Month: May 2009

BOULDER, Colo. — A bill that clarifies cyclists’ rights and seeks to better protect them from aggressive drivers has been approved by the Colorado Legislature and is headed to Gov. Bill Ritter’s desk for a final decision.
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Provisions of the bill would require drivers to give cyclists at least three feet of space when passing, allow vehicles to cross double-yellow lines to pass riders safely and allow cyclists to ride two abreast as long as they don’t impede the normal flow of traffic.
But while bicycle advocates are celebrating the victory and anticipating a final approval by the governor, the Boulder County sheriff said Tuesday that the law would make cyclists virtually immune to prosecution.
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"There’s really nothing now that requires them (cyclists) to yield or move over," Pelle said. "This bill gives them full access to the road."
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[Baltimore Spokes: Look at it this way, we build expressways to improve safety and to get a certain class of road user off the local streets. Now imagine having laws so you would be found at fault in an accident simply because you were not driving on a expressway. Sounds ridiculous, right? Then why do people try and do the same thing to cyclists? Laws that micro manage where you can ride and would like you to do something for courtesy do not belong in the same class of laws that determine who is at fault in an accident. ]
Continue reading “Boulder sheriff decries ‘bicycle safety’ bill approval”

-> "…The most unsafe cities in California, in terms of traffic fatalities, are the newest ones — those developed primarily since 1950. The cities with the fewest fatalities, by contrast, are those with significant portions built before 1950…"
Continue reading “KEY TO SAFER ROADS IDENTIFIED IN CALIFORNIA STUDY”

[Note: Edited out some of the more controversial positions.]
Who am I?
* Vehicular Cyclist
* Pedestrian on Wheels
* Scofflaw Cyclist
* Safety Nanny Cyclist
“Every evening before I go to sleep, I kneel at the side of my bed and repeat the following mantra exactly seven times: ‘Cyclists fare best when they act and are treated as drivers of vehicles’.”
“I fare best when I stay the heck out of the way.”
“During my morning commute, I like to sing ‘Same Roads – Same Rights – Same Rules’ to the tune of ‘Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It’s off to work I go’.”
“I prefer to ride integrated with other traffic on sharable roads, sharable width lanes, and bikeable shoulders.”
“I like to ride separated from other traffic, preferably on substandard, congested, slow, and dangerous bike lanes, gutters, sidewalks, paths, and whatever other bike ghettos I can find.”
“I go somewhere to ride.”
“I ride to go somewhere.”
“We need more education, more regulation, more law enforcement, to make sure everyone is riding safely and properly.”
“I prefer to ride like a grown-up.”
“I believe in the magical powers of white paint to protect me from the evil cagers.”
“The only law I follow is the law of the jungle: the strong survive and the weak get eaten.”
“I’m not afraid of traffic, I am traffic.”
“The laws of physics trump the laws of the state every time.”
“My legitimacy as a road user is threatened by all the meek, immature, and criminally insane cyclists out there.”
“A collision requires that two people make a mistake – all I have to do is make sure I’m not one of them.”
“Where I live, there’s a fantastic network of bike paths that will take me anywhere I need to go – they’re called roads.”
Continue reading “Catch phrases”