SPACE

Video: Chris Boardman demonstrating safe overtaking of cyclists
www.road.cc
Laura Laker
2015-08-11
Link: http://road.cc/content/news/160555-video-chris-boardman-demonstrating-safe-overtaking-cyclists

9 Things Drivers Need to Stop Saying in the Bike vs. Car Debate

9 Things Drivers Need to Stop Saying in the Bike vs. Car Debate
wired.com
Adam Mann
2014-11-12
Link: http://www.wired.com/2014/11/9-things-drivers-need-stop-saying-bikes-vs-cars-debate/

"There are certain things guaranteed to set off an internet firestorm. Talk about climate change, mention Monsanto, or bring up the treatment of women in video games. And you can, especially in recent years, piss off a whole bunch of people simply by writing about bikes and cars. Nothing seems to bring out the angry caps lock and personal attacks faster than transportation issues.

A recent report showing more cyclists are dying on US streets prompted a remarkable number of stories about cyclist safety. And in the comments section of each, people rehashed the same tired arguments over and over.

So, before the next big wave of internet arguing, I propose we retire a few overused and underwhelming opinions in the bikes vs. cars debate. Though I drive and bike, my allegiances skew toward cyclists (feel free to scroll straight the comments and yell at me). But beyond my personal judgments lie a great many studies and data showing most of the pro-motorist arguments just don’t hold up. I know it’s hard to be wrong, especially on the internet, but here are a few sentences I hope we see less of in the future."

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How Bicycles Can Save Small Town America - PathLessPedaled.com

How Bicycles Can Save Small Town America - PathLessPedaled.com from Russ Roca on Vimeo.
An explanation of how bike travel can revitalize rural areas. To learn more or have us speak to your community, visit PathLessPedaled.com

For entrepreneurs, cycling is the new golf

Michael Y posted this on FB a few week ago.  Its a good read.

For entrepreneurs, cycling is the new golf
CNN Money
Parija Kavilanz
2014-04-30
Link: http://money.cnn.com/2014/04/29/smallbusiness/cycling-golf-entrepreneurs/

"Across America, entrepreneurs and seasoned executives are sidelining a popular networking activity -- golf -- in favor of a different group sport.

"Unlike golf, cycling is also a great equalizer," said Andy Clarke, president of the League of American Bicyclists. "You're the same as the person riding next to you. So it makes people more approachable. "

Entrepreneurs also gravitate toward cycling because it's a better way to stay in shape, said Clarke. It's also less time consuming and relatively less expensive."

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Open Streets Slated for SFV, SGV, Pasadena, LB, Santa Monica, and More

Sent in from Richard M.

Open Streets Slated for SFV, SGV, Pasadena, LB, Santa Monica, and More
La.streetblog.org
Joe Linton
2014-05-28
Link: http://la.streetsblog.org/2014/05/28/open-streets-slated-for-sfv-sgv-pasadena-long-beach-santa-monica-and-more/

"It is not fully approved or completely finalized, but a document has circulated that shows Metro’s staff recommendations for open streets events for FY2015-16. Open streets events, or ciclovías, are car-free festivals primarily for bicycling and walking, more or less the same as Los Angeles’ popular CicLAvia.

So far in L.A. County, cities, primarily the city of Los Angeles, have partnered with the CicLAvia nonprofit organization to host these events. The new Metro list shows the popular event spreading out to new cities and new neighborhoods, and new cities working with new organizational partners.

Metro has become a major sponsor for open streets events, allocating $2 million in event funding for each of the next two fiscal years, July 1st through June 30th. The agency is allocating the funding to cities that apply. Metro received about two dozen applications, ranked them, and recommended funding twelve upcoming events."

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Legal Brief - Get Better Coverage

Legal Brief - Get Better Coverage
Momentummag.com
Josh Zisson
2014-01-23
Link: http://momentummag.com/features/legal-brief-get-better-coverage/

"Most riders won’t spend much time thinking about insurance. After all, what good could a car insurance policy do for you when you’ve been doored? And who cares about renter’s insurance when your bike was stolen off of the street?

Every rider should care and it’s important to be thinking about what your auto and homeowner’s insurance policies can do for you. As it turns out, these policies can mean the difference between getting slammed with medical bills or the cost of a new bike, and having those expenses paid in full.

If a driver crashes into you, their insurance policy should cover your expenses. But sometimes, the offending driver’s policy won’t cover everything. This is where your existing auto insurance policy comes into play. Your policy doesn’t just cover you when you’re driving, it can also apply when riding your bike. And that means any bike – including e-bikes and bike share systems."

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Popular pre-L.A. Marathon bike ride canceled after city permit snag

Popular pre-L.A. Marathon bike ride canceled after city permit snag
latimes.com
Laura J. Nelson
2014-03-06
Link: http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-marathon-crash-race-canceled-20140305,0,5571667.story

So what now?  I waited all year long and now this?

"Days before the Los Angeles Marathon, organizers canceled a popular nighttime bicycle race along the 26.2-mile route because they did not obtain the proper permits.

Every year since 2009, hundreds of cyclists have gathered in the dark along Sunset Boulevard in Silver Lake, waiting for road closures to begin along the marathon route, which stretches from Dodger Stadium to Santa Monica. Just after 4 a.m., cyclists swarm the streets to enjoy three hours of car-free fun on some of Los Angeles's normally most congested boulevards."

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Carrboro scraps contradictory bicycle laws

Carrboro scraps contradictory bicycle laws
The Daily Tar Heel
Morgan Swift
2014-02-04
Link: http://www.dailytarheel.com/blog/town_talk/2014/02/52f1b728de0c9



"Carrboro has the most bicyclists on the road in the state, but contradictory town laws might leave these riders vulnerable.

Carrboro’s bicycle laws were up for discussion Tuesday at the Board of Alderman meeting.

Charlie Hileman, a member of the Carrboro Bicycle Coalition, made a presentation that highlighted some inconsistencies between the town’s and the state’s laws."

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'I've made the bicycle my lifestyle'

'I've made the bicycle my lifestyle'
www.gazettetimes.com
Graham Kislingbury
2014-02-17
Link: http://www.gazettetimes.com/oregon-outdoors/i-ve-made-the-bicycle-my-lifestyle/article_af1947b9-5194-512d-9226-d41e2decc4bf.html

It would be nice to be car free, but living in suburbia with autocentric routes and city planning make it difficult. All excuses I know...

"When Ben Roberts was a teenager, the last thing he wanted to do was ride a bike.

“I wasn’t into biking,” he says. “I looked at biking as a juvenile thing. Once I was 16 and able to legally drive, I left biking and worked on cars.”

As recently as 2009, he had a hot rod, a Toyota 4Runner and a Honda Accord. “I had too many cars,” he admits.

That year, while managing a Medford cell phone repair store with his brother, the recession hit the business and his pocketbook."



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Dear Motorist

Encounter with LA Sheriff who thinks I'm impeding traffic...

Niall Huffman
2013-07-24
Link: http://kneel28.tumblr.com/post/56359217278/wrong-on-so-many-levels



"This video, shot by Wes High on his commute along Fountain Avenue through West Hollywood, has been making the rounds on Facebook and Twitter. The Sheriff’s deputy here is 100% wrong on the law regarding where people on bikes can ride in the street. Here’s why:"

Click Here For Complete Article

Van Bramer, DOT Serve Up New Delivery Bike Rules

Van Bramer, DOT Serve Up New Delivery Bike Rules
www.qgazette.com
By Liz Goff
2013-05-22
Link: http://www.qgazette.com/news/2013-05-22/Front_Page/Van_Bramer_DOT_Serve_Up_New_Delivery_Bike_Rules.html


City transportation officials last week served up a lesson to restaurant owners and food delivery bicyclists on how to comply with a new city law designed to make city streets – and sidewalks safe for pedestrians.

The City Council passed a menu of regulations last November, designed to crack down on rogue cyclists who are notorious for running stop signs and red lights, mowing down pedestrians and peddling the wrong way along busy streets.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed into law the package of bills that requires commercial cyclists and their employers to follow the new safety regulations or face a series of stiff fines and penalties. Continue Reading ...

Maglianero - Fueling the Modern Mobility Movement

Maglianero: Fueling the Modern Mobility Movement from Maglianero on Vimeo.
Across communities and continents, people are traveling and commuting in growing numbers by more inspired and more intelligent means of transportation, the bicycle chief among them. This is the Modern Mobility Movement, and Maglianero is proud to be at its forefront, providing fuel for the ride, apparel for protection from the elements, and a place to converge, connect, and be inspired.

Critical Mass in Budapest

Photo By Laszlo Balogh/Reuters
Link: http://news.yahoo.com/photos/snapshots-slideshow/thousands-cyclists-hold-bicycles-budapests-city-park-end-photo-172501592.html

Complete Streets, Equal Access for Bicycles

Complete Streets: It's About More Than Just Bike Lanes from Streetfilms on Vimeo.



Eco Man - Taking Action on Law Requiring Equal Access for Bicycle, Pedestrians
The News of New Canaan, Connecticut
By Richard Stowe
2012-03-22
Link: http://www.acorn-online.com/joomla15/ncadvertiser/columns-letters-to-editor/117802-eco-man--taking action-on-law-requiring-equal-access-for-bicycles-pedestrians.html

No matter where the destination is in New Canaan, or Fairfield County — a gym, 5K race, grocery store, work, art exhibit, restaurant, country club, movie theater, Fourth of July fireworks, or school sporting event — the trip will most likely be made by motor vehicle.

Fifty-two percent of trips one-half mile or less in the United States are by motor vehicle. Almost 70% of Americans' car trips are two miles or less and 90% of Americans' trips two miles, or less are by car. Social conditioning is the driving force behind the transportation choices we make, and that is reinforced by institutional bias — driver's education, but no bike education; state DOT policies that prohibit bike access on key bridges and highways and designs and streets designed for vehicles not people.

Complete streets is an inclusive transportation planning paradigm that allows for "safe access for all users, regardless of age, ability, or mode of transportation" within the entire right-of-way of roads and streets. The goal of complete streets policies is to create a level playing field for pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists and public transportation users. Advocates suggest complete streets make it easy to bicycle, or walk to downtown shops, work, or train stations.

Complete streets are not constrained by a single design prescription. Complete streets respond to community context. Complete streets may result in, but are not limited to, narrower travel lanes, wider paved shoulders, bike lanes, sidewalks, roundabouts, median islands, or curb extensions.

David Goldberg of Smart Growth America coined "complete streets." In 2003, Barbara McCann asked the America Bikes board to substitute the term "routine accommodation" with "complete streets." America Bikes set up a Complete Streets Task Force composed of the American Society of Landscape Architects, American Planning Association, American Public Transportation Association, AARP and the American Heart Association.

Today America Bike's Complete Streets Task Force is the National Complete Streets Coalition Steering Committee. In 2005, the task force member groups provided funding to establish the National Complete Streets Coalition to foster the adoption of complete streets policies at municipal, state and federal levels. Substituting the wonky term "routine accommodation" with "complete streets" has paid off in spades. As of March 2012, complete streets policies have been endorsed and adopted by 26 states and 343 jurisdictions in the United States.

Connecticut is one of those states. In 2009, then Gov. Jodi M. Rell signed "An Act Improving Bicycle and Pedestrian Access" into law. The law established the Connecticut Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Board, which has met monthly since its inception in December 2009.

One group that played a role in the passage of the legislation was Central Connecticut Bicycle Alliance. The alliance was the brainchild of Sandy Fry, principal transportation planner at Capitol Region Council of Governments. Fry formed the alliance "to provided a vehicle to carry forward the bike to work program" — which she had initiated, "and to provide a central Connecticut bicycle advocacy group."

The alliance reinvented itself as Bike Walk Connecticut and held two Bike Walk Summits in November of 2010 and 2011.

In 2010, Tim Blumental, president of Bikes Belong, was the keynote speaker. Then-Attorney General Richard Blumenthal (now U.S. Senator) argued that bicycle infrastructure is cost effective. Other speakers suggested low-cost means to achieve complete streets, such as re-striping roads with 10 to 11 foot travel lanes (a benefit to bicyclists), raised crosswalks, curb extensions, refuge islands and roundabouts. The causality between high rates of bicycling and walking and lower rates of disease and high rates of obesity and auto-dependency was noted, as was the medical complications and costs of obesity. Fry stressed the importance of teaching bike education principles, such as proper positioning, bike control and hazard avoidance.

In 2011, Andy Clarke, president of the League of American Bicyclists, gave the keynote address. Clarke pointed out that there is safety in numbers. He cited the growth from 2,850 to 14,563 in daily ridership during a 16-year period on four main bicycle bridges in Portland, Ore., while the bicycle crash rate (the ratio of reported crashes to bicycle commuters) declined from 544 to 128.

He pointed out that bicycle commuter rates are three to four times higher in the league's designated "Bicycle Friendly Communities" than the national average. In bicycle friendly communities, 48% of arterials have bike lanes; in other communities the rate is 5%. (New Canaan has no bike lanes.)

Are Bicycle Lanes Really Green?

Click Here to Read The Entire Article ...

"Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa pedaled his bicycle in a bike-only lane in Venice Beach when a taxicab swerved suddenly and stopped in front of him. The mayor clutched his brakes but it was too late. He fell and broke his elbow.

When the mayor’s accident made headlines in July 2010, the incident energized the city’s cyclists and bike commuters around Los Angeles’ ambitious plans to make 1,600 miles of bike lanes in this auto-centric metropolis. Yet little progress has been made in the year and a half since the mayor’s fall because of an unlikely hurdle: California’s environmental laws.

Much of the blame — or kudos, depending on where your politics lie — for the delays can be placed on Rob Anderson, a 69-year-old with a salt-and-pepper beard who lives 400 miles north in San Francisco. To the fixed-geared hipsters and bicycle utopians he’s a pariah. The city’s cycling boosters have called him a “magnificent jerk” for standing in the way of safer streets for cyclists, a “scumbag” and a “cynical dickhead” in comments on his blog."

Bicycle Law - Stay 4ft Away and Don't Cut Me Off!

One foot, two feet, two inches it doesn't matter.  As an avid cyclist I've had a few close encounters with cars.  Share the road?  Well in theory we cyclist have the sames rights to the road as cars but I don't think our fellow motorist realize this.  I remember riding down Brea Canyon in the early morning.  The road was quiet and NO traffic coming from the opposite direction.  A lone truck was coming up on me from behind and came so close to me, had I gotten spooked or decided to veer out just inches, the truck would have hit me. Sometimes I think motorist are trying to hit me!

Pennsylvania: "Gov. Corbett Signs Bicycle Safety Bill Into Law. In short, it requires drivers to stay a minimum of four feet away from bicyclists as they pass them on the highways and byways of our fair Commonwealth. All the better, one supposes, so as not to smush them. The bill also prohibits motorists from making sudden right turns in front of a cyclist who is proceeding in the same direction.

"Bicycling is great exercise and an effective, efficient mode of transportation," Miller points out, not adding that it becomes better exercise if you are pedaling frantically so as not to get smushed by a passing motorist. "We need to do all that we can to promote the activity and protect bike enthusiasts that makes it safer for them to enjoy their sport."

Read The Entire Article Here ...

Bicycle Culture in Los Angeles

Bicycle Culture in Los Angeles from Jimena Cuenca on Vimeo.

Pomona's "Open Street" Event

Visit their Facebook Page Click Here...

Good afternoon,

On behalf of Daryl Grigsby, Public Works Director for the City of Pomona, you are invited to participate in a stakeholder planning session for an event with exciting implications for the City and residents of Pomona.

The City of Pomona recently received a Technical Assistance grant from the LA County Health Department to promote an ‘Open Streets’ Event. With ‘Open Streets’ events, public streets are closed to motor vehicles for a few hours, while bicyclists, skateboarders and pedestrians of all ages have freedom to explore their city, visit local businesses and meet new people. A similar event, known as CicLAvia in Los Angeles, brings over 100,000 bicyclists to the streets of downtown LA for a day of car-free fun and community connection.

The consultants for the Health Department need to hear from you, a Pomona stakeholder, on possible benefits and considerations. Their next step after this is a presentation to the Pomona City Council.

Therefore, we are holding a stakeholder meeting on Tuesday, January 31st, at 6 pm at the Cal Poly Downtown Center. The consultant will have maps of proposed closed streets and other information for your consideration.

Please RSVP to Maura Montellano at 909-620-2262 or via email at maura_montellano@ci.pomona.ca.us.

Thank you,
Maura E. Montellano| Public Works
505 S. Garey Ave., Pomona, CA 91769 | (909) 620-2262
Pomona: Vibrant. Safe. Beautiful.

Detroit is the 12th most dangerous metro area for pedestrians in the country.  In April 2010, Detroit received a federally funded grant from the MI Dept of Community Health to support "Complete Street" policies. The initiative dictates that pedestrians and cyclists must be able to safely move along and across complete streets.

Read the Full Article at Huffington Post ...

"It seems like a simple idea: Roadways should be safe for all users, whether they drive, ride public transit, bike or walk. But Detroit is the 12th-most dangerous metro area for pedestrians in the country, and the region has a long way to go.

The Detroit Complete Streets Coalition was born, bringing together an all-star team comprising many advocacy groups, including the Michigan Trails & Greenways Alliance, Department of Public Works, City Planning Commission, Detroit Department of Transportation, Detroit Police Department, Detroit Food & Fitness Collaborative, Wayne State University, City Connect Detroit, Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance, Southeast Michigan Council of Governments, Transit Riders United and plenty of committed community members. "