– Statistically speaking, what’s more distracting than talking on the phone while driving? Adjusting the radio while driving. And what’s even more distracting than that? Driving with children.
– Speaking of distracted driving, what about those digital billboards? The NY Times takes a look.
– In Washington, DC, the local transportation department, DDOT, has issued a bold “Action Agenda” that builds on the district’s existing bicycle and pedestrian master plans and goes much farther, calling for the creation of a new Progressive Transportation Services Administration.
– A bill up before the California Senate would extend the state’s handheld cell phone ban to people on bicycles.
– In Amman, Jordan, mass installation of sidewalks and benches is transforming the city, and residents are loving it.
– Rotterdam, the Netherlands is experimenting with a new kind of bike infrastructure called the Evergreen Wave—green LEDs embedded in the bike path show you how fast to approach an upcoming intersection in order to catch the green light.
– Yes, there is even an emerging bike movement in wintry Iceland.
– Trek Bicycles’ trademark lawsuit against Trek Winery has been dismissed by a Wisconsin judge.
– In Los Angeles County, Metro is the agency that provides public transportation. Besides bus and rail, it also helps pay for bike paths and, apparently, spends $27 million dollars a year towing private automobiles that have broken down on the freeway. (Hat tip to the Bus Bench)
– The history of bike polo is one of the few stories that include both Portland and Prince Philip.
– New inventions in bicycling: A grop of Yale students created a bike with a spokeless rear wheel, and a pedal powered lawn mower made a splash at NAHBS.
– A reader forwarded this excerpt from her local public radio station’s newsletter:
When the Washington Post editorialized in favor of building a highway atop the C&O Canal in 1954, Supreme Court Justice and environmentalist William Douglas challenged the authors to hike all 185 miles of it with him. They did, they changed their tune, and today the wild beauty of the C&O Canal is preserved as a national park.
– Finally, the video of the week is actually only an audio track: a hip hop ode to urban bicycling.