Evidently, conservatives are expected to be totally cool with people needlessly dying on our streets.
At least according to a writer for the National Review.
He — and of course it’s a he — takes issue with Elizabeth Warren’s tweet decrying traffic violence on last Sunday’s World Day of Remembrance for Traffic Crash Victims.
“Traffic violence” is quite a phrase. In the end, it may be all that anyone remembers of Warren’s decreasingly persuasive but increasingly eccentric campaign. In this bold new framing, cars are not the principal way Americans get around, with fatalities being an unfortunate but blessedly rare occurrence (one per 100,000,000 vehicle miles traveled, a rate that is down more than 80 percent in my lifetime). No, to Warren, cars are instruments of violence like, I don’t know, nunchucks or fuel-injected guillotines, and so she issues her clarion tweet to #EndTrafficViolence. So, right now, November 18, 2019, “it’s time” for us to zero out deaths from cars? How? On what planet?
He concludes with this brilliant observation.
Down here in America, where almost nobody has ever doubted that the benefits of motorized transportation have more than justified the various costs, even when the chance of getting killed in a car was 20 times higher than it is today, I’d say cars have a much brighter future than Elizabeth Warren’s White House bid.
Never mind that an estimated 36,750 lost their lives on American roadways last year. And that traffic deaths are going up for anyone not safely ensconced in a few tons of glass and steel, surrounded by numerous safety devices not afforded to the rest of us.
Or that countless Americans, and a number of American cities, are working to bring that death toll down to zero.
And the future of automobiles is in question, thanks to rising traffic congestion, inefficiency and climate change.
So I hope he enjoyed his laugh at Warren’s expense. And pray that no one he loves loses their life to traffic violence.
Or anyone else, for that matter.
Meanwhile, City Lab looks at the progress, or lack thereof, for several major cities who were early Vision Zero adapters.
Including Los Angeles, which continues to set the standard for lack of progress.
Photo by Netto Figueiredo from Pixabay.
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Active SGV is going to be busy this weekend, with a ride to the first holiday event of the season.
https://twitter.com/ActiveSGV/status/1197611136914464772
That will be followed with a ride to examine proposed South Pas bike parking tomorrow.
https://twitter.com/ActiveSGV/status/1197557870847389697
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The next Metro BEST ride will roll to CSUN two weeks from tomorrow.
Mark your calendars. Our next #MetroBEST ride will be Saturday Dec. 7, Valley Roll to CSUN! Ride will include a stop & brief presentation on the proposed NSFV BRT corridor. And a film fest at the end? How can you NOT sign up?!! https://t.co/os36AFW0ao #bikeLA pic.twitter.com/igfUmJAkAy
— BikeLA (@heybikela) November 21, 2019
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Robert Leone forwards word that this week’s closure of San Diego’s Rose Canyon Bike Path was postponed due the Wednesday’s rain.
Due to forecasted inclement weather conditions this week, the full closure of the Rose Canyon Bike Path originally scheduled for Tuesday, November 19, has been postponed and rescheduled for December. The path will remain open this week. The rescheduled closures are anticipated as follows:
Beginning Tuesday, December 3, there will be a temporary full closure of the Rose Canyon Bike Path as crews pave the final section of the newly constructed permanent bike path. The full closure will begin at 6 a.m. on Tuesday, December 3, and will be in place for approximately four days.
More information is on the mid-coast website, click here. During the closure, and as was planned prior, Mid-Coast Trolley crews will facilitate a “bus bridge,” which will include bicycle-carrying capable vans, to transport cyclists and pedestrians around the closure area. Signage will be in place to direct cyclists. The bike path is anticipated to reopen by 6 p.m. on Friday, December 6. As always, we appreciate your patience! Thank you.
My apologies for the late notice, after I lost his email for a few days.
Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.
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Maybe Artificial Intelligence isn’t going to replace bike racing scribes anytime soon, after all.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes is never-ending.
A Cleveland teenager faces charges for punching a bike rider in the head and knocking him cold, in an apparently random attack.
Sometimes it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
Tacoma WA police are looking for the bike-riding bandit who needlessly blew off a carjacking victim’s foot with a double-barelled shotgun after he had already given up his car.
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Local
No news is good news, right?
State
San Diego approves new regulations shutting down dockless bikes and scooters after midnight.
Palm Springs police have released a description of the suspect vehicle in last month’s hit-and-run that took the life of Raymundo “Ray-Ray” Jaime as he was riding his bike; police are looking for a 2008-2012 dark-colored Chevrolet Malibu with likely front-end damage. Thanks to Victor Bale for the heads-up.
Congratulations to San Luis Obispo for their new status as a gold level Bicycle Friendly Community.
Sad news from San Jose, where a bike rider was left to die alone in the street by a heartless hit-and-run driver.
Speaking of San Jose, the city shows Los Angeles how it’s done, installing ten miles of quick-build protected bike over the past year for just $1.5 million.
Not only is San Francisco’s new transportation boss one of us, he’s an advocate for increased density, opposes free parking and parking minimums, and prefers automated buses over self-driving cars.
That didn’t take long. Just weeks after the Trump administration approved a policy allowing ebikes on government trails, equestrians have filed suit to block e-mountain bikes from the Tahoe National Forest.
National
The Smithsonian takes a long look back, comparing the resistance to e-scooters to the backlash over the first bicycles.
Bicycling recommends the best men’s and women’s bike shoes. Personally, I’m holding out for a good pair of cleated wingtips. Or maybe cowboy boots.
Action cam maker GoPro is finally returning to its roots, after its attempts to diversity crashed faster than its failed drones.
Five bike-friendly bars for your next trip to Tucson. You’re welcome.
Utah police literally ran down a woman suspected of riding a stolen bicycle, dragging her 40 feet beneath the patrol car; remarkably, she didn’t suffer any major injuries, despite ending up pinned beneath the car with her ankle behind her ear. The cops swear it was just an oopsie, even though the officer behind the wheel is no longer with the department.
Denver’s docked bikeshare service is pulling the plug on the system in January. Or maybe not, if they can get a new vendor.
A Missouri letter writer says the law should be changed to ban bikes on highways after dark. Or you could just, bear with me here, slow and pay more attention when you drive at night. And lower the damn speed limits while you’re at it.
Wisconsin ebike riders aren’t breaking the law anymore, after the governor signed a bill legalizing them.
No bias here. After a Minneapolis bike rider was fatally right hooked by a truck driver, police say he was the one who struck the truck. Note to WCCO-4 — If police are blaming the victim for striking the truck, it’s a pretty good indication they don’t think the victim was stopped.
This is who we share the roads with. Country music star Sam Hunt was busted for driving salmon in Nashville with a BAC over twice the legal limit. And I’m not crazy about his music, either.
A Massachusetts woman goes to Germany with her family, and discovers bicycling is the go-to mode for running everyday errands.
There’s a special place in hell for the New York State condo board that ordered a four-year old boy to stop riding his tricycle in the complex. Never mind that the kid is the only Latino child in the development.
Bighearted New Jersey bike riders will ride eleven miles to donate frozen turkeys to a community food bank for people struggling with hunger.
A 1.4-mile multi-modal trail is connecting Baltimore neighborhoods for the first time since they were severed by a highway project.
Just months after Atlanta stiffened fines for drivers who park in bike lanes, they’re letting offenders get off the hook with a parking scofflaw diversion program.
A kindhearted deputy bought a new bicycle to replace a 12-year old Florida boy’s stolen bike, after noticing he’d stopped riding it to school.
A grieving letter writer calls on Florida to place protective barriers between roadways and bike lanes to prevent more needless deaths like her heartbroken daughter’s fiancé, who was killed last week by a hit-and-run driver while doing everything right.
International
How to live a vegan lifestyle without adversely affecting your bicycling.
Nothing like a four-wheeled, $19,000, fully enclosed, ped-assist ebike to keep out of the rain. Or you could just save around $18,900 and buy some decent rain gear, without looking quite so ridiculous.
Popular Mechanics — yes, it’s still around — explains how a Mexican engineering student turned a personal project into a handmade bamboo bike company, combining his passions for bicycling and sustainable living.
An Ontario, Canada website explains how installing safe bike lanes improves safety for everyone else on the road, too. As well as making the community healthier and more prosperous.
The founder of Britain’s Black Cyclists Network says his recent run-in with police — where he was ordered to move his bike to an unsafe spot, then stopped and searched because he allegedly “smelled like marijuana” — says a lot about how the general public views bicyclists.
Competitive Cycling
Life is cheap in Australia, where the driver who killed 23-year old rising pro cyclist Jason Lowndes just moments after texting her boyfriend walked with a lousy $2,000 fine — just $1,357 US — and community service.
Finally…
Seriously, every town needs a puppet bike. If you’re going to burglarize a business, don’t make the media make fun of you.
And if you never know when you’re going to need a lampshade.
Even on your wedding day.
Got married last year. Best way to get her to the altar!
byu/eivindtraedal inbicycling
