(Photo: Edinburgh Blog)
Here are the biking-related links from around the world that caught our eyes this week:
Beer-battered driving: A Wisconsin man pulled over by a sheriff’s deputy said he hadn’t been drinking, only eating beer-battered fish. It would be his 10th drunken-driving conviction.
Minneapolis victory: The Minneapolis Bicycle Coalition says the city’s new budget, with $750,000 for protected bike lanes (3-6 miles’ worth) and eight open streets events, is its “best ever.”
Ask not what…: The most effective bike advocates “don’t position themselves as a special-interest group fighting for a few feet here or a few feet there on the street, but act as part of a larger effort to make streets more livable.” That’s one of five bits of wisdom from the country’s leading bike tourist.
Regulatory slowdown: Two bike share launches in New Jersey have been delayed six months by a Federal Communications Commission review of German electronic components.
Dangerous helmet: UVEX Sports has recalled a bike helmet because its chinstrap was failing and threatening wearers with injury.
Tired truckers: Last week’s federal spending bill included a rule change that could let truck drivers spend up to an average 82 hours a week on the road, up from the current 70.
Stoplight detection: A North Carolina company is testing a smartphone app that could tell a stoplight that you’re on a bike, waiting for it to change.
Gas tax: The big gas price drop is a window of opportunity for gas tax hikes, some say.
Snow removal: Arlington County outside D.C. is setting aside $300,000 to plow bikeways.
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Amazon’s quicksilver: Amazon delivery drones aren’t here yet, but for now they’re hiring bike messengers.
Protected walking: Chicago advocates are pushing to separate walking and biking on their signature Lakefront Trail.
Popular bridge: The aging Forest Grove bridge that might be closed to auto traffic carries 1,100 motor vehicles a day.
Speed camera retreat: An estimated $30 million in annual revenue didn’t prevent the repeal of a new school-zone speed camera campaign on Long Island after a “deafening chorus of opposition.”
Gender gap: “Young women around age 11 or 12 or 13 start to go underground, really shrink into themselves,” explains one New York advocate for female biking. It’s one of many reasons to fight the biking gender gap.
Women on wheels: Hard to blame the reporter behind this 1896 story for being enthusiastic:
My costumes are ALWAYS tasteful and my skill striking. MT Brooklyn's female cyclists, 1896. pic.twitter.com/esGD4w9dtR via @yaybikes
— Jessica Roberts (@jessicaroberts) December 15, 2014
Night riding: “The number of times I see fancy, expensive utility bikes with cheap, inadequate headlights clipped to the handlebars like an afterthought never ceases to amaze me,” writes Lovely Bicycle in a post of tips for making friends with the dark.
Suburban bikelash: “The day is approaching in Marin when a cycling-comes-first approach becomes politically toxic,” writes Marin County newspaper columnist Dick Spotswood, predicting that the ill behavior of a few people on bikes is driving local action against biking improvements.
And in your video of the week, NYC’s transit agency has released a candidate for least realistic public safety announcement of the year:
If you come across a noteworthy bicycle story, send it in via email, Tweet @bikeportland, or whatever else and we’ll consider adding it to next Monday’s roundup.