Maillot Jaune: Add Drugged Drivers to the list of road dangers
The accident that killed Kathryn Underdown had all the markings of a drunken-driving case. The car that hit her as she rode her bicycle one May evening in Miller Place, N.Y., did not stop, the police said, until it crashed into another vehicle farther down the road.
The driver could not keep her eyes open during an interview with investigators, according to the complaint against her, and her speech was slow and slurred. But the driver told the police that she had not been drinking; instead, the complaint said, she had taken several prescription medications, including a sedative and a muscle relaxant.
The police also struggle with the challenge of prosecuting someone who was taking valid prescriptions.
Podium: LA's Mayor is injured in a fall from his bike and now he's "one of us."
For the first time, we have a dedicated revenue source for building our bike infrastructure through Measure R, the half penny sales tax for transportation. We are setting aside 10% of the city's local return portion of Measure R for bicycle and pedestrian improvements. That means about $3.2 million for this fiscal year.
Podium: Cyclist injured by a United States Fish and Wildlife Service volunteer on federal land has trouble suing the federal government.
As plaintiff was cycling northbound, he was struck head-on by an automobile driven by defendant David Anderberg, a part-time volunteer for the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, who later told a California Highway Patrol officer that at the time of the collision he had been on his way to observe birds.
Maillot Vert: From a review of a book on the history of roads in America
The way had been paved (literally) for the automobile by the "good roads" movement led by Albert Pope, a bicycle manufacturer who lobbied for road improvements and was remarkably successful in securing them.
Maillot a Pois Rouge: A photo essay on biking around the world. And vote for the best cyclist of all time.
Maillot Blanc: London's 6000 bicycle bike sharing system just opened. Like DC it is also by Bixi. Bixi is going to make Saguenay, QC a bike manufacturing hotspot at this rate. An article about safety contradicts its scary title ("Bike Riding in London is Risky Business") "the number of fatalities has stayed virtually the same between 1987 and 2007 - about 15 per year - even as the number of cyclists plying the streets has doubled...'The health benefits outweigh the risks by a factor of 20,' says Mike Cavenett of the London Cycling Campaign"
Lanterne Rouge: Biking is not a left-wing conspiracy.
I really liked the Mitch Berg piece. I'm glad someone finally wrote something like that.
The Foreign Policy photo gallery has some spectacular photos.
Posted by: Michael H. | August 01, 2010 at 07:15 PM