Category: Bicycle Advocacy
A new year means new laws in many states, although there are only a few that affect bicycling.
A ban on texting while driving in three states went into effect on Friday, promising to make the roads a little bit safer by protecting bicyclists and others from distracted drivers. That makes 19 states that prohibit the practice (see the list below).
About the only law addressing bicycles specifically is a strange one in California that allows a person to ride a bicycle without a seat if the bicycle was designed by the manufacturer to be ridden without a seat.
After reading that one over a couple of times, I searched high and low for an explanation and finally ran across one in the Sacramento Bee ….
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/01/01/now-its-ok-to-ride-a-bicycle-without-a-saddle-in-california/
There's a jersey up ahead.
It's being worn by a guy who is riding the greatest invention of all time — the bicycle.
Emblazoned across the back is a message. More like a slogan.
“SHARE THE DAMN ROAD”
The motorist is confused. Is it meant to humor him or taunt him? Is he having a good day or a lousy day? What happens next?
The “Share the Damn Road” jersey and some others, such as “Don't Run Me Over” and “Don't Honk At Me,” are ideas that sprang from the mind of pro cyclist Phil Gaimon ….
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/12/21/these-cycling-jerseys-send-a-message-to-drivers/
Didn't Bob Dylan sing “…the signs, they are a-changin'”?
Maybe not, but I couldn't get that song out of my head when I read at Bike Portland that the feds were establishing new guidelines for signs and road markings that included changes that effect bike riders.
While some of the improvements deal with freeway signs and traffic signals, many changes involved making bike lane markings more uniform and establishing common signs for bike routes and paths.
The ones at left caught my attention at first.
The U.S. Bicycle Route signs will be used on the 50,000-mile bike route corridor network being established by Adventure Cycling Association and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation officials.
Those bike route designations are already being used for USBR 1 and 76 in Virginia. …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/12/18/signs-of-the-times-for-bicycling/
Seattle experienced a 15% increase in bike commuting in the past two years, based on a count conducted in September.
Volunteers stationed at 30 locations around the city counted 2,609 bicyclists heading into the core downtown area the morning of Sept. 16.
Many of those commuters were using bike lanes, routes and paths that were created thanks to the city's Bike Master Plan, passed in 2007.
The ongoing improvements in the Bike Master Plan are aimed at tripling the number of people commuting by bicycle by 2017 ….
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/12/16/big-jump-in-seattle-bike-commuting-the-past-two-years/
Bruce FriedlandA bicycling buddy saw this beer truck blocking a bike lane while he was visiting in New York recently and sent me the picture, entitling it, “An Incentive to Ride a Bike.”
I'll agree there have been times on a long, hot bike ride that the mirage of a truck carrying ice-cold beers dancing before my eyes would have willed me ahead.
But the photo also records a much more dangerous problem, motor vehicles that force bicyclists into traffic by blocking the bike lanes.
It's a common problem in New York City. The Hunter College of the City University of New York recently set out to see how frequently it happens. Their results:
“During a 10-minute span of time, a New York City cyclist traveling in a bike lane will encounter a vehicle during a stretch of just five or six city blocks more than 60 percent of the time. ….
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/12/14/an-incentive-to-ride-a-bike-or-dangerous-obstruction/
Where and when are you most likely to find bicycle riders in Bellevue, Washington? It's the I-90 bike trail in the Enatai neighborhood.
According to the Pedestrian and Bicycle Count Report taken on Sept. 29, bicycle commuters come through there at the rate of 2 per minute between 4 and 6 p.m., and at about 1 per minute between 7 and 9 a.m.
If you commute between the Eastside and Seattle, that I-90 bridge trail is the only way across Lake Washington. The only alternatives are riding through Renton south of the lake or the Burke-Gilman Trail through Bothell north of the lake. [The photo shows bike commuters at that location on a bike-to-work day …..
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/12/12/where-to-find-bike-commuters-in-bellevue/
As the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen draws to a close, some journalists took advantage of a bike tour through the city on Thursday offered by the Cycling Embassy of Denmark.
The description by one reporter at the Telegraph makes the city sound like bicycling heaven:
“Despite the drizzle and cold, for someone who bikes in London it was sheer bliss. There are bike lanes everywhere, with enough room for two or three cyclists. Cycle routes are closed to traffic and there are shortcuts by lakesides and through pretty parks. There is no weaving through traffic, running over pedestrians or throwing hand signals because you simply don’t have to, there is room for everyone.”
Apparently bicycling in Denmark in the '70s was destined to go the way of the dodo bird ….
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/12/11/creating-bicycling-bliss-in-copenhagen/
Does this annoyance sound familiar to you?
You pedal your bicycle up to a traffic light and sit there waiting for it to change. If it uses a trigger mechanism installed in the blacktop, you could sit there a very long time — maybe forever if you're riding an aluminum or carbon bike.
Eventually you meekly roll over to the crosswalk and hit the pedestrian crossing button, or take matters into your own hands and just blow the traffic light when no cross-traffic is coming.
Bicyclists in Santa Clarita, California, might not get to play out that drama much longer on two roads. The city has requested $390,000 from the state Bicycle Transportation Account to install cameras mounted on traffic lights to detect bicyclists waiting at traffic signals …..
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/12/09/expanding-use-of-bicycle-video-detection-at-intersections/
It's always gratifying to learn that your hometown is making progress toward bicycle friendliness.
That's why I was happy to learn that Bellevue, Washington, has joined Seattle and Redmond by opening a bike station. It's housed inside Bellevue's Commute Connection at the Transit Center on Sixth Street.
That Commute Connection “store” is where commuters can learn about options to driving solo to work or errands. Staff is on-site from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. daily through the winter to assist in planning commute trips by bike, bus, and car- or van-pool.
The highlight for me is the secure indoor parking at the site for 27 bicycles ….
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/12/07/secure-bicycle-parking-at-bellevues-bike-station/
While researchers say that risk is a big issue that keeps women off bicycles on the road, a documentary comes to grips with another problem of perception — it's just not cool.
Says one of the subjects in a UK documentary about young women on bikes: “I thought it was just a little kid's thing.”
A study published in Scientific American in October noted that, in general, women are more averse to risk than men. In bicycling, that reluctance is overcome with good bike infrastructure, such as bike lanes, bike paths and a bike friendly atmosphere.
A project in Darlington, UK, finds there's more to it than that in Beauty and the Bike: Why do British girls stop cycling?”
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/12/06/changing-how-young-women-look-at-bicycling/
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