how closely people pass.
(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland)
Here’s the news and other cool stuff that caught our eyes this past week, including lots of news from Los Angeles…
– In a surprise announcement, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa says Bike Nation, a CicLAvia partner, will fund a bike share program for Downtown Los Angeles, Hollywood, Venice Beach and Westwood consisting of 4,000 bikes at 400 kiosks.
– Speaking of CicLAvia, organizers estimate that 100,000 people came out for the car-free event this Sunday, described by the Los Angeles Time as the city’s “marquee event for pedestrians and cyclists”.
– The Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition (LACBC), in partnership with the LA Department of Transport and R.E.I, has launched LA’s first Spanish-language bike safety campaign.
– If you think being car-free in LA is only possible during CicLAvia, meet this completely car-free 27-year-old Los Angeleno.
– A study from the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future (view it in a PDF) found 1 out of every 6 motor vehicle operators in Baltimore passed people on bicycle illegally but on streets with bike lanes, people driving motor vehicles were 20% more likely to follow Maryland’s safe passing law.
– Another study on bike lanes (view it in a PDF) finds (maybe not surprisingly) that cities with more bike lanes have more bike commuters.
– Portland-based Alta Bicycle Share has won yet another bike share contract. This time it’s a 3,000 bike, 300 station, $18 million system in Chicago.
– Toronto Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday doesn’t want to see any more “activists”, “unionists”, or “cyclists” elected and urged citizens to instead support people “with good common sense who just want to manage the city’s affairs.”
– Only two arrests were made in connection to any of the 21 people on bikes who died in vehicle crashes in New York City last year.
– Tomorrow is tax day, which, according to the American Medical Association, comes with a 6 percent increase in traffic fatalities compared to other days with similar conditions.
– The U.S. Census Bureau estimates there was a 50 percent increase in people who commute on their bike from 2000 to 2010.
– One neighborhood in Florida has started enforcing a rule banning anyone under the age of 18 from being outside without an adult chaperone.
– Ferries in the Seattle area are raising their per-person fare but will not increase the surcharge for bringing a bicycle on board.
– In their infinite wisdom, the House GOP is reportedly trying to cut a deal to pass the Senate transportation bill; but only if they can add in the controversial Keystone XL pipeline.
– One man who started out on a a solo around-the-world bike trip to raise money for SolarAid is determined to carry on after he was struck and severely injured by another man driving a truck.
– As some people’s concerns about law-breaking “cyclists” continue, Cyclelicious tries to figure out where all the legal drivers are.
– We’re usually not that into Portland top 10 lists, but we couldn’t pass this one up. It says, the local “bicycle lobby” is a, “political force to be reckoned with. It’s like Big Oil without the oil.” We wish!
– The Dutch Ministry for Infrastructure and the Environment launched a series of commercials aimed squarely at motor vehicle operators who drive dangerously, even if only “slightly”.
– Chicago-and-Nashville-based blog Lets Go Ride a Bike has a handy DIY idea for women looking to ride in office-friendly skirts.
– You’ve heard of Portland’s “Pianobike Kid“, now meet Antwerp’s “Piano Paul“.
– Previously we shared a video of Frank Zappa playing music on a bike and this week we’ve got a modern incarnation of a musical bicycle: the Turntable Rider. Have a look below…
— Did you find something interesting that should be in next week’s Monday Roundup? Drop us a line. For more great links from around the web, follow us on Twitter @BikePortland.
Thanks for reading.
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Actually, tax day is tomorrow! Since April 15th fell on a Sunday this year and April 16th is a holiday in D.C. the IRS moved tax day back to Tuesday, April 17th. So tomorrow might be the day to be extra careful on the roads (especially near post offices).
Re: Bike skirts:
While watching the video on the “Skirts on a Bike” site I observed none of the traditional “women’s” bike frames. Having no preference myself I wonder if this frame shape is becoming extinct purely for structural reasons or if it is some larger mass marketing/fashion choice?
Step through frames aren’t becoming extinct. There seems to be plenty of new ones being made. The old ones also seem to be popular, if not as popular as the so called ‘mens frame’ that involves swinging a leg over a top tube and saddle.
In fact, on the website for the bikeskirt article, if not in the video, there are plenty examples of step through frames…pictures and links.
The lesser popularity of step through bikes may have more to do with what seems to be a fact that more men have tended to ride bikes than have women. Plenty of women may still consider throwing a leg up and over the top bar to be a rather ungraceful movement.
The idea of the article, converting a pencil skirt with a zipper equipped gusset to allow it to be used for biking, seems to be practical. Probably kind of hard to ride any bike in a pencil skirt.
I happened to be in LA for a conference and got to see CicLAvia in action. They seriously close down the downtown streets. More than how the NW parkway was. But it seems downtown LA is not really used much on weekends either….
on streets with bike lanes, oregon has no safe passing distance law
And on streets without them, we don’t really have one either unless it’s over 35 m.p.h. or higher (i.e., not to many in-town roads that we ride on).
Love those Dutch PSAs about “slightly speeding.” I wish we could get some of those running on TV or radio around here instead of just relegated to obscure and ignored billboards here and there.
that Florida neighborhood rule is illegal… the kids can be outside lone and there’s nothing that anybody can do about it… it’s called rights… if they tried to enforce that here I’d be sure to send my kid outside by himself every chance I got… I can’t believe how complacent the sheople are in this country to all the illegal rules forced upon kids…
it’s a condominium community, which means the entire situation is privately owned by the condo association, so yeah, they can make any rules they want. the difference between leafletting outside new seasons, which fronts on a public street, versus whole foods, which fronts on a private parking lot.
Guess their mommy’s will have to chaperon the coming and going to work for those of the legal driving age as well, huh? Straight home and into bed for you young’n’! Florida, Arizona, Tennessee, all pretty flaky lately.
Sounds as though there’s more to this story than ihas been reported in that particular story:
“…Gateway Management says they’ve received complaints about noisy kids in the neighborhood who have become a source of annoyance for other residents. They released this statement:
“Community associations must impartially enforce the rules found in the governing documents. We hope to have the situation resolved soon to everyone’s satisfaction and to ensure the comfort and safety of all residents.” …” NBC2.com, Fort Meyers
Hopefully, decision to apply the rules arose from a community association board made of resident representatives of that community. Could be interesting to learn more about who specifically made the decision and what options are available to resolve the situation.
I recently got stopped by a cop for wearing a skirt while riding my bike, and it was a lot longer than the skirt the girl in that blog was wearing. They said it was a distraction.
Are you serious? Please do not tell me this is true! People try to keep the comments positive here, but I am going out on a limb and say that ” Some cops really piss me off”. May I ask you to elaborate on the details and how it made you feel?
You pose the question “how close people pass bikes…”
In the picture it brings to mind how close some riders ride to the traffic? The bike lane is quite wide enough for bikes to ride to the right, however they don’t want to get doored so the hug the traffic lanes instead. This puts them in danger of getting mirrored. Which is the worst threat? Getting doored or mirrored?
Then there are the guys that insist on riding 2 abreast in the bike lanes, putting both of them at risk of one danger or the other.