Category: Bicycle Advocacy
A draft law that essentially would have put a “Not Welcome” mat out for bicyclists at the bridges to Mercer Island has been struck down by the City Council.
The proposed ordinance addressed bicyclists riding in groups of two or more on the populous island in Lake Washington between Seattle and Bellevue. It was aimed at the scenic, winding, 15-mile training loop around the island that occasionally becomes a flashpoint between motorists and bicyclists.
The law would have required those groups to ride single file as far to the right as possible, and to actually pull off the road to allow a car to pass along stretches of road that are too tight for safe passing.
In other words, it would have made bicyclists second-class road users by law…
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/04/20/proposed-bicycling-restrictions-rejected-by-mercer-island-officials/
A Benton County (WA) Superior Court judge sentenced a man to 5 years and 3 months in prison for vehicular assault after he struck a woman on a charity bike ride last year.
The 32-year-old man apologized to the victim, who was not in court, then told the judge that he believed the crash “was an accident” and “I feel bad about this whole situation.”
Although the judge agreed with the word “accident” in terms that the man didn't intend to run into the cyclist, he pointed out on Friday that the driver was under the influence of a stimulant and the crash shouldn't have happened ……
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/04/18/5-years-for-hitting-bicyclist-on-charity-ride/
Seattle might be a gold level bicycle friendly city on one list and ranked 4th best in the nation on another, but bicyclists and the city are having a devil of a time getting a major bike trail completed.
Bicyclists using the 27-mile-long Burke-Gilman Trail to commute to work or college or to run errands must deal with a 1 1/2-mile gap in the trail known as the “missing link.”
… On Friday, a judge ruled on the latest tactic to delay the trail completion — a lawsuit filed by area businesses. The superior court judge ruled against the businesses on all but one count, the need for an environmental report….
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/04/17/another-burke-gilman-trail-delay-judge-orders-a-study/
An organized bike ride from Baltimore to Annapolis by 85 cyclists on Monday may have ensured the passage of the 3-foot passing law in Maryland, as well as 3 other bicycle friendly measures during the last day of the legislature.
The Maryland Legislature became the 16th state body to pass the 3-foot bill, which goes into effect in October 2010 if …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/04/14/cyclists-ride-to-annapolis-to-achieve-passage-of-3-foot-rule/
Starting with today's home opener, Minnesota Twins fans can combine their love of baseball with their devotion to the bicycle.
Monday is the debut of the Twins' new Target Field, and one of its advantages over the old Metrodome is that a bicycle path — the Cedar Lake Trail — heads right to the new ballpark from the western suburbs.
To further welcome cyclists, the new stadium has space for 300 bicycles in racks behind the third base wall on the northwest side of the ballpark.
Opened in 1995, the Cedar Lake Trail rolls from the west ..
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/04/12/making-a-pitch-for-bicycling-to-baseball-games-in-minneapolis/
The future must have been looking pretty bright for Jorge Alvarado on Thursday morning as he headed south on his bicycle for a solo training ride on Greenspot Road in California's eastern San Bernardino County.
The 27-year-old cyclist from Mexico had made it onto the roster of the Bahati Foundation cycling team in March. He recently had won the UCLA Road Race and finished 5th at the Redlands Classic pro/am crit.
On tap was this weekend's Dana Point Grand Prix and the upcoming SRAM Tour of the Gila at the end of April. There he'd get the chance to race against Dave Zabriskie, Danny Pate, Tom Danielson and other pros preparing for the Tour of California.
But this Thursday morning, Sheriff's investigators say a high school senior made the decision to pass a classmate's car at 70 mph. He lost control ….
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/04/10/promising-amateur-cyclist-killed-as-teens-race-cars/
Three cities in the Pacific Northwest landed among the top five of Bicycling Magazine's list of Top 50 Bike-Friendly cities, but Minneapolis took the Number 1 spot.
In spite of winter conditions that many wouldn't consider conducive to bicycling, Minneapolis got the nod because of its active bicycle culture and the doubling of bike commuters in just a 3-year-period.
Rounding out the Top 5 are Portland, Oregon (#2), Boulder, Colorado (#3), Seattle (#4, at left) and Eugene, Oregon (#5).
The region also ranked high among cities under 100,000 population. The top 5 are Davis, California (#1), Corvallis, Oregon (#2), Bellingham, Washington (#3) …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/04/06/bicycling-magazine-names-top-50-cities-for-riding-a-bicycle/
A lot of news came out of the National Bike Summit in Washington DC earlier this month, such as the Google maps route finder for bicycles. It also marked the unveiling of a public awareness campaign entitled People for Bikes.
The idea of the mobilization effort by Bikes Belong and the SRAM Cycling Fund is to sign up 1 million people in support of bicycling so we can speak with one powerful voice and get the attention of policy makers, newspaper and television, and the general public.
Now, considering that Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced soon after the summit that bicycle transportation will be treated equally with motorized transportation, you might think that the tough work is done.
Not hardly …..
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/03/30/are-you-one-of-the-people-for-bikes/
There's isn't much positive news to send back home to bicyclists from the state capitols this year.
One of the few bright spots came from Mississippi, where the State Legislature approved a bill requiring motorists give bicyclists 3 feet of clearance when passing.
(That is Maryland's One Less Car president, Greg Cantori, at left demonstrating what three feet looks like when passing.)
Similar bills were either rejected or ignored in 7 other states — Idaho, Iowa, Maryland, Missouri, Ohio, South Dakota, Virginia and Washington. Iowa may still get some bicycle safety provisions passed, however, and Vermont is still considering a “due care” passing bill …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/03/26/scorecard-for-3-foot-passing-bills-in-2010-1-for-9/
Hitting the last leg of a bicycle ride near my home on a beautiful spring afternoon on Tuesday, I stumbled on this scene along southbound Interstate 405 between Bellevue and Renton.
Bumper-to-bumper freeway traffic crawling along as far as the eye could see, right next to a wide open bike lane.
I wondered if those people in the cars and trucks thought about what it would be like to ride along this stretch on a bicycle. They probably get to think about it a lot. This backup isn't uncommon here; it's pretty much a daily occurrence.
It got me to thinking about US Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood's announcement about a major policy revision that puts walking and bicycling on an equal footing ….
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/03/24/if-you-rode-a-bicycle-youd-be-home-by-now/
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