Monday Morning Commute - "There's just no risk to the crime."

Good morning

• MetroBike, the DC-area based bike-sharing consultancy is hiring a Bicycle planner for it's DC office to do some work on CaBi. I'm not sure if this is related to DDOT losing a member of it's bike-sharing team to Austin or not. While we're at it, the Bike League is hiring too. They're "looking for a development associate to manage invitations, coordination, and on-site activities for events across the U.S."
• Here's an incredibly depressing story on bike theft in America. 
• Only two states, Florida and Kansas, have opted out of Recreational Trails Funding.
• "A bicyclist competing in a race from Logan, Utah, to Jackson Hole, Wyo., crashed on a bridge in Wyoming and fell about 35 feet to his death into the Snake River." The cyclist swerved to avoid a pothole and then hit a guardrail. There are at least two points that seem to indicate that that bridge was neither designed nor maintained with cyclists in mind. 
• I suspect some readers might disagree with this advice for kids biking to school. "Ride on bike paths or on the sidewalk, not in the street."

Comments

[Crikey7]

Anyone who buys stolen bikes and parts is every bit as scummy as the guy who steals them. We've all been there. It may not be the worst crime there is, but it's still a pretty rotten thing to experience.

[SJE]

Crikey7, I agree. However, when the law against the actual thieves is so weak, its going to be hard to enforce anything against the buyers.

[Jim T]

In all fairness, the web site being summarized advised that

[Jim T]

...kids younger than 10 should rise on the sidewalk . For some reason, the Duke University web site that summarized omitted that age qualification.

For multi-lane arterials with speed limits >30 mph I am inclined to agree.

[Crikey7]

There are people who see no issue with buying stolen bikes who would be strongly against committing any other felony (other than maybe possession of pot). Their defective moral compass is what keeps the trade alive.

[SJE]

Crikey7: I agree. But in a big city moral approbation doesnt work so well in changing behavior when the law treats the crime it with less seriousness than failure to pay a parking meter.

[DaveS]

I'll nitpick the source of the kids biking advice when they say "Cars and buses can be great because they're faster than biking, walking, or skateboarding."

To summarize: nope.

[Crikey7]

I have been blissfully theft-free for years now. I believe that because my bicycle was parked in close proximity to VP Cheney's motorcade ona regular basis, it picked up massive negative energy that repels thieves.

Kind of an anti-talisman.