Cyclists are not equals on the road

[This is so outrageous!]

Let's get something straight: travelling our streets by bicycle or motor vehicle is not a right but a privilege, according to the state. We motorists and motorcyclists pay heavily for that privilege in the form of vehicle registrations and required insurance.

Our self-righteous pedallers will argue that they are reducing emissions by having one less car on the street. They neglect that the hundreds of motor vehicles they impede burn far more fuel following them in first or second gear than they would in fourth or fifth gear if the bikes were absent. Let them ride public transportation, which would certainly benefit from more fares.

Bicyclists trumpet their "rights" and "equality" while paying no heed to traffic laws and especially those red lights that must only be for motorists.

It's true that our roads are not set up for both motor and bicycle traffic. If bicyclists want to travel by their preferred mode, let them be licensed, taxed and insured so the state can provide them with proper lanes and trails that they have paid for, just as we motorists have.

Jack Conahan, Baltimore

Send your comments to talkback@baltimoresun.com.

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Elderly man vandalizes 30 cars that run through red lights

...who has had ‘experiences on multiple occasions where I’ve almost been killed by a car while on a zebra crossing’, which gave him the idea of attacking vehicles, and using these extreme measures to express his dissatisfaction with the disregard of drivers for the lives of pedestrians.”

“Yan Zheng-ping admits that smashing cars is illegal behaviour, but he makes the counter-question ‘are there any other methods available to me?’”
...
“Two drivers argued with me. I said that their cars should have stopped to allow people to pass on the zebra crossing, and that when you see pedestrians you should slow down, or even stop the vehicle. These are generally-accepted standards of civilized conduct, don’t you understand?”

“However, I have discovered that when drivers of small cars encounter surveillance cameras, or crossings where large trucks pass, they become more honest. They fear fines, they fear that other cars will run into them, and they know how to consider their own lives precious. Why, however, can’t they consider the lives of others important?”
...

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Voluntary Recall Notice - SRAM Chain_10 Speed_Power Lock

THIS ISSUE IS SAFETY RELATED. SRAM will be advising consumers to stop using this product immediately. Failure of the SRAM 10 speed chain PowerLock connector link, while in use, may result in loss of bicycle control and possible injury.

IMPORTANT
- SRAM 8 speed chains and PowerLinks are NOT affected.
- SRAM 9 speed chains and PowerLinks are NOT affected.
- SRAM 10 speed chains are NOT affected.
- ONLY 10 speed PowerLock connector links are affected.

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This just in: A bicycle uses less space than any car on the road.

That's what River Laker, better known as the British expatriate on a quixotic quest to live without a car, and a group of his friends set out to show Friday afternoon. He and two others built metal frames around their bikes so they would cover the area of an average sedan and rode a roughly 15-minute, seven-mile circuit downtown.

"We only take up a tiny part of the space cars do, so if more people were on bikes, there would be more space on the road," Laker said. "It demonstrates the close to ridiculous amount of space we take up transporting what is usually just one person in a car.
...

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Arrest Made in Hit-and-Run of Bicyclist and Young Son on Valencia Street

andrew_bennett.jpgAndrew Bennett and his 4-year-old son, Robby.

San Francisco police have confirmed to Streetsblog that a 16-year-old Santa Rosa girl has been arrested in the hit-and-run crash that left a bicyclist and his young son injured on Valencia Street early last month. SFPD Lt. Douglas Groshong said he could not release any more details but believes there is strong evidence to prosecute the case. The girl was booked into juvenile hall this morning on a felony hit-and-run charge.

Andrew Bennett and his 4-year-old son Robby were thrown from their bike July 1st when a vehicle allegedly driven by the girl was traveling westbound on 18th Street and Valencia and ran a red light. Bennett said he heard from some witnesses that the girl was talking on a cell phone.

The 42-year-old suffered a broken back, deep bone bruises on his leg, and his son, whose helmet was cracked in half, received some "pretty nasty abrasions" but wasn't seriously hurt.

Streetsblog San Francisco's initial post on the crash quickly became our most-read story and readers from around the world left comments expressing outrage and wishing Bennett a speedy recovery. Other media and bloggers followed with stories, and with some political pressure from City Hall and the SFBC, the SFPD made the case a priority and issued a rare press release asking for help, the first time the SFPD has issued a press release on a crash involving a bicyclist in recent memory. 

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When the police can stop you and your bike

There is some interest in the community on what rights do cyclists have so this may be of interest:

Following is a decision from the Florida 2d District Court of Appeal, which is the Tampa area. The short version is that a juvenile was stopped by the police while riding on a bike path. The appellate court decided that the officer lacked sufficient suspicion that the kid had committed a crime, and the trial court should have suppressed the marijuana they found:

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Twenty is plenty

A pedestrian hit by a car at 40 mph has a 95% chance of being killed, at 30 mph this becomes 50% and at 20 mph it becomes 5%.
Dr. Stephen J. Watkins, National Health Service, Stockport, UK

Speed contributes to causing accidents and it also increases their severity.

A pedestrian hit by a car at 40 mph has a 95% chance of being killed, at 30 mph this becomes 50% and at 20 mph it becomes 5%.

Most child pedestrian road deaths would be averted if people drove at 20mph in side streets. As few places are more than a mile from a main road, few journeys involve more than two miles on side roads (a mile at each end). The difference between driving two miles at 20mph and at 40mph is 3 minutes.

We are killing our children to save less than three minutes on our journeys.

In residential side roads 20 is plenty.

To enforce this policy we need

• A 20mph speed limit in residential side streets

• A recognition that motorists are solely responsible for the injuries that occur in accidents in residential side streets to the extent that they exceed those that might have been expected at 20mph. The concept of contributory negligence by pedestrians should apply only to injuries that would have been likely to have occurred anyway at 20mph. Any excess over that should be the motorist’s fault.

• Ideally we need to reshape streets so that they are used primarily for community use and the vehicle is a guest.

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Ghost Bike for John R. Yates

Most of you know about the bicyclist that died this week at the corner of Lafayette and Maryland. A memorial Ghost Bike will be place at that intersection this Sunday, 8/9, a bit after 6:00 PM. For info on the memorial, go to <a href="http://www.ghostbikes.org">www.ghostbikes.org</a>;

All are welcome. The ghost bike is currently at Velocipede… but all involved consider this a gesture from the bicycling community and the larger Baltimore community, not from a single group.
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