baltimorespokes

The Oregonian
You don’t have to be a cyclist to guess the scariest places to ride a bike in Portland. Danger zones include the controlled chaos of downtown, the high speeds of the outer Eastside and the winding uncertainty of the West Hills — all places where drivers and cyclists mix with unease.
There’s a way to measure bike safety beyond guessing, however. Watch for women. As the city’s bike planners have found, there’s a direct correlation between the safety of a particular area and the number of women cyclists. The city can use this information as it maps out a new master plan for biking, reduces the danger spots and strives to spin its "gold" rating from the League of American Bicyclists into platinum.
"Women cyclists," the city’s transportation office asserts, "are the indicators of a healthy bikeway network."
Continue reading “As Portland aims for platinum status as a cycling city, it can use the gender gap to make rides safer”

1. You shall not kill.
2. The road shall be for you a means of communion between people and not of mortal harm.
3. Courtesy, uprightness and prudence will help you deal with unforeseen events.
4. Be charitable and help your neighbor in need, especially victims of accidents.
5. Cars shall not be for you an expression of power and domination, and an occasion of sin.
6. Charitably convince the young and not so young not to drive when they are not in a fitting condition to do so.
7. Support the families of accident victims.
8. Bring guilty motorists and their victims together, at the appropriate time, so that they can undergo the liberating experience of forgiveness.
9. On the road, protect the more vulnerable party.
10. Feel responsible toward others.
Continue reading “Vatican issues 10 Commandments for drivers”

By CHRIS HRENKO Correspondent
A common complaint of new or infrequent road cyclists and commuters is that they feel exposed and squeezed by auto traffic. In the absence of an extensive system of bike paths and lanes, sharing the road is something that we all have to get used to. That means mastering the fear of auto traffic, and knowing how to ride safely and predictably as it flows around you.
Fortunately it’s easy, though it may not seem to be at first. There are times when the real dangers of bicycle commuting become all too evident, most often when you are first starting out, and not yet desensitized to being among a bunch of 3,000-pound projectiles with nothing but a piece of foam on your head to protect you.
Continue reading “Cycling safety 101”

Every time we let a vehicle pass there is a little bit of compromise. But compromise allows the city to function and allows cyclists to function in the city. The trick is not to eliminate compromise but to learn how to work safely within it.
–Robert Hurst

by Warren Karlenzig
The future of carbon-free transport lives strong in Groningen. This Dutch city of 185,000 proves that bicycle transportation can reign supreme: people there make about 150,000 trips by bicycle every day.
Bicycles and pedestrians entirely rule the medieval-era city hub, cruising along on car-free dedicated pathways and short cuts with no traffic signals in some instances. But people also commute on bikes in large numbers from suburban housing spread out around the city to downtown jobs, via a ring-and-spoke network of paths. Overall, 37 percent of area commutes are made on bikes.
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Other so-called northern European "cycling cities" may be more known (Amsterdam; Copenhagen, Denmark; and Ghent, Belgium) but none can match Groningen for its complete vision and high rate of daily velocipedic
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Continue reading “The Future of Carbon-Free Transport: Groningen, Netherlands”