Welcome to the week. It’s going to get busy and interesting this week. Before the silliness starts, below are all the stories you need (from sources you can trust) to get up to speed.
Check your cranks!: After a whopping 4,519 reported incidents of crankset damage and several injuries, Shimano has issues a massive recall. Learn more here. (Bicycle Retailer)
School pick-up lines are a policy failure: The line of drivers just to pick kids up from school is “soul-sucking” and totally preventable. (The Atlantic)
Micro-mobility, mega impact: When people talk trash about e-scooters and/or bike share, keep in mind that those modes are an invaluable piece of the mobility puzzle for people with lower incomes. (Streetsblog USA)
Black people and bikes: Access to and love of bicycles contradicted popular ideas about the the lack of mobility for folks who lived in the nearly all-Black neighborhood of Newtown in Montgomery, Alabama in the mid 1960s. (African American Intellectual History Society)
DEA agent charged in Salem cyclist death: Samuel Landis is accused of criminally negligent homicide after he drove recklessly, hit and killed Marganne Allen, and then never stopped to see if she needed help. (Statesman Journal)
The Oregonian is trying: It’s nice to see Oregon’s newspaper of record saying thoughtful things about how they cover traffic crashes. Thanks to all the folks who contact them about it. Let’s see how it plays out in future coverage. (The Oregonian)
Environmental racism: When a major data analysis find that “More than 49 million Americans live within a mile of a highway and face startling health risks from traffic pollution,” it makes it all the more difficult to support any compromise for lane expansions. (ABC)
E-bike revolution strong as ever: A poll found that nearly half of Americans are in the market for a new e-bike, and corporate America is lining up for a piece of the pie. (Adweek)
xkcd on urban planning: About a dozen readers have sent me this strip on the “typical urban planning opinion progression” that reveals how many of us have become radicalized. (xkcd)
Victim blaming again: It’s almost as if police got to national conferences and trade tips on how best to absolve drivers in fatal bicycle crashes. This one in Texas (similar to one we’ve recently covered) says a highly-experienced bike rider just happened to “veer” in front of a truck before he was hit. (KPTV)
E-bikes can unite Oregon: What’s one transportation policy that could unite urban and rural Oregon? E-bike rebates! Imagine the flood of positive mobility impacts folks from rural folks (especially older ones) if they could hop on a motorized bicycle. (PBS)
Protected convenience stores: Here’s a stat that shows just one absurd consequence of America’s car-centric planning: “Over a 15-year period, 6,253 cars crashed into 7-Eleven storefronts in the U.S. – an average of 1.14 per day.” (ABC Philly)
Safe street tech: CycleRAP, A tool that anonymously captures road features and then runs it through a safety assessment is being piloted in at least one American city. Could it help advise planners on where and what to do to make cycling safer? (NY Times)
Thanks to everyone who shared links this week!