Bicyclist harassment outlawed by Los Angeles City Council: A new law makes it a crime for drivers to threaten cyclists verbally or physically.
Photo: A bicyclist pedals through downtown Los Angeles after the City Council passed a pioneering law to protect cyclists from harassment by motorists that backers described as the toughest of its kind in the nation. Credit: Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times
(Source: Los Angeles Times, via patrickedwardkiefer)
Family of Baltimore cyclist killed in crash settles with truck driver, employer »
Family of Baltimore cyclist killed in crash settles with truck driver, employer
Yates’ $5 million lawsuit alleging negligence was set to go to trial Monday
by Liz F. Kay, The Baltimore Sun
Posted 12/01/10The family of a Baltimore cyclist who was killed last year in a collision with a fuel tanker truck on Maryland Avenue has settled a $5 million lawsuit against the driver and his employer, the family’s attorney said.
John R. “Jack” Yates, 67, was riding southbound behind the truck Aug. 4 when the vehicle made a right turn onto Lafayette Avenue in the Charles North neighborhood and Yates got caught in its rear wheels, according to city police.
The Yates family settled last week with the tanker’s driver and his employer, Potts & Callahan Inc., before the suit was set to go to trial this past Monday, said the Yates’ attorney, Steven D. Silverman.
My route from Shoreditch takes me past the junction of Clerkenwell Road and Goswell Road. There, chained to a traffic barrier near a branch of Costa Coffee is a solitary bike, painted white. It marks the spot where Rebecca Goosen lost her life at just 29 when she was crushed in an horrific incident with a cement mixer in April 2009.
Every time I see that white bike, it catches me and I feel I freeze for a moment – it’s a profoundly affecting, understated tribute.
Dr. Gridlock: Cyclist vs. motorist for right of way »
Cyclist vs. motorist for right of way
by Robert Thomson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, November 20, 2010; 5:46 PMHow should a cyclist on a city street respond to an impatient driver? During my online chat Monday, a cyclist described such a scenario. Later, a traveler wrote in to question my response. Here’s the chat comment that started this:
“I was cycling on the K Street service road on Sunday afternoon when I was approached from behind by a motorist who repeatedly honked her horn and threatened to run me off the road.
“Despite the fact that the main road was clear of traffic, this continued for five blocks. I then made a right turn and watched the motorist accelerate down the service road with no apparent intention of turning or parking. I’m not very familiar with the area - so why was it to the motorist’s advantage to drive across the city on the service road instead of K Street? Does the service road allow you to avoid a traffic signal or something similar? If the K Street service road is unacceptable for cycling, then what is an acceptable crosstown cycling route?”
I replied that the situation was just plain weird. We shouldn’t be looking for any road rules or for any better understanding of how drivers behave from this incident.
Dear Dr. Gridlock:
Surely the cyclist must share some of the blame for not yielding the right of way to the motorist who was legally using the service road. The cyclists actions were not only selfish, but even dangerous.
He or she could have taken the moral high ground and engaged in safer behavior by pulling aside, instead of being apparently annoyed and pigheaded by refusing to yield to the bigger and heavier automobile.
The cyclist might follow the example in this anecdote: In the nation’s capital before the Civil War, the sidewalks of Washington were mostly narrow wooden boards with deep mud on either side. One rainy afternoon a leading Northern abolitionist senator confronted a prominent Southern congressman on one of these narrow boards with room enough for only one man to proceed. The congressman shouted belligerently, “Move aside, sir, I do not make way for scoundrels!” The senator, stepping gently into the mud, replied with a bow and a wave of his hand, “Ah, but I do.”
Hugh O’Neill, The District
If I were cycling on K Street with someone out of control in a car behind me, I would have pulled over. But I was reluctant to offer that as official Dr. Gridlock advice for such situations.
I won’t tell my readers they must always get out of the way or pay the ticket or accept thefederal pat-down in the airport security line. Generally, that’s not how we make progress.
The bike rider on the K Street service road in the heart of downtown Washington had the same legal right to the lane that the driver did. I could no more advise the biker to pull over than I could tell a driver in the right lane of Interstate 95 to pull over to the shoulder if an aggressive driver were honking behind him.
When I said so to O’Neill, he had a good response: “Common sense, and the instinct for self preservation would dictate that the cyclist defer to the car no matter who is at fault. As my mother used to say when us kids were about to take dangerous self-righteous chances, ‘You’ll be right, dead right, but dead just the same.’â”
I turned for more advice to experts on city cycling and safety.
Jim Sebastian, the bicycle program manager for theDistrict Department of Transportation, agreed on the road rule: Cyclists as well as motorists have the right to be in the K Street service lane. In general, cyclists should ride as far right as practicable but can take the whole lane if it’s narrow or they are avoiding hazards, such as parked vehicles. Sebastian said he often bikes in that lane without problems.
Glen Harrison, who directs the bicycle education program at the Washington Area Bicyclist Association, agreed that the cyclist had the right to use the lane and noted that this person could have used the main travel lanes on K Street. So could the car driver.
Referring to the original comment from the cyclist, Harrison extended the teachable moment: “The key words here are ‘… threatened to run me off the road.’ This puts the situation into negotiating with an aggressive driver (instead of a case of usage rules) and the best advice for any vehicle operator, pedestrian, etc. is to steer clear of these kinds of illegal vehicle operators.”
Dr. Gridlock also appears Thursday in Local Living. Comments and questions are welcome and may be used in a column, along with the writer’s name and home community. Write to Dr. Gridlock at The Washington Post, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071. By e-mail: drgridlock@washpost.com. His blog: washingtonpost.com/drgridlock. On Twitter: drgridlock.
Ghost bike for Charles “Chuck” Peterson
Highway 60, east of Wickenburg, Arizona
Several miles east of Wickenburg, we came upon a totally white bicycle that was anchored in the ground in front of a brown hillside. It was like an apparition in the desert landscape and it aroused our curiosity. Stenciled on the top tube was “Charles Peterson: 10-12-26 to 9-18-07. A lady driving by saw us and stopped. She explained it was a memorial “ghost bike” for the man who was struck and killed at this site while riding his bicycle. Not only was he an avid cyclist, but he also faithfully served as a volunteer at the Hassayampa River Preserve nearby.
Follow Norb and Ann Bagley as they bicycle more than 3,000 miles across the southern United States to raise money for Children’s Miracle Network of CoxHealth in Springfield, Missouri.
Over the years I have become pretty comfortable and confident riding amongst the four-wheeled death boxes, but I don’t think most drivers are comfortable with bicycles in the road, judging by how wide a berth they give me. I want them to give me a safe margin, but not so much that they endanger their lives and the lives inside the other four-wheeled death boxes in the oncoming lane. I try to be gracious toward the clueless, but slip now and again, especially with drivers who block a crosswalk, or don’t bother to look BOTH ways at an intersection (invariably they are only looking in one direction, and it isn’t mine). I always assume someone will do the wrong thing, and I prepare accordingly. Most often I assumed correctly, but am pleasantly surprised when proved wrong.”
— John Burnham, bike commuter (via bikecommuters.com)
Any collision, just about 100 per cent of collisions, are preventable, either on the part of the driver or the pedestrian. If either one of those took some extra care, regardless of who has the right-of-way, a collision can be avoided.”
—
Edmonton police Sergeant Dave Thompson, in response to November 11, 2010, traffic fatality in Alberta, Canada.
The Edmonton Bicycle Commuters’ Society has placed a ghost bike at the corner of 137th Avenue at 131st Street, in memory of 29-year-old cyclist Jeremy Half.
REDLANDS: Bike club plans memorial for fallen rider »
posted by PE News on November 11, 2010 1:01 PM
A memorial bike ride and ceremony is planned on Saturday to honor of Paul “Lynn” Pletcher, 70, who was killed Nov. 4 when he was hit by a vehicle while riding his bike in Beaumont.
The Redlands Water Bottle Transit Company will lead the ride, which will depart at 8 a.m. from Stell Coffee and Tea Company on Barton Road in Redlands and travel to the accident site on Champions Drive near Cherry Valley Boulevard.
The riders will conduct a short ceremony and leave a ghost bike chained at the scene. Ghost bikes are painted white and usually have a sign with the name of the person who was killed and the date of the accident.
Members of the Redlands Water Bottle Transit Company may establish an annual Lynn Pletcher Memorial Ride starting next year. Funds raised would go to a charity or the Yucaipa High School Scholarship Fund in his honor. Pletcher, who was retired, had worked for the Yucaipa-Calimesa Joint Unified School District more than 20 years.
— JAN SEARS
jsears@PE.com
Chicago Ghost Bikes Ride: November 7th »
via The Chainlink and ghostbikes.org:
Simple 13 mile ride passing all 10 Chicago area Ghost Bikes, taking a moment at each to give attention, tell stories, and leave a few white plastic flowers.
We’ll start at the South end in Washington Park (near Chicago Ave RedLine stop), and end in about 2 hours at the North end near Montrose/Ashland.
Not to be confused with the great Ride of Silence which visits some on a spring evening, this is a casual fall daytime ride, intended simply to tour them all.
This is an updated version of the same ride this time last year which was quite pleasant.
See bedno.com/ghosts for photos of all and current Google map of planned route (and cross your fingers that there’s no last minute additions!)Time: November 7, 2010 from 2pm to 4pm
Location: Washington Park
Street: 881 N Clark
City/Town: Chicago IL
LA Times: 'Ghost bikes' stand in memory of fallen cyclists »
White bicycles placed near spots where riders were killed ‘serve as a reminder’ that more must be done to make roads safe, say cycling advocates and family members of victims.
by Tina Susman, Los Angeles Times September 30, 2010
The well-trod sidewalk beside a busy urban boulevard is an unlikely place for a young man’s memorial, but there it is, chained to a signpost outside a furniture store: a man’s bicycle painted ghostly white. Flowers cover the frame and snake up the signpost, and a rust-colored shawl is tied carefully to the handlebars.
For months after her son Asif’s death on the adjacent street, Lizi Rahman would visit the bicycle at least twice a week. Sometimes she would stand in the middle of the wide, buzzing avenue and visualize Asif, 22, riding alongside the buses, trucks, cars and other cyclists.
“When I go there, it’s like I see him,” said Rahman, who still can’t believe that anyone could have missed her nearly 6-foot-tall son as he pedaled home one afternoon in February 2008. But a truck driver hit and killed Asif, and the so-called ghost bike erected in his honor is now one of nearly 70 in New York City, planted near the spots where riders were killed.
Imagine the future: livable streets.
About the Livable Streets Initiative
With the majority of the world’s 6.5 billion human beings now living in cities, building healthy, livable and affordable urban environments is critical to the mission of today’s global environmental movement.
The Livable Streets Initiative is an online community for people working to create sustainable cities through sensible urban planning, design, and transportation policy. We provide free, open source, web-based, resources to citizens working to create a greener economy, address climate change, reduce oil dependence, alleviate traffic congestion, and provide better access to good jobs in healthy communities.
We believe that people make a city great. Yet, so many of the world’s great cities dedicate too much of their precious, limited public space - their streets - to motor vehicles rather than people. We are working to redesign our communities around public transportation and walkable, bikeable streets. We are transforming parking lots into public plazas, busy intersections into town squares, and congested highways into bike paths. We are taking back our cities, one street at a time. We invite you to join us!
( image via nevver:
Last week more than 80 people jammed into the Orange County Wheelmen’s monthly meeting. Most were cyclists. But many were not. And what was especially encouraging – and appreciated – was that each person took time for what promised to be a pretty somber evening.
The title of my topic? “Why cyclists are killing one another, and how we can stop.”
Considering anyone at all showed up speaks not only to the commitment to safety, it speaks to the dire situation.
…
A lot more cyclists need to clean up their act before we can really focus on non-cyclists.
They need to stop breaking traffic laws, ride safely and ride with courtesy. It’s the least each and every cycling organization in Orange County – mountain and road, official and unofficial – can do to help reduce the number of deaths.
