Category: Bicycle Advocacy
Bicycle safety videos have come a long way in the past 40 years. Did I really have to sit through stuff like this? Fortunately, I've repressed the memory.
I stumbled across the 15-minute film while checking around for other examples of online bicycle safety videos before posting “Illinois bicycle safety video online.” The vintage 1963 film is called, “One Got Fat,” and it details how a group of monkeys (no, not children) fall victim to grisly accidents — one by one — for not following the rules of the road and not using common sense.
The monkeys are riding their bicycles to a picnic, but the one who had a bike basket to carry all the sack lunches is the only one to survive. He gets to eat all the lunches, hence, “One Got Fat.”
You'll note in the 15-minute film that none of the children (monkeys) are wearing helmets. That's OK; helmets probably aren't much help when being run over by a steamroller or an 18-wheeler or when tumbling into a bottomless manhole.
Do you recognize the narrator's voice? …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2006/10/18/mondo-bizarro-bicycle-safety-video/
You probably wonder what the heck is being taught in drivers' ed when someone honks at you as they pass and a young voice shouts, “Use the f***ing bike path.” I know I do.
At least in Illinois, though, the students are being taught all the right things.
The League of Illinois Bicyclists is distributing copies of its 7-minute video for new drivers on what to do and not do when encountering bicyclists — in other words how to share the road. …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2006/10/18/illinois-bicycle-safety-video-online/
After Bob Breedlove died in a head-on collision with a pickup truck on a lonely Colorado highway last year, state police said the Race Across America bicyclist had veered into the pickup's side of the road.
The family now says that state police reached the wrong conclusion in the case, and they're supported by two independent investigators — including one hired by Outside magazine. …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2006/10/16/breedlove-family-questions-2005-death-of-raam-bicycle-racer/
A California judge sentenced a 69-year-old man to 90 days in jail for killing a bicyclist last year when he swerved his car into a bicycle lane while he was looking for a freeway onramp.
The victim, Michelle Mazzei, 34, of Redwood City, was an elementary school teacher. News of her death — at the time the 26th in the region in five years — sparked a memorial ride by more than 100 area cyclists. …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2006/10/13/90-day-sentence-for-killing-bicycle-rider/
I'm liking bicycle trailers more and more. I lugged my kids around in a Burley d'Lite 'til they outgrew it. I sold it, then turned around a year later and bought a used Yakima single-wheel trailer for touring and errands — mainly grocery shopping.
Now I see that a bicycle trailer manufacturer is offering free plans on how to build a bamboo trailer.
UK-based Carry Freedom sells several styles of trailers — including a dog kennel trailer and a folding trailer. The owners figure that cycling makes the world a better place and trailers make it easier to carry stuff by bike. …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2006/10/13/diy-bamboo-bicycle-trailer/
They've stopped feuding about mandatory bicycle helmet use in Austin, at least for the time-being.
Two local hospitals in the adopted hometown of Lance Armstrong say they will conduct a year-long study of bicycle-accident head injuries beginning Nov. 1. They'll present the results to the City Council, which is considering an ordinance that would make helmet use mandatory. …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2006/10/12/bike-helmet-debate-in-austin-sparks-study/
Bicycle trail advocates in Wisconsin and Alabama are pushing for more funding this week to complete trails in their states.
The Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin says the 40-mile Badger State Trail from Madison to the Illinois state line should lead priorities for funding, instead of that money going to highway construction projects.
In spite of a $5.8 billion transportation budget for 2005-2007, the state Legislature has cut 70 percent from the bicycle fund, leaving 92 such projects in the state unfunded …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2006/10/11/badgering-for-bike-trails-in-wisconsin-and-alabama/
What are some advantages of bicycling to work? Two groups of workers in Vermont, can tell us.
About a dozen employees at Stark Mountain Woodworking in New Haven are taking participating in the company's health plan that pays them $500 each for a bicycle and another $500 each for completing 650 miles by the end of the year.
The plan was hatched by co-owner Skimmer Hellier after arriving to work by bike one day early this summer. Since then, the workers are getting in better shape and arrive at work with more energy …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2006/10/10/vermont-workers-benefit-from-cycling/
You don't have to pay a corrupt lobbyist like Jack Abramoff to gain funding for bike paths and trails in your area. You simply need to get your mayor or county executive interested in bicycling.
Just look at Seattle, Chicago, and Columbia, Missouri as examples.
For instance, I ran across a story in my local newspaper on Wednesday that said trails are taking a high priority …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2006/10/05/how-to-get-support-for-bicycle-trails-put-the-pols-on-bikes/
Florida has joined at least six other states that require motorists to give bicycle riders a minimum 3-foot gap when passing.
In announcing the law that went into effect on Sunday, Florida newspapers have filled their pages with anecdotes from cyclists who have been hit by passing cars or who frequently feel the rush of close-passing cars and trucks.
Bicycling advocates are hoping the new law will put a dent in the bicycle fatality totals in the state …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2006/10/03/florida-gives-bicyclists-3-foot-buffer/
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