Monday Morning Commute - 11,368

Hope everyone is done with their taxes. That way the government can squander it all on bike racks in Georgetown. 

• Capital Bikeshare installed several new stations on Friday, then they crushed the 4-day old record for most rides in one day. [WUSA, psst, they have way more than 175 stations] 
• The Washington, DC bike counter project is in trouble. "With just four days left on the kickstarter, Khawarzad and his co-inventor, Ted Ullrich, have raised less than 20 percent of their goal. For those unfamiliar with the Kickstarter model, here’s what that means: If they don’t reach their $50,000 goal, they don’t get to keep any of the $9,809 pledged so far."
• Falls Church police are enforcing stop sign violations along the W&OD trail. And they're requiring a foot down for a stop. 
• The Green Lane Blog wants bicycle planning/designing professionals to take a survey on bike lanes. 
• Bike parking on the bulb-out in Austin, TX.
• Why bike to the bar, when your bike IS the bar?

Comments

[DE]

Can come to a complete stop just as well with a track stand as with putting a foot down. When rules are completely pointless and lacking any relation to reality, people will just ignore them.

[UrbanEngineer]

Where and in what law is stopping defined as requiring having a foot down?

[JeffB]

In the college town I grew up in the local police defined a stop as being motionless, foot flat on the ground - no toe tapping, for a count of three.

Oh how they loved to pester the college kids with that one!

They also were pretty strict with the idea that slower vehicles (i.e., bicycles) had to yield when overtaken by a faster vehicle (i.e., impatient motorists).

[Jacob]

I'm amazed that the article about Cantor's cluelessness still refers to DC's bike share program as "SmartBike DC" which hasn't been in operation for years now. While they are right that Cantor is clueless, they aren't doing themselves or the cycling community any favors by also being pretty clueless.

[washcycle]

Jacob, that's an old article and an old reference.

[me]

stop on the WOD? out a foot down? yeah, right....

i rode through there yesterday...i didnt see any cops...

what a joke. i will never stop and no one else should either. they dont have the manpower or the will to enforce this stupidity. it does send the right signal though: americans are morons, and your "leaders" (sic) are your overlords.

that the police are stupid is OLD news...read the history of police...

yet the cars zoom on: there is ABUNDANT research -- MOUNTAINS OF DATA-- that the cars speed at will; follow too closely, drive aggressively, and use distracting devices while driving. is there any meaningful enforcement of the car-road laws? NO. And THAT'S A FACT, borne out by research.

but the morons at the police department are going to pick on bicyclists anyway, JUST AS THEY HAVE picked on every minority social movement in this country's history.

the police are ALWAYS reactionary. always. the american public are cowards. democracy is word not understood in this culture...

speed bumps, idiotic stops signs, the new WOD rules!!!! -- its lunacy...talk about displaced anger and jealousness. do these people in "charge" realize they, too, can ride bicycles?...

[T]

If only the cops lived by the same laws.... often I find they're some of the mroe aggressive drivers near cyclists. Save for NPS, who when not ticketing, seems very respectful.

[BlooEyedDevil]

"Falls Church police are enforcing stop sign violations along the W&OD trail."

Odd; rode all of that section of trail coming home from Leesburg Sunday and saw nary a constable. Yes, it was a fine day on the bike.

[Anonzmous]

Too bad Falls Church police aren't patrolling the bike trails at 10pm and later when armed robbery tends to happen.

Oh, that would be preventing real crimes. Can't be doing that.