Tuesday Afternoon Commute - Ita Lapina

Good afternoon

• We have more information on yesterday's trail crash and victim. Her name was Ita Lapina of Arlington, Va. and she was 80 years old. And the cyclist was a 62 year old man. He called out "to your left" and rang a bell, but "Lapina walked to her left instead, and turned around, according to both the cyclist and a witness." We've also learned that the cyclist was going downhill on a Next Powerclimber bike. GGW asks what is the best way to alert pedestrians. 
• Last week's WaPo fitness column on bike commuting got more responses than any other article by Lenny Bernstein. Most people were encouraging, others were helpful (and trimmed his commute by 18 minutes) but still a few were rude. 
• Seersucker Social appears to have been a success. 
• New Jersey Transit relaxes its rules about bikes on trains. 
• "I think D.C. and the other jurisdictions have to integrate their own bicycle network and to connect them across jurisdictional boundaries,” Buehler said. “DC, Arlington, and Alexandria have made great progress, but there are still many gaps.” According to Buehler, we’ll see more cyclists in all regions when conditions improve. The study also identified the important role the building shower, lockers, and bike parking play in encouraging bicycling. Plentiful car parking, on the other hand, is negatively associated with bicycling, meaning that the more parking is available, the fewer cyclists you can expect."
• There are a few more downhill CaBi trips than uphill ones, but it's not a widespread problem. 

Comments

[Albert E Howard]

The rider may have said "On your Left" or rang his bell but the fatal impact must have been because he did not do the first thing a good cyclist does when passing pedestrians, "Slow Down". I am 80 & still travel on a bike & with 40,000 miles on the road and dumb riders are a dime a dozen.I am sorry for the accident. From age 8 until 22 I lived on South Quincy Street @ 18th and spent just about every day on Four Mile Run & I intend to have my Ashes spread there. The very best time of my life