The Monday Roundup: Cycling paradise in Africa, stick shifts for safety, and more


This week’s Monday Roundup is sponsored by Treo Bike Ranch in Eastern Oregon, who reminds you that it’s time to plan your 2019 trip! Let Treo pick you up from Portland and whisk you away to an all-inclusive cycling vacation on quiet backroads.

And with that bit of business out of the way, here are the most notable stories we came across in the past seven days…

Brilliant: A Dutch bike company created a pop-up bike parking area inside of a “car” to make a point about how we use public space.

Not all roses: A NY Times dispatch on how Copenhagen, a city revered for its cycling mode share, is grappling with the challenges of climate change.

Autonomous safety: Volvo’s latest safety gambit is to use in-car cameras to detect driver drunkeness or distraction and then slow the car down and pull over if necessary.

Greenways make you healthy: A study in Vancouver (BC) showed a strong correlation between people who lived near bike-friendly greenway streets and physical activity levels.

Idle hands are the devil’s playthings: Stick shifts encourage less distraction because you don’t have a free hand for your phone, food, or whatever.

Let’s fix ODOT: Here’s a look at the top things DOTs get wrong and what we can do to fix them.

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African wonderland: A strange set of circumstances have turned the Eritrean city of Asmara into a “cycling paradise”.

EU steps up: The EU has endorsed a plan that would lead to all new cars being outfitted with speed-limiter devices by 2022.

Sub-human: New research shows that about half of people who don’t bike view bicycle riders as “less than fully human” and are more aggressive towards them as a result.

Boo-hoo-hoo: As the screws turn on the most environmentally damaging, inefficient form of transportation, some people are really sad about it.

Black Girls Do Bike: A chapter of this fun-loving group (which also has a Portland chapter) is alive and well in suburban Chicago.

It’s all about parking: This is a good overview of the nasty fight over a protected bike lane project in Seattle.

— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org

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Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)

Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)

Founder of BikePortland (in 2005). Father of three. North Portlander. Basketball lover. Car driver. If you have questions or feedback about this site or my work, contact me via email at maus.jonathan@gmail.com, or phone/text at 503-706-8804. Also, if you read and appreciate this site, please become a paying subscriber.

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SilkySlim
SilkySlim
5 years ago

Placing a bet know that a mountain stage in the 2030 Tour de France will be won be an Eritrean. Asmara is at like 7,500′ elevation (that 2k’ feet higher than US training mecca Boulder!).

Slow Joe Crow
Slow Joe Crow
5 years ago
Reply to  SilkySlim

You’re pessimistic, Daniel Teklehainot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Teklehaimanot already won the KOM at the 2015 and2016 Criterium Du Dauphine and held the KOM jersey for 3 stages of the 2015 Tour De France.

colton
colton
5 years ago

Of course lost in the “pop-up bike parking area inside of a “car”” story is that sometimes cars do haul 8 people.

Likewise, my experience with approaching a bike rack with an xtracycle or big dummy locked up is that this pop-up bike parking would accommodate one or maybe two, depending on how the bike(s) are locked up. Maybe this can be improved, but that’s how I see those riders securing their bikes to bike racks.

colton
colton
5 years ago
Reply to  colton

Either way works for me

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sometimes

sometimes adverb
some·​times | \ ˈsəm-ˌtīmz also (ˌ)səm-ˈtīmz
\
Definition of sometimes

(Entry 1 of 2)
: at times : now and then : occasionally

Aaron
Aaron
5 years ago
Reply to  colton

Put down the dictionary and step slowly away from it. John was not talking about Webster’s definition of the word so much as the practical reality that the vast majority of the time cars do not carry 8 people. At least not with great enough frequency that it would justify pontificating on that rare possibility. It is far more likely that a parking space-sized bike rack would accommodate 8 people than would a single parking space. Don’t distract from that story by mentioning the rare exception.

colton
colton
5 years ago
Reply to  Aaron

“the vast majority of the time cars do not carry 8 people”– I never said it was common (that was inferred by John and you)

I’m only pointing out 2 of the flaws in the premise of the parking argument. (have you noticed any others I didn’t mention?)

Chris I
Chris I
5 years ago
Reply to  colton

And sometimes those Xtracycle bikes have 3 people on them (mine often does). We should be talking about averages. The average car carries something like 1.3 people in most metro areas during peak road usage. 8 is an insane outlier; likely less than 1%.

Liz
Liz
5 years ago
Reply to  colton

…It sounds like what John is saying to you, is that you pointing out that some cars can hold 8 people, sometimes, is just….entirely irrelevant. It reads like whattaboutism, or at the very least, a non-pertinent distraction away from the headline topic, which is a discussion on the fact that most cities allocate way too much land/parking space to cars.

Please correct me if I’m wrong, but is there actually a direction in which you’re trying to push the conversation by making that comment? It does not appear so.

colton
colton
5 years ago
Reply to  Liz

“Please correct me if I’m wrong, but is there actually a direction in which you’re trying to push the conversation by making that comment?”

Yes, there is.

Mostly it revolves around the ridiculous over-simplification of the problem.

We bicyclists only look good when compared to cars. Oh, and we look pretty smug while we do it.

From a transit user or a walker’s standpoint, the bike parking is just as wasteful as the car parking.

Chris I
Chris I
5 years ago
Reply to  Liz

“Just as wasteful”.

Have you learned nothing from the extensive conversation above?

9watts
5 years ago
Reply to  Liz

“From a transit user or a walker’s standpoint, the bike parking is just as wasteful as the car parking.”

That is some curious logic. Have you been to a train station in Europe? Seen how they do bike parking? I’m guessing not.

Liz
Liz
5 years ago
Reply to  Liz

I don’t know Colton, the only over simplifying I see in this thread is what is coming from you. With sincere respect to you, I don’t care about how smug I look or that you think as a cyclist, I only look good when compared to cars. I find that….overly simple.

First off, I look good at the time because I’m cute. Second off, I “look good” (appear law abiding? nice? safe? what does “look good” even mean to you?) not only when compared to cars, but to many folks driving them, too. The reason for that, if we assume that by “look good” you mean “appears law abiding and safe”, is because I operate my bike safely. If by “look good” you mean “appears nice” or “never gets in a car’s way”, then I’m sure I don’t meet your looking good standards.

So, if that makes me smug….I’ll take it! Also, my bikes are real cute too.

colton
colton
5 years ago
Reply to  Liz

“Have you been to a train station in Europe?” (9watts)

At least 6 in the last year as I was being conveniently wisked around Spain, Italy and France via mass transit in ways we could never imagine here. I didn’t see any unusual bike stuff at any of the train stations or anywhere else, for that matter, other than a lightly-used bike share system in Rome. Biking in general seemed much less common than here in Oregon. I gather you have plenty of experience throughout Europe, so I’ll defer and assume I didn’t get a proper perspective?

What I did see in Europe was dedicated right of way and signaling for public transit, dense housing and many walkers. I was quite comfortable letting my kids navigate independently both by public transportation and by foot. It’s always refreshing to go to a place that has great local AND regional mass transit in large as well as moderately-sized cities. The US just fails here.

I also saw many dedicated pedestrian plazas that the locals would invade after work to meet up with their friends for a drink and dinner before going home to their houses — all on foot.

As for your comment Liz: I’m sure that you and your bikes are lovely! Besides your ribbing, did you intend to refute that walkers and transit riders see things that cyclist marginalize? That they would utilize, for instance, a parking space in ways other than bike parking? That was the gist of my latest comment and why I don’t think cyclists wear their smugness well by the standards of a walker or a transit rider.

Perhaps this gives a better visual of how a ped might see things:
https://www.streetfilms.org/no-room-for-peds-on-nycs-8th-ave-so-they-walk-in-protected-bike-lane/

Racer X
Racer X
5 years ago
Reply to  colton

And “better yet? – in the near future – cars will also carry “0” as in Zero people…as in Zero Occupant Vehicle “ZOV”…or 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 passengers.

David Hampsten
David Hampsten
5 years ago
Reply to  colton

Or sometimes deliver 1.3 packages and sometimes 8 uber electric screwdrivers…

Middle of the Road Guy
Middle of the Road Guy
5 years ago

And we had a gentleman last week who dismissed the Humanity of drivers. “othering” goes both ways.

Chris I
Chris I
5 years ago

Some very fine people on both sides!

Middle of the Road Guy
Middle of the Road Guy
5 years ago

Now you are engaging in moral relativity.

9watts
5 years ago

This endless string of false equivalencies… What do they sum to, MotRG?

You know full well, or I think you do, that these inversions you are fond of don’t begin to capture the actual dynamics, power asymmetries, not to mention the asymmetric consequences.

Dave
Dave
5 years ago

As someone who has cycled American roads for nearly fifty years, I call “othering” as they like to say here, not hatred or bigotry but a salubrious, survival-promoting cycling strategy. It should be in the text of a cycling manual–rule 1–American drivers are not to be considered human until proven otherwise. That’s not bigotry, that’s wisdom.

El Biciclero
El Biciclero
5 years ago

“Othering goes both ways”

It sure does. Predators and prey both use it to determine appropriate courses of action.

Johnny Bye Carter
Johnny Bye Carter
5 years ago

Brilliant: Couldn’t we do that here? What’s the law saying we can’t park a bike rack?

Todd Boulanger
Todd Boulanger
5 years ago

Perhaps there is a middle ground…as long as you park your well marked bike corral in a non metered zone (like residential areas in SE/NW) and be sure that the corral vehicle(s) have turnover every ~72 hours per code. At worst you will have to move the corral a few 20 FT leaps among a few unmarked curbside “stalls” along with bike turnover in the rack to be supper legal. Best have some detachable dolly wheels on one end.

Todd Boulanger
Todd Boulanger
5 years ago

As for the Dutch Bike Parking as a Car Pop up…it was worth it for the advertising bang. (As Union the bike company in NL really needs the boost…it was so out of fashion since the 60s back when I used to travel to the NL frequently I only ever saw their newer bikes when I rented bikes from the railroad company.)

Perhaps in Portland one should just make a corral into a legally OR plated “trailer” that can park on the street. (Though this might also make it easier to steal the parked bikes.)

Johnny Bye Carter
Johnny Bye Carter
5 years ago

I’m wondering if we might have a similar loophole in the Portland City Code around parking in metered spaced. Most of the code has to do with vehicles. And there are laws allowing storage boxes. So we may need a permit, but it seems that it could be done.

Johnny Bye Carter
Johnny Bye Carter
5 years ago

Idle hands are the devil’s playthings: Automatic transmissions also contribute greatly to the accordion effect of traffic because instead of slowing slightly by letting off the gas or downshifting you’re instead hitting your brakes and causing many people behind you to do the same.

El Biciclero
El Biciclero
5 years ago

Also, “idle creep”.

Matthew in PDX
Matthew in PDX
5 years ago

I know that I became a much better driver after I got back on my bicycle and started riding a lot. Perhaps the judiciary should start sentencing those aggressive drivers who pass the courts to time on bicycles. Not that I was ever anti-bicycle, but having once I’d been around a lot of cars on a bike, as a driver I have become more aware of everyone and everything around me.

When I learned to drive, it was considered inferior to obtain your license on an automatic transmission. The jurisdiction where I got my first license treated automatic licenses as legally inferior, and if you did your practical test in an automatic, and passed, you could only drive automatics for the first year, unless you resat the test in a manual. I would happily buy a manual car, if they would sell a non-sports/muscle car model.

Johnny Bye Carter
Johnny Bye Carter
5 years ago
Reply to  Matthew in PDX

“I would happily buy a manual car, if they would sell a non-sports/muscle car model.”

I would have happily bought a Subaru with the biggest engine, if they didn’t offer it in automatic only. Want a manual transmission in a Subaru? You can’t buy the one with the most power. And in the 90’s they offered their only sports model with a automatic only. So not all car companies are doing it right. I don’t think any BMW should be an automatic. People are lazy and if you want to sell them a huge waste of metal then you have to give them lazy options that they want.

Hello, Kitty
5 years ago

And if you want more reliability and less cliche, Honda still sells manuals.

http://www.atlantichonda.com/blog/new-honda-models-with-manual-transmission/

mh
mh
5 years ago
Reply to  Matthew in PDX

I just bought one, but it’s 10 years old and I still had trouble finding it. Manual transmission and a dashboard that is not a huge navigation screen, both exceedingly rare.

David Hampsten
David Hampsten
5 years ago

Black Girls Do Bike. It’s nice to see such a positive story from Chicago on this blog.

Black women bike here in Greensboro NC a lot too. Very common, but mostly commuters and recreational riders rather than roadies. In fact most of our cyclists are black, though most roadies, scooters and mountain bikers on expensive bikes here are white (but by no means all.)

Hello, Kitty
5 years ago

I agree with the article about stick shifts; if I’m shifting with my right hand, that means I have to hold my phone with my left, which makes it more difficult to use (it’s harder for me to text left-handed), and I have to accelerate more slowly so I have more time between shifts to drink from the beer I hold between my legs. That slower acceleration makes me like totally a safer driver in a standard. Gotta go… the light just turned green.

GlowBoy
GlowBoy
5 years ago
Reply to  Hello, Kitty

Another benefit of stick shifts, besides keeping your hands busy, is they eliminate unintended-acceleration incidents. When your left foot is anchored to the clutch pedal and you’re choosing your gears with large arm movements, your right foot simply doesn’t get the gas and brake mixed up. And even if you did, your car can’t accelerate out of control if you have the clutch in.

Full disclosure #1: I have witnessed UA-caused collisions twice, including one that injured me, when the driver of a (rental) Tahoe behind me mashed the gas pedal while I was stopped at a red light.

Full disclosure #2: I still drive a stick shift. In this day and age that makes me a 1%er, but I do like the higher level of involvement that it demands.

Donald Hathaway
Donald Hathaway
5 years ago

Middle of the Road Guy
And we had a gentleman last week who dismissed the Humanity of drivers. “othering” goes both ways.Recommended 6

oh god, more bothsidesism huh??

Eric Porter
Eric Porter
5 years ago

The car stick shift thing is interesting, and true. Even more involved is riding a motorcycle, where one hand does the clutch, the other does front brake and throttle, and one foot shifts gears while the other controls the rear brake. But auto bikes are creeping in… Motorcyclists are probably some of the more aware people on the roads, for a lot of reasons. Basically another example of why people on two wheels are more aware.

Dardanelles
Dardanelles
5 years ago

Had a guest speaker in a class a few years ago who shared his experience with the Eritrean Cycling team in Isreal, working for recognition and acceptance in their country of refuge. Their facebook page is here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Public-Figure/Eri-Tel-Cycling-Team-443938672409160/