• Home
  • Biking Elsewhere

Google

ARE AMERICAN FIRE TRUCKS TOO BIG?

-> As fire apparatus has become super-sized in the United States it has also has become more expensive. The average price of a Type I engine costs $400,000 to $600,000 and a 100-foot aerial ladder is over $1 million. With traffic congestion and rush-hour gridlock plaguing many of large metropolitan areas and winding streets littered with parked cars common in suburbia, there is now another aspect for public discussion regarding super-sized fire apparatus: how wide should the streets be in our cities? Do we need big and expensive trucks on the road for mostly medical calls and car wrecks? Fire apparatus used in Western Europe are highly maneuverable on the narrow, winding streets, and have a much smaller apparatus footprint than American rigs. Fire departments in Europe and Asia are using smaller rapid response vehicles as primary tools in their urban firefighting deployment strategies. http://bit.ly/1LxFbHv

from CenterLines, the e-newsletter of the National Center for Bicycling & Walking.

[B' Spokes: And because of these too big trucks some fire departments are actively engaged in fighting bike lanes and safer narrow travel lanes.]
  • Currently 0.00/5
Rating: 0.00/5 (0 votes cast)

How the human body would have to be built to survive a catastrophic car crash

[B" Spokes: I will maintain that the perception that cars are safer than cycling is only valid for cycling speeds. Rev cars up to 40 mph or above and the human body has a hard time coping with the forces in a crash... That is unless you are designed like this fellow:]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3700578/Victoria-s-new-road-safety-ambassador-Graham-body-survive-car-crash.html
  • Currently 0.00/5
Rating: 0.00/5 (0 votes cast)

Murder Machines: Why Cars Will Kill 30,000 Americans This Year

There’s an open secret in America: If you want to kill someone, do it with a car. As long as you’re sober, chances are you’ll never be charged with any crime, much less manslaughter. Over the past hundred years, as automobiles have been woven into the fabric of our daily lives, our legal system has undermined public safety, and we’ve been collectively trained to think of these deaths as unavoidable “accidents” or acts of God. Today, despite the efforts of major public-health agencies and grassroots safety campaigns, few are aware that car crashes are the number one cause of death for Americans under 35. But it wasn’t always this way.
...

http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/murder-machines/

[B' Spokes: A very good overview of the history of the automobile and the battle for public space. Not to mention how speed was put ahead safety.]
  • Currently 0.00/5
Rating: 0.00/5 (0 votes cast)

What if young people had a say in planning?

"Young people feel a lot of issues very viscerally, because some issues directly impact their everyday lives. I recall one situation where some high school students became very interested in zoning once they realized that it determined whether they could get somewhere without their parents. They were interested in making sure that there were things of interest to them that would be within walking distance."

—Susan Santone, founder and executive director of Creative Change Educational Solutions on the value of engaging youth in planning processes. Planning Magazine: http://bit.ly/2aayNty


from CenterLines, the e-newsletter of the National Center for Bicycling & Walking.
  • Currently 0.00/5
Rating: 0.00/5 (0 votes cast)

Sometimes the Safer Street Design Option Is the Less Expensive One

by Angie Schmitt, Streets Blog

...
One idea is as simple as enhancing crosswalk visibility with paint, instead of the expensive, hard-to-see treatments at some Dallas intersections: [B' Spokes: Even our red brick crosswalks are expensive and there is nothing that shows they improve pedestrian safety over something like bold hatched crosswalks.]
...

http://www.streetsblog.net/2015/02/02/sometimes-the-safer-street-design-option-is-the-less-expensive-one/

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

AAA: Most Drivers Have Engaged in Aggressive Driving

by TOM COSTELLO, NBC News

...
"We've all heard the old adage, we all say things we don't mean when we're angry. Well, when you're behind the wheel, you do things you wouldn't otherwise do when you're angry," said Jake Nelson, director of traffic safety advocacy and research with AAA.
...

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/aaa-most-drivers-have-engaged-road-rage-incidents-n608836
  • Currently 0.00/5
Rating: 0.00/5 (0 votes cast)

The idiocy of traffic studies

Via Urban kchoze

...
This approach basically views congestion, even during the peak hour of the day, as a catastrophic failure in a way similar to a bridge falling down. It also assumes that there is no externality to overdesigning an intersection, of using longer traffic signals, of having a higher number of wider lanes, wider medians, the only drawback is the cost...
...

The result is that such an intersection forms a barrier to pedestrian and bicycle travel. The resulting roads that accompany these intersections are often large enough to make mid-block crossing a dangerous proposition to say the least, confining pedestrians to crossing only at rare intersections, often necessitating detours taking 5-10 minutes on foot... just to get on the other side of the road.

These externalities are ignored, it is considered to be "conservative" to spend more on a road with better vehicle capacity no matter the impact on quality of life of residents, on alternative modes of transport and on the financial sustainability of developments. This approach and the assumptions that support it make traffic studies a self-fulfilling prophecy: over-designing roads while neglecting non-car travel ensures that almost all trips in the area will be made by car, confirming the initial assumptions of quasi-universal car use, because cars are the only mode of travel the road design caters to.
...

http://urbankchoze.blogspot.com/2015/09/the-idiocy-of-traffic-studies.html
  • Currently 0.00/5
Rating: 0.00/5 (0 votes cast)

SURVEY: "SHARE THE ROAD" SIGNS INEFFECTIVE

-> Delaware got rid of its "Share the Road" signs about two years ago. They were widely misinterpreted — by both motorists and cyclists — as an exhortation to cyclists to stop "hogging" the road, or as a recommendation that drivers and cyclists share a lane (leading to tight squeezes and close passes). The state dumped the confusing message in favor of a less ambiguous one asserting that bicycles "may use full lane." A new survey (Bicycles May Use Full Lane" Signage Communicates U.S. Roadway Rules and Increases Perception of Safety: http://bit.ly/1ivTM8x) confirms that Delaware had the right idea. In all 50 states, cyclists have a right to the road — including the center of the lane, if that's the safest place for them to be. Turns out "Share the Road" had no effect whatsoever in leading people to respect cyclists' right to occupy a full lane of traffic. A sharrow helped a little. In the survey, by far the clearest indication that cyclists have an equal right to the road was a sign stating unequivocally that cyclists "may use full lane." http://bit.ly/1O0b4YA

from CenterLines, the e-newsletter of the National Center for Bicycling & Walking.
  • Currently 0.00/5
Rating: 0.00/5 (0 votes cast)

CDC: America Falling Behind Other Nations on Traffic Safety

by Angie Schmitt, Streets Blog

How is the U.S. doing on traffic safety?

To hear a lot of people tell it, we’re making great strides. President Obama recently referred to the reduction in American traffic deaths as a success story of sorts, contrasting it with the rise in gun deaths.

But while traffic fatalities in America are indeed trending downward, the improvement pales in comparison to what other countries have achieved, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control.
...

http://usa.streetsblog.org/2016/07/07/cdc-america-falling-behind-other-nations-on-traffic-safety/
  • Currently 0.00/5
Rating: 0.00/5 (0 votes cast)

Four wheels or two, safe roads are due

By The Herald Editorial Board

Even for the state ranked as the No. 1 Bicycle Friendly State, it still takes a court to explain to some cities that bicycles are a legitimate form of transportation and not just something that kids ride around the neighborhood.

Last week a state appellate court ruled that cycling is as much a mode of “ordinary travel” as motor vehicles and that cities and counties have to provide safe roadways for all traffic, whether its done on four wheels, two wheels or two feet.
...

http://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/four-wheels-or-two-safe-roads-are-due
  • Currently 0.00/5
Rating: 0.00/5 (0 votes cast)