Got to hand it to the Washington Post.
This is one of the single most biased pieces of anti-bike drivel I’ve read.
Somehow, as they see it, the 1,557 bike riders caught running stop lights on DC’s red light cameras equates to the 84,000 drivers who did the same thing.
Never mind that the risk posed by a law-breaking driver outweighs the risk from a scofflaw cyclist by about two tons.
Let alone the sheer absurdity of painting all bicyclists as aggressive and entitled militants based on the misperceived attitudes of a few, projected from behind the windshield. Sort of like accusing every mom driving her kids to soccer practice of being no different than this guy.
It shouldn’t need to be said that everyone should obey the law. And that the safety of everyone on the road depends on the give and take codified in the vehicle code.
Which means stopping for red lights.
Period.
But if you can’t manage that, at least observe the right-of-way so you don’t end up a bug on someone’s windshield, or force drivers to take dangerous evasive actions to avoid you.
The Post used to be a great paper.
But crap like this is just more evidence that Woodward, Bernstein and Graham have left the building.
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David Drexler forwards a reminder from Surf City Cyclery in Huntington Beach about the gofundme account for injured Encinitas cyclist John Abate; the account has raised over $6,400 for a reward to find the hit-and-run driver who ran him down last month.
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No leadership changes in the Vuelta, despite a breakaway that finished half an hour before the peloton, who must have stopped for tea along the way.
Bicycle design could get a lot more interesting as UCI scraps a key rule limiting the shape of frames.
Clearly, it’s not just the pros who dope. A gold medal-winning Aussie Paralympic cyclist has been sent home from Rio after testing positive for EPO.
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Local
Caught on video: Evidently, bike riders aren’t the only victims of road raging drivers.
Richard Risemberg attends a meet-and-greet for city council candidate Jesse Creed, and comes away convinced Creed deserves your vote if you live in CD5. Then again, considering the alternative is re-electing career politician Paul Koretz, it’s an easy choice.
Smorgasbord LA is now offering a bike valet every Sunday for the gourmet food fest at the Alameda Produce Market in Downtown LA.
Nice move from the Sheriff’s Youth Foundation of the LA County Sheriff’s Department, which donated 69 refurbished bicycles to ministers in Watts area to help kids get to school safely.
Bicyclists say the bike lanes on Santa Monica’s new and improved California Incline are indeed a big improvement, though they could be a little wider.
Speaking of SaMo, the Bike League wants to know what you think, as the city applies for an upgrade in its bike friendly city status. Thanks to Kent Strumpell for the heads-up.
State
Caught on video too: A bicyclist passes, then drops, a group of motorcyclists on a 50 mph descent somewhere in California. Then again, it’s not the first time that’s happened.
Oceanside responds to residents complaints about a dark underpass on the San Luis Rey Trail with promises to install solar powered lights to help protect nighttime riders.
Freemont traffic engineers somehow believe placing a green bike lane in between two right turn lanes, so right-turning drivers in the left one have to cut across the bike lane, is better than no bike lane at all.
Napa is seeing a rash of bike thefts, with 24 bikes stolen in three months. Or as we call that in LA, Wednesday.
More heartbreak in the UC system, as a second faculty member lost his life when a UC Davis professor was killed after he was right hooked by a garbage truck while riding in a bike lane. A Nobel Prize winning UC San Diego researcher died last week on an Oregon bike trail. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the link.
National
Consumer Reports lists ten ways to avoid a car crash. None of which include remaining sober, paying attention to the road or putting your damn phone down.
A cyclist in one Utah county can credit his life following a heart attack to a requirement that sheriff’s deputies must also be trained as paramedics.
Only five percent of incoming freshmen at Colorado State University know the difference between a bike lane and a walking path.
Chicagoist says the recent Tribune editorial calling on bicyclists and motorists to obey the law and share the road safely creates a false equivalence dressed up as diplomacy.
A lawsuit accuses 89-year old former New York Mayor David Dinkins of hit-and-run after he apparently sideswiped a bicycle delivery man; however, the mayor sees it the other way around.
A New York couple ditches the limo and rides away from their wedding on matching bicycles. Although judging by the photos, matching may be a relative term.
International
The Financial Times examines whether urban cycling is worth the risk in a series of articles.
The daughter of a Bangladeshi diplomat was killed in a right hook on what was considered one of Ottawa’s safest bikeways.
Caught on video three: A Toronto bicyclist is doored by the passenger of a transport truck in what is supposed to be a protected bike lane; fortunately, she’s not badly injured.
Somehow, the bicycle Virgin owner Richard Branson crashed has magically become a motorbike. Maybe it’s just too shocking to believe a billionaire adventurer would actually ride a bicycle.
Welcome to Bizarro World. Bicyclists in Seville, Spain are fighting bike lanes, but welcome sharrows.
A Romanian minister promises any new roads built in the country will now have bike lanes, and existing roads will be made bike friendly.
Finally…
Before the crash, a mountain biker; afterwards, a competitive beard champion. A shirtless, feuding Rhode Island man opens fire on his neighbor’s house with a corncob-shooting potato gun, nearly taking out a girl on a bicycle in the process.
And if you’re riding your bike under the influence while carrying a machete, maybe you shouldn’t give police permission to go into your home, where the marijuana plants are, to get the ID you forgot to bring with you.
I’m just saying.
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Barring any breaking news, BikinginLA will be taking the rest of the holiday weekend off. So enjoy the weekend, ride your bike, spend time with family and friends, and try to remember this is the one holiday established to honor America’s much maligned working men and women.
And stay safe out there. We’ll see you back here bright and early Tuesday morning.
