Tag Archive for windshield bias

Morning Links: Bikemakers burned out in Camp Fire, Brit shrink calls bike riders narcissists, and Lake Wobegon drivers

November 20, 2018 / / 3 comments

It’s hard to find bigger hearts and more caring people than you’ll find in bicycling.

Like the two framebuilders who lost their homes and workshops in Northern California’s deadly and devastating Camp Fire.

Yet insist on helping others instead of themselves.

Custom bikemaker Alistair Spence moved to Paradise from Seattle earlier this year, and had just finished setting up his workshop a few months ago.

But even though he and his wife have lost everything, he’s only accepting $7,000 from the crowdfunding campaign to help him get back on his feet, and donating the rest to help other victims.

Meanwhile, former Portland resident Mitch Pryor also lost his home in the Camp Fire that has killed over 70 people. And like Spence, he’s only accepting $10,000 of the money raised for him on his GoFundMe page, and giving the rest to fire relief causes.

Between them, that’s over $6,000 that will go to victims of the Camp Fire thanks to their kindness and generosity.

Maybe we can do something to help push that total up a little.

Thanks to James Biffin for the heads-up. Photos of Mitch Pryor (top) and Alistair Spence from their respective GoFundMe pages.

………

No bias here.

A British psychotherapist, who probably shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near actual patients, has somehow diagnosed all bicyclists as narcissists.

I wonder what she’d say about medical professionals who diagnose people they’ve never met from the comfort of their studio chairs?

Let alone allow their own windshield bias dictate how they respond.

………

Call it the Lake Wobegon effect.

Like Garrison Keillor’s fictional town, where all the children were above average, British motorists seem to think they’re better than average, as well.

In fact, in a recent study, 91% of UK residents consider themselves good drivers — even though most also admit to speeding to get through yellow lights.

But not a hint of narcissism there.

Right?

The same study also shows that 77% of Brits would support an automatic driving ban for people convicted of causing death or serious injury.

And it suggests that bicyclists are 46 times more likely to be killed on UK roads than motorists on a per-mile basis.

Although the problem with that last stat is that bike trips tend to be far shorter than car trips; bike riders spend more time covering shorter distances.

So a more accurate measure would be comparing actual time spent on the road.

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Here’s your chance to bid on a one-of-a-kind Specialized Allez Sprint custom painted by Spanish artist Felipe Pantone, valued at $45,000, to benefit World Bicycle Relief.

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Best wishes to longtime SCAG Senior Transportation Planner Alan Thompson, who left his position with the Southern California Association of Governments last week to head up the Oregon Department of Transportation’s Bikeway’s Division.

While he’s somehow managed to stay out of the spotlight over the years, Thompson has been a forceful advocate for bicycling in Southern California, and will be very missed.

Oregon bicyclists will be lucky to have him.

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Local

Hats off to Santa Monica College, which was upgraded to a silver level bike friendly rating by the League of American Bicyclists, and remains the only community college in California to be named a Bicycle Friendly University.

Streetsblog takes a look at the Wilshire bus-only lane leading to the 405 in Westwood, which drivers have illegally co-opted for another traffic lane.

 

State

Uber has deployed 300 JUMP dockless ebikes on the streets of San Diego, as a writer questions how long they’ll last after other bikeshare providers have pulled out of the city.

Apple is planning to take a hike to improve iOS Maps directions for bicyclists and pedestrians, after a successful test in San Francisco.

Someone please tell San Francisco’s KPIX-TV that there’s a slight difference between a $3 million price tag to complete the bike and pedestrian path along the Bay Bridge, and the actual estimate of $300 million. But really, what’s $297 million between friends?

It’s environmentalists 1, mountain bikes 0, after Marin County agrees to a two-year delay before opening any more trails to bicycles.

 

National

A local news site posted photos of Saturday’s Tour de Tucson, where an estimated 7,000 riders took part.

It takes a major scumbag to steal or tamper with a memorial to a victim of traffic violence. Yet thefts and vandalism of ghost bikes are on the rise in Albuquerque NM.

An Austin TX man was injured after pushing his wife to safety when he was hit head-on by someone driving in the bike lane they were running in.

Chicago marked the annual World Day of Remembrance by placing 132 pairs of white-painted shoes around the Federal Plaza to represent the victims of traffic violence in the city over the past year.

A cyclist pens a love letter to a Minnesota velodrome, soon to be sacrificed for a parking lot.

Grand Rapids MI is succeeding at their Vision Zero efforts, with bicycling crashes dropping to the lowest level since 2008.

NIMBY New York residents rally to demand their unsafe street back; the oddly misnamed Queens Streets for All wants to take the street back from all users, and turn it back over a cars.

Ignoring studies showing that bikeable, walkable streets are good for business, New York business owners complain about a lane reduction and newly widened bike lane that took away 150 parking spaces; a DOT spokesperson says the real problem isn’t the bike lanes, it’s drivers double parking in the only remaining traffic lane.

Now that’s more like it. DC now has a dedicated work crew to clear snow and ice from bike lanes, as well as clearing curb cuts for wheelchair users.

 

International

Once again, a British bike rider has had to withdraw a claim that injuries he suffered from hitting a pothole left him too badly injured to ride, after social media posts showed him competing in the “best obstacle-packed course on the planet.”

A man died after falling off a Belfast bar bike; the 15 passenger rolling pedal-powered pubs are popular with tourists.

A hard-hitting column from a Pakistani writer points out the harassment women face in the country just for riding a bicycle — unless they happen to be Westerners, and white.

Bengaluru, India bike riders are embracing bikeshare, even if the government is struggling to keep up.

A Kenyon paster wowed the country after riding his bike 190 miles to look for work as a driver in Nairobi.

A Wellington, New Zealand writer says the city is on the right track thanks to the city council’s bicycling plans.

An Aussie architect asks when Sydney will finally take bicycling seriously.

Shanghai bikeshare users who break the rules or leave their bikes in the wrong places will now be placed on a blacklist.

Schadenfreude is also a dish best served cold. Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn has been arrested on fraud charges in Japan for under-reporting his salary; Ghosn had told CNBC in 2016 that bicyclists usually “don’t respect any rules.”

 

Competitive Cycling

Prince Harry’s friend Dean Stott has denied allegations of cheating in his record-breaking ride along the full length of South and North America, blaming disgruntled support staff for the accusations. He broke the existing record by 17 days in order to get home in time for the prince’s wedding.

Belgian cyclist Stig Broeckx is back on a bike, two years after suffering a severe brain injury in a crash with a race moto in the 2016 Tour of Belgium.

Relive Lance’s victory over Marco Pantani on Mount Ventoux in the 2000 Tour from the comfort of your theater seat.

 

Finally…

Maybe marathon isn’t the right word when  your country’s first-ever bike marathon only travels two miles. Ride your bike in the annual Macy’s parade; no, not that one.

And forget carbon, your next lightweight bike could be made of Super Magnesium.

Let’s just hope they’ve overcome that whole explosive/flammable magnesium thing.

 

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Morning Links: Another bike hating Facebook group, 95-years old and still riding, and LA worst city for walkers

September 19, 2018 / / One comment

This is who we share the roads with.

According to the founders of a Northern Kentucky Facebook group, throwing quarters and lit cigarettes at bicyclists, directing homophobic slurs at bike riders, and saying “exterminate these assholes” is just good, clean American fun.

One of the group’s administrators — a candidate for the local school board, had this to say.

“I see both sides but people need to realize we are just fucking around,” he wrote in a comment on a post in the group. “I hope no one from this group would ever intentionally hurt someone.”

Despite comments like this from others in the group.

“It’s going to look real bad when one of us accidentally run over one of these bicyclist lol,” reads one post a group member wrote Sunday. That post seems to have since been deleted.

” ‘Accidentally’ lol” another member comments.

“What body?” Heim replied.

“You need an alibi I got you,” a fourth group member wrote.

A post by another group administrator, David Andriot, shows a car plowing into a group of cyclists, with several flying into the air.

“I’ll get even with those cyclist (sic) one way or another…” Andriot wrote above the photo.

Evidently I don’t have a very good sense of humor.

Because harassing and assaulting other people — let alone threatening their lives — because you don’t like their chosen means of transportation doesn’t seem very funny to me.

But what the hell do I know?

………

I want to be like him when I grow up.

A 95-year old Iowa man still rides 10 miles a day using an adult tricycle, even though he can barely walk.

More proof that just about anyone can bike. And that bike lanes benefit the elderly and disabled, despite what bike lane opponents and traffic safety deniers insist.

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Local

Is anyone really surprised that Los Angeles is the most dangerous city in the US for pedestrians, with more than twice as many fatalities as the next highest city?

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton says the positives about the $20 million, ten-year MyFigueroa Complete Streets project are undermined by scofflaw drivers.

Curbed writes about nine cities throughout the US with smart ideas to improve transportation — including LA’s commitment to electric buses and Santa Monica’s Scooter City USA.

KABC-7 offers advice on how to deal with neck and back pain caused by riding, while Red Bull gives tips on how to stay comfortable on endurance rides.

 

State

The last fatal mountain lion attack in California came 14 years ago, when a mountain biker fixing a broken chain was killed in Orange County’s Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park. Note: Thanks to Mike Wilkinson and J. Patrick Lynch for pointing out that I originally wrote “mountain bike attack,” rather than “mountain lion.” It should be noted that mountain bikes seldom attack. And when they do, it’s usually their owners.

San Diego approved plans for dense housing and commercial projects around the city’s sports arena, including 30 acres of parks, bike lanes and a bay-to-bay trail.

A writer from the University of California says the problem isn’t the scooters on our streets, it’s the streets themselves.

Curbed’s Alissa Walker says representatives of more than 400 cities around the world attending the recent climate summit in San Francisco were obsessed with electric cars, rather than biking and walking, which have the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions faster.

 

National

An architecture and design site questions whether e-scooters are bad for the environment.

After a series of bicycling fatalities in Chicago, the city council opened the floor to bike riders to vent their anger. And more importantly, actually listened to them. Unlike a certain SoCal city we could name.

Life is cheap in Ohio, where a driver will serve 16 days home confinement, followed by a whopping 14 days behind bars after pleading guilty to vehicular homicide in the death of a bike rider.

Indiana second graders learn the meaning of a ghost bike near their school, and decide that everyone should know about it.

A bikeshare rider goes for a ride, partly against traffic, in a Boston highway tunnel.

A planned expansion of Arlington National Cemetery could be good news for local bike riders.

A Florida woman woman rides 50 miles a day after surviving a stroke five years ago, riding primarily through black communities so they can see an African American woman on a bike; she’s planning to ride 2,200 miles across the US to Burbank.

 

International

Keep riding your bike. Greenhouse gas emissions have started to decline in 27 cities around the world — including car-choked Los Angeles.

Five cities around the world that made their streets safer through urban design. Any guesses on whether LA is one of them? Anyone?

Cycling Weekly tells you what to look for in energy gels. How about one that comes with a wet wipe to clean your hands afterwards?

The Guardian asks what a truly walkable city would look like. And looks at life in the Spanish city of Pontevedra, where cars are banned from the central city. We could only dream. Thanks to Stephen Katz for the heads-up.

Vancouver’s aggressively auto-centric mayoral candidate, who’s running on a platform attacking lawless bike riders and pedestrians, while promising to rip out the city’s bike lanes, failed to show up for a court hearing on a distracted driving ticket; she claims the officer mistook her makeup compact for a cellphone. Sure, let’s go with that.

Monday was a rough day for Toronto bike riders, with three injured, and a 72-year old man killed, in just a single four-hour period. Thanks again to Stephen Katz.

Fifty London streets will be closed to motor vehicle traffic on Saturday for World Car Free Day.

A new survey shows Glasgow bicyclists and drivers hold a dim view of one another.

The Jerusalem Post celebrates Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, by relating the history of bicycling in Israel and Palestine.

The next round of Trump’s tariffs going into effect next week will include Chinese-made bicycles, frames and components, potentially making your next bike or parts 25% more expensive; bike safety equipment like helmets and lights were removed from the list.

 

Competitive Cycling

Bicycling profiles Mike Wood, the Canadian cyclist who made the WorldTour just three years after he started racing. And made cycling fans cry by revealing he dedicated his stage win in the Vuelta to his stillborn son.

2016 Paris-Roubaix champion Mathew Hayman will retire after 20 years in the pro peloton.

 

Finally…

Now you can go electric on gravel. When you’re carrying meth on your bike, don’t ride salmon without lights and run red lights — or flee from the police.

And if you’re going to spend ten years riding your bike around the world, don’t wait until you’re already 60 miles away to tell your wife.

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I’ve been blown away by the generosity of BikinginLA readers this week. So let me thank Kevin G and Alan C for their generous donations to help support this site. 

If everyone who visits BikinginLA today donated just $10, it would be more than enough to keep to keep this site going for a full year.

And G’mar Tov to all our Jewish friends; may your fast be easy.

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Join the Militant Angeleno and BikinginLA for the first-ever Militant Angeleno’s Epic CicLAvia Tour at the Celebrate LA! LA Phil 100 CicLAvia on September 30th!

Just RSVP to MilitantAngeleno@gmail.com. We want to guarantee a relatively small group to make sure we can keep the group together, and everyone can hear.

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , ,

Morning Links: LA County settles Milt Olin case for $11.75 million, and sheriff’s deputies get it wrong on PCH. Again.

May 30, 2018 / / 2 comments

Five and a half years after music executive Milt Olin was killed by a distracted LA County sheriff’s deputy, his family has finally received some justice.

About $11.75 million worth.

According to the Los Angeles Daily News, the Olin family will receive that amount in a settlement from the county.

Which is just slightly more than the $80,000 requested in their original lawsuit.

But possibly less than a jury would have given them if the case had gone to trial.

Olin was riding in a bike lane on Mulholland Highway in Calabasas when the deputy ran him down from behind while responding to a message from another officer on his onboard computer.

That came just moments after the deputy had been texting with his wife while driving. Which, remarkably, is legal for emergency personnel in California, even if the text has nothing to do with official business.

The LA County District Attorney refused to file charges in the case, or to hold the sheriff’s department accountable in any way for a policy that allowed deputies to use the onboard computer while driving, with predictable results.

That policy was changed as a result of Olin’s death.

Which, in the long run, may be worth much more than his family will receive in this case.

Photo from the Milt Olin Foundation website.

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It’s a never-ending story.

Every few years, Malibu sheriff’s deputies insist on harassing and ticketing bicyclists who are doing absolutely nothing wrong, based on a flawed interpretation of California law.

And after various bicyclists, bike advocates and organizations explain the law to them, they back off. Until the deputies are transferred out, and new ones come in to take their place.

Then the cycle starts all over again.

Like it did this past weekend, when members of the Major Motion Cycling Club were harassed by a sheriff’s deputy, who used his loud speaker to insist that they ride single file in a non-existent bike lane.

So let’s go through this one more time.

CVC 21202 allows bicyclists to ride in the roadway, using the full lane when necessary.

Bike riders can, at their own discretion, ride on the shoulder of a roadway. However, nothing to the right of the limit line is legally considered part of the road, and bicyclists can’t be required to ride there.

And just because there’s a stripe on the side of the road, that doesn’t make it a bike lane.

It’s true that CVC 21202 requires anyone using a bicycle to ride as far to the right as practicable — not as far as possible, as it’s frequently misinterpreted.

However, it contains a number of exceptions when the ride-to-the-right rule does not apply, including in a substandard traffic lane. That means any lane that is too narrow to safely share with a bicycle and a motor vehicle, while allowing for a three-foot passing distance.

Like the lane shown in the video, which is clearly too narrow for a bike and a car to safely travel side-by-side. And like most of the other right hand traffic lanes in the LA area.

There is also absolutely nothing in California law requiring bicyclists to ride single file.

The CHP and LASD have often attempted to misapply the ride-to-the-right rule in CVC 21202 to say that anyone riding abreast is not riding as far to the right as practicable. However, as we noted, that requirement does not apply on a substandard lane.

It is actually safer to ride abreast under those conditions, because it increases the visibility of the riders and allows them to control the full lane, forcing drivers to change lanes to go around them.

And it makes the riders easier to pass by bunching closer together in a small group, rather than stretching out in a long line.

Finally, it’s impossible to obstruct traffic on a roadway with two or more lanes in each direction, where drivers can simply change lanes to go around.

But don’t take my word for it.

Below is the video the LAPD prepared to train its own officers in bike law and the rights of bicyclists.

Which should be required viewing at the Malibu/Los Hills sheriff station.

Thanks to Martin Blount for the video.

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This is who we share the roads with.

An aggressive, road raging California driver flips off a bike rider and makes a punishment pass for no apparent reason.

Thanks to Frank Lehnerz for the heads-up.

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Local

Los Angeles police solved just 8% of hit-and-runs in the city last year. Which means 92% of hit-and-run drivers committed a crime and got away with it. But sure, let’s keep pretending it’s not a crisis.

The SGV Connect podcast discusses how to support people who bike at the University of La Verne.

Registration is open for this summer’s Tour de Laemmle, the annual 135-mile ride along with Laemmle Theaters president Greg Laemmle as he visits all of the theater chain’s nine LA area venues.

 

State

No surprise here. San Diego drivers are taking advantage of a new bike lane in Mission Valley for prime parking space, forcing riders out into high speed traffic; police are ticketing the cars even though No Parking signs haven’t been installed yet.

A San Francisco woman asks if bike riders are really welcome in Paso Robles after a road raging driver threatens to run her and her husband down unless they ride single file. Which they were.

A San Francisco supervisor follows through on threats to remove a bike lane to make room for more free parking.

Don’t ride your e-scooter on the San Francisco Bay Bridge. Or any other freeway.

 

National

Distracted driving gets the blame for a 13.5% jump in traffic fatalities in the US; the United States was one of just five nations to see an increase in traffic deaths over a five year period.

Streetsblog says fire departments are now embracing safer street designs, rather than fighting much needed safety improvements.

An Oregon letter writer says bicyclists should be held to the same standard as drivers. So feel free to roll stop signs, ride through intersections after the light has changed, never signal, and ride ten miles over the speed limit while texting, just like the people in cars do.

A retired Los Angeles man says he’s given up on bicycling in the city, driven off the streets by road raging drivers, and moving to Tucson to take advantage of the city’s 131-mile off-road bike and pedestrian loop. Someone should send that to every member of the city council so they can see what we have to deal with on a daily basis.

A group of Ukrainian cyclists is passing through New Mexico on a ride across the US to promote adoptions.

Iowa bicyclists call for a law requiring drivers to change lanes to pass people on bicycles, and increased penalties for driving distracted.

A Chicago bike rider somehow assumes that bad bicyclist behavior is responsible for a dramatic increase in bicycling fatalities, and calls on his fellow citizens to yell at the miscreant riders.

Doctors in New York were able to save the leg of a nationally ranked junior cyclist after he developed an aggressive form of bone cancer, saving his dreams of competing in the Olympics.

A marathon runner is suing New York for $2 million after he broke his arm in a collision with a bike rider on the George Washington Bridge, claiming there’s not enough room for people on bikes and on foot on the bridge.

A Pennsylvania newspaper reminds drivers about the state’s four-foot passing law, and says there’s no excuse for disobeying a perfectly sound law.

The Voice of America looks at DC’s monthly Bike Party.

Apparently having solved the problem of distracted driving, Miami considers a campaign to reduce distracted bicycling, skateboard and moped riding. No, really.

 

International

Horrifying story from Ontario, Canada, where a man is fighting for his life, and a woman seriously injured, after a driver slammed head-on into four bicyclists on a charity ride; the driver was attempting to pass a slower vehicle, and reportedly never braked before hitting the riders.

A Canadian city is taking bikeshare to the next level by offering a free bike lending program, allowing users to check a bike out for a day.

In a bizarre comment, the head of London’s department of transportation apologized to drivers for the city’s hugely successful cycle superhighways, saying they were poorly thought out and rushed through under the previous mayor. Although he may have been talking about the construction delays, not the bikeways themselves.

London’s Independent recommends six of the coolest cycling destinations around the world to add to your bike bucket list.

When is a bike lane not a bike lane? When it can convert to other uses at different times of day, thanks to a new concept from a London design engineering firm.

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes continues. Someone reportedly sabotaged a UK mountain bike trail by stringing wire across it, as well as placing logs and other obstructions on the trail.

Bike advocates in Malta complain about a limited and disconnected bike lane that doesn’t meet European standards. Proving once again that bicyclists face the same problems all over the world.

Over 82,000 people in Australia have signed a petition to require bicyclists to ride single file when in a group, and ban bikes from roads with speed limits over 50 mph.

 

Competitive Cycling

A member of the US Paralympic Cycling Team credits riding with lifting him out of a decade-long depression that began when he suffered a stroke as a teenager.

Britain announces a new campaign to stop doping and ensure public faith in cycling. Maybe they could start by taking a closer look at Team Sky. I’m just saying.

Five-time Tour de France winner Bernard Hinault doesn’t hold back, saying Team Sky star and Giro champ Chris Froome doesn’t belong with the legends of cycling, and shouldn’t be allowed to compete until his doping case is resolved.

 

Finally…

It’s now legal to bike through the drive-through for a Portland burger. Putting school parking — and senior pranks — to better bikeshare use; thanks to Campoy for the link.

And we’re not in danger of being replaced until these little guys learn to hold their line.

https://twitter.com/marceldirsus/status/1001086989410668546

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

Morning Links: Wasted time at HHWNC meeting, Glendale-Hyperion Bridge meeting, and Bob Blumenfield bike ride

February 22, 2018 / / 5 comments

So much for that.

I sat through three hours of the Hollywood Hills West Neighborhood Council last night, until they finally got around to discussing the draft Hollywood Community Plan.

Then stormed out after chairwoman interrupted my comment to argue with me, denied she was arguing with, then told me my time was up. All before I barely said anything.

Which is the second time I’ve attended one of their meetings, and been denied a chance to speak.

Nice when your neighborhood representatives refuse to listen.

Although I did stay long enough to hear a Hollywood Hills homeowner on the council tell us that we don’t need a bike lane through the Cahuenga Pass when bicyclists can just take the Red Line from NoHo to Hollywood.

Which pretty much sums up windshield bias. And tells you what we’re up against.

Update: A much calmer India Brookover stayed after I left, and offers this recap of what happened.

I was at the council meeting tonight and wanted to let you know how they voted, which actually ended up being pretty interesting. Also wanted to highlight some clarifications that were made.
The subjects of the motion were really unclear. The addendum, particularly the “infeasible” part is actually language gathered from a letter from the Outpost Estates Homeowners Group of the 5th district, not Anastasia Mann’s words.
Suzanne Warren, chair of district 5 (where homeowners group was located) actually ended up questioning the language of determining the lanes as unfeasible and said there was no reason to preclude a feasibility study. The transportation chair introduced a motion to strike the language regarding infeasibility from the addendum and remarkably, it passed unanimously.
I hope I’m getting everything right (its been a long night) so please check the minutes when they are posted. I found that the meeting turned out surprisingly successful. I was happy to see we had some allies on the board who countered the car-centric ethos I was expecting to hear.
It’s not a gigantic win but its certainly notable.

Hopefully, this will lead to a more promising discussion of Hollywood bike lanes and lane reductions in the days to come.

And maybe I’ll actually get a chance to speak next time.

Apropos of nothing, a here’s nice, calming, pretty bike photo downloaded from Pexels.com that I intend to stare at until I calm down.

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There will be a meeting tonight to discuss progress on the Glendale-Hyperion Bridge Project, which is slated to get bike lanes on both sides, but a walkway on just one.

Also on the agenda is design options for the nearby Red Car Pedestrian Bridge.

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Third District LA City Councilmember Bob Blumenfield will host his 5th annual bike ride next month.

 

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Local

Los Angeles is adding more Leading Pedestrian Interval signals, giving people crossing the street a head start before motorists get the green light. Now they just need to change the law so bicyclists can go with the LPI signal, as well.

The LA City Council has voted to develop a plan to inspect and repair all the cracked and crumbling bike lanes in Los Angeles. Or you can read about it in a surprising good report from Chinese news agency Xinhua. Of course, developing a plan is not exactly the same as doing it.

Culver City is asking for input to help update their Bicycle and Pedestrian Action Plan.

Streetsblog’s SGV Connect podcast talks about the coming complete street project and protected bike lanes in Monterey Park.

LA County has approved a grant to develop an East San Gabriel Valley Active Transportation Plan.

 

State

There’s something seriously wrong when a six-year old Fullerton girl isn’t even safe from a drunk driver when she’s playing on the sidewalk.

A San Diego TV station asks if the Hillcrest neighborhood should have more parking or bike lanes. But somehow can’t seem to find a single bike rider to talk to.

Streetsblog looks at the creeping criminalization of walking, in the wake of Montclair’s idiotic law prohibiting pedestrians from using an electronic device or listening to headphones while crossing the street. Meanwhile, new motor vehicles come equipped with high-resolution touch screen displays, built-in WiFi and high-power sound systems.

 

National

A one cent increase in the gas tax would more than fund all federal spending for bike and pedestrian projects in the United States.

Cycling Tips offers photos from some of the great bikes at the North American Handmade Bicycle Show.

Bicycling looks at the growing NASCAR bicycling community, asking if they could be cycling’s best safety advocates.

You might want to think twice before you buy a Giro or Bell helmet, or a Camelbak water bottle, unless you’re okay with your money going to a company that also makes AR15-style assault rifles.

Great idea. A nonprofit group donated 200 bicycles to help Las Vegas kids get to school.

A Salt Lake City Op-Ed says Utah’s proposed stop as yield law is all about safety.

A new Colorado bill would leave it up to individual cities to decide whether to implement an Idaho Stop Law, allowing riders to go treat stop signs and red lights as yields. The problem with that sort of local control is that what is legal in one town could be banned in the next, leaving riders subject to tickets if they unknowing cross city limit signs.

A fellow rider remembers his friend, fallen cyclist and author Andrew Tilin, who was collateral damage in a crash between two drivers as he knelt to fix a flat in Austin TX.

The Des Moines Register profiles the city’s new active transportation planner, one of 16 new positions created by a 12 cent property tax increase.

A Philly weekly dispels common myths about bicycling.

A writer in Savannah GA complains it’s been six long years since the city had built any bicycling infrastructure.

You know bikeshare is catching on when it comes to the Florida Keys.

 

International

Two Canadian cyclists had their bikes stolen just day’s after completing a 500-mile winter fundraising ride around Lake Ontario.

Caught on video: A 13-year old British girl with a helmet cam records a near head-on collision on a narrow country road when an impatient driver couldn’t wait a few more seconds to pass her. But sure, tell us again about those scofflaw cyclists.

An Irish website offers advice on beating bike thieves. And no, it’s not about what kind of club to use. Unfortunately.

Your next job could be bicycling and filming through Europe and West Africa for the next four months. Just don’t expect to get paid.

Al Arabiya offers a little more information about the horrific crash that killed four teenage Saudi cyclists on a club ride, and seriously injured six others; the murderous schmuck behind the wheel driver attempted to flee after smashing into them at more that 100 mph before crashing into another car. And four other members of the club were injured when their car was hit by a truck as they rushed to see their friends in the hospital.

 

Competitive Cycling

The Manx Missile, aka Mark Cavendish, suffered a concussion and whiplash after colliding with four other riders when a team car driver unexpectedly hit the brakes in front of them in the Abu Dhabi Tour.

 

Finally…

When your bike light maps potholes for you. A new crowdfunding campaign promises to give you eyes in the back of your helmet.

And who says mountain bikes can’t fly?

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Weekend Links: Windshield bias in response to calls for bike safety; blood drive for Moorpark hit-and-run victim

December 17, 2016 / / One comment

Talk about not getting it.

Letter writers to the Daily Breeze respond with the usual windshield bias clichés to the paper’s recent story about the Tuesday’s die-in in Palos Verdes Estates.

Especially since all the riders are really asking for is to not get killed when they ride through the peninsula.

Like the first letter, from a San Pedro resident, who says governments on the peninsula shouldn’t give in to “the shrill carping of a narcissistic, entitled and noisy minority.”

Significantly less that 1 percent of the users of PVP roadways are bicyclists, yet they stridently demand that vehicular travelers virtually surrender the roads throughout PVP to them, allegedly for their own “safety.”

The vast majority of bicyclists riding PVP roadways are using them for recreation, while conversely, automobile drivers are commuting, attending to errands or business.

On weekends especially, the critical major PVP arteries are typically clogged by crowds of hundreds of cyclists, often arrogantly hogging lanes and congesting the roadways.

Never mind the obvious contradiction that “less than percent” of road users somehow manage to congest the roadways by the hundreds.

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Or that the riders are “arrogantly hogging lanes,” since that’s exactly where the DMV says they’re supposed to be.

And never mind the ridiculous assertion that everyone in a car has somewhere important to go, while everyone on bikes are just out to have fun and to make life miserable for all those poor, put-upon people in cars, who never, ever drive without some urgent need.

He ends by claiming there are “hundreds, if not thousands” of dedicated bike trails where people could ride rather than forcing riders to deal with odious congestion.

Maybe someone should tell him that congestion is caused by all those people in cars on the road, who wouldn’t be stuck in traffic if they weren’t busy being traffic. Or that all those thousands of miles of bike trails exist mostly in his overly vivid imagination.

Then there’s the following letter, which confirms that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing by citing CVC 21202, which every bike rider should know by heart.

Section 21202 of the California Vehicle Code says bicyclists must ride as close to the curb as practicable. That means cyclists riding side-by-side are breaking the law.

Which is absolutely true, if you ignore the rest of the statute. Especially subsection (3), which lists the many conditions under which the requirement to ride to the right doesn’t apply.

(3) When reasonably necessary to avoid conditions (including, but not limited to, fixed or moving objects, vehicles, bicycles, pedestrians, animals, surface hazards, or substandard width lanes) that make it unsafe to continue along the right-hand curb or edge, subject to the provisions of Section 21656. For purposes of this section, a “substandard width lane” is a lane that is too narrow for a bicycle and a vehicle to travel safely side by side within the lane.

In other words, you don’t have to ride to the right when the right lane is too narrow to safely share with a motor vehicle, while allowing for at least a three foot passing distance, and without having to ride in the gutter and debris that collects on the side of the road.

Which is pretty much every street on the Palos Verdes peninsula, let alone the entire County of Los Angeles.

………

A blood drive will be held over the next few weeks for Linda O’Connor, who remains in a coma in critical condition a week after she was struck by an alleged drugged hit-and-run driver while she was riding with a friend in Moorpark.

According to the Ventura County Star, 34-year old Jasmine Duran, the driver who ran her down and tried to hide her car after fleeing from the scene, will be arraigned next month on felony counts of hit-and-run and driving under the influence of drugs.

………

‘Tis the season.

Burbank’s Bike Angels lined up 50 bike on the steps of city hall, just part of the 200 refurbished bikes they plan to give away through the Salvation Army and other charitable organizations.

A bighearted Rohnert Park businessman gave out 200 bicycles and helmets to kids from struggling families. And in at least one case, slipped a mother a wad of cash to finish her Christmas shopping after both of her sons received new bikes.

Members of a Tennessee Baptist church team with the owners of a local funeral home to donate 45 bicycles for students at a nearby elementary school.

A Pittsburgh volunteer spends hours every month searching for special needs children who could use an individually customized tricycle, giving away over 1,200 of the $1,800 bikes since 2012.

A Louisiana sporting goods store gave 30 bikes to students at a Catholic school.

Florida’s Jack the Bike Man plans to give away a whopping 1,200 bicycles to area kids in a single day.

………

Taylor Phinney says cycling needs saving, and he that barely decided to stick with it for next year instead of retiring.

The man credited with inventing motor doping claims a January television investigation will reveal technical fraud at the highest levels of pro cycling.

Australia’s Mitch Docker has recovered from his horrific crash on the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix that left him with a broken eye socket, his tongue cut in half and six broken teeth.

………

Local

Los Angeles officials unveiled the new and improved Van Nuys Blvd in Pacoima, where one northbound lane was removed to make room for two 0.8-mile bike lanes; only the northbound bike lane is parking protected, while the southbound riders get a small buffer to separate them from motor vehicle traffic.

The LACBC reports on Tuesday’s meeting to discuss completing the missing 12.5 miles of the LA River bike path through the San Fernando Valley.

Altadena’s newly relocated Open Road Bicycle Shop goes for the wow factor with a repurposed dry cleaner’s carousel filled with bikewear.

 

State

San Francisco’s experiment with raised bike lanes used four different approaches to protect riders; one with a vertical curb was the least effective in preventing injuries.

 

National

Wired offers a semi-legal guide to hacking safer streets, based on an actual guide to hacking safer streets.

This is the price of unsafe passing, as a truck driver in my hometown gets 90 days behind bars for a failed pass, while his impatience cost a bike rider his life.

The Chicago Tribune bizarrely responds to a DePaul University study suggesting an Idaho Stop Law could save lives with an editorial saying too many bike riders have died already, even though none of them were killed going through a stop sign or red light. Chicago Streetsblog smartly dissects the editorial.

 

International

Trek’s CEO says women who ride love riding just like the guys.

A conservative think tank accuses Calgary of retroactively tweaking bike lane numbers to make the goals easier to meet.

Britain’s transportation minister could face private prosecution for dooring a bicyclist; in the UK, private citizens can pay to have someone prosecuted if government prosecutors won’t do the job.

British cyclist Guy Martin had to give up his attempt to break the record for riding 11,000 miles around the British coast after pulling his Achilles tendon.

Over 400,000 Belgians receive a government allowance for riding to work, an increase of 30% since 2011. A program like that could dramatically cut the number of cars on the street here, at a fraction of the cost of other efforts.

Manga fans can look forward to the upcoming anime version of Minami Kamakura High School Girls Cycling Club.

A Beijing professor says China’s laws need to catch up with the rapidly rising use of ebikes.

 

Finally…

Why waste money on a skin suit when you can just buy a compression shirt and sick in your gut. Don’t be a jerk at your local bike shop.

And nothing like a very fast-paced tour of Tokyo.

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