Category: Bicycle Advocacy
A 32-year-old Florida woman with a history of alcohol abuse was sentenced to 20 years in prison in the death of a Pensacola man who was riding his bicycle to his night shift job in June.
Michael Steele, 25, was killed when the woman driving a GMC Yukon hit his bike from behind while she texted on her cellphone. Police said he rolled over the hood and landed about 40 feet away.
He was riding his bike to his job stocking shelves at the local Winn-Dixie so his wife could use the couple's only car to drive to her job in the morning ….
Continue reading
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/10/29/woman-gets-20-years-for-dui-hit-s-death/
The League of American Bicyclists named 15 more cities to its Bicycle-Friendly Community list this week, bringing the grand total to 124.
While cities named to the list over the past 14 years are predominantly from western states, the League trumpeted the fact that 10 of the 15 newest communities came from midwestern or eastern states.
The addition of the new communities means that 35 million of us live in Bicycle-Friendly Communities. And figures in the American Community Survey released recently by the US Census Bureau show that workers in bike-friendly communities commute by bicycle at more than double the national average…..
Continue reading
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/10/21/do-you-live-in-a-bicycle-friendly-community-yet-new-cities-named/
While a lot of attention is focused on making big cities more bicycle friendly, the next battle is being waged in the suburbs.
In South Jersey suburbs around Philadelphia, for instance, planners are going up against road networks built solely for the automobile, and bicyclists are facing motorists who don't look out for them. A regular bike commuter between Philadelphia and Cherry Hill, New Jersey, told the Philadelphia Inquirer:
“In Philadelphia there's a lot of volume, but maybe because [drivers] see more cyclists, they are more aware. Here (Cherry Hill) you really got to watch them, because they're not watching for you. …
Continue reading
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/10/19/bicycling-improvements-face-challenges-in-suburbs/
Who doesn't like bike theft story with a happy ending. Here's one from Wellesley College in Massachusetts.
A college professor discovered that her much-loved Trek bicycle had been stolen from the front porch one night after she left it resting against her husband's locked-up bike.
Much distraught, she started hunting around on Craigslist the next morning for a replacement bike. Instead, she stumbled across a bike — not pictured — that matched the description of her bicycle. She contacted the seller using her husband's e-mail address, got a response. Then she went to the Wellesley Police.
The police believed her story, telephoned the seller, met him and arrested him. When the suspect saw police, he immediately said, “I know what this is about. It's about the bike.” ….
Continue reading
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/10/16/stolen-bike-found-on-craigslist-for-the-umpteenth-time/
Washington state bicycle advocates are pushing for a law to make it illegal for a motorist to seriously injure or kill a vulnerable roadway user — such as a bike rider — in a crash caused by ordinary negligence.
All too often, motorists receive mere traffic tickets and don't even have to appear in court when their inattentive driving results in a bicyclist's or pedestrian's death.
The Cascade Bicycle Club, among others, is sponsoring a Traffic Justice Summit from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Seattle City Hall's Bertha Knight Landes Room to discuss changing the law.
Bike riders, pedestrians, and motorcyclists can be the most vulnerable when a motorist commits a simple traffic violation.
When a car driver changes lanes into another car or makes a left turn in front of an oncoming vehicle, for instance, a couple of crumpled fenders is usually the worst result. Put a bicyclist into that equation, however, and a death or serious injury results….
Continue reading
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/10/12/seeking-justice-for-bike-riders-in-washington-state/
Hill-climbing specialists from across the state of Florida are descending on Lake County this weekend for the Mount Dora Bicycle Festival.
This is the 35th anniversary of the bike gathering, which features entertainment beginning Friday night and 11 supported bike rides of 25 to 100 miles throughout the weekend.
But the real mountain goats among the 500 participants will no doubt be saving themselves for Sunday's “Assault on Sugarloaf Mountain.”
At 310 feet of elevation, Sugarloaf is one of the highest peaks in the state of Florida. Those strong enough to make it to the summit will enjoy views of Lake Apopka and other area features …
Continue reading
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/10/10/cyclists-prepare-for-assault-on-sugarloaf-mountain-bike-advocacy-in-central-florida/
Imagine riding your bike to middle school and being met by state police and school administrators.
That's what happened this fall to Adam Marino, 12, on his way to school at Maple Avenue Middle School in Saratoga Springs, New York.
Instead of receiving a proclamation for getting fresh air and exercise on his way to and from school, Adam and Janette Kaddo Marino, his mother, were reminded that biking, and walking, to school is strictly prohibited for elementary and middle school students. They ride anyway ….
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/10/05/7th-grader-rides-bike-to-school-in-defiance-of-district-policy/
Friday morning I biked down to City Hall to help tabulate the results of a bicycle-pedestrian count made earlier in the week.
Instead of planting volunteers on street-corners with clipboards and pencils, the Bellevue transportation planners had downloaded footage from the city's wide-ranging network of traffic cams to cover the locations they wanted to count.
So, after keypunching some survey results, I sat there for an hour in climate-controlled comfort watching cars and figures passing through the videostream on the computer screen. During the 7 to 8 a.m. time period on Tuesday, I counted scores of pedestrians, and just one lone cyclist. And he was riding on the sidewalk. (The other volunteer, known on Twitter as VeloBusDriver, counted just one cyclist as well.)
Although this isn't a prime cross-town route for bicyclists, it kind of illustrated the problem for bike commuting and Bellevue: Most streets in Bellevue are not bike friendly. …..
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/10/02/bellevue-trying-to-meet-the-needs-of-bike-riders/
There are plenty of anecdotes from people who say they've been surprised by silent-running hybrid cars. I've even read where people say that crash victims may not have heard the hybrid coming.
Now here's a government report that has some statistics to back up those stories. The study issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration compares hybrid cars to internal combustion automobiles.
Essentially, the report finds that hybrids have a significantly higher rate of bicyclist and pedestrian crashes in low-speed conditions when compared with their noisier, internal combustion engine counterparts. ….
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/10/01/hybrid-cars-silent-and-deadly-for-bike-riders/
Bike commuting rose in 2008. That's good news if you believe in the Virtuous Cycle — the theory that there's safety in numbers for bicycle riders.
An estimated 786,098 people rode their bicycles to work in 2008, or about 1/2 of one percent of the nation's workforce, according to data contained in the US Census Bureau's 2008 American Community Survey.
The Portland metropolitan area (which includes Beaverton, Oregon, and Vancouver, Washington) once again led other metro areas for bike commuting and Oregon led the 50 states.
Comparing data with previous years, the League of American Bicyclists says that those bike commuters nationwide represent a 14.3% increase over 2007 and a 43.4% increase from the year 2000 ….
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/09/30/bike-commuting-climbs-in-2008-top-bicycling-states-metro-areas/
Recent Comments