Category: Biking Elsewhere

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U.S. Health Worse Than Nearly All Other Industrialised Countries

By Carey L. Biron, Inter Press Service
WASHINGTON, Jan 9 2013 (IPS) – U.S. citizens suffer from poorer health than nearly all other industrialised countries, according to the first comprehensive government analysis on the subject, released Wednesday.
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Although the new findings offer a uniquely comprehensive view of the problem, the fact is that U.S. citizens have for decades been dying at younger ages than those in nearly all other industrialised countries. The committee looked at data going back to the 1970s to note that such a trend has been worsening at least since then, with women particularly affected.
“A particular concern with these findings was about adolescents, about whom we document very serious issues that, again, stand out starkly from other counties,” Woolf says.
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Sky-high obesity rates, for instance, are undergirded by findings that people in the U.S. on average consume more calories per person than in other countries, as well as analysis that suggest that the U.S. physical environment in recent decades has been built around the automobile rather than the pedestrian.
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https://www.ipsnews.net/2013/01/u-s-health-worse-than-nearly-all-other-industrialised-countries/

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Understanding why Upper Northwest DC residents don’t buy into the sustainability mobility paradigm

[B’ Spokes: The opening is great and worth considering everywhere.]
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By Richard Layman, Rebuilding Place in the Urban Space
If I were to think of the ideal circumstances for being able to live without "having" to own a car it would include the following:
– living about 3/4 mile maximum from a subway station, but 1 mile is acceptable (a 15 to 20 minute walk;
– living no more than six blocks from a decent bus line (frequent service to key destinations), a 1/4 mile (3 blocks) is better (this is the distance that RideOn shoots for in Montgomery County);
– living within 1.5 miles of a full line grocery store, preferably with direct transit service (interestingly WMATA doesn’t list grocery stores on their maps);
– living within 1.0 mile of a decent neighborhood commercial district, including pharmacy, hardware, some restaurants that you are happy to patronize more than once, and some other shops including, ideally barber shop/hair salon, dry cleaners, and a post office;
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https://urbanplacesandspaces.blogspot.com/2013/01/understanding-why-upper-northwest-dc.html

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Road Wars: The Bike vs. Car Question Continues – Does 3 Feet to Pass pass muster?

by Josh Gross, Boise Weekly

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Police came to Stevahn’s house that night, where he explained the incident. The two officers, Oscar Canfield and Dave Burgard, said they were unaware of the law. They left briefly to look it up for confirmation, then returned, acknowledged it, went to see Hanna and issued him a citation.

In court, Hanna plead not guilty. He claimed he saw Stevahn, and though he was unaware of the law, only passed too close because traffic prevented him from getting over. Stevahn disputed that there was traffic, but in the end, it didn’t matter. The judge told Hanna that traffic or not, the law stated that it was the motorist’s responsibility to provide safe passing distance, even if that meant not passing until there was room to do so.

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“The goal here was less to come up with a new law to cite motorists for than it was to provide a standard for what is safe driving,” said Michael Zuzel, project manager for the Cycling Safety Task Force, which was responsible for the law.

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https://www.boiseweekly.com/boise/road-wars-the-bike-vs-car-question-continues/Content?oid=2597595

[B’ Spokes: I really question what we should do now that MDOT keeps botching the “standard for what is safe driving”.]

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Rightsizing Streets

The needs of our communities evolve over time, and our street design should, too. That’s the idea behind ‘rightsizing streets’ – reconfiguring the layout of our streets to better serve the people who use them, whether they’re commuters driving, shoppers walking, or children bicycling. Across the country, communities large and small are achieving impressive safety, mobility, and community outcomes by implementing such reconfigurations. Project for Public Spaces created this rightsizing resource to highlight the accomplishments of these communities and share best practices. Our transportation staff can advise stakeholders and decision-makers, skillfully facilitate a rightsizing process, and adeptly produce rightsized designs for agencies and community groups.
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https://www.pps.org/reference/rightsizing/