A hard-hitting piece on the Governing website says new bike infrastructure creates the illusion of safety, encouraging more women to get on their bikes.
And the result is more women dying on them.
The solution, according to the writer, is separating bike lanes behind a physical barrier, while lowering speed limits for cars and trucks.
Long Beach bike lanes photo by Richard Rosenthal.
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Call it a tropical criminal triathlon.
When police tried to stop a Hawaiian woman who appeared to be riding a stolen bicycle, she sped off on the bike, leading a slow speed chase across Hilo to the beach, where she ran to the water and swam off.
Police later found her on a nearby island, and pulled her out of the water when she tried to swim off again.
Then to top things off, it wasn’t even the bike their were looking for.
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A 73-year old Indian driver suffered the ultimate distraction when he died of a heart attack behind the wheel and rammed into a 72-year old bike rider, causing “grievous” injuries.
Making the case even more bizarre, police booked the driver on posthumous criminal charges for causing the crash. Which presumably means, if convicted, he could face eternity behind bars.
Unfortunately, the Indian press frequently uses the same terms for bicycles, mopeds and motorcycles, so we have no way of knowing what the victim was actually riding.
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Sometimes it’s the people on bikes behaving badly.
A Vancouver bike rider demonstrates why you shouldn’t fly off a sidewalk and try to beat oncoming traffic.
Well… at least @VancouverPD were on scene right away 😝 A heart in throat moment for sure. pic.twitter.com/zXCcqszFZ0
— Village Whisperer (@village_whisper) August 18, 2019
Seriously, don’t try this at home.
Or anywhere else.
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Local
CD8 City Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson is calling for new design standards for Crenshaw Blvd that call for an increase in density, and appear to include plans for much-needed bike lanes.
A new official Los Angeles art project will place up 100 rainbow halos to honor traffic victims. While it’s important to remember victims of traffic violence, wouldn’t it be better to fix the damn streets so we don’t need the halos in the first place?
A photographer offers some great views of last Sunday’s Meet the Hollywoods CicLAvia.
State
San Diego now projects a nearly $2 billion shortfall in street infrastructure funding over the next five years.
The SF Weekly wonders what it will take to get San Francisco’s Vision Zero back on track, saying the goal to eliminate traffic fatalities by 2024 seems farther away than ever.
National
Outside observes that bike riders who’ve been frightened off the roads are migrating to the dirt, and going where drivers can’t. I wish I could call that hyperbole, but I’ve heard from far too many people who now only ride gravel or mountain bikes because they don’t feel safe on the streets.
The upscale Robb Report recommends seven “stylish and powerful” ebikes you’ll actually want to ride. And ranging from a mere $4,499 to $16,500.
This is who we share the roads with. A Portland driver was arrested after fleeing on foot following a multi-block serial crash that injured a man on a bike and wrecked a total of five parked cars.
Basketball Hall of Famer Bill Walton is one of us, as he prepares to ride with Portland Trailblazer fans this weekend.
A Colorado woman has started the online #itcouldbeme campaign on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to change the us vs. them mentality and put a face to the dangers bike riders face on the roads. Thanks to Penny Sputh for the heads-up.
Heartbreaking news from Detroit, where a nine-year old little girl was attacked and killed by three dogs as she was riding her bike near her home.
A kindhearted Michigan cop worked with a police nonprofit organization to replace the bike a boy uses to ride to school after it was stolen overnight.
Two bystanders are credited with saving the life of a Cincinnati man after he suffered a heart attack while returning home from a bike ride; a couple of cops also jumped in with an automatic defibrillator until paramedics arrived.
An Indianapolis bike rider says he appreciates the city’s new bicycle network, but he’s had it with people driving in bike lanes. Not to mention drivers who start on the green bike signal, rather than the regular traffic light.
Overprivileged residents of New York’s Central Park West went to court yesterday, suing to preserve their God-given right to street parking instead of protecting the lives of innocent people — even though a woman was killed riding her bike there last year.
A writer for Jalopnik says Vision Zero is the wrong goal; instead of responding to traffic deaths, New York should focus on “unleashing the joy of riding a bike to make a better place to live, not fighting the fear that riding a bike may entail.”
In an op-ed for the New York Times, a woman describes how her new ebike changed her life, getting her riding again in her 60s.
A DC website lists eight ways the law incentivizes driving.
A WaPo writer goes for a ride on the city’s new Vespa-style dockless e-mopeds.
A Georgia woman worries about the lack of children riding bikes, but admits she only rides on quiet Sunday mornings to avoid traffic.
International
London skyscrapers are blamed for creating dangerous wind tunnels that can knock bicyclists off their bikes, so the city is creating new planning rules that will require developers to study how to minimize the wind effect of any new building.
Britain’s Office of Communications received over 300 complaints following a controversial TV show asking if bicyclists are the scourge of the streets; the show promised an “unfiltered look” at the hostility between drivers, cyclists and pedestrians, but bike advocates called it nothing but “dressed up prejudice.”
The rich get richer. Bike-friendly Copenhagen opens a beautiful curving bike and pedestrian bridge across the city’s Inner Harbor. Forget Greenland, Trump should try buying that and moving it over here instead.
Beijing’s city-center Tongzhou district plans to upgrade 40 roads over the next three years to build a better network for non-motorized transportation, with separate lanes for bicyclists and pedestrians.
Competitive Cycling
Canadian Cycling Weekly previews the Vuelta a España kicking of this weekend. Surprisingly, four Americans are expected to contend for the title. South Americans, that is.
A woman survives the death of her pro cyclist husband in a racing crash, only to find love with another cyclist; Astrid Collinge married Belgian cyclist Louis Vervaeke this year, three years after her then-husband Antoine Demoitié was killed by a race moto during the 2016 Gent-Wevelgem.
Road.cc offers a video look back at what happens when pro cyclists get mad.
Finally…
It’s not a bakfiets, it’s a three-wheeled, pedal-powered preschool school bus. Five years behind bars for assault with a deadly bicycle.
And nothing like having your wedding pictures photobombed by naked people on bicycles.
Oh, no. Not physically separated bike lanes again. In urban/suburban area these increase the collisions in intersections where most car/bike collisions occur. Copenhagen before and after study demonstrated these were particularly bad for safety.
No, they don’t. I have never seen any study, anywhere, that shows protected bike lanes are unsafe. With the single exception of the 12-year old study you cited, every study I have seen shows that protected bike lanes improve safety for everyone on the road.
Even that study concludes “The positive benefits may well be much higher than the negative consequences caused by new safety problems.”
And if physically separated bike lanes resulted in the negative outcomes you suggest, they wouldn’t be found all over Copenhagen, Amsterdam and other leading cities.