[B’ Spokes: Under the theory that cars do/should pay their own way, this is a great idea, In Maryland there’s around 100,000 crashes a year, that averages to one every 5 minutes, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It takes a lot of personnel to handle this kind of demand.]
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December 30, 2010|By Marc Lifsher, Los Angeles Times
Reporting from Sacramento — One more good reason to drive safely in California: If you cause an accident, you may be on the hook to pay the police and firefighters who show up to help.
At least 50 cities in the state have adopted so-called crash-tax laws allowing local governments to seek reimbursement from insurance companies for the costs of sending public emergency crews to accident scenes. The fees can amount to hundreds or even thousands of dollars. If insurers don’t pay, cities can hire collection agents to seek payment from the motorists involved
Continue reading “‘Crash taxes’ are growing in popularity among cash-strapped California cities”
Urbanite Predicts The Bike as Future of Transporation in 2011
from Baltimore Bicycle Works
The Urbanite Magazine has recently published their “ten bright ideas that will bear fruit in Baltimore in 2011”. Among those is their prediction that 2011 will be the year cycling takes its place as a viable urban transportation option. While this may not be news to many of you, the early adapters of cycling in Baltimore, it is great to see the Urbanite making such an assertion. You can read the full article here.
Here is to 2011, let’s hope it is all the Urbanite predicts it to be for cycling. Happy riding in the New Year!
Continue reading “Urbanite Predicts The Bike as Future of Transporation in 2011”
How did obesity become a partisan fight?
By Fred Hiatt
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In that context, the first lady’s campaign would seem to have struck Goldilocks perfection. The obesity epidemic is a genuine public health emergency, with vast implications for the nation’s well-being, economy and even national security. And yet, could anyone really be against children eating healthier food and getting more exercise? Could anyone really object to White House assistant chef Sam Kass trying to interest Elmo in a vegetable-laden burrito?
Well, yes, if Michelle Obama is for it, someone will be against it. Someone like Glenn Beck, for example, who was moved to rail against carrot sticks, or Sarah Palin, who warned that Obama wants to deprive us all of dessert.
And when you look a little deeper, it’s not surprising that a crusade seemingly beyond questioning would become a political battle. Interests that might feel threatened by Let’s Move include the fast-food industry, agribusiness, soft-drink manufacturers, real estate developers (because suburban sprawl is implicated), broadcasters and their advertisers (of sugary cereals and the like), and the oil-and-gas and automotive sectors (because people ought to walk more and drive less).
Throw in connections to the health-care debate (because preventive services will be key to controlling the epidemic), race (because of differential patterns of obesity) and red state-blue state hostilities (the reddest states tend to be the fattest), and it turns out there are few landmines that Michelle Obama didn’t trip by asking us all to shed a few pounds.
Insinuations from her critics notwithstanding, Obama has not endorsed nanny-state or controversial remedies such as ending sugar subsidies, imposing soda-pop taxes or zoning McDonald’s out of certain neighborhoods. Instead, she is pushing for positive, voluntary change: more recess and physical activity, more playgrounds, more vegetable gardens, fresher food in schools and grocery stores, better education on the issue for parents and children.
All of this makes total sense, and historians will marvel (much as they will at climate-change deniers) that anyone could doubt it. The percentage of American adults who are obese more than doubled in the past 30 years, from 15 percent to 34 percent (with another 34 percent overweight); the share of obese children and teenagers more than tripled, from 5 percent to 17 percent. In fact, the astonishing acceleration of the epidemic (which may now have leveled off) might explain some of the skepticism; it takes a while for awareness to catch up to statistics.
But the statistics are scary. The implications for these children are heartbreaking, literally (obesity is associated with higher incidence of heart disease as well as diabetes) and figuratively. For the nation, it could be bankrupting. Obesity and its attendant ills already may add as much as $147 billion to health-care costs each year, one-tenth of the nation’s medical bill, a figure that is certain to rise. And the Army reports that one in four young people is too fat to serve.
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Continue reading “How did obesity become a partisan fight?”
Our Top Ten Stories of 2010
We use Goggle Analytics to track site performance and this is some of the years highlights by that report. Overall most people come here looking for bike paths and trail maps. Next up is the topics on the left and I’ll run down the most popular topics after the fold.
Top Stories of 2010
1 Downtown Circulator
This May of 2009 story is still getting hits coming from search engines.
2 Upgrade to Robert E. Lee Park
Another 2009 story still getting hits, highlighting the interest and importance of this park and our parks in general.
3 Cyclist Killed on Butler Road, Baltimore County
This certainly is our tragedy of the year, many cyclists enjoy riding Maryland’s country roads and this happened way too close to home for comfort.
4 Update – Silldorff bike accident on Bike Virginia
Another 2009 story still being looked at. Carol’s story and recovery is really impressive. Carol continues her story here along with an appeal to support Bike Maryland.
5 The Stupid Stuff I See During My Commute to/from Work
This 2008 forum post by iodaniell continues to be a favorite read. I would love to see more people adding their stories to this thread.
6 10 Rules For Urban Commuting
The original author took down this story and the net picked up that I have a copy and linked to that. My speculation is that the story has the “dial” set closer to anarchist then pragmatist and that … well just is not politically correct. But seriously look at most cyclists safety advice: don’t ride on the sidewalk because it will increase your chances of being hit by cars (I mention this because a lot of motorists think this is where we should ride), don’t ride close to the curb because it will increase your chances of being hit by cars, don’t ride in the door zone of parked cars because it will increase your chances of being hit by cars. So there is a valid element of: because the lawlessness of motorists cyclists must become lawless themselves (at least in the eyes of motorists.)
So while I would not phrase things exactly as this author did, I strongly feel he has valid points and maybe the time has come things should be overly stated for cyclists safety. We already have “cyclists should ride two feet from the curb” even though most of us will ride a inch or two from the edge from time to time to facilitate a passing car but we don’t (have) to state that cyclists should do the latter when riding by the two foot rule. But when talking about “taking the lane” which is just as valid legally as well as for safety as the two foot rule we feel the need to be apologetic and to encourage cyclists to do something contrary to safety and what the law allows. There is something wrong here.
Should all road users be courteous and cooperative? Heck ya! But don’t put the sole burden on cyclists. Which I think has been the traditional point in the past and that needs to change. Simply put; I ride right for motorists who I feel are courteous and cooperative and I ride assertively in aggressive traffic. Just because I am reacting to aggressive behavior does not make me aggressive. Anyway I think the author here does a good job in encouraging people to think outside of the box and in all things don’t be overly dogmatic, there is a time and place to be assertive and a time and place you can just be part of the road-scape.
7 Natasha Pettigrew, Maryland Green Party candidate for the U.S. Senate
Another cycling tragedy. A driver who hits and kills a cyclists drives three miles with the bike lodged under the car and did not call the police till an hour later and the police state “The driver complied with the law.” Seriously, to avoid hit-an-run charges all you need to do is say “I thought I hit an animal”?
8 Ride on Annapolis / Larry Bensky Memorial Ride
The fact that so many took an interest in this event is truly the most heart warming item in our top ten list. Photes of the event.
9 This one runs on money and makes you fat. This one runs on fat and saves you money
The best way ever to mark bike lanes and car lanes.
10 FREE BUS SERVICE COMING IN 2009
This 2008 story is still generate hits. It seems there is a lot more interest in free bus service then cycling but I hope that will change someday. To put it succinctly, our bus service stinks, bicycling is better, it easily covers the same distance as most of our bus routes, it’s generally just as fast without the wait for the bus to arrive. We need to get more people on bikes and we need our bus service … well to be generally better then bicycling.
Continue reading “Our Top Ten Stories of 2010”