Tag Archive for wrong way drivers

U-23 crit champ victim in SoCal road rage, motorcyclist killed on San Gabriel River Trail, and 80-year old family killer walks

March 24, 2026 / / No comments

This is who we share the road with.

US National U-23 crit champ Luke Fetzer posted video of road-raging, tailgating and trash tossing motorists right here in sunny Southern California.

Including one genius who tried tailgating him in a painted bike lane, apparently annoyed that anyone would have the temerity to ride a bicycle in what’s clearly intended as a traffic bypass lane for impatient motorists.

One more reminder to stay safe out there, because there are always angry, dangerous idiots behind some, if not most, of those steering wheels.

And bonus points for having the exceptional good taste to post his video to the Dropkick Murphys.

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This is who we share the bike path with.

A speeding, helmetless and lightless motorcyclist was killed when he collided head-on with a bicycle rider on the San Gabriel River Trail around 8 pm Friday night.

He died after both men were hospitalized in critical condition.

Needless to say, he shouldn’t have been there on the bike path to begin with. But I would guess most of us have encountered people on dirt bikes and/or motorbikes illegally using SoCal bike paths and bike lanes at one time or another.

No word on the bike rider’s current condition.

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Apparently, life is very cheap in the Bay Area.

As expected, an 80-year old San Francisco woman walked without a day behind bars for killing an entire family while speeding up to 70 mph on the wrong side of a city street.

Mary Fong Lau was sentenced to probation and 200 hours of community service, with no jail time or home vacation confinement, for the deaths of 40-year old Diego Cardoso de Oliveira and his wife, 38-year old Matilde Moncada Ramos Pinto, their one-year-old son Joaquim Ramos Pinto de Oliveira, and three-month-old Cauê Ramos Pinto de Oliveira as they waited at a bus stop.

San Francisco superior court judge Bruce Chan let Lau walk despite a petition with over 8,000 signatures urging him to impose “meaningful consequences proportionate to the gravity of this crime.”

Chan has already announced his retirement, rather than face angry voters at the polls.

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Apparently, parking spaces — not human lives — are what’s precious in WeHo.

Sigh. People’s lives are precious too ya know. @wehocity.bsky.social

— Andrew Solomon (@solomonweho.bsky.social) 2026-03-23T16:16:41.745Z

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Clearly, if we want a train line that serves everyone, we’re going to have to fight for it at Metro’s meeting Thursday.

 

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When it’s time to have “the talk” with your kid’s, tell ’em this is where road signs come from.

Although I’d say Bikes OK is a major understatement.

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About damn time.

LA’s favorite bike ride is staging a comeback worthy of a Hollywood sequel.

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Active SGV is hosting a Baldwin Park walk audit this Saturday.

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This is what a mayor who supports bicycling looks like.

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This is who we share the road with, too.

And notice that the corgi is herding them all to the side of the road.

https://bsky.app/profile/gypsyheart1.bsky.social/post/3mhqz4677l22x

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

A Wisconsin man stands accused of using his pickup as a weapon by driving off the roadway onto a separated bike path to intentionally ram and kill someone riding a bicycle; he was detained after also ramming a couple patrol cars at the local police station, before officers even knew about the fatal hit-and-run.

A Trump administration plan to rip out a DC bike lane was put on hold after bicyclists sued to halt them, following a weekend protest ride on streets of Washington DC over the administrations plan to rip out the popular protected bike lanes to make more room for cars — even though they’ve led to a nearly 70% drop in bike crashes, and almost 50% reduction in all collisions, since they were installed 14 years ago.

The case against a road-raging Spanish driver accused of attempted murder for ramming former world champ Alejandro Valverde and another bicyclist during a 2022 training ride will go to trial, after prosecutors were unable to reach a plea agreement last week.

A man riding a bicycle in the Philippines suffered severe injuries when he got into an argument with a road-raging motorcyclist who kept honking at him, then deliberately sideswiped him when the victim took out his phone to take a picture of the motorbike rider; he was then struck by a tricycle coming from the opposite direction.

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

Putting on a wig and trying to make his escape by bicycle didn’t work for an Illinois man, who was arrested for attempted murder stemming from a domestic violence incident.

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Local 

Streets For All says LA County can fund local California High Speed Rail projects without raising taxes. Even if I don’t pretend to understand any of it. 

New protected bike lanes are planned connecting Pico Blvd, Broadway Place and Martin Luther King Blvd in Historic South Central Los Angeles.

Former Laker Andrew Bynum is one of us, after he was recorded riding his bicycle in the streets of Los Angeles, eight years after injuries ended his NBA career.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department conducted a crackdown on illegal ebike usage in Agoura Hills, Calabasas and Westlake Village, citing 23 riders for illegal activity, towing seven illegal or illegally ridden ebikes, and arresting one ebike rider for fleeing a traffic stop. Which makes it seem like they weren’t even trying; I could have done more than that without leaving the steps of my Hollywood apartment building. 

Long Beach will host a public meeting on April 2nd — a week from Thursday — to discuss the proposed Pacific Avenue Transformation Project, a Complete Streets makeover of the current overly wide corridor.

 

State

The Southern California News Group looks at the law governing ebikes and how it’s struggling to catch up to their rapid expansion.

San Diego’s city council voted to reduce speed limits on roughly 20% of the city’s streets. Which isn’t likely to accomplish much when most drivers ignore the posted limit anyway.

Simi Valley approved a new bike plan, which “identifies proposed bike paths, bike lanes and bike routes, along with intersection improvements and a prioritized list of projects based on safety, feasibility and funding potential.” Which, as any veteran of the Los Angeles bike plan wars can tell you, is bureaucrat speak for most of them will probably never, ever be built.

For the second time in six weeks, a Southern California mountain biker has been bitten by a rattlesnake. Firefighters in Ventura County responded when a teenaged girl fell off her bike at a Thousand Oaks trailhead, and was bitten by the snake; the girl was listed in stable condition with minor injuries. Hopefully, she’ll fare better than Orange County’s Julien Hernandez, who lingered in a coma for a month before dying from his injuries.

Seriously? A Central Valley website reports a woman was “majorly” injured when the right-front of a pickup crashed into her as she rode her bicycle.

The on-again, off-again bike lane on the Bay Area’s Richmond-San Raphael Bridge will continue to be studied and discussed, as 840 bicycle trips were counted in this past Sunday’s unseasonably warm weather, on a pathway we’re supposed to believe no one ever uses.

 

National

Bike helmets and aluminum-framed bicycle trailers will be exempted from Trump’s China tariffs for another year, for reasons known only to him.

A beloved Nebraska man was honored with a bicycle sculpture outside the food co-op where he worked, featuring a wheel made of classic album covers, two years after he was killed.

Rochester NY spent a total of half a million dollars to install separate bike and pedestrian pathways next to a local roadway, then rip them up and reinstall a shared path, for no apparent reason.

New York State had a 2,000-mile network of bikeways over 125 years ago, not much of which remains after they were ripped out or overtaken by motor vehicles.

No bias here. The California/New York Post cites “alarming” ebike stats as proof of the that “chaos” New York Mayor Mamdani is unleashing on the city’s hapless citizenry, after four people were killed and less than 100 injured by ebikes in the city last year, while 16 ebike riders were killed. Just wait until someone tells them about cars. 

 

International

Momentum deservedly busts ten myth about bicycling, from only rich white guys ride bikes, to the perennial classic that bike riders don’t pay for the roads they ride.

Bikes are booming again in Cuba, as local residents cope with fuel shortages resulting from the Trump administration’s blockage of oil shipments to the island, revealing the resilience of the local population.

By royal decree, ebikes in Great Britain will hereby be considered cheating.

A writer for Bike Radar says riding was a dream in the UK following the 2012 London Olympics, but the dark days of angry road-hogging drivers are back. Which suggests maybe we could have a few good years after the ’28 LA Olympics. But I wouldn’t count on it. 

Good news from Islamabad, Pakistan, as the city will get new bike lanes and pedestrian paths, as well as a crackdown on illegal encroachment on them by drivers.

Bike Radar talks with a British expat Joe Whittingham of the Panda Podium website about the meteoric rise of Chinese bicycles.

 

Competitive Cycling

No surprise here, as Tadej Pogačar overcame a fall to edge Tom Pidcock in the Milano-Sanremo one-day classic, a victory that left the usually talkative Eddy Merckx speechless; Belgian Lotte Kopecky won on the women’s side.

Spanish cyclist Javier Romo grabbed American pro Matteo Jorgenson by the neck and verbally threatened him outside the Visma-Lease a Bike bus on Saturday after Jorgenson made an off-camera move to improve his third place position Italy’s Tirreno-Adriatico.

The great Colombian climber, and Giro and Vuelta champ, Nairo Quintana announced he’s calling it a career at the end of this season, after 16 years on the WorldTour.

Tadej Pogačar vows to stop training on the roads of the Italian Riviera, blasting the “criminal” actions of the area’s motorists.

I want to be like him when I grow up. Seventy-seven-year old Gilles Quevauvilliers completed the 40th edition of the Cape Town Cycle Tour, as his son flew in from Australia to ride along with him; his grandson also races Down Under.

Twenty-seven-year old Italian cyclist Debora Silvestri suffered five broken ribs and a micro fracture in her shoulder after a horrific crash at Saturday’s Milan-San Remo when she went over a guard rail following a collision with several other riders; Polish cyclist Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney, the first rider down, appeared to take the crash in stride, while, Cycling Weekly called the reaction to her crash an overreaction.

 

Finally…

That feeling when a carton of eggs and a secondhand vase don’t survive the local roads. That feeling when your tiny spotter has his own handlebars — you know, just in case you don’t answer him in time.

And probably not the best idea to modify your ebike from one horsepower to a single dog.

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

Update: Man riding BMX on sidewalk killed by wrong-way, hit-and-run driver in South LA’s Florence-Firestone neighborhood

August 28, 2024 / / Comments Off on Update: Man riding BMX on sidewalk killed by wrong-way, hit-and-run driver in South LA’s Florence-Firestone neighborhood

Nope.

Nothing suspicious here.

A man was struck and killed by a wrong-way, hit-and-run driver while riding his bike on a South LA sidewalk early Thursday morning.

According to Fox-11, the man was riding on the 7900 block of Alameda Street in the Florence-Firestone neighborhood just after 1 am Thursday, when an unknown driver jumped the curb on the opposite side of the roadway, traveling against traffic, and striking the victim on the sidewalk.

The driver sped off following the crash, leaving the victim, who hasn’t been publicly identified, to die at the scene.

My News LA places the location at 7927 Alameda.

Video from Fox-11 shows the victim’s blurred body lying on the sidewalk, next to his backpack and cellphone, with his BMX bike in the street nearby.

There’s no description of the suspect vehicle at this time, let alone the person behind the wheel.

But considering that the driver struck someone on a raised sidewalk, on the opposite side of a two-way street, it suggests they may have lost control at high rate of speed, or while driving distracted or under the influence.

Or that the crash may have been intentional.

Hopefully we’ll learn more soon.

This is at least the 35th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the tenth that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County.

Thirteen of those SoCal deaths have come at the hands of heartless cowards who didn’t have the basic human decency to stick around afterward.

Update: The victim has been identified as 37-year old Julio Castellon, while the location has been corrected to be the Florence-Graham neighborhood of South LA. 

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Julio Castellon and all his loved ones.

 

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , , , , , ,

Four lousy days for killer wrong-way driver, video of fatal Sun Valley hit-and-run, and how to avoid robbery in “sketchy” LA

March 21, 2023 / / 2 comments

Disgusting.

Evidently, life is pretty much worthless in San Diego, where a wrong-way driver was sentenced to a whole four days behind bars for killing a man riding a bicycle.

A year and a half after Matt Keenan was killed while riding his bike in Mission Valley, Melissa Gonzalez was sentenced for misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence.

Not the felony she should have been charged with for driving on the wrong side of the street around a blind curve. Let alone the distracted driving charge she likely deserved.

The kindhearted judge took pity — not on Keenan’s widow, or even his toddler son who will grow up without father, but on the woman who killed him.

In addition to four lousy days in jail, Gonzalez received a single year probation, 150 hours of community service, and had her license suspended for three years, as the judge bizarrely ruled she didn’t deserve a punishment that would wreck her life.

Never mind that she wrecked the lives of Keenan’s friends and family. Let alone literally wrecking, and ending, Matt Keenan’s.

If you ever wonder why people keep dying on our streets, this is exhibit A.

We can only hope San Diego voters will remember this one when the judge comes up for re-election.

Photo from Ekaterina Bolovtsova on Pexels.

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The LAPD has released security video of Friday morning’s fatal crash at Lankershim and Tuxford in Sun Valley, where a hit-and-run driver killed a man riding a bicycle.

The bike rider, who still has not been publicly identified, was the victim of a left-cross crash from the truck driver while riding in the crosswalk.

He was then struck by another driver as he lay in the roadway. But at least that one had the basic human decency to stick around afterwards.

Police are looking for a flatbed truck with a white cab, and a distinctive yellow logo on the passenger door. Not to mention the heartless coward behind the wheel.

As always, there is a $50,000 reward for any fatal hit-and-run in the City of Los Angeles.

Thanks to KCAL-9 anchor Jeff Vaughn for the heads-up.

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You be the judge.

An Australian man claims he avoided a robbery attempt on a bike path in a “sketchy” part of Los Angeles by yelling back when two men approached and told him to get off his bike.

Although the only thing that seems sketchy to me is the video itself, which looks be staged.

@shearingshedvlogs

You must assert your voice when you are talking to someone who approaches you in sketchy areas, because strangers don’t really come up to you to have a friendly conversation about the weather like we do in Australia. In America some people might come up to you to try to come up. #streetsmart #streetsmarts #safety #safetyfirst

♬ original sound – Turan Spidey

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Always helps to have co-workers nearby if you get run down by a drunk driver. Especially when they’re paramedics.

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GCN attempts to clarify the confusing world of bicycle tires.

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

No surprise here. After a Seattle advocate printed his own DIY traffic signs warning drivers not to park in a protected bike lane, they just ignored them and parked there anyway.

A Florida man who fled the scene after deliberately targeting three people riding bikes with his car, including an 11-year old girl, then went on an antisemitic rant when a Jewish deputy was assigned to transfer him to jail.

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

Police arrested a Denver man who rode his bicycle into a car wash to fatally shoot a driver who had just pulled onto the lot, and injuring the car’s passenger; he fled the scene on his bike before changing clothes twice in a homeless camp, hacking off his hair, and hiding in a hole under the train tracks.

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Local 

Streetsblog reports on a newly protected 0.4 mile section of White Oak Ave in Reseda, although the protection is just those chubby white plastic bollards that look solid, but won’t stop anything. And a new bike lane could finally be coming to San Fernando Road in Cypress Park, now that former Councilmember “Roadkill” Gil Cedillo is gone.

Just eight people ignored the weekend rain, and turned out for Metro Bike Share’s Women’s History community bike ride in DTLA; they were nearly outnumbered by the Metro staffers.

Pedestrian advocacy group Los Angeles Walks has released their annual report for the past year.

 

State

Imperial Beach councilmembers approved plans for a $3.3 million Complete Street makeover of the city’s 9th Street using state Active Transportation funds; the plan calls for replacing a traffic lane in each direction with bike lanes featuring door-side buffers.

 

National

Bicycling says the days when a broken carbon frame had to be relegated to the trash are over, writing even the worst breaks can usually be repaired and ridden for many more miles. Unfortunately, you’re on your own this time if the magazine blocks you.

Good Morning America reports on a four-year old girl who got a huge smile on her face when she was given a new adaptive tricycle by the Little Wishes organization after spending months in the hospital.

Gear Patrol says fixies are kind of dumb and not for everyone, but “goddammit they rule.” 

Bend, Oregon is now accepting applications for $2,000 ebike rebates for up to 75 low-income residents. Just one more ebike rebate program created after California’s first-in-the-nation program, yet it’s somehow up and running before California’s finally gets rolled out — if it ever does.

After a kindhearted, bike-riding Illinois cop spotted a man walking his busted bicycle home in a snowstorm, he worked with a local bike shop to donate a used bike to the man.

A Michigan man faces two to fifteen years behind bars for the drug-fueled crash that killed a 25-year old man riding a bicycle; the driver admitted to using meth and marijuana before getting behind the wheel, and was using his cellphone to search for radio-controlled cars when he ran the victim down.

More on the Florida crash that critically injured Dartmouth football coach Eugene “Buddy” Teevens, who was run down by a driver while riding home from a restaurant with his wife in St. Augustine; police reports blamed the victim, saying he didn’t appear to have lights on his cruiser bike, and was crossing the state’s coast highway outside of a crosswalk or designated crossing area. Even though bike riders aren’t expected, let alone required, to use crosswalks.

 

International

Bike Radar discusses wind tunnel-tested aero gear on a budget.

A British auto service chain is now offering bicycle repairs, with an emphasis on supporting ebike and cargo bike fleets. Which would be kind of like Pep Boys doing it here. Which isn’t a half bad idea.

BBC TV personality Dan Walker says he was comfortable getting back on his bicycle, following the recent collision that left him bloodied and bruised.

A UK company recommends that employers offer flextime policies for people who bike to work to reduce the risk of rush hour collisions.

A group of French bicyclists set a new record for the largest Strava art, teaming to sketch a 637-mile velociraptor across the face of France.

A crowdfunding campaign has been established for Aussie cycling photographer Marcus Enno, aka Beardy McBeard, who was seriously injured when he was struck by a driver while riding his bike near his Tasmania home; it’s already raised over three times the original $10,000 goal.

 

Competitive Cycling

VeloNews says a disappointed Wout van Aert is turning his attention to the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix after settling for third in Milan-San Remo. Meanwhile, the magazine says the Monument’s days as a sprinter’s race are over.

In an oddly ironic moment, Irish pro Sam Bennet watched his chance at a Milan-San Remo victory get dashed in a pileup, when he and three other riders in the breakaway group crashed into an unmarked bike rack on the side of the road. As usual, read it on Yahoo if Bicycling blocks you.

Dutch pro Shirin van Anrooij won Sunday’s Trofeo Alfredo Binda, the world’s oldest one-day women’s race, in what was described as her breakout moment; meanwhile, women’s cycling great Marianne Vos saw her long-awaited return from pelvic surgery cut short by cramps in both legs.

Bicycling says you’ll be able to watch the new National Cycling League on subscription cycling streaming service GCN+ for the next three years, if it lasts that long. Read it on AOL if the magazine blocks you.

 

Finally…

Your next ebike could be made by a computer company with built-in AI. Your next bike tires could be made from your last bike tires.

And it took the life flight of an injured bike rider to learn there’s a California in Maryland.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

California ebike rebate plan takes shape, sentencing for killer San Diego driver, and 15-minute city conspiracy theories

February 21, 2023 / / One comment

This is who we share the road with.

A nice three day weekend with my wife was, if not ruined, at least darkened by a road raging woman who nearly ran us down making a left turn as we crossed the street, less than a block from our home.

She somehow took offense when I objected to the way my wife, dog and I nearly became roadkill, screaming that it was our fault because we hadn’t been paying attention.

Which was true for the dog, anyway.

Never mind that a) we had the right-of-way, b) she started her turn after we were already crossing the street, and c) she neglected to use her turn signal, which might have tipped us off.

But in her mind, we were 100% at fault.

Just another reminder that cars can turn people into monsters.

And that we’ll never have safe streets until our elected leaders have the courage and political will to actually do something about it. 

Ebike photo by Alex from Pexels.

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Calbike updated the latest outlines of California’s long-delayed ebike rebate program, which is currently slated to begin sometime in the second quarter of this year.

Which means no sooner than April.

  • To qualify, participants can make no more than 300% of the federal poverty level (FPL).
  • The base incentive will be $1,000.
  • Participants can get an additional $750 toward the purchase of a cargo bike or adaptive bike.
  • People whose income is below 225% of FPL or who live in a disadvantaged community can qualify for an additional $250, so the maximum incentive amount is $2,000.
  • Incentives can be applied toward sales tax, as well as the purchase price.
  • Incentives will be applied at the point of sale.
  • All three classes of e-bikes can qualify for incentives.
  • Used bikes will not be eligible.
  • Incentives can be used to buy e-bikes from local bike shops or online retailers with a business location in California.
  • Adaptive bikes can include tricycles. CARB plans to keep the definition of adaptive e-bikes as broad as possible.

As far as I can tell, it looks like the Federal Poverty Limits are calculated using the adjusted gross income on your latest tax return, with certain items added back in.

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The San Diego Bike Coalition is calling for bike riders to turn out for Friday’s sentencing of the wrong-way driver who killed Matt Keenan in September, 2021.

Keenan was riding his bike to the movies in Mission Valley when the driver, who hasn’t been publicly named, let alone shamed, rounded a corner on the wrong side of the road and hit him head-on.

His confessed killer is copping a plea to misdemeanor Vehicular Manslaughter with Gross Negligence, with a three-year license suspension and not one day behind bars.

Let me repeat.

A lousy license suspension — not even revocation — and no jail time at all. For needlessly killing another human being, while likely driving distracted.

According to the organization, Keenan’s wife Laura has become one of the leading voices for safer streets in the nearly year and a half since his death, and deserves the support of the entire bicycling community in calling for the judge to add additional penalties, like community service and probation, at the sentencing hearing.

If you can’t attend the hearing, they recommend emailing the judge.

Thanks to Phillip Young for the heads-up.

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Thousands of apparently very confused yet virulent protesters turned out in Oxford, England to protest Low Traffic Neighborhoods, aka LTNs, as well as plans for 15-minute cities.

According to the BBC, the protestors based their LTN complaints on the difficulties they could pose for motorists who could be unable to drive directly through the city. Not to mention some major climate change denial, as well as baseless claims that it would result in a “climate lockdown,” with residents required to stay at home to protect the environment.

Meanwhile, 15-minute city proposals were bizarrely accused of being a front for a dystopian concentration camp-like lockdown, with gates locking residents inside their zone, allowed to leave just 100 days a year. Along with the creation of an Orwellian surveillance state to enforce climate goals.

Not to mention that Neo-Nazis turned out in support of the protests. Or maybe were behind it.

Consider, for instance, this speech by a 12-year old anti-Greta Thuneburg, which has been circulating in rightwing circles for the past few days. Even if it, like the rest of the opposition, is based almost entirely on baseless conspiracy theories.

https://twitter.com/ChildrensHD/status/1627050833706905600

And none of which actually have a damn thing to do with it, of course.

A 15-minute city simply means that everything you need for daily life should be located within 15 minutes of your home — preferably by walking, biking or taking transit.

Meanwhile, LTNs are simply designed to discourage driving through a neighborhood, to increase the safety and livability of the community.

Neither one is intended to force anyone out of their cars. And they certainly have nothing to do with a dystopian surveillance state.

Here’s how British bike scribe and historian Carlton Reid debunks the conspiracies in under a minute.

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Call this ad the anti-anti-15-minute city ad, asking if we can put a man on the moon, why can’t a kid safely ride a bike?

Then again, we haven’t set foot on the moon in over 50 years, either.

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A new French traffic safety campaign calls out the dangers of toxic masculinity behind the wheel.

Unfortunately for us monolingual types, though, it’s in French.

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The legendary Nina Simone was one of us.

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

No bias here. A 79-year old Missouri man is dead because a driver’s van struck the victim’s bike. Not, say, the driver. Because apparently, the van somehow did it all on its own. 

No bias here, either. A Florida letter writer says bicyclists are a danger to themselves and others on the road because it’s a fact that we can’t keep up with traffic flow, and it’s our fault drivers get mad about it because we shouldn’t be there into first place. Then again, it’s also a fact that people on bikes are often faster than congested traffic. And we’re not responsible for how drivers, or anyone else, reacts. 

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

Life is cheap in the UK, where the courts let a 25-year old man walk with a 12-month sentence for wanton and furious biking, with all 12 months suspended; he was skitching and popping wheelies just moments before running down a 13-year old kid while blowing through a red light. Thanks to Marcello Calicchio for the link.

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Local 

Streets For All is asking for your support for a motion at today’s City Council PLUM Committee meeting to end automatic street widening when new construction takes place, which results in those odd mid-block wide spots that too often get blamed on us.

Speaking of Streets For All, the street safety PAC is participating in the annual Climate Ride for the first time, and is looking for volunteers to ride with them, as well as sponsors for the riders.

SoCal Cycling discusses how to get back into bicycling after a long layoff. Kind of like the one I’ve gone through with one diabetes-related health problem after another, which has resulted in a bike that’s virtually unrideable at this point. And a rider who can’t either.

Unbelievable. Metro’s board Planning and Programming Committee rejected calls for pedestrian crosswalk improvements in Pasadena, as part of a package of multimodal projects using leftover funds from the cancelled 710 Freeway extension; advocates hope the full board will overturn the decision this week. Apparently they’ve forgotten the urgent need to improve walkability and bikeability in the face of a climate emergency.

This is who we share the road with. A group of pedestrians waiting for lunch outside a Sawtelle Blvd restaurant became collateral damage when two drivers collided and one careened into the crowd, sending four people to the hospital, including a 23-year old woman in critical condition.

 

State

Streets For All calls out Caltrans for misrepresenting 1,600 miles of Complete Streets, most of which are anything but. And asks you to comment on it.

San Diego’s Park Blvd will be getting dedicated bus lanes and buffered bike lanes through Balboa Park, which has proven deadly for bike and e-scooter riders in recent years. Thanks again to Phillip Young.

Woodland Hills Magazine highlights the area’s best bike riding views.

A San Francisco TV station reports East Bay bike riders are showing solidarity in the face of violent dooring attacks by teenagers in an apparent stolen car; shamefully, Oakland cops say they’re too busy to do anything about it.

Apparently having nothing better to do, the CHP is investigating several instances of juvenile bike riders on the Bay Bridge.

 

National

A Utah man pled guilty to reduced charges for killing one man and injuring another when he crashed into their bikes last July; he was on parole for multiple felonies and had amphetamine, meth, codeine and morphine in his system at the time of the crash. Not to mention belonging to a Nazi criminal gang.

Life is cheap in Texas, where a bus driver walked without a day behind bars for killing a bike rider on the UT campus in 2019; the 44-year old woman got seven years probation and 250 hours of community service, while her victim got death.

Minneapolis is staring down a more than a quarter of a million settlement for the forcible arrest of a man riding a bicycle during the 2020 protests over the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police, even though the bike rider “was peacefully and lawfully exercising his constitutional right to protest.”

No bias here, either. The Ohio legislature is proposing a ban on center lane bike lanes in cities of 300,000 population, after Cleveland business owners complained they wouldn’t be able to make left turns or unload their trucks.

Tragic news from Pennsylvania, where a 75-year old man was killed when a cop responding to a traffic call rammed his bicycle from behind, while traveling without his lights or siren on; meanwhile, a woman standing in a New York bike lane was killed when she was collateral damage in a crash between a cop and another driver.

Bizarre story from South Carolina, where a John Doe was finally identified as a South Carolina man after his family reported him missing, three months after he was killed riding his bike without ID. Yet another reminder to always carry ID with you when you ride. 

A New Orleans TV station says the city’s bikeshare system is the best way to get around during today’s Mardi Gras celebrations.

 

International

National Geographic says gravel cycling is the next big trend.

CNN highlights ten of the world’s best cities to explore by bicycle; unfortunately, San Francisco is the only US city on the list. And needless to say, Los Angeles isn’t. Thanks to Steve Fujinaka for the tip. 

Canadian F1 driver Lance Stoll is one of us; the driver for Aston Martin will miss next month’s Bahrain Grand Prix after suffering an injury in a “minor” bike crash.

You’ve got to be kidding. Bath, England NIMBYs argue that new green bike parking hangers will threaten the city’s Unesco World Heritage status. Because evidently, all those cars and their parking lots must have been there since Roman times.

Police in the UK are facing justified criticism for advising a pair of bike riders  “be aware,” “keep space” and “expect to wait” after they were struck by drivers, with no suggestions for drivers to not hit people, on bikes or otherwise.

British Channel 5 news anchor Dan Walker is one of us, after he had to miss his broadcast after he was struck by a driver while riding his bike to the strain station.

Hit-and-run drivers in the UK could soon face of fines up to the equivalent of $1,200 for not stopping after hitting a cat. Which is more than many drivers get for killing someone on a bicycle.

Cycling Weekly says bicycling is growing in some parts of the Middle East, despite poor infrastructure and police harassment, while being banned in other places.

Things are looking up for bike shops in Vietnam, as more Vietnamese commuters are opting for riding a bicycle.

He gets it. A Philippine professor says riding a bike is a basic human right, and he intends to keep doing it for the rest of his life.

 

Competitive Cycling

Cyclist looks at the hard road ridden by newly crowned Esteban Chaves, who became Colombia’s national champ for the first time at the ripe old age of 33.

A 20-year old British bike rider says forget hi-viz, after his back and bike were both broken when he was struck by a driver, despite wearing a kit he says couldn’t have been brighter.

British cyclist Tom Pidcock shows off his bike handling skills at the Volta ao Algarve’s time trial on Sunday.

https://twitter.com/writebikerepeat/status/1627332215435657216

Sad news from the Netherlands, where Dutch cyclist Amy Pieters suffered a setback in her recovery from a near fatal 2021 bike crash, although she continues to ride an adaptive bike, despite suffering epileptic seizures.

Hear, hear! Kenyan-born Chris Froome says he has high hopes for African cycling.

 

Finally…

Foster a pet, get a discount on your next bike. Probably not the best idea to hit a cop who stops you for riding without a light.

And no more free bikes for Indian school kids.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

 

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

Man riding road bike killed by wrong way driver in San Diego; 14th bicycling death in San Diego County this year

September 16, 2021 / / 3 comments

Let’s see someone blame the victim this time.

It was just over a week ago that an Ocean Beach writer penned a truly awful piece blaming the victims of this year’s 13 bicycling fatalities in San Diego County for contributing, if not causing, their own deaths.

Make that 14 now.

But this time, the victim appears to be as blameless as humanly possible.

According to multiple, nearly identical stories, a man was riding his bicycle in the westbound bike lane on Camino Del Rio South in East Mission Valley Tuesday night, when he was hit head-on by a wrong way driver traveling east in the westbound lane.

Authorities place the crash west of Texas street, around 8:50 pm Tuesday.

The victim, publicly identified only as a 42-year old man, died at the scene.

Raw video from the crash site shows a crumpled red road bike in the tall weeds on the shoulder of the roadway, next to debris from the driver’s car, separated by a chainlink fence from the busy 8 Freeway.

The rear flasher on his bike continued to strobe on the broken bicycle, long after the crash.

The 25-year old driver’s car was stopped nearby, the windshield shattered over the steering wheel. Which means she had to see him in the bike lane directly in front of her if she was paying any attention to the road in front of her.

Police do not suspect intoxication; however, there’s no mention of whether she may have been distracted. Remarkably, though, she doesn’t seem to have been arrested, or even ticketed, at the scene.

Given that she was on the wrong side of the roadway, and somehow unaware of a grown man on a bicycle right in front of her car, it’s hard to imagine that she wouldn’t be criminally liable.

If nothing else, the presence of the bike lane to her left should have been a clue that there might be someone on a bicycle there, let alone that she was driving the wrong way.

Although these days, I suppose we should give her credit just for sticking around.

But the simple fact is the man on the bike was exactly where he was supposed to be, doing exactly what he was supposed to do, and lost his life to the plague of traffic violence — and an apparently negligent, if not distracted, driver — anyway.

This is at least the 48th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 14th that I’m aware of in San Diego County, which is suffering through an exceptionally bloody year.

Update: The victim has been identified as 42-year old San Diego resident Matthew Peter Keenan. 

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Matthew Peter Keenan and all his loved ones.

………

Due to the time spent researching and writing this piece, and the late hour, there will be no Morning Links today. We’ll be back as usual on Friday to catch up on what we missed. 

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , , , ,

Cyclist pedals into action to prevent disaster on the Venice Boardwalk

August 12, 2011 / / 3 comments

It’s been less than a decade since the disaster at the Santa Monica Farmers Market, when a confused motorist plowed through a crowd of pedestrians, killing 10 people and injuring 63.

Last weekend, it could have happened again. This time on a busy Venice Boardwalk crowded with tourists.

Fortunately, a cyclist named Kim Rivera was riding her bike north through Venice around 8:30 pm last Saturday night, making her way towards Santa Monica, when she saw a possible tragedy in the making.

As I approached one of the parking lot entrances, I saw a car driving on the Boardwalk.  Right behind it, I saw a black Jeep follow the first car.  Both continued driving north on Ocean Front Walk. The 1st car was driving at a normal speed (I estimate 22-25mph). The Jeep was slower.  They both drove past a restaurant with people sitting outside. Pedestrians moved to the sides of the walk and were calling out “wrong way!” but the drivers seemed clueless.

A lot of people would have just shaken their heads and continued riding on their way, or stood to watch it all unfold before them. Instead, Kim swung into action to try and catch the drivers before it as too late.

I was riding right behind the Jeep.  My intention was to ride up along side him and point him in the right direction, but I couldn’t safely get to the side since people were already moving to the sides of Ocean Front Walk. Soon the Jeep got a clue and turned right toward the alley.

That left one more car still threatening the safety of everyone on the Boardwalk.

The 1st car was well ahead of him.  I road toward him cautiously because I didn’t know if he was drunk or what he might do next. He started to drive onto the Santa Monica Pedestrian Path that parallels the bike path, about half a car length, before stopping. He backed up and started to make a U-turn.  His car was now sideways on Ocean Front Walk.

That’s when I felt it was safe enough, and rode up about five feet away, stopped my bike lengthwise along the passenger side of the car and waved my arms, yelling “No! No! You can’t drive here.  No cars!”  He asked where he was supposed to go.  I told him this was not a street, and pointed for him to drive alongside the condos at the end there and enter the alley.

Unfortunately, the confused driver still didn’t get it.

He slowly continued to make his U-turn, so I started doing the same thing again; parked in front of him with my bike, arms waving.  He pointed to the Boardwalk and asked me, “But I can go back this way?” So I said a THIRD time, “No cars! This is not a street. You could hurt someone!”

He finally ended up going where I told him and into the alley.

Disaster averted, if barely.

Overall, they didn’t drive very far on the Boardwalk. I think they entered from Rose, but there were still a lot of people there that could have gotten hurt. Especially toward the far end near Santa Monica where it gets real dark.

Next time I ride that way, I plan to stop and take a look at the entrance to the Boardwalk at Rose, and see if something needs to be done to keep clueless drivers off.

And say a little thanks that Kim was there that night to keep a minor incident from turning into something worse.

Category: General, Guest Columns / Tags: , , , ,
 
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