A conservative writer says bicycles are unpredictable, crash-prone vehicles that are killing people.
According to a post by “radical Islam” writer Daniel Greenfield, urban bicycling poses a danger to cars and pedestrians, as well as bicyclists.
Bicycles are unpredictable vehicles. They crash much more easily. They’re driven erratically. Drivers have trouble spotting them and correcting. So do pedestrians. And bicyclists have to maneuver on roads that are built for large wheeled vehicles or for walking people. No amount of bike lanes will change that.
The urban cycling movement has gotten more people on bikes. But that comes with a false sense of familiarity. Riding a bike as an adult in urban traffic is very different than riding a bike down a suburban street as a kid. The risks are different and so are the reflexes.
Although about the only risk bike riders pose to cars is that we might scratch a fender. Or get blood all over the hood when the driver smashes into us.
But what’s really killing people are the careless, aggressive and/or distracted drivers in deadly 2,000 pound machines.
Bikes aren’t dangerous.
The people and vehicles we share the roads with are.
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Don’t hold your breath waiting for changes on Pasadena’s Orange Grove Blvd.
According to Pasadena Now, the proposed lane reconfiguration will be on hold for at least the next year due to construction of a new water main.
Meanwhile, the self-proclaimed grassroots opposition group patterned after KeepLAMoving — and at least partially run by a founder of that group, giving lie to its supposed Pasadena roots — claims that it’s continuing to gain members.
Although someone might want to tell them that Facebook friends and supporters tend to fade away in real life.
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Local
Ace of Cakes star Duff Goldman is one of us, losing nearly 30 pounds since the West LA resident participated in the first California Chefs Cycle in 2015.
CiclaValley lives one perfect day in LA by bike.
A Pasadena man raised $19,000 for a children’s charity by riding 2,000 miles down the left coast.
Bike SGV talks Bike Month events on this month’s SGV Connect podcast.
The Santa Monica Daily Press offers suggestions on how the keep the Earth Day spirit going by going carfree.
A Long Beach man found new friends and riding companions on the seven day AIDS/LifeCycle Ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles.
State
A San Diego-area nonprofit uses a track cycling team to teach values to disadvantaged kids at the city’s velodrome in Balboa Park.
Motherboard says dockless bikeshare and e-scooters are disrupting life in San Francisco, rather than merely disrupting existing models.
Nice piece from a Berkeley resident, who says his bicycle allows him to explore the diversity and complexities of the Bay Area, just as bicycles did for other residents over a hundred years earlier.
National
Streetsblog says the way to deal with sidewalk clutter from dockless bikeshare is to give them a defined space on the street.
Portland’s bikeshare system could get a Paul Bunyan-themed bike.
Tacoma WA celebrates the “mystical, magical” bicycle next month.
A Seattle pilot project will determine whether ebikes can co-exist with other trail users.
An Idaho Stop bill allowing local jurisdictions to decide whether cyclists can treat stop signs as yields and red lights as stops has passed the Colorado legislature; the governor is expected to sign it.
A Texas man faces DUI, DUI assault and hit-and-run charges for killing two bike riders and seriously injuring another when he drifted off the road and ran them down from behind as they rode on the shoulder of a highway. Note to MRT.com: When a truck runs down three bicyclists at highway speeds, it really doesn’t matter if they were wearing helmets.
Dockless bikeshare is finally coming to Chicago.
Testimony wrapped up Thursday in the Kalamazoo Massacre trial, as jurors heard that the driver took a handful of pills before getting behind the wheel.
Cambridge MA bicyclists form a human protected bike lane to call for safety improvements in the city.
Gothamist is back to tell of the toll New York’s ridiculous ebike ban has taken on the city’s largely immigrant delivery workers. Let’s hope that means LAist, now owned by Pasadena public radio station KPCC, will be back soon.
Note to New York Times: When visiting Copenhagen, chances are you can safely leave your bike helmet at home. Just saying.
A New Orleans website offers a guide to riding your bike to the city’s annual Jazz Fest, which begins this weekend.
International
A New York architect explains how to use barriers to protect bicyclists and pedestrians from fast-moving traffic in the wake of this week’s Toronto attack.
Iceland is quadrupling fines for bicycle violations, from running a red light — which was not previously illegal — to putting a sidecar on the wrong side of a bicycle.
England’s second city aims for a Dutch-style bicycling revolution.
A Scottish craft brewery chain is establishing a worldwide cycling club.
Dutch bikemaker Van Moof promises their bikes are virtually theft proof, sending bike hunters to track down your ride if it’s ever stolen.
“Furious” Aussie bicyclists demand police focus on dangerous drivers, rather than on whether the people on bikes are wearing a helmet.
The Financial Review calls dockless bikeshare the frontline battle between Chinese tech giants.
A driver in Singapore faces just two years behind bars if he’s convicted of killing two ped-assist bike riders and injuring a third.
Competitive Cycling
The two-year old Colorado Classic will expand the women’s race to four stages, equal to the men’s tour, on some of the same courses; no word on whether that equality extends to prize money, as well.
VeloNews profiles 22-year old California native Justin Oien, the only American on the Caja Rural-Seguros RGA Pro Continental team.
More on the death of women’s pro cyclist Jacquelyn Crowell, who passed away four and a half years after she was diagnosed with a rare malignant brain tumor.
Fabian Cancellara fights back against motor doping charges by offering to let people examine his bike. Even though there’s no way of knowing whether it was the actual bike he was riding when he was accused of using an illegal motor, since it’s not unusual to use multiple bikes during a race.
A writer for SBNation says Lance took al the fun out of it when he settled his lawsuit with the US government for $5 million.
Finally…
When one Bike Commuter of the Year just isn’t good enough. No, posting a sign telling bike riders to get off and walk does not count as fixing a dangerous intersection.
And if you’re going to compete in a bike race while out on disability leave for a bad back, turn off your Strava first.
