Category: Biking Elsewhere

[Chicago is concerned about a pedestrian fatality rate of 20/M, Baltimore’s rate is 25/M.]

Pedestrian deaths are on the rise in Chicago, despite increased safety measures such as red-light cameras, countdown signals and crosswalk awareness initiatives.

Fifty-six pedestrian fatalities were logged last year—up from 49 deaths in 2007 and 48 deaths in 2006. Chicago Department of Transportation spokesman Brian Steele said the agency is reviewing the reasons behind the uptick but said in certain cases, problems with pavement markings, faulty signage and construction projects may be to blame.

Steele also pointed to an increase in pedestrians in Chicago—named the country’s fourth most walkable large city in 2008 by Walk Score.

Still, Steele said, “One fatality is one too many. Fifty-odd pedestrian fatalities is close to an average of one a week, and that’s far too many. We’re committed to this, and the most difficult part of this is changing driver behavior.”
Continue reading “Pedestrian deaths in Chicago are up despite safety measures”

Via Wired, a transportation planner makes an impassioned plea for overhauling our car-centric mindset. Our cities have become places where “cars have a right to housing and people don’t,” lamented Timothy Papandreau at a recent symposium called Expanding the Vision of Sustainable Mobility.

Just think of the space required to support our car habit, he said: “You have to have a place to park at home, a place to park at work, and a place to park at retail establishments.” Not to mention how inefficiently our freeways use space — the 200 people that are carried (on average) by 177 cars could be carried by just three buses instead. “All that road space could become something else,” he said, advocating for a comprehensive government initiative to disincentivize driving.

Continue reading “A world where “cars have a right to housing and people don’t””

DIYcity Challenge #4: Create an app that promotes bike riding in the city somehow: makes it easier to get from point A to point B, makes it less stressful, simpler, whatever.
Ianb has an idea for a "Cooperative Bike Share" that uses just a few combination locks and text messaging to create a bike share program for local communities. (People at DIYcity Portland are considering the possibility of testing the concept in their city).
It gets me to thinking – what other ways could you use web technologies to make riding a bike around the city easier? How could you use maps, apis, user input, whatever, to support bike riding as opposed to driving?
This is a pretty broad-open question, and submissions/ideas may be widely varied. Ianb’s idea is inspiring, but don’t let it guide your thinking too much for your answer.
Continue reading “DIYcity Challenge #4: bikes”

[This is a great video for Cycling Advocates]

Moments after he delivered the keynote address to the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO), Oregon’s Rep. Earl Blumenauer, head of the Congressional Bike Caucus, met with us for this exclusive one-on-one chat.

Streetsblog Editor-in-Chief Aaron Naparstek talks with the congressman about the current federal stimulus bill and how advocates can better engage their leaders. Of the new White House team, which has not shown much energy in pushing transit or livable streets issues thus far, Mr. Blumenauer states:

“…just because [people and advocates] may feel more comfortable with this administration – it doesn’t mean they should let up on the pressure.”

Amen. This is an important year people, let that sentence stick in your noggin for the next 324 days.

Continue reading “Earl Blumenauer talks transit, stimulus, bikes and Obama”

Come and join us!

This Thursday on Capitol Hill, we will be releasing our full campaign platform for the upcoming transportation bill, with some very special guests in attendance. If you are in the DC area, (or can make it here by Thursday!), please join us for an entertaining, informative discussion on the future of transportation in America as we officially launch Transportation For America’s platform.

Continue reading “Attend T4America platform launch this Thursday at the U.S. Capitol”

The first thing I thought of when I saw this photo was the famous H.G. Wells quote, “When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race.” A city where distinguished gentlemen commute to work by bike is a city where I am happy to live. Of course, this city isn’t bad either. Go ahead and criticize this fellow’s mobile phone and lack of helmet in the comments section. But first ask yourself: Does this photo depict a stupid guy or stupid urban design? 

Continue reading “Amsterdam? Copenhagen? Nope: NYC.”

Continue reading “Hopes and wishes”

[Could this happen here if HB 187 passes?]
Last Tuesday Shaun Taylor was riding his bike to work in Nelson without his helmet on. The police pulled him over. Then he was pepper sprayed and rammed by the police car.
Continue reading “Is not wearing a bike helmet punishable with pepper spray?”

The Green Wave in Copenhagen is in place on routes with high levels of bicycle traffic. If you cycle at 20 km/h the lights are timed so that you’ll hit green all the way into the city centre.
I rode a section of it one morning and then filmed the rush hour bicycle traffic.
35,000 bikes use this stretch each day.
Continue reading “The Green Wave in Copenhagen – Video”

This is my favorite comment…posted in response to a comment stating that motorists fail to “look” for cyclists…

“Not always. I heard a loud scraping sound one night recently and the first thing I looked for under my car was a bike. Unfortunately, it was my muffler. 20 more dollars down the drain.”

Man, that is sick…but it makes me LOL for some reason. I bet the guy was dead seriously defending his practices of “looking” for cyclists.
Continue reading “Quote of the day”