Friday Morning Commute - Bagel me

Happy Bike to Work Day. Over 14,000 cyclists are registered, 2000 more than last year. 

• Yesterday I reported that a cyclist was hit and killed at 11th and U, NW, but as of last night, only one outlet was reporting that, so let's all hope that WJLA is wrong (I'm sure they'd be happy to retract). 
• City Paper has an article on a bike theft vigilante encouter gone wrong. This follows the two-part series that the Hill Rag had earlier this year. [I don't think I ever highlighted the second one - it's here] The two articles do not make the police look good. 
  • The FBI reported that 4.4 percent of all larceny-thefts in the northeast U.S. were bicycle thefts, much higher than pick-pocketing. 
  • "I gave a full report to a disgruntled police officer when he showed up an hour later. He chided me for not using a U-Lock"
  • "After a futile phone call to the police to hatch a plan..."
  • " I called the police immediately, but they were only concerned that I wasn’t chasing my bike thief."
  • "The police never showed up."
  • "I contacted the police. They said they were going to try to send someone to the shop to put a hold on the bike, but they had to talk to their lawyers,” remembered Schafer. “But that took more than a month.”
  • It turned out that the shop’s owner had bought the bike for $100 at Brumwell’s Flea Market in Pasadena, Maryland, not far from Severna Park. Brumwell’s is a massive market covered by few regulations; vendors set up on a first come, first served basis, no paperwork required. In this case the bicycle sellers apparently showed up for two consecutive weekends with a big rented truck packed with cycles. “There were hundreds of bikes under a huge tent, ten guys [working], selling for cash,” Schafer said the store owner told him. Then they disappeared.
• More on the M Street Meeting from Wednesday from borderstan and DCBAC.
  • On Wednesday morning, Metropolitan AME Church issued a “call to action” on its Facebook page. It read, in part: “The city is proposing to install bike lanes on M Street from 14th Street to 28th Street. This action will affect parking for church services, especially funerals and Sunday angle parking. We (as a church body) need to submit testimony during the public response period.”
  • It appeared that most people believed that the bike lanes would pass directly in front of the church, creating a danger for the elderly, according to some speakers

Comments

[oboe]

Best piece of advice someone gave me last week on how to prevent bike thefts in an urban area: If you're going to leave your bike locked up outside, take the front wheel off and bring it in with you.

A bike that's locked up outside is an attractive target. A bike that's locked up outside with a cable lock, or to a wooden railing is as good as gone.

But--to your "average" low-level bike thief--a bike with a missing front wheel is essentially a piece of junk.

[T]

What's the nicest way to reach out to the church, but still be stern? The more I read about what they're saying, the more as a neighbor whom has worked across the street for years (and put up with their funeral processions, use of the place as a polling precinct, etc) I feel the need to say something.

[JimT]

@T: What's the nicest way to reach out to the church, but still be stern?

Attend a service.

[oboe]

"Attend a service."

With crossed arms and a furious scowl.

:)

[twk]

My bike to work commute was interesting. While waiting at a red light to turn left, two SUV's went around me into the right turn only lane and made a left turn on red. The light did seem slow to change, but I don't recall an Idaho stop for cars existing anywhere this country.

[SJE]

When a car is stolen, the police need to ask why it was left parked in the city. The best piece of advice is to remove the stealing wheel to make it unattractive to the low level car thief.

[SJE]

*steering wheel

[Michael H.]

Yesterday morning, two fire trucks were headed toward an intersection in Arlington. Sirens blaring at full volume. Car drivers in the cross streets still kept going, apparently because they wanted to beat their yellow light.

One driver forced the first fire engine to stop. Then as the 2nd fire truck approached, that truck was also forced to stop because of another driver trying to beat a yellow light.

Amazing. But not unusual. I see that behavior on a regular basis. A significant minority of drivers feel like they are unfairly inconvenienced by having to stop for a fire engine on the way to an emergency.

[JimT]

@twk: Left on left after a stop is legal if they are both one-way streets, but I'm not sure about Idaho.

[twk]

@JimT

This was at a "T" at Good Luck and Soil Conservation road in Greenbelt. All two way roads.

It was almost like the presences a bike ahead of them induced such a level of impatience that cars made a left turn on red. I just waited for the light to change, which it did.

[JimT]

There are some really bad drivers out in our neck of the woods. I probably get passed on the shoulder while driving on MD-193 about once a month, and people cross the double yellow to pass me in a car a couple of times a week.

But the convoy had no problem taking MD-450 into town this morning. A few toots but they seemed to be "look, it's a parade" toots. Several pedestrians waved or gave us a thumbs up.

[twk]

Just noticed that ther is no AAA logo on this year's BTWD t-shirt. ;^)

[Cycle DC]

Left on Red even on one way streets is not legal in DC, according to Dr. Gridlock:

"[questioner]
Left turn on red
Could you tell me whether it's legal in the District to make a left on red from one one-way street to another? Thanks -- haven't been able to find the answer myself.

–
January 24, 2011 9:19 AM
Permalink

A.
Robert Thomson :

Saw a driver do that last night on Capitol Hill. In Maryland and Virginia, drivers can make a left turn on red from a one-way street onto a one-way street, but it's illegal in DC.

– January 24, 2011 12:09 PM