Month: December 2009

A tiny proportion of accidents involving cyclists are caused by riders jumping red lights or stop signs, or failing to wear high-visibility clothing and use lights, a government-commissioned study has discovered.
The findings appear to contradict a spate of recent reports speculating that risky behaviour by riders, such as listening to music players while cycling, could be behind a near 20% rise in cyclist deaths and serious injuries in the second quarter of this year.
The study, carried out for the Department for Transport, found that in 2% of cases where cyclists were seriously injured in collisions with other road users police said that the rider disobeying a stop sign or traffic light was a likely contributing factor. Wearing dark clothing at night was seen as a potential cause in about 2.5% of cases, and failure to use lights was mentioned 2% of the time.
The figures were slightly higher when the cyclist was killed, but in such cases only the driver’s account is available.
The data, which was analysed by the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL), showed that more than a quarter of all cycling deaths in 2005-07 happened when a vehicle ran into the rear of a bike. This rose to more than one-third in rural areas and to 40% in collisions that took place away from junctions.
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The cyclists’ lobby group CTC said the report showed that the government needed to focus more on driver behaviour rather than on issues such as cyclists wearing helmets…
Continue reading “Risky cycling rarely to blame for bike accidents, study finds”

‘Not anti-car, just pro-choice’
A quarter of households in Britain – more in the larger cities, and a majority in some inner cities – live without a car. Imagine how quality of life would improve for cyclists and everyone else if traffic were removed from areas where people could practically choose to live without cars. Does this sound unrealistic, utopian? Did you know many European cities are already doing it?
Vauban in Germany is one of the largest car-free neighbourhoods in Europe, home to more than 5,000 people. If you live in the district, you are required to confirm once a year that you do not own a car – or, if you do own one, you must buy a space in a multi-storey car park on the edge of the district. One space was initially provided for every two households, but car ownership has fallen over time, and many of these spaces are now empty.
Vehicles are allowed down the residential streets at walking pace to pick up and deliver, but not to park. In practice, vehicles are rarely seen moving here. It has been taken over by kids as young as four or five, playing, skating and unicycling without direct supervision. The adults, too, tend to socialise outdoors far more than they would on conventional streets open to traffic (behaviour that’s echoed in the UK, too).
Most of the European car-free areas are smaller and "purer" than Vauban: vehicles are physically prevented from entering the streets where people live. Exceptions are made for emergency vehicles and removals vans but not for normal deliveries, which are made on foot, trolley or cycle trailer. A few peripheral parking spaces are available to buy (usually around one space for every five homes) and a few are reserved for car club vehicles. In all the examples I have studied, cycling is a vital means of transport.
Car-free areas of this kind, with anything from a couple of hundred to more than a thousand residents, exist in Amsterdam, Vienna, Cologne, Hamburg and Nuremberg, among others. There is even a small one in Edinburgh.
Continue reading “An idea with legs”

"If the sociologist wrinkles his brow over the why of this new interest in pushing the pedal instead of the accelerator, his furrows are as nothing compared to those of park and safety commissioners.
In Europe, where bicycles are economically important as a means of transportation, special cycle lanes have long been in use. In the Victorian heyday of the American bike, the "high-wheeler" or "safety" could turn down any lane at no greater risk than frightening a horse and arousing the blasphemy of its driver.
But America’s billion-dollar highways, many of them barely wide enough to accommodate two lanes of two-ton machines hurtling at 40 to 60 mph in either direction, are death traps to the cyclists. Pedestrians don’t want bicycles on the sidewalks; they are barred in many parks.
Where then, ask 4 or 5 million young Americans, can we ride? Build cycle paths of gravel or rolled-grass on the shoulders of highways, say the growing number of adult cyclists. We bought our children bicycles, say parents, because riding is a healthful sport. But approximately 700 cyclists were killed by automobiles in 1937, 300 of them between the ages of 5 and 14. More than 35,000 riders were injured in 1937. Construct bicycle paths in public parks!
Continue reading “Look how far we have come in 72 years”

December 15, 2009 we begin the “Million Car Challenge Campaign”.
Campaign Stickers will be available to order at that time.

Continue reading “"Million Car Challenge Campaign"”

Non-cyclists are forever saying that bike riders should be held to the same standards as motorists. Agreed, but turnabout is fair play. Motorists should have to abide by the same behavior expected of cyclists. For instance:
* When drivers arrive at a stop sign or red light, they must open the door and put one foot on the ground to prove they have made a full stop.
* Cyclists who momentarily leave the bike lane to avoid an obstacle always suffer the wrath of motorists. Similarly, cars should not be permitted to change lanes in order to avoid mattresses, ladders, pedestrians and the like.
* Group rides get hassled. So should large groups of motor vehicles. Find yourself driving in a long line of cars on the highway? You’re disrupting traffic for everyone behind. The cops should be able to pull you over and even confiscate your vehicle. (Might be hard to get your car in the back seat of the cruiser, but that’s a detail to be worked out later.)
* Who always gets blamed in a car-bike crash? You got it. Similarly, if a larger vehicle like a dump truck collides with a car, it must be the car’s fault. Because they’re operating a smaller class of vehicle, car drivers de facto don’t know what they’re doing and must be punished.
* Cyclists are constantly being told they don’t belong on the road because they don’t "pay taxes" by buying gas, paying tolls, etc., even though many riders also drive — just not at this moment. Likewise, motorists shouldn’t have access to public services like police protection on the road unless they are actually paying their taxes while driving.
Which, unfortunately, many drivers probably do.
Continue reading “Drive Me Crazy”

At the Biking Rules PSA Film Festival, Daniel Leeb premiered a video of T.A.’s Executive Director Paul Steely White talking about what it takes to make New York City better for biking, walking and public transit. We thought you might enjoy watching it