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The Surprising Risks of Playing It Safe

[Note I do not recommend not wearing a helmets for increased safety, if you are interested in increasing your safety while riding I provided a link at the end of the article. There is another link to a story by John Stossel (video) where he explores if Americans are worrying about the right things and for me the inference is how the media exaggerates how dangerous cycling really is.]

Even Being Careful Has Unintended Consequences
By JOHN STOSSEL, KRISTINA KENDALL and PATRICK McMENAMIN
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Signs will point to bike safety

By Kerry Fehr-Snyder - The Arizona Republic

Phoenix has selected Ahwatukee Foothills for bike safety signs to remind motorists that they must give cyclists at least three feet of roadway.

The signs, which could be 8 feet wide by 3 feet tall compared with standard street signs that are about 2 by 3 feet, come more than two years after a retired engineer cycling along Pecos Road was struck and killed by a car and about three months after a triathlete was seriously injured when struck by a car on Chandler Boulevard.

The driver walked away without a ticket in the Pecos Road incident in which Don Anselmo died, outraging fellow cyclists and other Valley residents.

His widow, Rita Anselmo, and other bicyclists groups pushed for the signs "because you know, motorists think they own the road down there," Rita Anselmo said.

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Cities Can Make You Skinny

By LiveScience.com

People who live in the densest, pedestrian-friendly parts of New York City have a significantly lower body mass index (BMI) compared to other New Yorkers, a new study finds.
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The researchers say placing shops, restaurants and public transit near residences may promote walking and independence from private automobiles.

"There are relatively strong associations between built environment and BMI, even in population-dense New York City," said the study's lead author Andrew Rundle of the Mailman School of Public Health.

The study appears in the March/April issue of the American Journal of Health Promotion.

Conversely, other research has shown that suburban sprawl and all the driving that comes with it leads to health woes.
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CBF ANNOUNCES "DRIVE WITH CARE" PILOT PROJECT

-> According to an article in the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation "Bike Traffic" newsletter, "Next month the Healthy Streets Campaign rolls out a partnership with the city of Chicago aimed at reducing automobile crashes by 50 percent in a 10-square mile swath of the city's Northwest Side...The Northwest Chicago Drive With Care initiative is a pilot designed to test and demonstrate an integrated approach to crash reduction, employing data to map out crashes and targeted enforcement and social marketing to change motorist behavior. Inattentive, careless self-absorption has become the prevailing standard for motorist behavior, causing the deaths of 200 people and injuring about 32,000 in local traffic each year in Chicago...

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Bike thefts in George Town DC

Baltimore may want to keep an eye out for similar activity to bike thefts taht are going on in the DC area. Wash Cycle ( <a href="http://washcycle.typepad.com/home/2007/02/georgetown_bike.html">http://washcycle.typepad.com/home/2007/02/georgetown_bike.html</a>; ) reported the following

&quot;When he returned, the bike was gone and his twisted Master lock was left on the ground. There was also an empty suitcase nearby.

The police informed my son that groups of thieves troll campuses in the city with suitcases of tools, steal bikes and then travel out of state to sell these bikes at used bike stores. The impression was that the thieves are professionals.

Last week, while walking through Red Square, my son found another Master lock on the ground, twisted and damaged in the exact same manner as his lock.&quot;

So keep an eye out for people loitering near bike racks
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Wheels on Ice: Slip-Sliding and Loving It

<img width="131" height="120" align="left" src="http://www.baltimorespokes.org/images/articles/20070205113226140_1.jpg" alt="">By STEPHEN REGENOLD - New York Times
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Ice bike racing, a subgenre of the subgenre of winter cycling, is a hybrid discipline where spiked tires bite solid ice on twisting, circuitous courses cut from a mantle of snow. Riders pedal hard on straight-aways, then slide and fishtail through the turns. Frozen lakes and rivers serve as the medium of the sport, which mixes elements of a sprint road race with a dirt bike rally.

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I was only protecting the environment by trying to kill cyclists

Lubbock Texas

<img width="122" height="120" align="left" src="http://www.baltimorespokes.org/images/articles/20070204173316998_1.gif" alt="">&quot;David G. Knape, 62, of Lubbock staged at least a year-long campaign against unsuspecting cyclists, according to police reports. He stretched wires between trees at &quot;neck level&quot; and put nails and glass in the pathway of cyclists.&quot;

Why?

&quot;Knape told the detective he was only trying to protect the environment.&quot;
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&quot;... Knape, who now faces two felony charges of attempted aggravated assault with a weapon. Each count is a third-degree felony, carrying a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.&quot;

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Cars conquering the Bicycle Kingdom

By Geoffrey York in The Globe and Mail
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Visiting Western leaders are always impressed by the decreasing number of bicycles, seeing it as an example of rising affluence. But the reality is that many Chinese have reluctantly given up their bicycles not because they can afford a car but because of the rising pollution in the streets, the increasing unpleasantness of the ride and the growing threat of being hit by a car.

Those dangers have become a hot subject in the media. A recent survey by Chinese state television found that 43 per cent of bicyclists have cut back on biking -- and only 11 per cent said it was because they had bought a car. More than one-third of those who quit bicycling said the main reason was the mounting danger in the streets.

&quot;Cars take over our bicycle lanes, and we're very angry about it,&quot; a young man told the TV program. &quot;If a bicyclist is hit by a car, he'll certainly be injured. There needs to be a lane for us.&quot;

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Cyclists like push for safety in bill

CRITICS SAY PROPOSED BUFFER WILL PUT DRIVERS IN HARM'S WAY
By Edwin Garcia - MediaNews Sacramento Bureau

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``It says if a driver passes you close, and there's a police car nearby, they can pull them over,'' said d'Souza, who rides 70 miles a week and advises the city of San Jose on bicycle issues for the task force studying development in Coyote Valley. ``It's a step in the right direction.''

The measure is gaining traction among serious cyclists and also parents whose children ride bikes to school. Still, it faces an uphill climb from the same forces that helped defeat Nava's similar bill last year.
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Critics' concerns

Opponents, including the Teamsters Union, worry that drivers forced to swerve around cyclists would place themselves on a collision course with oncoming traffic, especially on narrow roads.
[Ya, right. Likes it

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