(Photo © J. Maus)
Here’s the news that caught our eyes this past week…
– The City Council in Toronto continues to remove bicycle lanes even though the lanes have no apparent adverse impact on auto traffic.
– Elsewhere in Toronto, a journalist who recently scolded people on bikes for their bad behavior agreed to go on a bike ride with the Director of the Toronto Cyclists Union. The ride through downtown gave him a better appreciation for the challenges faced by people on bikes, and it also helped him realize that riding a bike is fun and exhilarating.
(Screenshot from BlogTO)
– Federal tax incentives for public transit will revert back to its pre-Stimulus-funded amount of $125 (from $230) while bicycle riders will remain eligible for a mere $20 per month at the start of 2012. At the same time, the incentive for parking a car will be go up by $10 to $240 a month — higher than any other transportation mode.
– According to one urban planner, there are ninteen types of buildings that helped spur the economic recession in the United States, and all nineteen are centered heavily around automobile access. He also points out that he cities fairing the best are focusing on developments designed for bicycles and pedestrians.
– Some citizens with mobility limitations are raising concerns about a new buffered bike lane in Golden Gate Park. While the SF Bike Coalition says similar facilities have been built in Portland without problems, meetings between disabled advocates and bike planners have taken place and similar concerns have been raised here.
– ABC News highlights an increased effort by Portland Police to recover stolen possessions on Craigslist.
– Moscow has installed its first bike lane but it’s far from adequate. Barricades, storm grates, and parked cars frequently block the bright-green bikeway, forcing people on bicycles out of the bike lane and into other traffic.
– Officials in Chicago are placing mannequins around the city to representing pedestrian deaths as part of a campaign to improve safety and reduce vehicle-pedestrian and vehicle-bicycle collisions.
– Jamie Bianchini is running a Kickstarter campaign to raise money for a 12-episode video series on his ride from South Africa to Morocco. On his “Peace Pedaler” missions, he rides a tandem and invites people to hop on the back.
– You may have heard about the sperm bike in Copenhagen. Now Seattle has one too (and it was built by Portland-based Splendid Cycles).
– NY Times columnist Bruce Weber reflects on the completion of his cross-country bike ride, including fond memories of cities in Oregon.
– An 18-year-old riding a fixed gear bike was run over and killed by a firetruck on a stretch of road in front of a hospital in Florida. Authorities said in the news that his bike didn’t have a brake.
– One psychologist at the University of Reading in the UK explains why humans might not be ready to travel at the ever-increasing freeway speeds.
– Mexico City is seeing an increase in the number of people on bicycles after the city has stepped up efforts to make the city safer and more accessible.
– Finally, local cargo bike builders Metrofiets mocked up a cargo-themed version of the sharrow.
Did you find something interesting that should be in next week’s Monday Roundup? Drop us a line.
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wow… will someone please write to that Florida paper and explain both what a fixie is, and what a right-hook collision is! The headline on that article is horrid and gives a really false impression of what happened.
The Florida story quotes a Sgt. Kim Montes, saying “…the law requires bicycles ridden on roadways to have working brakes…”. Whether or not the story headline gives a false impression, depends on the definition Florida has for what a working brake.
On only the limited information provided in that story, it’s presumptuous to assume the collision was a right hook with the driver of the fire truck being at fault. A number of details associated with this collision would have to be closely looked at and considered to determine which of, or possibly whether both of the operators of the vehicle were at fault.
“Maniac cyclist on brakeless bike throws self under firetruck. News at 11!”
Amusingly, all the things they attribute the crash to: riding a fixed gear bike, fixed gear bikes not having rim brakes, are largely irrelevant. What actually happened? Well it took a little digging:
“A witness told troopers that Detamore appeared to be trying to outrun the truck, turned right to try to avoid a collision and lost control, they said.”
While all deaths are tragic, this young man was killed because he was riding unsafely.
Also, none of the news reports nor any of the police reports say that he was not wearing a helmet, something I would strongly suspect would be trumpeted everywhere were it true.
outrun the truck? If the rider is riding down the street to the right side (like it sounds like he was), he has the right of way and the truck needs to yield to him before turning right?
While it might have been safer to wait for the truck to turn, the cyclist still should have the right of way to go straight through the intersection (or driveway). Granted that right does nothing for him now.
I don’t know the law in Florida. You don’t have the right of way in Oregon unless there’s a side path (bike lane). And even then, I’m not going to challenge a vehicle that is in front of me, if it has already indicated a turn and started its turning motion.
The headline is accurate, if misleading. The biggest crime was that “put your feet down or fall over” quote, though.
Factor or not, riding brakeless… y’know, forget it.
What Sgt Montes actually said was: “The only way to stop on such bicycles is to “put your feet down or fall over”. It’s kind of strong to describe it’s a crime, for someone to have said something like that.
More important probably, is that the Sergeant’s remark doesn’t at all describe the means by which people slow and stop their fixed gear bikes, without the use of commonly known mechanical brakes.
The Sgt’s remark seems instead to be describing a common complaint directed towards people that try to balance their bikes without putting their feet on the ground after they’ve stopped…the track stand.
Here’s a way of getting people interested in spinning…
Warning, may be NSFW
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cI1ZtJvlFqo&feature=player_embedded
Ah Florida, my least favorite state. Only there could a truck run over a cyclist (at almost total fault of the truck) and they blame the cyclist. There are a few reasons they have some of the highest cycling fatalities in the US.
Interesting: there is no mention at all in the Mexico City article about how “Bicycling is coming into fashion in Mexico City” because they repealed their helmet law.
Mexico City’s repeal of its bike helmet law is not particularly the reason biking in that city is coming into fashion. The mandatory bike helmet law was only introduced in ’09, and then repealed in ’10.
Biking in MC appears to be on the upswing for a host of other far more long standing and substantial reasons than its very short lived bike helmet law, pollution and traffic congestion likely being two major reasons.
MC’s government sought to encourage bike use with a bike sharing system, introduced 2010. A reason the helmet law, apparently and all ages helmet law….was thrown out, was because the bike share operators couldn’t get around the quandary of not being able to supply a bike helmet to the people renting bikes.
Here’s a short story about MC’s bike helmet law:
http://www.onestreet.org/images/stories/Mexico_City_Repeal_of_the_helmet_law.pdf
Regarding the Chicago mannequin story: The mannequins are placed in the downtown area with t-shirts to read to create awareness of how many pedestrians are killed by cars. The first lady in the video commented something like, “Pedestrians need to be more careful.” My stomach hurts. That lady did not learn anything.
Mannequins should be wearing Red shirts.
Regarding the mannequins: if they want drivers to read the t-shirts, they need to be placed where drivers will see them. It’s clear that drivers have a hard time seeing pedestrians sometimes. So put the mannequins in the middle of the crosswalks, on the lane lines.
If they are in the crosswalk, nobody would be able to drive or ride through the crosswalk.
I’ve spent a little time this morning trying to learn why Toronto has been removing some of its bike lanes, because the bikeportland Monday Roundup featured story…
http://www.blogto.com/city/2011/10/birchmount_bike_lanes_latest_to_bite_the_dust/
…doesn’t explain that. Here’s a Toronto Star story that does a little better, but still not adequate job of providing info about how bike lane removal in that city has come about. Plus…check out the scary picture with a guy on a bike and bus in the background.
http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1023995–battle-over-jarvis-bike-lane-rages-on
The bike lane removal issue seems to have received a lot of attention in Toronto City Hall. According to the above article, quite a number of people opposing the removal showed up in chambers, expressing their opposition. A count wasn’t provided, but the suggestion is there that a number of Toronto councilors were also opposed to the removal. So how is it that approval to remove the bike lanes has been achieved?