A year and a half ago, Adam Krawesky captured a conflict on camera (above photo series) between a motorist and a cyclist, and most Spacing Wire readers will remember the public outcry from that incident (strange how the recent fight between a driver and cyclist, which was caught on video, didn’t produce nearly as much of an uproar). The above photos were used recently by LA Curbed to accompany a post about a cyclist being side-swiped by a bus while the driver was talking on a cell phone. I spent a week in Los Angeles last year and rarely saw a cyclist, so I found it interesting to read the observations on the cyclist vs. driver relationship in LA (the discussion goes a little awry at times).
6 comments
I went to LA 4 years in a row for a week at a time (ye olde E3 trade show…) between ’99 and ’02.
In all that time, I recall seeing maybe 4 actual cyclists in the city proper. None in the city core, and 2 of them on Santa Monica beach, where they were vastly outnumbered by rollerbladers. (This doesn’t include the bungalow-filled suburbs, like LBC, where I saw more cyclists.)
Someone from around there taught me a saying: “Only homeless people and out of work actors walk in LA. Everyone else drives or takes a cab.” I wonder what they say about biking it…
I was in LA in April, and saw few cyclists (though they do exist!). Santa Monica and Venice Beach had some, and most Metro buses have bike racks, and they were used once in a while (well, more than the racks on the 29 Dufferin, where I seem to be the only user most of the time).
But almost no bike lanes, or even continous multi-use paths. And about half the bicyclists I saw in LA were of the serious road-racing variety (like in the Hollywood or Brentwood Hills).
Reading those comments reminded me how strange of a place L.A. is. I was there a few years ago and cars outnumbered pedestrians on the streets. I didn’t see any bikes there. You would have to be at least 10 times as brave (or foolish) than a rider in Toronto to ride in L.A.
As someone who lives in Los Angeles, commutes to work on a bicycle, and rides regularly with cycling groups, I’m pretty annoyed by this post and the comments so far. First of all, the post itself is pointless, other than to just say “man this is fucked up eh?” These kinds of stories do nothing to help promote driver/cyclist awareness, or provide any useful information at all.
Secondly, if any of you were exposed to Los Angeles proper, and spent any kind of real time in metro l.a. and surrounding areas (not just a 2 week vacation 6 years ago), you’d know that there are strong, thriving communities of cyclists — from the messengers downtown, the bike clubs and gangs who ride all over Eagle Rock, Silverlake, Los Feliz, Hollywood, the westside…the huge latino population in the service industry – so many of those guys commute by bike, you’d have to be blind not to notice them.
There are plenty of bike paths, bike lanes, and our public transit system is fully set up to accommodate cyclists as well. I think part of the misinformation stems from the fact that L.A. is just so huge and spread out…there are hordes of people who bike here, but if you’re just visiting for a week on vacation, you might not notice them because this city is just so damn big. Anyway, sorry for the rant. For a brief peek into the L.A. bike world, check out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qs5P0JNrkTY
http://www.midnightridazz.com/
Dang, sometimes I forget that people get offended when mentioning anything about where they live. In general I don’t care when people trash Toronto, I am already so used to it that I just don’t notice it anymore or care.
I don’t think I was being offensive when I said L.A. is a strange place, there is nothing wrong with strange, it just adds colour. I wish Toronto had a bit more of that colour, but I am still glad I don’t have to live in L.A., I enjoyed San Francisco a lot more.
@Carlos
I just tend to get irked when generalizations are made…sorry if my last comment seemed angrier than it should have. In my head I kinda meant it to be more informative than angry, but it totally came out wrong. Anyway, it wasn’t totally directed at you.
Also, San Francisco is amazing. I lived there for two years and often wish I never came back to L.A. 😉
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