According to the Federal Highway Administration, Americans drove 12.2 billion fewer miles this past June than a year ago.
An Associated Press article published yesterday, Traffic fatalities driven down by high gas prices, highlights a new study that draws a direct connection between less miles being driven and the lowest number of traffic deaths since […]

Today on NPR’s Talk of the Nation program, San Francisco bike plan critic Rob Anderson — whose opposition earned him coverage in the Wall Street Journal last week — will debate the merits of his positions against Noah Budnick from NYC-based advocacy group Transportation Alternatives.
The show starts at 12 noon P.S.T.
– Read more at Streetsblog.org.
– […]

A reader (thanks Dan K.!) sent in this photo of a billboard in Eugene.
The billboard touts Dodge’s new Journey model and an image of the vehicle is next to the word, “Gasolean” and the phrase, “Best in Class MPG”. Underneath that phrase a graffiti artist has painted an arrow that leads to a bicycle.
It […]

Kaiser Permanente’s “Thrive” ad campaign is nothing new to Portlanders. They’ve run an extensive billboard campaign throughout the city for months now. One of my favorites features a photo of a bike and the copy (I’m paraphrasing), “The latest in the battle against heart disease”.
Now they’ve made bikes the centerpiece of a new […]

Janet Bain(Photo © J. Maus)

The Portland arm of media juggernaut Clear Channel is in the process of developing an educational series of messages that will help educate Oregonians about the benefits of biking to our communities and encourage more positive behavior on the roads.
The effort is being spearheaded by Janet Bain of Southwest Portland-based Clear […]

(Photo © J. Maus)

Here in Portland, the “bike fun” movement is alive and well.
What is bike fun? Well, it’s sort of a broad term (not sure who coined it, but I suspect it was popularized by an early pioneer of Shift) that encapsulates the fun-loving, free-spirited, enjoy-yourself-at-all-costs approach to riding bikes that […]

LA Times’ “Road Sage” Steve Hymon.

One of the reasons some Portlanders take our bike policies so seriously and passionately (and are not shy about defending them) is because we realize that the microscope is on us. Portland is an important model that many other large cities look to (with even more urgency these days) […]

Still from video — Watch it below

Streetfilms, the video-journalism arm of the New York City-based Livable Streets Network, has published a film that focuses on Portland’s signature bike parking treatments: bike oases and bike corrals.
The film features PDOT staffer Greg Raisman (who was behind Portland’s first-ever corral at N. Shaver and Mississippi), Belmont-area business owner […]

Whether you are for or against a mandatory helmet law, I think it’s safe to say we haven’t heard the end of this yet.
Playing into my hunch is an editorial in today’s Portland Tribune: Bicycle helmet law’s a no brainer. In the piece, the Tribune shares the type of soundbyte that will be very […]

Tomorrow morning at 9:00am, the KBOO Bike Show will take on the topic of how our local media handles bike stories.
This month, hosts Ayleen Crotty and Carl Larson have invited several members of the local media to discuss recent coverage of bike-related issues here in Portland.
In-studio guests will be myself, news editor of […]

Myra Walker (if that is indeed her real name) is not shy about her dislike for some people who ride bikes in Portland.
She calls them the “bikenazi” and she’s devoted a blog, Bike Free Portland, to chronicling her effort to stopping them, “cold in their tracks”.

The not-so-subtle logo found on the Bike Free […]

First, The Oregonian sensationalized an issue and created a dangerous, false dichotomy just to sell more papers (a fact they admitted to). Now, they’ve resorted to plain old disrespect.
When Senator Floyd Prozanski backed away from his idea to propose a mandatory, all-ages helmet law (in large part because of swift and copious stream of […]

Screenshot of Economist.com.

Few media outlets in the world have the reputation and reach of The Economist. The magazine and website cover international news with an intelligence and depth that is increasingly hard to find.
That’s why when they mentioned Portland and Seattle’s recent headline-grabbing road rage incidents, several readers emailed me the link (thanks Chris […]

Suli Yu, a reporter for Voice of America, working in SE Portland this morning.(Photo © J. Maus)

Even though recent local and national headlines have portrayed an image of uneasiness and tension between bikes and cars on Portland’s roadways, our bike scene is also getting plenty of positive attention.
I just spent a few hours with Suli […]

Screenshot from Newsweek.com.

It’s been almost three weeks since an Oregonian story about a alcohol-related traffic altercation was blown up into a “bikes vs. cars” war and now Newsweek has taken the bait.
A story published yesterday in their National Affairs section is ominously titled, Road Rage in Portland: Bikes Cars Clash and Pedal vs. Metal: A […]

The newsstand edition of today’s Oregonian.

Front page on July 10th.

In what will hopefully be one of the final bits of coverage inspired by the two road rage incidents that have captivated Portland (and the nation) for the past week, The Oregonian has once again made bikes their lead story.
Today’s headline marks the fourth time in […]

The media onslaught inspired by the recent headline-grabbing road rage incidents in Portland continues.
Even Oregon Public Broadcasting’s daily Think Out Loud program decided to spend a few minutes of their show today talking about it.
The show, titled Mind Your Manners, focused on several different situations where you might be inclined to tell a […]