A solution to the world\'s urban transportation problems could lie in two wheels not four

OK we knew that for a long time but coming from GM? Of course their vision on how to do more with less involves a chair, two wheels and a motor. While I would love to see more appropriate sized transportation options there is sort of an image problem as soon as you put a seat on a Segway, the prototype sort of looks like a souped wheelchair with wheelie and roll bars.

Here is Streetsbolg's take:
image

Continue Reading

  • Currently 0.00/5
Rating: 0.00/5 (0 votes cast)

Valerie Ervin Event/Politics and Bikes

FYI, Montgomery County Councilmember Valerie Ervin, who has been strongly supportive of MoBike\'s efforts to make the promotion of cycling a higher priority for Montgomery County government, is holding a fundraiser on April 23.

For those who are interested, here are the particulars:

Jackie\'s Restaurant
8081 Georgia Avenue
Silver Spring, MD 20910

Thursday, April 23, 2008
6:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m.

Whether or not you attend this event, I hope everyone on this list will make it a point to get involved in local elections in some way -- by volunteering, contributing money, or simply showing up at a candidate forum and asking about bikes.

Continue Reading

  • Currently 0.00/5
Rating: 0.00/5 (0 votes cast)

Calif woman gets 6 years for fatal texting crash

{This is interesting because so far killing cyclists while texting has not resulted in much of anything in terms of punishment for the motorists.}

REDDING, Calif. – A woman who crashed into a line of stopped vehicles while text-messaging on her cell phone has been sentenced to six years in a California prison for killing a woman in one of the vehicles.

Deborah Matis-Engle was sentenced Friday by a judge in Redding, Calif.

Investigators said Deborah Matis-Engle was speeding and text messaging when she slammed into the vehicles stopped at a construction zone in August 2007.

Shasta County prosecutor Stephanie Bridgett said the 49-year-old woman had paid several bills by cell phone in the moments before the crash.

She was in the middle of one of those transactions when she struck a vehicle that burst into flames, killing 46-year-old Petra Winn.

Defense attorney Jeffrey Stotter said he will appeal.

Continue Reading

  • Currently 0.00/5
Rating: 0.00/5 (0 votes cast)

Use Stop Signs for Training

TRY THIS ON YOUR NEXT RIDE



From RoadBikeRider.com:
Don\'t you hate traffic signals? Just when you\'re in the groove, there\'s the dreaded word: STOP
The worst case: a stop sign in the middle of a great descent.

It\'s important to obey traffic signals, of course. Running stop signs and red lights is dangerous and sends the wrong message to motorists, even if they don\'t drive over you.

Some motorists get peeved and aggressive when they see cyclists ignoring signals. \"You guys break the law,\" goes their thinking, \"so you don\'t deserve any respect from me.\" Be aware of your responsibilities as a road user, as well as your rights.

And don\'t regard stop signs only as a nuisance. Let\'s see how to use them for a training benefit.

After all, stopping means starting again -- accelerating up to speed. This is a good thing for at least 6 reasons:

* It encourages you to stand, relieving saddle pressure on nerves and blood vessels to restore circulation.

* It stretches your legs and back, lessening stiffness.

* It works the muscles of your torso, arms and shoulders if you sprint forcefully.

* Accelerating hard fires your fast-twitch muscle fibers, contributing to well-rounded fitness. Repeated efforts can help you become a faster sprinter.

* If you\'re a racer, particularly a criterium rider or time trialist, starts from stops can improve your out-of-saddle bike-handling technique.

* Stop lights that make you wait for a minute are a chance to work on your trackstand -- balancing at a standstill with feet on the pedals -- assuming that won\'t PO gramps in his Buick waiting behind you.

Continue Reading

  • Currently 0.00/5
Rating: 0.00/5 (0 votes cast)

Our view: Tough times, but surprising number of environment bills advance

Baltimore Sun:



This wasn\'t supposed to be a big year for the environmentalist movement in Annapolis, and that may yet prove to be the case. Program Open Space funds are under assault from the state Senate, millions of cap-and-trade dollars from power plants are being diverted from alternative energy and efficiency programs, and some important environmental programs have had their budgets cut (as many state government functions have).

But with just a week left in the legislative session, the greenies are in a surprisingly good position to pull off some significant wins.
...
Most of Gov. Martin O\'Malley\'s bill to commit Maryland to a 25 percent reduction in greenhouse gases by 2020 has advanced. His proposal to address the Court of Appeals\' Terrapin Run decision and restore legal authority to county comprehensive plans has, too.

On the state\'s Smart Growth policy, however, the Senate\'s failure to put some teeth into the program is particularly disappointing. The House had taken Mr. O\'Malley\'s modest effort at updating Smart Growth and required the counties to show they were making progress toward their stated goals. But that now looks like a lost cause in the Senate - and a big defeat for any hope of controlling sprawl around the Chesapeake Bay.

Still, what happens in the days ahead could make the difference. As one veteran lobbyist noted, a month ago it looked like the environmentalists were going to walk away from the session nearly empty-handed. Perhaps it\'s a case of looking at the Chesapeake Bay as half-clean, but given the circumstances, it\'s a welcome development.

Continue Reading

  • Currently 0.00/5
Rating: 0.00/5 (0 votes cast)

Conservative Cyclists Break the Stereotypes of Bike Politics

by Jake Mohan
...
We are all guilty of certain prejudices. In the escalating (and increasingly dangerous) tensions between car commuters and bicycle riders, battle lines are drawn. As an avid cyclist leaning fairly hard to port, I had very little reason to interrogate the stereotypes embodied in the scenario above. But eventually a few needling questions penetrated my insulated sphere of thought: What if there are conservatives who ride bikes? What the hell do they look like? And where can I find them?

On the Internet, of course.
,,,

Continue Reading

  • Currently 0.00/5
Rating: 0.00/5 (0 votes cast)

Palo Alto cyclist heading for Boston on rare bike

[Note this is in Bike Baltimore because this ride will be coming through here.]
image
Some people think of bicycles as an occasional way to get around. For Palo Altan Martin Krieg they're far more: a full-time mode of transportation and his ticket across the United States.

On May 3, he will begin a 4,000-mile bicycle ride from Palo Alto to Boston, Mass. -- his third cross-nation bike trip. In 1979, he rode a standard upright bike and in 1986 a recumbent bike. He will pass through 25 cities that he hopes someday will become links in a national bikeway.

But it's not just any bike he will be riding. With a design that harkens back to the 19th century, his 1891 HiWheel Eagle has a small wheel in the front and a really large one in back — a reverse of the better-known Pennyfarthing bicycle that Krieg has been riding around Palo Alto for years.
...

Continue Reading

  • Currently 0.00/5
Rating: 0.00/5 (0 votes cast)

Creating bikeable, \"permeable\" urban street grids

As just a few minor examples of the changing realities which are now affecting New Haven, national firefighters\' groups used to be opposed to narrower, slower-speed streets, but they now recognize that many more lives can be saved with them -- even if response times are slightly prolonged or emergency responders need some re-training. Public health organizations used to focus mostly on nutrition, health care and education policies, but have now identified transportation and walkable neighborhoods as arguably the most critical issue to promoting community health. Economic development officials increasingly focus on walkability, transit, livability, connectivity and the number of intersections per square mile, rather than on the volume of traffic or number of parking spaces within a certain radius. Transportation planners used to project rising traffic counts; the latest 2009 data has shown an approximately 30% decrease in congestion just over the past year alone. Cycling advocacy groups used to focus mostly on greenways, rail-trails, rural touring routes and bike lanes, but now increasingly focus on creating bikeable, \"permeable\" urban street grids where traffic speeds max out at around 20 MPH, with a variety of facilities contemplated to serve different user types. Even ConnDOT has been designing streets in new ways. Cities that have adopted these new viewpoints have been witnessing very dramatic changes in short periods of time.

Continue Reading

  • Currently 0.00/5
Rating: 0.00/5 (0 votes cast)

In TN there is no legal obligation to see a cyclist

It\'s funny I had thoughts about this last night on how our legislatures reacted to the 3\' safe passing bill and the removal of mandatory shoulder use law. One issue seems to be the problem with cyclists appearing out of nowhere as if we are some sort of specter that can be invisible till the last minute leaving motorists no time to react to our presences. Leaving cyclists baffled on the how and why\'s we can\'t be seen even when wearing some of the gaudiest clothing on the planet, well I have a thought about that.

Let\'s say I am driving in a car with a friend down a 35mph street so we are doing the acceptable 50mph, the road is fairly straight with good sight lines and then out of nowhere an illegally parked car appears, my freind gasps \"We are going to crash!\" and I say \"Slow down a bit and change lanes when its safe to do so.\" \"But why should I be inconvenienced when they are not doing the speed limit?\" So we crash and tell the officer that we just did not see the parked car so its not our fault, if it is anyone\'s fault it should be the one not doing the speed limit, giving no time for people \"lawfully\" using the roadway time to react.

The problem here is that this story would appear to be a totally bogus to most people but if we replaced parked car with a lawful cyclist the story has suddenly gained believability among a large portion of our society. Why is that? Well this is my theory: Cyclists are admonished to ride to the right of the road to facilitate passing of faster traffic. So by riding to the right we are essentially saying that it is safe to pass within the same lane and don\'t pay me any more heed then a telephone pole on the right side of the road, there is room for you to pass. It is my belief that it is the awareness of not having enough room to pass is what \"suddenly\" appears out of nowhere not the cyclists.

Continue Reading

  • Currently 0.00/5
Rating: 0.00/5 (0 votes cast)