“If you have places in your system where you have unprotected road users and protected road users, according to Vision Zero you can’t allow a higher speed than 30 kilometers per hour [18.6 mph].”
— Matts-Ake Belin, Director of the Vision Zero Academy at Sweden’s transportation agency via Citylab
Welcome back from the long weekend everyone. Hope you had time to enjoy your friends, your family, and yourself. We’ve got another full week of news cooking for you. But before we dive in, make sure you check out the best bike and transportation-related news we came across last week…
Straight dope on Vision Zero: This week’s must-read is Citylab’s interview with Sweden’s head traffic safety strategist. I wish all U.S. electeds and engineers would adopt his perspective — or at least print out this article, tape it to the wall of their cubicle, and bring it to their project meetings.
Rare candor about “safety”: It’s rare to have a city staffer admit so bluntly that political reality was put ahead of vulnerable road user safety.
Wheelchair bike program takes off: ‘Healing Rides’ is the name of a new program in Illinois that gets wheelchair users out on the trails thanks to volunteers on customized bikes.
Seattle’s bike share saga: Seattle city council has made the end of Pronto official by setting a shutdown date. Read all about it on Seattle Bike Blog.
Daily bike riders = hunter-gatherers: People in Africa that still hunt-and-gather daily have excellent health and new research underscores the importance of daily physical activity. So keep riding your bike and you should be fine too.
More wilderness at Crater Lake: Conservation groups want to vastly expand the amount of federally-designated wilderness areas near Crater Lake in southern Oregon, a policy that would prohibit expansion of cycling access.
Trek president on Trump: Trek Bicycles President John Burke has 12 “pieces of advice” for Trump and says, “Like it or not, Mr. Trump will be the President and we should give him a chance.”
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Trump infrastructure plan 101: City Observatory has published a guide to Trump’s infrastructure plan and what smart analysts are saying about it.
ADA meets e-MTBs: A woman with a muscular disease who rides a electric-assisted MTB says she should have access to non-motorized roads and trails under the American with Disabilities Act. The Forest Service disagrees.
‘Driving mode’ for smartphones: People respect airline safety enough to use ‘Airplane mode’ while flying — so why don’t phone makers have a ‘driving mode’? That’s one suggestion in a new set of guidelines from the federal government aimed at discouraging distraction.
Portland’s 37th traffic death: A man was arrested for homicide on Saturday because he drove his truck into and killed a man who was walking across SE Stark at 160th. The deceased man was in a crosswalk that had a rapid flash beacon turned on at the time of the collision.
Seat belts in school buses: Every state has mandatory bicycle helmet laws for kids. So why not require seat belts in school buses?
Bicycles rule: For some women and girls in India and Kenya having access to a bicycle is about much more than simply getting from A-to-B.
Thanks to everyone who sent us suggestions via email and flagged articles on Twitter (which where we find most of these).
— Jonathan Maus, (503) 706-8804 – jonathan@bikeportland.org
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