”

No, really.

Photo by Sora Shimazaki from Pexels.

………

This is who we share the road with.

Hidden Hills socialite and philanthropist Rebecca Grossman faces a preliminary hearing for the alleged street racing death of two young boys, who had the misfortune of crossing the street with their family while she was speeding down it.

Grossman, co-founder of the famed Grossman Burn Center, was reportedly driving at speeds up to 81 mph on residential streets, while repeatedly switching lanes with another driver, when she slammed into the boys as they rode their skateboard and scooter in the crosswalk.

She faces two murder counts, two counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, and a single charge of hit-and-run driving resulting in death.

Which proves the over-privileged can be just as idiotic and deadly as the rest of us.

………

No surprise here, as Streets For All has endorsed Eric Darling to replace Mike Bonin in West LA’s CD11; Darling has stood out from the other candidates for his stands on safe and livable streets since the start of the campaign.

The street safety PAC has also endorsed Bob Wunderlich for Beverly Hills City Council, along with John Mirisch.

………

The BBC talks with former US Olympic hopeful turned bank robber Tom Justice, who used his cycling skills to make his getaway from over two dozen banks.

He still rides his bike, even after nine years in prison and more than a decade out, but with a La Grange jersey these days.

Chicago Magazine took a deep dive into his story in 2019 if you want to learn more.

………

Buena Park continues work on a plan to install a road diet and bike lanes on Dale and Whitaker.

https://twitter.com/mikeocbike/status/1519167487778033664

………

If you build it, they will come.

This is what the newly bikeable Paris looks like these days. And what Los Angeles could, with just a modicum of effort from city hall.

………

But only bicyclists ignore the right-of-way, right?

………

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

The Texas car shop owner who posted video of himself rolling coal at a bike rider, then denied knowing anything about it, now says he’s really, really sorry. But only after the video went viral, leading to calls to boycott his shop.

No bias here. Someone in the UK altered a road sign with their own handwritten message telling bike riders to ride “single file you Lycra wearing twats!”

After a British bike rider filmed a driver using his phone behind the wheel, the driver chased him, including driving up on the sidewalk at one point, as the terrified bicyclist begged people to call the police.

………

Local

We’re #1! The Los Angeles – Long Beach region once again takes the title as America’s smoggiest metro area. So try not to breathe so much on your next ride. Your lungs will thank you.

Streetsblog looks at the new “protected” bike lanes on westbound 1st Street from Boyle Heights to Little Tokyo. Although once again, the protection is only in the form of little plastic bollards that won’t stop anyone from crashing through.

The Ballona Creek bike path will be closed for maintenance between National and Sepulveda through Friday.

 

State 

Residents of a San Diego apartment complex voiced their anger over new bike lanes in the Rancho Peñasquitos neighborhood, which they say were striped in the dead of night with no advance warning. Although that’s hard to believe, since the parking spaces that were removed to make room for the bike lanes would have been full of cars at that hour.

Hats off to a Santa Barbara Eagle Scout, who built a mountain bike trail for students at his old elementary school.

San Francisco takes the next step towards a safer, less-polluting future by permanently banning cars from JFK Drive in Golden Gate Park.

Questions remain over San Francisco’s Slow Streets program, as the city keeps four of its car-lite corridors, while some residents want them gone.

Sad news from Sacramento, where a bike rider was killed in a hit-and-run while riding in a bike lane; another person riding in the bike lane at the time was uninjured.

 

National

A fascinating new study shows colorfully painted street surfaces can cut crashes involving vulnerable road users by a whopping 50%.

The Bike League belatedly addresses April’s Distracted Driving Month, noting that one in five traffic deaths is the result of distracted driving.

Police in Mt. Vernon, Washington are looking for a man and woman who fled on foot after crossing onto the wrong side of the road and driving up on the sidewalk, where they slammed into a family riding their bicycles, injuring both parents before crashing into several parked cars.

This is why people keep dying on our streets, part two. A Las Vegas food delivery driver faces her third DUI in recent years after she ran into a child riding a bicycle, leaving the kid with moderate injuries. Although the two “popular food delivery service providers” she claimed to work for disavowed any knowledge of her. One more example of authorities keeping dangerous drivers on the road until it’s too late. 

A Utah bike rider is asking the same question every hit-and-run victim asks — “I just want to know why they didn’t stop.”

Denver is putting money where its bike-friendly policy is, with all Denver residents now eligible for a $400 rebate on the purchase of an ebike, with an additional $500 for an e-cargo bike, while qualified low income residents can get a $1,200 rebate.

The Denver Post says Colorado’s new Safety Stop Law, aka the Idaho Stop Law, exposes the animosity between bicyclists and drivers. But you’ll have to sign up or subscribe to find out how or why.

Great idea. A Missouri bike and pedestrian advocacy group got a handful of state legislators on their bikes to ride a bike trail crossing the state with their constituents. I’d love to see that here, at LA City Hall, or in Sacramento.

New York’s fire department is warning about the dangers of improperly charging and storing lithium-ion batteries, after a number of fires, while Bicycling offers advice on how to keep your ebike battery from bursting into flames. As usual, read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you. 

There’s a special place in hell for whoever took a trailer filled with kids bikes from the New Orleans advocacy group Bike Easy. Although they’re just saying it’s “missing” at this point.

 

International

Shimano says the worldwide bike boom is showing signs of slowing off in Asia and South and Central America, though the North American and European markets are going strong.   

YK Design looks at the top ten bikes designed for an eco-friendly urban commute, including some that are seriously weird, and/or just vaporware at this point. Although number nine may be very strange, but in a very cool way, even though you probably wouldn’t want to ride it with those wires just begging for your crotch. 

A British van driver was sentenced to a total of eight years, including four behind bars, and barred from driving for 12 years, all for killing a 71-year old man riding a bicycle while so drunk he couldn’t to stand on his own following the crash; he had 25 previous traffic convictions. Yet another example of keeping a dangerous driver on the road until they kill someone.

A Malaysian paper decries kids riding the popular basikal lajak, illegally modified bicycles that allow users to race downhill in the Superman position, calling them “a threat to road safety.” Even though it was a woman driver who was convicted of killing eight teens who were riding them, rather than the other way around.

 

Competitive Cycling

Two-time Grand Tour winner Egan Bernal posted a video telling fans to be patient, because he’s on his way back. Evidently he meant it, as he returns to Europe to begin training for the first time since the training crash that nearly took his life.

World champion Julian Alaphilippe’s multiple serious injuries during Sunday’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège came when he fell down a ditch and hit a tree as a result of a mass crash.

Want to feel old? An eight-year old Missouri second grader was named to the US national BMX team.

  

Finally…

Your next ebike could be a Mini Cooper. Seriously, if a Burley is good enough for your kids, it’s good enough for your pet.

And you probably weren’t planning to, but still.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

Pity the poor oppressed drivers, killer Texas driver blind in one eye & can’t see out of the other, and ’tis the season

December 20, 2021 / / Comments Off on Pity the poor oppressed drivers, killer Texas driver blind in one eye & can’t see out of the other, and ’tis the season

It’s the final week of the 7th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive! Just five more days to support SoCal’s best source for bike news and advocacy. 

It was a record-setting weekend, easily topping last year’s record 73 donations.

So let’s all thank Alissa C, Joel S, Gregory S, John C, Adrienne G, David A, Steven Y, Heather J, Matthew R, Steven F, Brer M, Mitchel D, Jeff M and Joel F for their generous donations to keep all the best bike news coming your way every day.

Which raises the question, what are you waiting for, already?

Take a moment now to give now via PayPal, or with Zelle to ted @ bikinginla.com.

Any amount, no matter how large or small, is truly and deeply appreciated.

………

Today’s must read comes from The Guardian.

Columnist Catherine Bennett writes in sympathy to all the poor, oppressed drivers forced to share the road with the rest of us.

Reports from the frontline of the war on motorists have made distressing reading for some vehicle owners. With low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) surviving both physical and media assault, improved protections for pedestrians and cyclists in a revised Highway Code will weaken still further, they discover, a right to road domination long understood to be, if not divinely ordained, something even better: unassailable.

She goes on to discuss an unfortunate driver who was sentenced to a whole 18 months behind bars and a three-year driving ban for chasing, and ultimately running over a man on a bicycle, recording the entire intentional attack on his dash cam accompanied by his screaming wife.

And leaving his victim “fortunate to survive injuries including a fractured pelvis, torn genitals, six broken ribs and a punctured liver.”

She concludes this way.

Teachable moment: if you want to behave recklessly and dangerously on a road without incarceration, inconvenience, or even incurring a large fine, it’s advisable to do it inside a car. As for almost killing a stranger in a moment of madness: that too, as demonstrated by Mr Moult, is best done, for the avoidance of more stringent penalties, from a seatbelted position inside, for preference, one of the car industry’s more environmentally objectionable models.

Seriously, read it.

………

This is why people keep dying on our streets.

The 66-year old Texas driver who slammed into a group of cross-country bicyclists, killing a Massachusetts man and injuring two others — including a Santa Rosa woman —  explained the crash by telling police he’s blind in one eye and can’t see very well out of the other one.

So why the hell was he still allowed to drive?

Someone, somewhere, should have noticed his vision problems and got him off the streets before he killed someone.

Not after.

Just one more example of the convenience of drivers being given priority over the safety of everyone else.

………

‘Tis the season.

Orange County’s Bicycle Santas are back after last year’s forced hiatus, donating 80 bicycles to FaCT (Families And Communities Together, Orange County).

Around 200 Portland kids can expect new bikes, thanks to a group collecting bicycles and tricycles for children in need under five years old.

A Boulder, Colorado program has provided anywhere from 300 to 500 refurbished bikes for local kids each year for the past 15 years, as well as 50 ebikes for essential workers this year, funded by a state grant.

A massive bike donation program in Syracuse NY celebrated its 25th year by giving away 2,000 bicycles to people in need.

Donations are still being sought for a Virginia Beach VA foundation, where organizers hope to distribute 300 bikes to kids this Christmas.

Fayetteville, North Carolina’s famed Bicycle Man charity is giving away around 1,000 new and refurbished bicycles, after delaying last year’s giveaway due to the pandemic. The longtime community activist started by repairing bikes in his garage; his wife took over following his death eight years ago.

A church in Columbia, South Carolina is continuing their tradition of refurbishing around a hundred bicycles a year to give to local kids.

Louisiana’s Terrbone Parish hosted a bike and toy giveaway, with 300 bicycles given to children in need, including families still suffering from 2009’s Hurricane Ida.

A Cajun Country car club donated three custom-built adaptive bikes to special needs kids in Louisiana.

Nearly one hundred kids got new bicycles in a Daytona Beach park.

Today’s list also includes one of our own sponsors, San Diego bike lawyer Richard L. Duquette, who is now among latest sponsors of the Bikes 4 Kids Project.

………

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

As usual, there’s no shortage of anti-bike letter writers, who put their bias on full display in response to Michael’s Schneider’s recent op-ed calling on officials to drop their opposition to bike lanes; one writer said people on bicycles are usually very fit and very brave, and so there’s no point wasting our streets on a tiny niche. Cleary, he hasn’t met many of us.

You’ve got to be kidding. An Irish man walked with a suspended sentence after threatening a female bike cop, promising the court he’s a changed man and will never, ever do it again — even though seven of his 72 previous convictions were for threatening behavior. Yes, 72.

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

Authorities in Florida are on the lookout for a man who fled on a cruiser bike after robbing a convenience store with a sawed-off shotgun.

A bike-riding man in Osaka, Japan is under investigation for an apparent arson fire that killed 24 people at a mental health clinic where he was a patient.

………

Local

The Los Angeles Times asks if drivers are angrier these days, and goes on to answer their own question — an average of 42 people a month were shot or wounded in road rage shootings in the past year, double the previous average. And one person was shot or injured every 18 hours in the US this year.

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton examines the new MOVE Culver City project, and concludes Downtown Culver City just got more walkable, bikeable and transit-friendly.

Electrek says if you’re still waiting for a new ebike, it’s probably stuck on a ship off Long Beach.

 

State

Streetsblog California looks at what’s in the new federal infrastructure bill for the state.

A Chula Vista bike rider was lucky to escape with minor injuries when he was rear-ended by a driver following some “miscommunication,” because the bike lane was clogged with storm debris.

Family members remember Ricardo Serrano, the 15-year old boy killed by an alleged drunk driver while riding his bicycle in Victorville less than a mile from his school earlier this month.

 

National

Nice tradition in one Billings, Montana neighborhood, where residents still light luminarias every Christmas Eve in memory of a 12-year old boy who was killed  by a driver while riding his bicycle in 1962.

A 22-year old Mad City, Wisconsin man operates a one-person bicycle recovery program within the police department.

One person is dead, and seven injured, after nine ebike batteries blew up while being recharged in New York overnight, sparking a massive fire; two teens were forced to shinny four stories down an exterior pipe to escape the blaze.

A Steetsblog op-ed observes that bike booms come and go, so the New York’s new mayor has to seize the moment to make transformative change.

A stoned Long Island utility worker faces 3.5 to 10 years behind bars for killing a man riding a bicycle while high on meth, amphetamines and fentanyl; he slammed into five separate vehicles after running a red light, fled that crash before hitting the victim, fled again and ultimately attacked another driver after slamming head-on into the man’s truck.

A certified cycling instructor in Jersey City NJ says there’s currently a de facto ban on bicycling for transportation in the city.

She gets it. A DC columnist says a five-year old girl recently killed by a driver while riding in a crosswalk with her father deserved better, and should leave behind a legacy of safer streets.

A Norfolk, Virginia man has filed a $1.5 million lawsuit against the local police for excessive use of force, after a cop tackled him off his bike for the crime of riding without a headlight, breaking his leg in three places; needless to say, an internal investigation concluded the cop didn’t do anything wrong.

Baton Rouge, Louisiana continues to make progress on accommodating people on bicycles, with plans in the works for a bike path that would wind through five parishes, the Louisiana equivalent of a county. And it only took four decades after I left.

Miami bike riders complain that new widely spaced rubber armadillos placed on a causeway to protect them from drivers have just replaced one danger with another one.

 

International

Road.cc examines the science behind flashing versus steady bike lights. So why does it have to be one or the other? I ride with a solid beam illuminating the roadway, and a flashing light to get drivers’ attention. 

Meanwhile, Road.cc’s off-road edition considers whether titanium is the ultimate frame material off-road bikes.

Buzzfeed considers 18 places around the world where cars are banned, and “no one seems to miss them.”

Life is cheap in Canada’s Prince Edward Island, where a parole board told a woman who was sentenced to five years behind bars after killing a man riding a bicycle and fleeing the scene while driving drunk last year can go home during the day.

London’s Independent considers the huge change a bicycle can make in a refugee’s life, and how you can contribute. Even if you have to read the story on Yahoo.

According to a recent survey, even though bicycling is up 30% in Scotland, 61% of bike riders say a lack of safe riding routes keeps them off their bikes.

It may be a long way to Tipperary, as the song says, but you may not find anywhere to park your bike in the Irish city once you get there.

A 70-year old blind Japanese woman has authored a picture book based on her own experience riding a bike for the first time at age 60.

A New Zealand woman can credit her two-year old rescue dog with saving her life following a bike crash, climbing up an embankment to get help after she had ridden off the edge.

 

Competitive Cycling

Now you, too, can own the bike Wout Van Aert rode to victory on Mount Ventoux in this year’s Tour de France; bidding currently stands at nearly $15,000.

USA Cycling announced a new national crit series with a $100,000 purse, although it currently features just six of the previous ten races.

 

Finally…

Learn how to ride a bike in real life, in the metaverse. That feeling when you go on to become a famous actress, even if your first stunt double was a bike-riding boy in a padded bra.

And yes, he gets it.

………

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

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

Why people keep dying on our streets, learn about coming changes to Ballona Creek Trail, and UK’s BoJo gets it

August 2, 2021 / / One comment

You’ve got to be kidding.

In a truly astounding case of authorities keeping a dangerous driver on the road, Louisiana officials finally arrested a repeat drunk driver after he missed not one, not two, but seven court dates.

Fifty-year old Jacob Paul Raffray faces charges for allegedly ramming his pickup into a family of five, breaking the grandmother’s hips and seriously burning a seven-year old boy who was trapped underneath the truck.

That came just four years after he was released for paralyzing a college baseball player in a drunken hit-and-run crash, following three previous DUI convictions.

And bizarrely, just two years after he was pardoned as a first-time offender, despite multiple parole violations.

Never mind his most recent arrest, for possessing meth and drug paraphernalia.

There’s no mention of his license being taken away, so presumably, he’s been allowed to continue to drive this whole time.

And we wonder why people keep dying on our streets.

Photo by energepic.com from Pexels.

………

The Friends of the Ballona Wetlands invite you to learn more about the planned restoration of the wetlands, and how it will affect the popular Ballona Creek Trail.

WEBINAR: RE-ENVISIONING THE BALLONA CREEK TRAIL IN THE WETLANDS

An online presentation hosted by the Friends of Ballona Wetlands and Q&A with CA Dept. of Fish and Wildlife.

Monday, August 9, 2021, 5:00PM

Register at:

https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/2782870943479543820

The restoration plan for the Ballona Wetlands will create some significant modifications to the popular Ballona Creek Trail.  The webinar will describe:

  • What is planned for the wetlands restoration
  • What is planned for the Ballona Creek trail in the project area
  • What trail design details in the plan can still be influenced

Presentation by Neysa Frechette, Manager of Scientific Programs,  Friends of Ballona Wetlands

Q&A with Richard Brody, CA Dept. of Fish and Wildlife

View trail map on page 2-42 in the Draft EIR at: https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=149710&inline

For more information, including the final EIR, see: https://wildlife.ca.gov/Regions/5/Ballona-EIR https://www.ballonafriends.org/restoring-ballona

 

 

 

………

A Twitter thread from Megan Lynch decries the failure to replace bollards on the UC Davis campus that are intended to keep drivers off sidewalks and pathways.

https://twitter.com/may_gun/status/1421907497477021696

………

Britain’s bike-riding prime minister gets it.

At least when it comes to bicycles and transit.

Speaking of which, it’s really not a good look for a local councilor to stand in the street celebrating as a bike lane gets ripped out.

Particularly when his party supports them.

https://twitter.com/JoeDunne_/status/1420825996513710086

………

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

A pair of Wisconsin men face charges for yelling at a couple of people riding their bikes to get on the sidewalk, then coming back and smashing their bikes, and stealing the woman’s ID, keys and cash.

Irish bike riders question why on earth local authorities painted a parking space directly in front of the East Lothian Harbor Master’s office, blocking access to both it and the harbor’s only bike racks.

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

Police in Culver City are looking for the bike-riding man who followed a 17-year old girl with his hand down his pants, then struck her in the head when she tried to get away.

………

Local

Proving there is no highway project so bad Metro won’t back it, the country transit agency is dumping previously approved plans for a high-desert bikeway and high-speed rail corridor in favor of reviving the long-dead High Desert Freeway Project by widening nearby five-lane Highway SR-38 instead.

An East LA mother is demanding justice for her 14-year old son, who was seriously injured when he was knocked off his bike by a CHP officer who just drove off afterwards.

A 37-year old mountain biker had to be hoisted out of a remote area in Mandeville Canyon on Saturday after suffering traumatic injuries in a fall.

WeHoVille talks with Jason Bowers, general manger of Bikes and Hikes LA, which is offering a 20% locals discount for an LA-area bike tour.

Speaking of WeHoVille, the paper decries poorly parked scooters running amok in the city and terrorizing people on sidewalks. Hint: It’s not the scooters that are responsible for either of those problems.

A group of 15 firefighters left from Santa Monica on a cross-country bike trip to New York to raise awareness for firefighter-related cancers and mental health, intending to arrive in time for the 20th anniversary of 9/11; they were joined by ten riders who set out from Santa Clara Sunday morning.

 

State

Carlsbad has received a $1.77 million grant to build a 2.5-mile segment of the Coastal Rail Trail on Avenida Encinas and Carlsbad Boulevard, which will be matched by $5.2 million in local funds.

Del Mar has settled a lawsuit over the bicycling death of a sheriff’s detective for $3.5 million; 54-year old Brian Villa was killed when his bike hit a rut in the road during the 2017 Amtrak Century.

Over 200 people rode their bikes on Sunday to celebrate the opening of a 1.5-mile protected bike lane in San Diego’s North Park neighborhood, with the mayor calling for the project to be replicated throughout the city; naturally, not everyone is happy about it, especially the loss of 420 parking spaces.

Survey says, Goleta residents want bikeshare.

A Petaluma public schools food service director — in other words, the guy who managed the district’s public schools cafeteria — marked his retirement by riding up Mt. Diablo with ten pounds of sugar on his bike, representing the amount kids could eat in a typical school year.

Once again, someone has been killed illegally riding a bike on a California freeway, when a man was killed riding salmon with no lights on an Oakland Interstate. The victim was reportedly homeless.

 

National

Tips on how to ride with your kids, from finding the right seat to applying plenty of sunscreen.

No surprise here. GeekWire staffers raced through Seattle’s rush hour traffic by foot, boat, bike, car and scooter. And it was the guy on an ebike who came it first.

A formerly homeless Kansas jail deputy won’t get to have to ride his bike 11-miles each way to work and back anymore, after a crowdfunding campaign raised enough to buy him another car after his broke down.

If you build it, they will come. A full three-quarters of Boston residents support building more protected bike lanes, as a case study shows bicycling “increased significantly” in the two years after one protected bike lane was installed.

A Facebook group has become a lifeline for Gotham bicycle delivery riders, working to keep them and their ebikes safe on New York’s streets and bridges.

 

International

Presenting the UK’s most popular mountain biking spots, for your next trip to the country that isn’t part of Europe anymore.

Seventy British bike riders completed a 280-mile ride into London in honor of late Member of Parliament Jo Cox, who was assassinated by a right wing radical five years ago.

An Indian paper says the bike boom is the silver lining in the pandemic.

Bike-riding Indonesian volunteers are delivering vital medicines during the country’s ongoing pandemic lockdown.

 

Competitive Cycling

American cyclist Connor Fields is slowly improving after a horrific crash during a BMX preliminary heat that put him in the ICU with a brain hemorrhage.

Two-time BMX racing world champion and Rio silver medallist Alise Willoughby didn’t have a much better day on the track, but at least she walked away from it.

Britain’s Charlotte Worthington went from Mexican chef to Olympic gold by performing a stunt no other woman has pulled off in BMX competition.

Bicycling explains the often confusing Olympic track cycling events. As usual, read it on Yahoo if Bicycling blocks you.

The sorry state of America’s velodromes doesn’t help the US team.

Cycling Weekly talks with rising Portuguese cyclists and twin brothers Rui and Ivo Oliveira to see if cycling success is in their identical genes.

 

Finally…

Your next bike could be a million dollar, previously unobtainable Pokémon bicycle come to life. Bike to work or school so you can drink more milk — udders optional.

And evidently, it’s just a short trip from getting a slap on the wrist for killing a bike-riding tourist with your garbage truck to becoming a full-fledged enforcer for a Mexican drug cartel.

………

Thanks again to Matthew R for his monthly donation to help keep this site coming your way every day; any donation, no matter how large or small, helps and is deeply appreciated. 

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

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , ,
« Older Entries  
Wordpress Theme by ThemeZee