BikinginLA

Day 58 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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There’s one question that’s on everyone’s lips in advance of Sunday’s Oscar ceremony.

Will Timothée Chalamet bike the Oscars?

Back in the heady pre-pandemic days, there was an active campaign to get someone, anyone, to arrive at the Oscar red carpet on a bicycle.

As I recall, the only star to take us up on it was actor and environmentalist Ed Begley, Jr.

Unless you want to confer stardom on Laemmle Theaters owner Greg Laemmle, who rode to the ceremony with his wife Tish and a small entourage as recently as last year.

But there may be hope, since Best Actor nominee Chalamet rode this bike to the London premier of the Oscar nominated Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown, famously getting a ticket for illegally parking his bikeshare bike.

So if you know Mr. Chalamet, or know anyone who knows him — or even if you’re just within the proverbial five degrees of separation — encourage him to leave the gas-guzzling limo at home.

And hop on a bike, even if it’s just for the final few blocks.

Today’s photo shows Tish and Greg Laemmle preparing to #biketheOscars last year.

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My city councilmember took to Twitter/X yesterday to give LADOT a little pat on the head for improving safety on Hyperion Avenue, which has long been a virtual freeway for speeding drivers.

But as Streetsblog’s Joe Linton reports, the work on Hyperion should have triggered Measure HLA, requiring the city to build out the already-approved mobility plan.

Mobility Plan 2035, so called because it provided what has been a largely-ignored roadmap to transportation improvements through that year, calls for bike lanes on the decidedly bike-unfriendly street, as well as handicap curb cuts and crosswalks.

Instead, Linton says the work has made the street even less safe and inviting for people on bicycles, while doing little for pedestrians other than slowing drivers.

Which, as I understand the provision of HLA, means you or anyone else are now free to sue the city to force compliance, on their dime.

So what are you waiting for, already?

This also gives provides an opportunity to remind you what a great resource Streetsblog LA is for this city, and for all of us who care about traffic safety, and how we get from here to there. 

So show them a little love, if you haven’t already. Or if you have, show ’em a little more for me. 

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It’s enough to make you cry.

According to Westside Current, a $6 million bike bridge on the Marvin Braude bike path through Will Rogers State Beach has collapsed.

Again.

Just a year after heavy rains washed out the bridge, causing a partial collapse, last week’s atmospheric river finished the job.

Which might be more of a problem, if much of the pathway wasn’t already virtually impassable in places due to sand obscuring the pavement — despite nearly $5 million in City and County funds allocated for bike path repairs and maintenance for the current fiscal year.

Even though this site called attention to that very problem 15 years ago, eventually touring the bike path with the former LA County Bikeway Coordinator and the late, great advocate George Wolfberg.

At that time, the county was very responsive, sending out crews with miniature bulldozers — and some not so miniature — to clear it off, while committing to keeping it clear.

So much for that.

Now the internationally recognized crown jewel of LA bikeways lies in ruins, collapsed and buried. A sad metaphor, perhaps, for what has happened to so much of the city and county we call home.

But one that doesn’t need to be. And shouldn’t.

Thanks to David Drexler for the heads-up.

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Thanks to Todd Edelman for reminding us that while the media was obsessing over Tuesday’s near-miss between a Southwest Airlines plane and a private jet at Chicago’s Midway Airport, countless people riding bicycles throughout the US had their own near misses with people in the big, dangerous machines.

And more than a few probably didn’t. Miss, that is.

But there were no breathless news reports. No endless analysis of what might have gone wrong.

Just a lot of bike riding people thanking whatever power they may favor for making it home in one piece, even as the person driving probably forgot the whole thing seconds later.

If they even noticed at all.

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As we discussed last week, Pasadena-based nonprofit Day One is collecting bicycles that can be refurbished and donated to victims of the Eaton Fire in Altadena.

And now there are a lot more places where you can drop them off.

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Sounds like fun.

Gravel Bike California will host a “Cargopalooza” bike picnic and family meetup in Griffith Park next weekend.

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This is what rush hour in looks like in Copenhagen, in the middle of winter, with hardly a car in sight.

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

No bias here. Cycling Utah calls out a group pushing a bill in the state legislature by using falsehoods — aka lies — claiming that traffic calming is somehow bad for local neighborhoods.

And yes, there’s more, so click through for the full thread.

They seem to think that traffic calming equates with higher emissions and more congestion without realizing or thinking that bad planning that requires cars to get around is what causes this. SB0195 will hurt people in its current form, but that is what Solutions Utah wants.

— Cycling Utah (@cyclingutah) February 26, 2025

No bias here, either. A group of Toronto business owners filed a $10 million lawsuit over the city’s popular Bloor Street bike lanes, asking a judge to order their removal and return the street to its previous car-centric configuration. Meanwhile, Canadian advocate Lloyd Alter calls for tossing pro car, anti-bike lane Ontario Premier Doug Ford out of office “before he kills us all.”

Or here. Advocates justifiably accused The London Times of hypocrisy over the paper’s call for car-free streets where children can play, after persistently opposing Low Traffic Neighborhoods, the equivalent of our Slow Streets. Never mind the column they just published from a writer who praised violent masked bikejackers for doing the city a favor.

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Local  

No news is good news, right? 

 

State

Costa Mesa-based ebike maker Electric Bike Company has merged with Integral Electrics, a bikemaker specializing in ebikes for women and other short statured riders.

A 36-year old man suffered a broken arm and leg when he allegedly rode his bicycle through a red light and into the path of an SUV in San Diego’s Midway District Tuesday night; fortunately, his injuries weren’t considered life-threatening.

Bad news from Modesto, where a man was killed when he was hit by a driver while riding his bike through an intersection Tuesday evening.

More bad news, this time from Fremont, where a 73-year old man died a week after he hit a curb while riding in a bike, striking his head.

 

National

Streetsblog examines what little we know in this country about drivers who kill.

Bicycling looks at five of the fastest, most interesting and unique — and dare they say, coolest — bicycles that aren’t raced on the WorldTour. But you’ll need a subscription if you want to read it. 

 

International

Momentum considers ten “amazing examples” of bicycling solutions from cities around the world. None of which are Los Angeles, of course.

A writer for Bicycling Australia calls Canada’s Quebec province a stunning “bicycling heaven.”

Beloved British bike brand Nukeproof could be back from the dead, after it was bought out of bankruptcy by Belgian Cycling Factory, the parent company of Ridley.

A groundbreaking report from the UK shows that the bicycling gender gap starts early, with twice as many boys as girls considering themselves frequent bike riders, even though there’s just a 5% difference between boys and girls in perceived bicycle safety in their neighborhoods.

Be careful on your next trip to Japan, where using a cellphone while riding can cost you the equivalent of up to $1,340 or a year behind bars, and bicycling under the influence will get you a fine up to $3,350.

 

Competitive Cycling

A new video details the remarkable comeback of teenage mountain biker Robbie Seaman, who returned to competition just one year after losing his right arm in an ATV crash; then again, he was back playing lacrosse with his high school team just four months later.

The World Economic Forum calls out the courage and resilience of Olympic cyclist Masomah Ali Zada, who escaped Afghanistan to compete on the Refugee Olympic Team at last summer’s Paris Olympics.

 

Finally….

Someone apparently thought it was a good idea to have a busy bike lane stop without warning in the middle of a busy sidewalk.

And anyone can ride a bike with no hands. But try cooking a hands-free three-course meal on one.

@andrew_the_park_rat

⚠️I’m a professional don’t try this at home! #mtb #mtblife #fyp #CapCut

♬ original sound – Andrew Atnip

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.