She gets it.
Today’s must read comes from an Irish columnist who says bike riders are always right, even though she’s a driver.
Well, maybe not always.
She describes being chased off her bike, first by catching a tire in a Dublin rail track, then by a cab driver who leaned on his horn and called her a “stupid bitch,” for the crime of being on the road ahead of him.
And hasn’t ridden it since.
But still, there’s this —
But we are sharing the road. We don’t own the road, we drivers. Paying motor tax doesn’t entitle us to everything from kerb to kerb and baying that “cyclists don’t pay” is childish. Cycling is a sustainable, relatively inexpensive, and health-promoting mode of transport. Do we really want to tax that? What next, pedestrians paying footpath tax?
She sums it up this way.
Back in my spot on the devil’s lap, I must acknowledge that just as there are bad drivers, there are bad cyclists. The weavers, the light-breakers (even though this is often the safest option), the all-in-blacks. Of course they exist, but they can’t be a reason to scapegoat an entire community of cyclists. I guarantee if you see one “bad cyclist” on your journey, a cyclist sees 10 dangerous drivers, two of which unwittingly tried to kill them.
It’s worth a few minutes of your day to give it a read.
If only to see that there really are people who don’g ride a bike, but get what it’s like for us, anyway.
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A crowdfunding campaign has been set up to help pay funeral expenses for Edward Vazquez Jr, the 13-year old boy killed by a driver while riding his bike in Corona last week.
As of this writing, it’s raised just $1925 of the $15,000 goal.
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Here’s your chance to help direct policy for my councilmember.
Which is why I want someone who rides bikes to get the job.
Our office is seeking a full time Policy Deputy to join our Legislative Team! For more information and to apply, please visit https://t.co/wf0gUudRwu pic.twitter.com/iokpn9dvZc
— Councilmember Nithya Raman (@cd4losangeles) January 15, 2022
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If your bike was stolen stolen in the Rancho Cucamonga area recently, the local PD may have good news for you. Or not.
https://twitter.com/IrvinePolice/status/1482169425402941445
Thanks to David Huntsman for the link.
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Why would anyone in Ontario, Canada, give a damn about distracted driving when the premier of the province clearly doesn’t?
Premier Doug Ford is driving his vehicle while doing a FaceTime with CP24.
You’d think the Premier would know some of the distracting driving laws… pic.twitter.com/htT3FXYCuE
— Kris Pangilinan (@KrisReports) January 17, 2022
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A new Quebec ad campaign takes aim at jaywalkers.
Literally.
https://twitter.com/delanightmares/status/1482845798673313792?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1483026563578880002%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es3_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Froad.cc%2Fcontent%2Fnews%2Fcycling-live-blog-17-january-2022-289555
Maybe instead of wasting money telling people not to jaywalk, they could improve streets with better crossings so it’s not necessary. And safer if they do, anyway.
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Of course there’s a bicycle superhero. Because why wouldn’t there be?
Mid-1970s Sprocket Man comic book, produced by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to promote bicycle safety
Artist: Louis Saekow pic.twitter.com/2HCaLlSBgY— Cool Bike Art (@CoolBikeArt1) January 17, 2022
Then again, this is the real superpower.
https://twitter.com/davidguenel/status/1483106840510545928
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
File this one under be careful what you wish for. A bill in the Vermont legislature would require everyone on a bicycle to ride single file on any roadway without bike lanes. Which would increase the danger for people on bikes by encouraging unsafe passing, while increasing the time, distance and risk involved to pass a large group of riders.
Sometimes it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
An off-duty cop working as a security guard engaged in a shootout inside an Oklahoma Walmart with a man who tried to pay for a few items while walking out without paying for a new bike.
Police in Queens, NY are looking for the rider of a throttle-controlled ebike who pulled out a gun, and shot out a speed camera.
A conservation group is accusing bike riders of damaging the UK’s New Forest national park, after a six-week study showed 550 people on bicycles riding off designated trails. Seriously, show some respect for the land.
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Local
Streetsblog’s Joe Linton remembers longtime transit advocate and Streetsblog contributor Dana Gabbord, whose big heart gave out just shy of his 60th birthday.
The Eastsider says county workers want to know what keeps people in East LA from walking and being more active. Hint: They usually have four wheels
WeHoVille talks crime and ebikes with West Hollywood Public Safety Commissioner Danny Roman, owner of Bikes & Hikes LA.
State
Sonoma votes for a road diet on a major street, while still forcing bike riders to contend with drivers parking their cars.
National
It’s been a big couple years for women’s bicycling, as nearly 56% of women who currently ride bikes either started during the pandemic, or came back to bicycling after a layoff.
A writer for Jalopnik tries to track down the provenance of a bike someone apparently won off the side of a Hi-C drink box.
Some Portland residents responded to calls to use MLK Jr. Day as a day of service by sweeping out bike lanes, while an Idaho group used the day to distribute 50 bikes to people in need.
Seattle may not have repealed its mandatory bike helmet law yet, but the local police have decided they won’t stop riders just for not wearing one anymore, as well as downplaying a number of other minor traffic violations since they don’t have a direct connection to the safety of others.
A Vermont website remembers the bike-riding former state house leader, whose passion for bicycling was matched only by his passion for public service; Willem Jewett was just 56 years old when he died via the medical-aid-in-dying law he helped pass, after struggling for years with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
New York’s new mayor plans to cut the city’s vehicle fleet down to the bare minimum, and encourage employees to ride the subway or take buses instead. Or better yet, just improve the city’s bike network and tell ’em to ride bicycles, instead.
NBA star Jimmy Butler is one of us, buying a new bicycle so his two-year old daughter can ride in a child’s seat on the back.
Hundreds of Florida teens turned out for the annual, unsanctioned Wheels Up, Guns Down rideout to mark Dr. Martin Luther King’s call for nonviolent protest, including one group that took over the right side of a freeway.
International
Vogue Business considers the fashion industry’s recent inroads into the world of bicycling.
If you build it, they will come. Despite cries that London’s new bike network is blocking traffic, it is traffic, as bike riders now outnumber motorists in some areas of the city.
An English serial bike thief will spend the next 21 months behind bars for stealing six bikes worth more than $6,000 after gaining access to three apartment buildings.
A British man tells his harrowing tale of suffering a debilitating stroke at just 39 years old, and how he fought his way back to full mobility with determination and a bicycle.
Good Samaritans kept an alleged stoned driver from fleeing the scene after running down a UK bike rider, punching him in the face and dragging him out of the car he was trying to jack after abandoning his own heavily damaged car.
A retired Irish schoolteacher has become the oldest person to ride a bike around the world, completing the challenge at the ripe old age of…56? Seriously? That’s a ridiculously young age to be the oldest to do damn near anything, let alone anything to do with riding a bicycle.
You know a city is serious about getting people out of their cars when bikeshare is free, like it is in Prague, where a pilot program allowing transit pass holders 15 minutes of free bikeshare, up to four times a day, is going to be made permanent. Especially since rental bikes are a gateway drug for bicycling.
A delivery rider for Uber Eats faces a charge of professional negligence resulting in death after running down a 78-year old man crossing a Tokyo intersection; police blame the speed required by the company for causing the crash.
A new Kiwi study shows that the benefits of walking and bicycling outweighs the costs of building better facilities and educational campaigns by a whopping ten to one, especially in terms of better health and fewer cars on the road.
Competitive Cycling
Irish cyclist Sam Bennett says pro cycling has gotten so scientific and technical, it doesn’t even feel like he’s riding a bike anymore.
A new self-supported bikepacking race will take riders on over 1,000 miles of new trails through Southern Colorado and Northern New Mexico.
Finally…
How to give your bike an extreme wooden makeover. If you’re planning to pawn a stolen bike, don’t give them all your personal information.
And we’ll know it works when it becomes the latest time trial technique.
— Dr Grace Peng (@gspeng) January 17, 2022
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
