Category: california

California legislation proposes suspended license for hit and run

Richard MasonerJanuary 23, 20141 Comment on California legislation proposes suspended license for hit and run

Mike Gatto (D – Los Angeles) introduced legislation in the California Assembly this week to mandate an administrative six month suspension of driving privileges for those convicted of misdemeanor hit and run. Misdemeanor hit and runs are property-damage-only collisions. The penalty for felony hit and run — anywhere from 90 days in jail to five years in the Big House, or a fine ranging from $1000 to $10,000 depending on the circumstances — remains unchanged.

In Gatto’s home district, 48% of all reported collisions in recent years involve a driver who leaves the scene. About half of all such cases remain unsolved.

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Posted In accident | california | law

Neel Kashkari rides a bicycle

Richard MasonerJanuary 22, 2014Leave a Comment

Neel Kashkari, the moderate Republican who announced that he’s running for California governor, is apparently an avid cyclist.

From Laura Blumenfeld’s profile of the man who oversaw the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) in 2008 and 2009:

Now, after six months of dieting and 45-mile alpine bike rides, the gym scale under Kashkari’s sneakers reads: 181.2.

…

He had disbursed more than $400 billion, invested in 540 banks, implemented a $50 billion foreclosure prevention plan. He made People magazine’s “Sexiest Men Alive” issue. And he also made mistakes — a punitive interest rate on the American International Group intervention, he says, and a clause allowing unilateral changes to the Capital Purchase Program contracts — decisions executed quickly in the crisis and recognized belatedly by him on the road to Lake Tahoe, while biking up a 9 percent grade, his thoughts grinding round.

Posted In california | Quick news

Compare and contrast: an 1896 cycle map vs today

Richard MasonerOctober 24, 20131 Comment on Compare and contrast: an 1896 cycle map vs today

I overlayed a Google map of the region over that famous 1896 California cycling map from George Blum’s 80 page guide to cycle touring.

animated GIF: 1896 California cycling map overlayed with Google map

If I feel ambitious I might overlay a modern bike map – either Google’s bike layer, or the bike layer from OSM.

You can download the original image from the Library of Congress. Buy poster sized prints of this map from Zazzle. It would make a great gift, don’t you think?

Posted In california
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Davis, California reduces fines for bicycle infractions

Richard MasonerOctober 15, 20131 Comment on Davis, California reduces fines for bicycle infractions

The city of Davis is the biking capital of America, where an estimated 20% of the population commutes to work on their bike. 40% of students on the UC-Davis campus who have a job also get to work by bike, according to U.S. Census American Community Survey Data.

The high rate of cycling means a correspondingly high incidence of people violating traffic law. Local police and judges are reluctant to impose California’s high traffic fines on what they consider minor violations, so traffic law goes unenforced and unpunished in this city west of Sacramento. In an attempt to increase compliance with the law, the city of Davis recently reduced fines for traffic code violations committed while riding a bike.

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Posted In california | news