Friday Morning Commute - Tear down this fence

Good Morning

• GOOD spotlights DC's "new" Bikestation in their Good Design Daily feature.
• A call to give a cycling a human face. I like some of the ideas, even if I find them a bit naive. I think the opening, fake quote is unfortunate as is the reference to "blowing through lights without slowing down" which never actually happens, but otherwise I think the article has some good intentions. One of the comments calls for a regular "Ask a Cyclist" column, an idea which I like.
• Some university's are talking about bike rack-to-bed ratios instead of bed-to-car ratios.
• As part of a deal to close a section of Lincoln Street in Bethesda, Suburban Hospital would be expected to "maintain pedestrian and bicycle paths in that area." This is across the street from the Bethesda Trolley Trail
• Alice Swanson's mother will attend today's hearing on bicycle and pedestrian safety in DC.
• Local trails are mostly clear of snow and ice.
• Two years after Montgomery College built a fence that limited bicycle and pedestrian access to a path used by nearby residents, the College Gardens Civic Association has met with school officials and plans to meet with the Rockville City Council to get the path opened.

Comments

[chiggins]

as is the reference to "blowing through lights without slowing down" which never actually happens

Sit at New Hampshire and 17th for 10 minutes during morning commute hour. It "actually happens" a lot.

[John]

I had to walk a couple sections of the Mount Vernon Trail between Belle Haven Park and Tulane Drive. They were short sections though and should be gone entirely by Sunday.

[oboe]

No one's "blowing through that intersection". If someone's riding through that intersection without slowing down, it's because they're going slow enough to determine whether it's safe. Otherwise, they'd be getting hit by cross-traffic. When was the last time a cyclist was hit there while jay-biking?

Maybe everyone's just incredibly lucky? Or is it just that DC region's drivers are the most skilled on Earth?

[chiggins]

Yeah, oboe, they are, by any reasonable definition of the term.

In the most egregious example I can remember offhand, I was sitting at that light, which was solidly red when I got there, when 3 bikes came whipping by me into the intersection. One went straight through, two went left onto 17th, and a southbound car had to brake to avoid hitting them.

You wanna be an apologist for it, fine. You wanna win an argument on the Internet, stretch semantics as far as you want. But the behavior the article is talking about, and people's negative reaction to it, are real. And we're not doing ourselves any favors by pretending it's not.

[mike]

who's the "we," chiggins? WHICH "people" are reacting? you mean the people already blinded to the monoculture and unearned privilege of the car?...

i ALWAYS hear this injunction!: that SOMEHOW the behavior of one cyclist tars the reputation of all cyclists...WHERE IS THE DAMN EVIDENCE for this assertion? -- THERE ISNT ANY. STOP USING THIS IDIOTIC LINE OF ANALYSIS!