The Monday Roundup: Salt Lake’s protected intersection, Jiu-jitsu vs. bike thief and more

Formerly known as the Dutch-style intersection,
“Utah-style” will be accurate from here on.
(Image: Salt Lake City)

Here are the bike links from around the world that caught our eyes this week:

Protected intersection: One year after a Portland designer gave it a name, a protected intersection is about to be constructed in Salt Lake City.

Hii-ya: A jiu-jitsu class in Florida got some extra practice when they intercepted a burglary in progress at the bike shop next door.

Tire size: Racing tires are getting fatter for a simple reason, reports the Sacramento Bee: “It turns out that fatter is faster.”

Handmade derailleur: This is what one looks like.

Self-driving cars: Google has patented a system for reading hand signals of people biking.

Self-driving semis: Freightliner has created the first commercially licensed autonomous truck.

Scooters for grownups: “Yes, I’m aware how ridiculous I look when scooting around the city,” writes Michael Hsu. “Why am I so willing to subject myself to such disdain? As any scooter-junkie will tell you: the ride.”

Map messaging: A mobile app lets you encode a message to someone in the form of turn-by-turn directions. They decode by following the directions by foot or bike and looking at the shape on a map.

Bike heist: A scammer in Southern California posed as a Bicycling magazine editor in order to steal two bikes valued at $13,000 and $5,000 from their builders.

Marine Drive: Collisions on the riverside road are nine times deadlier than the average Portland collision. After the latest fatality, the city says that guardrails would be too expensive, but it’s hoping to get a state grant to install rumble strips.

Legal killing: A Springfield man won’t face criminal homicide charges for “unwittingly” running a red light and crashing his pickup into three young children in a crosswalk, killing them.

Acceptable risk: “Ultimately, you can’t prosecute away risk or engineer safety in a way that overcomes the inevitable boneheaded mistakes that people make, even when their full attention should be on the deadly weapon they are piloting down the street,” The Oregonian editorial board writes in its defense of the decision not to prosecute in the Springfield case.

Jaywalking penalty: Bellingham police have issued $112 jaywalking tickets to two people who were hit by a police car as they walked in a crosswalk against a stop light.

Subtle e-bike: The $3,350 Vivax Assist is an 8.6-inch rod that hides inside the seat tube and gives your bike a secret electric assist.

Unacceptable risk: Did you know that the Washington State DOT has had a “Target Zero” plan since 2013?

Bike-sharing helmets: Chicago’s Divvy Bikes is the latest system to consider helmet vending machines.

False danger: Children are safer on the road than ever … and still far likelier to be killed in a car crash than abducted by a stranger.

Barry Bonds: Eight years after leaving baseball under a doping cloud, the former home-run hero is really, really into biking … including financing a women’s professional riding team.

Ice cream delivery: A local Kickstarter campaign promises to “bring seasonally-inspired and handmade ice cream treats to the people of Portland.” By bicycle, obviously.

Bike obituary: Bicycle rider and inventor Jobst Brandt died last Tuesday after a life well-lived.

Bike documentary: This downloadable film about a British road biking club seems amusing and beautifully produced.

Finally, steel your stomach for your video of the week, a very hard-hitting public service ad that supports New York City’s Vision Zero campaign.

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.