Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.
We’re now up to 1,066 signatures, so keep it going! Urge everyone you know to sign the petition, until the mayor agrees to meet with us!
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Color me livid.
Including last night’s fatal crash in Wilmington, we’ve learned about three bicycling deaths in Los Angeles County this year, two in the City of Los Angeles.
And all three have involved at least one hit-and-run driver.
In one case, in South LA, the victim was struck by two drivers, one of whom fled the scene. In the other two, including one in Lennox, the victims were struck by a single driver who fled the scene afterwards.
Which means if you get killed right now riding your bike in the City of LA, there’s a 66.6% probability the driver will flee.
And 75% in the county as a whole.
Then again, the odds may not be as bad as it seems, since the chances that we’ve learned about every fatal bike crash in the county this year is practically nil.
Because no one is bothering to tell us anymore.
The LAPD has stopped informing the public about most fatal crashes, and detectives now sit on news of fatal hit-and-runs for weeks, if not months — making the city’s hit-and-run alert system and standing $50,000 reward for any fatal hit-and-run virtually worthless.
Meanwhile, LADOT long ago stopped updating its Vision Zero map, which they once promised would allow anyone to track traffic deaths in near real time, apparently concluding that we have no right to know how deadly our streets really are. Because then we might demand they actually do something about it.
And the Sheriff’s Department has always been a lost cause when it comes to releasing information of any kind, traffic or otherwise.
So if a crash doesn’t make the news, we’re unlikely to ever learn about it. And they usually don’t.
Which would be a damn good topic to take up with the mayor if she ever reads that petition and actually meets with us.
The first, SB 1297, would add Malibu to the six perviously announced cities allowed to install speed cams under a pilot program, permitting five speed cams along PCH.
The second, SB 1509, would make a conviction for driving 26 mph or more over the speed limit a two-point violation, slightly increasing the chances that the driver’s license could be suspended.
I mean, they wouldn’t want to do something rash, or anything.
Traffic violations are usually pled down making, magically turning a two-point violation into one point, or shaving a few miles off the driver’s speed to get them under that threshold.
Especially if they can afford a good lawyer.
It also requires a conviction, which means the cop who wrote the ticket actually has to show up at the hearing, which they often don’t if you’re not a complete ass when they pull you over.
And as we’ve learned from hard-earned experience, too many drivers will just keep on driving, even after their license is suspended.
Maybe if we treated excessive speeds like the deadly crime they are, comparable to shooting a gun on a public street, they might manage to come up with something that might actually work to reduce speeding.
Like slapping a set of cuffs on anyone doing more that 20 mph over the speed limit, and/or revoking their license on the spot. And impound their fucking cars until they get their license back.
Harsh?
Maybe.
But so is informing someone their loved ones will never come home again.
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This is how to make an effective public comment.
Seriously, watch this short video. To see how to effectively make the case for protected bike-lanes, and particularly how they’re good for business. Or just as a great example of how to speak to any city council.
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
No bias here. A Newport, Rhode Island letter writer argues that narrowing a main road to make room for bike lanes is just “politically correct silliness that exalts the interests of the 0.1 percent of the population who would actually ride bicycles on a main thoroughfare over the 99.9 percent of us who use motor vehicles to go about our business.”
No bias here, either. Seventy-seven-year old British actress Patricia Hodge accused bicyclists of thinking they’re the center of the universe, because one “unforgivably rude but also dangerous” bicyclist almost hit her as she crossed a street, adding, “The only reason they’re angry is because they know I’m right.” Which is wrong in so many ways. Starting with the very large brush she seems to have stuck up her…oh, never mind.
Riverside County approved the 2024 Traffic Relief Plan calling for improving pedestrian walkways and bicycle paths, but also widening traffic corridors in an apparent effort to make them more dangerous.
Four more establishments have joined the lawsuit accusing San Francisco’s Valencia Street centerline protected bike lane of destroying their businesses by diverting traffic and eliminating parking.
A city council candidate in Malta set out to demonstrate how easy it is to bike to work instead of driving. And ended up with two broken arms after drivers squeezed him off the road.
An Aussie car site says “technically” a driver isn’t allowed to enter a crosswalk until a pedestrian completely crosses the street, although “the law is open to interpretation.”If something is technically prohibited, it’s prohibited, period. But sure, tell us how bike riders are “technically” required to stop for stop signs.
And our corgi would like to apologize on behalf of all members of her breed for the actions of the small sheepdog and corgi that darted in front of an Irish bike club, causing two members to fall.
Because if we’re going to keep blaming all bike riders for the actions of a few, we should probably extend that same collective blame to every other group, as well.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
The project is under fire from the newly auto-centric conservative majority on the Culver City council, which wants to rip it out so cars can once again go zoom, zoom without having to make room for anyone else.
Here’s just a part of what Rubin has to say.
A recent analysis of the corridor shows MOVE Culer City has delivered substantial benefits with few tradeoffs.
A 52% increase in bus ridership
A 32% increase in cycling activity
A 18% increase in pedestrian activity
Only a 2 minute increase in average peak period travel time for people in cars
Hard-won progress deserves defending. So this week, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) sent a letter to the City Council expressing our support for the MOVE Culver City initiative. In doing so, we joined over 20 other organizations that advocate for sustainable, safe, healthy and equitable transportation.
He also notes that removing the project could violate state environmental laws, as well as federal civil rights requirements.
In our letter, we make the case that any action by the city to increase the number of lane-miles available for mixed-flow vehicle traffic would require analysis, disclosure, and mitigation of potential environmental impacts pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The City must comply with CEQA before making any final decision on a project that changes conditions on the ground today.
Full removal of MOVE Culver City would entail adding approximately 2.6 lane miles of vehicular lanes to principal arterial highways, which is likely to significantly increase vehicle miles traveled, according to the state’s official CEQA guidance. That increase in VMT would contribute to additional greenhouse gas emissions impacts, as well as criteria air pollution, including ozone, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and PM10 and PM2.5, from tailpipe exhaust and brake, tire, and roadway wear.
Further, we note that the City is required by Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to analyze changes to transit service that might disproportionately affect people of color, immigrants and other protected communities who ride transit.
Celebrate Earth Day this Saturday on your bike! We’ll do the usual group ride to get some coffee — this time aiming for Belmont Heights. Then back to Pedal Movement.
For EXTRA CREDIT, keep rolling with us and climb Signal Hill for a chat with the Sierra Club about the threat of future oil drilling in our community.
Hard to tell just where this is, but it looks like it might be the Santa Monica Civic Center complex.
Or maybe SaMo High.
For how long were you going to keep this thing a secret @santamonicacity ? This is PROPER infrastructure; now that you’ve shown you know how to do it right, gimme some more! pic.twitter.com/ABWwXwlLbN
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on rolling.
No bias here. Officials in a Massachusetts town are up in arms after state officials begin work to remove a traffic lane and install bike lanes on a local bridge, insisting no one told them about the plans; one city councilmember actually insists there’s not enough bike traffic on the bridge to justify a bike lane, apparently forgetting that most people don’t enjoy risking their lives in traffic with safe infrastructure.
A New Orleans driver faces up to 15 years behind bars for the hit-and-run death of a “beloved” local butcher as he was riding his bike six years ago; no word on why it took so long to bring the man’s killer to justice.
L39ion of Los Angeles founders Justin and Cory Williams announced the launch of their third co-ed, multi-racial city-based cycling team in Austin, Texas, following the launch of another team in Miami. They may be single-handedly — okay, double handedly — doing more to ensure the survival, growth and spread of cycling in this country than anyone else.
Cycling has a carbon footprint of about 21g of CO2 per kilometre. That’s less than walking or getting the bus and less than a tenth the emissions of driving
About three-quarters of cycling’s greenhouse gas emissions occur when producing the extra food required to “fuel” cycling, while the rest comes from manufacturing the bicycle
Electric bikes have an even lower carbon footprint than conventional bikes because fewer calories are burned per kilometre, despite the emissions from battery manufacturing and electricity use
If cycling’s popularity in Britain increased six-fold (equivalent to returning to 1940s levels) and all this pedalling replaced driving, this could make a net reduction of 7.7-million tons of CO2 annually, equivalent to 6% of the UK’s transport emissions
That’s a big drop. But as they admit, going back to that rate of riding, from a time when many post-war Brits couldn’t afford a car or the gas to drive it, is a big lift.
More achievable would be replacing cars with bicycles and ebikes for half of all trips of five miles or less, which would result in a much lower but still significant reduction in greenhouse gasses.
By these calculations, cycling has the lowest carbon footprint of any mode of personal transport, even when compared to walking.
From a climate perspective, it makes sense for as many journeys as possible to be made by bike.
On an individual level, cycling instead of driving (or any other method of travelling) can make a positive impact on your carbon footprint.
But on a national scale, cycling has a limited role in addressing climate change. Because cycling is restricted to short journeys for most people, it can only replace a small fraction of the kilometres covered by cars.
Even if half of all sub-5-mile car journeys were replaced with cycling (a deliberately optimistic scenario) this would save around 7.7-million tons CO2e in the UK, equivalent to 2 per cent of UK domestic emissions in 2016. Not to be sniffed at, but not a silver bullet.
If that same 2% figure were applied to the US, it would save 102 million tons of CO2, based on 2017 figures.
That’s nothing to be sniffed at, either.
But it will take a better analytical mind than mine to calculate whether replacing half of all trips of less than five miles with bicycles, electric and otherwise, would be more or less than the UK’s 2%,
But even that would be a challenge in a country where cars are king, and even adequate bike networks are few and far between.
It’s not an insurmountable problem. But it’s not likely to change without leaders with the political will and courage to make it happen.
And right now, that’s the problem.
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Then again, bikes are pretty efficient, too.
Guess which ways of getting around are the most energy efficient per passenger KM travelled?
And General Motors put the lie to their promises of great quality and service, by saying it will be another six weeks before it can be repaired.
Which would mean they’d be starting back out on their trip two weeks after they were supposed to get there.
Hopefully GM will decide to avoid the bad publicity and figure out a way to do something sooner.
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Streets For All has been kind enough to post video of Wednesday’s virtual happy hour with California Assembly Transportation Committee Chair Laura Friedman, for those of us who missed it.
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Great to see the Cutters are still together after all those years after Breaking Away first hit the screens.
But they’re not going to get very far without any rubber on that bike.
A Texas driver faces a pair of manslaughter charges for an alleged drunken two-part crash in which he first killed a man riding a bike, then crossed onto the wrong side of the road a few miles later and killed a man driving a pickup.
August 10, 2021 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Streets For All shares virtual drinks with Friedman, CicLAvia returns on Sunday, and Brits battle over riding abreast
Britain’s Jeremy Vine takes the contrarian view to all those drivers who insist people on bikes should ride single file all the time.
People who cycle in the country should be encouraged to ride 2, 3 and 4 abreast like this. For the following reasons:
1. It calms the traffic behind them 2. It makes it less easy for bad drivers to attempt dangerous passes 3. It is more pleasant and sociable for them. pic.twitter.com/vqi4dsuUSs
I am a cyclist. Simple rule – we are smaller than cars – so be polite, ride single file when holding up cars. Understand people are busy etc Do not go thru red lights/ pedestrian crossings. But also do ask drivers to be careful when passing? Please. https://t.co/bAP3mfVDYZ
Norm Bradwell forwards the best pro bike helmet commercial of all time.
Yes, you may have seen it before, but it’s more than worth seeing again. Or for the first time, if you haven’t.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
No bias here. San Diego letter writers insist no one uses bike lanes because they don’t see them filled with bikes at the exact moment they happen to pass by, and that bike riders have to obey the law. Never mind that studies show safe infrastructure improves adherence to the law, and that bike riders break the law at about the same rate as people in the big, dangerous machines, but for much better reasons. Hint: Drivers cheat for convenience, bike riders to stay safe.
Sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
For the second time in a week, a Santa Barbara driver has been busted for running down a teenage bike rider, as a driver is being held on $100,000 bond on DUI and hit-and-run charges after rear-ending a 14-year old boy on a bicycle; the victim was hospitalized with moderate injuries.
July 6, 2021 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on CicLAvia returns with 3 dates this year, a first-hand view of traffic violence, and bike rider shoots driver in self-defense
That’s followed by the traditional Heart of LA route in Downtown Los Angeles on October 10th — the same date as the first CicLAvia, also in DTLA, eleven years earlier.
And last but far from least, a long-awaited return to South Los Angeles on October 5th.
Here’s what our bike-riding friend at KCBS2/KCAL9 have to say on the subject.
Normally I’d read it, maybe mutter a quick prayer, and move on. Just another every day tragic occurrence.
Except this time, the details dovetailed with an email I received yesterday, in the form of a script, from fellow bike rider and corgi aficionado Mike Burk, who moved from SoCal to the cooler and cloudier clime a few years ago.
Fade in:
Late morning, driver’s POV.
Coming home from town this morning when we’re diverted off the highway to a side road because of a road block. At the intersection, noticed a truck towing a poorly loaded trailer carrying an old backhoe. The truck was stopped, the driver getting a ticket by a couple of sheriff’s deputies.
Finally back on the highway and two or three miles down the road. Flashing lights ahead. As we inched along I noticed a bicycle on its side and no rider around. Whatever happened is over (it had been only 90 minutes since we came that way into town).
Seeing the bike and the emergency vehicles, I got a picture.
Photo by Mike Burk
Dissolve to:
Early afternoon, POV over shoulder, sitting at computer.
Me, during a Zoom meeting with our homeowner’s association Publications Committee. Going over articles for our next month’s Kala Pointer Newsletter. One of the committee members asked, “Did you hear about Stan Cummings this morning? He was riding his bike…”
You can guess the rest. Yes, that was Stan’s bike. He was medivacced (sp) to Harborview Hospital in Seattle (40 miles… if you’re a crow). He’s in their TBI unit, not expected to recover well, if at all.
It didn’t take too long for someone following to dial 911 — and then for the sheriffs, local police, and state police to locate and stop the truck.
Stan is active in the community and on his bike. We’ll see what happens.
Fade to black.
Burk adds this final thought.
I forget that this can happen anywhere. We’re in a REALLY small town. Even after all the miles I’ve put on my bike, the thought of getting out on that highway (WA19 and WA20) up here just terrifies me. I keep to the back roads.
Sadly, that’s exactly the case.
The news stories I see come from everywhere English is spoken, and many places it’s not.
From big cities and tiny towns in every state throughout the US, as well as Canada, Mexico and Central America, the Caribbean, the UK, Europe, India, Africa, New Zealand and Australia. And virtually everywhere else, on every kind of roadway.
Yet somehow, the onus for safety inevitably rests on our narrow, unprotected shoulders, rather than the people in the big, dangerous machines who pose the danger to people on bikes, and everyone else.
It’s like living in a village where monsters roam the streets, dragging people off at random. And instead of doing something about them, we merely tell the villagers to be careful and lock their doors at night.
Like this rabidly auto-centric anti-Vision Zero diatribe, in other words.
Every line is like parody. Jim Kenzie victim blaming on @TSN_Sports@MotoringTV. Because they’re the ones to die, responsibility for pedestrian safety is on pedestrians, not the people operating 2,000 kg high-speed machines, or those who design the streets that prioritize them. pic.twitter.com/2Oh0VBB14m
Apparently, Minnesota’s annual Freedom From Pants Ride went off without a…well, you get the idea.
MINNEAPOLIS: A 911 caller reports "500 bicyclists" wearing underwear and bathing suits, biking east from the intersection of Hennepin Ave. & Washington Ave. N.
— MN CRIME | Police/Fire/EMS (@MN_CRIME) July 5, 2021
Thanks to Tim Rutt for the heads-up.
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Megan Lynch forwards this piece about a man seven years into a diagnosis of dementia, yet still riding his bike across Nova Scotia to fight the disease.
WATCH: Dr. John Archibald’s father was diagnosed with dementia in 2014. There’s no cure but Archibald has decided bike across Nova Scotia to raise awareness and funds for dementia research and support. Alicia Draus talks with him about his ride which started on July 1. pic.twitter.com/eePQrf5h9r
British bike scribe and historian Carlton Reid explores England’s old Great North Road from London to Newcastle, traveling in style in a classic Morgan sports car, accompanied by a Brompton foldie in the passenger seat.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
In a truly bizarre case, a man on a bike shot a road raging Houston driver in self-defense when the male driver told a bike-riding couple they couldn’t ride in that neighborhood, then deliberately knocked the woman off her bike; her pistol-packing partner was let go, while the driver was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon.
Seriously? There’s not a pit in hell deep enough for a 23-year old English man who was caught masturbating on his bicycle, riding one-handed as he pursued women and young girls. Yet the bike-riding perv somehow avoided jail despite doing it not once, not twice or even thrice, but four times, apparently because the judge thought he’s a “promising student.”
A Singapore bicyclist was criticized for leaving a painted bike lane to draft behind a trio of dump trucks. Although that would be perfectly legal in the US, though not necessarily smart, where most, if not all, states allow bike riders to take the lane if they’re riding the speed of traffic.
Boulder CO police say there’s a nationwide bike shortage, so use a damn U-lock, already. Although they may not have said it quite that way.
More proof that collisions with pedestrians are just as dangerous for the person on the bike, as a 28-year old New York woman was left clinging to life after she crashed into a pedestrian walking in a Prospect Park crosswalk while she was riding in the bike lane. Seriously, ride carefully around pedestrians, who are just as unpredictable as people on bikes. And in cars.
Mashable offers tips on what to think about before entering the ebike world. But they get the first tip wrong, suggesting that ebiking is just a seasonal thing for everyone but the most extreme bicyclists.
A Singapore bike rider unfairly gets the blame for riding in the traffic lane when a driver slams into him from behind, throwing him onto the windshield before landing in the roadway; the victim sat up following the crash, so hopefully he’s okay. Warning: The dashcam video of the crash is absolutely horrifying, so be sure you really want to see it before you click on it.
According to the Daily Breeze, a man was crossing PCH in Wilmington around 5:25 Tuesday morning when he was struck by a pair of drivers.
The victim, who has not been publicly identified, was riding on Eubank Avenue at PCH when he was hit by one driver, then hit again by a second driver and knocked off his bike.
Both drivers remained at the scene.
Police report that he was apparently crossing against the light. However, there’s no word on whether there were any independent witnesses who weren’t involved in the crash at that early hour.
It’s also possible that the light may have changed as the victim was crossing the massive seven lane highway, bordered by a two lane service road.
This is at least the 18th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the fourth that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County; it’s also just the second in the City of Los Angeles since the first of the year.
Update: My News LA reports the victim was crossing PCH headed north on Eubank Ave when he was struck by an eastbound driver, then hit again by someone traveling west on PC.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and his loved ones.
Friday morning, I received an email from Richard Rosenthal saying that he had seen what appeared to be the aftermath of a bicycling collision on Anaheim Street in Wilmington.
He was on his way to work when he saw the street blocked in both directions, a police tent pitched on the median, and a bicycle lying next to it.
Despite reaching out to a number of sources, I was only able to confirm that someone had died there, but not what happened or whether the victim was riding a bike at the time.
The victim, who has not been publicly identified, was pronounced dead at the scene.
The driver reportedly continued without stopping. However, if the crash happened the way the station describes, it’s possible he or she may not have been aware of it.
Although it’s hard to understand why a bicyclist would have ridden into the side of large truck like that, or how he ended up on the center median if he hit the right side of a westbound truck.
It seems more likely that he may have been riding across the street when the driver cut him off, knowingly or otherwise.
Police are looking for a truck with a light-colored cab and dark brown trailer. As always, there is a standing $50,000 reward for any fatal hit-and-run in the City of Los Angeles.
This is at least the 51st bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 25th that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County.
My deepest sympathy and prayer for the victim and all his loved ones.
