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Man on bike dies after road rage incident involving prominent politician in Ontario, Canada

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

A tragic road rage story has been making international headlines. On Monday evening in Ontario, Canada, a bike messenger has died after a road rage altercation with a prominent political figure.

Witnesses describe seeing a black convertible going 90 kilometers an hour the wrong way down a street in an upscale Toronto shopping district with 33 year old Darcy Allan Shepard hanging off the driver’s side window as the driver steered the car repeatedly onto the sidewalk, driving as close as possible to signposts and light poles on the side of the road.

Portland’s bike culture inspires
the world. The Sprockettes perform at
the Multnomah County Bike Fair
(Photo © J. Maus)

I rode out in the rain last night to grab a beer with Mattia Pellegrini, a member of the cabinet of the Vice President / Commissioner for Transportation of the European Union.

Pellegrini, whose background is in environmental policy, is one of seven cabinet members focused on transportation. He is in charge of sustainable transport policy, from green cars to bicycling. He is visiting Portland as part of a three week tour of six U.S. cities through the state department’s International Visitor Leadership Program, which is designed to groom future foreign leaders (several current and recent heads of state are alumni). He is meeting with key players across the broad spectrum of transportation in each city, with the aim of bringing back ideas and lessons to implement in the E.U.

We met up to talk about his impressions of Portland, transportation policy in the E.U., and beer around the world.

George Will, Public Weasel No. 1.

Remember just over a year ago, when U.S. Congressman Earl Blumenauer told the crowd at the Oregon Bike Summit that we need to “Hold the weasels accountable” when their partisan bickering holds up good bike policy?

Now, Blumenauer is doing just that in his efforts to take Newsweek’s George Will to task for an anti-Portland screed he penned in a recent column. Will’s story was based on faulty assumptions about America’s relationship with bikes and cars and it directly insults Obama Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood for his (gasp!) love of Portland.

A Vélib bicycle
(Photo: austinevan on Flickr)

We reported yesterday on a BBC article predicting the demise of Paris’s Vélib bicycle sharing program due to theft, vandalism, and increased costs.

Streetsblog has done some research of their own and discovered that the threat may not be so great as the BBC article makes it seem.

Welcome to Part Two of our six-part, guest article series on bike-sharing in Portland.

The series is written by Tom Miller, chief of staff for Portland City Commissioner and Mayor-elect Sam Adams.

Yesterday, Tom gave us some background on Portland’s efforts to launch a bike share program.

Today’s article is short but sweet. Tom shares initial impressions of bike share programs in Copenhagen, Helsinki, and Stockholm from a trip last June. Tomorrow, Tom will share extensive details on what it’s like to use Clear Channel’s bike share system in Stockholm.

Man on bike dies after road rage incident involving prominent politician in Ontario, Canada

What can Europe learn from Portland about bikes? A conversation about E.U. transport policy

Blumenauer jumps at chance to hold a “weasel” accountable

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