🚨 Please note: BikePortland is currently on hiatus and only publishing guest articles. Learn more here. Thank you. - Jonathan 🙏

Day: October 7, 2005

Bikey bits on my brain

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Here’s a few bits and pieces floating around my head. I’ll be expanding on some of this stuff in the days to come, but I have to do a mental dump or my head will explode. Here goes:

  • The BTA has launched PlatinumPortland.org.
  • At a transportation class I’m taking I heard from a Tri-Met bigwig that Google will be visiting with Tri-Met officials in a few weeks to discuss their ongoing collaboration on a mapping system. According to the Tri-Met rep., a detailed, fully-integrated bike trip-planning system will be available online “in about a year.” I covered this in more detail back in August.
  • Tom Miller, Sam Adams’ chieff of staff, wants to raise $3,000 for an eco-roof atop the bike parking structure on the corner of SW 5th and Jefferson. (hat tip to the Tribune)
  • Janis McDonald, the city employee behind the Women on Bikes program recently featured in the Oregonian is getting married Saturday. After the ceremony they’ll be biking down from Council Crest in a mini-parade. She said she’ll try and snap photos so I’ll post them for you if/when I get them.
  • The new New Seasons market on N. Interstate is causing a huge increase in pedestrian and bike activity on N. Portland Blvd. This is great except for the fact that N. Portland Blvd from N. Albina to N. Interstate has abysmal bike/ped facilities and no traffic calming to speak of. If this doesn’t change there is bound to be a bad crash sooner or later.
  • Tomorrow’s cyclocross race out at Alpenrose Velodrome might be the largest ever on U.S. soil. It’s going to be huge. I’ll be there to soak it all in, talk with folks and snap photos. Look for photos on the BikePortland.org photostream Saturday and a report soon after.
  • Our local mountain bike club and advocacy group, PUMP had a meeting Wednesday night to figure out a plan to get serious about opening up more room for them to ride. They want either a designated mountain bike park and/or more of the singletrack trails to be legal for bikes in Forest Park. More reporting on this to come.

    • Whew! I feel better already.

    Speed kills

    I hate to be so blunt, but ever since I attended one of those Bike Safety Workshops, I can’t stop thinking about two things.

    • The difference of a mere 10mph in a car (which is barely perceptible), can mean a vast difference in the fatality rate if that car strikes a biker or walker.
    • Cops seem to “allow” at least a 10 mph cushion on the posted speed limit before giving a ticket.

    There was something upsetting to me about those two thoughts hitting my head at the same time.

    To illustrate how important it is to drive slowly (especially on neighborhood streets), I’ve posted a slide from the City of Portland’s traffic division. It lists the effects of speed on stopping distance shows fatality and injury rate for each speed. How can the police can justify allowing motorists to go 10-15 miles over the posted speed limit when the numbers in the chart below make it painfully obvious that people die as a result?

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