TheWashCycle

Tour de Links - perineum

New York City - Cyclists in New York City (and everywhere really) are using their cameras to film what goes on on the streets. Although, almost no one is actually using film (I guess I should say record) and it isn't just cyclists. And it isn't just on the road. Also, CNN gets in on the bikelash story, albeit a bit a late.

Minnesota - A guy bought a Huffy bike at a Target, attached a motor to it and then when his friend was riding it, the front fender caught on the wheel causing him to crash. It does sound like the fender was the problem, not the motor, but the courts still have to decide. Also, Huffy is bankrupt, which I did not know.

Oregon - An Oregon doctor is making house calls via bicycle. "Callahan said the impression he makes when he shows up on a bike helps establish rapport with the chronically ill and disabled people he cares for" Perhaps he should change his practice to deal with all the cyclists being attacked by birds."Riders in Pendleton, Ore., told the East Oregonian that a male hawk is dive-bombing them because they're too close to a nest he's guarding in an old cottonwood tree."

Joint Base Lewis-McChord, WA - The Army is promoting bike commuting, not a bad idea for an employer who requires regular physical fitness tests.

United States - "The thing is that it's not really that hard to ride a bike in heels" And according to the poll at the time of this writing - it's chic. What about riding in beat-up cargo shorts I bought 5 years ago at Old Navy and a sweaty gimme T-shirt (or as Mrs. Washcycle calls it my "uniform")? Is that chic yet?. Also, noseless saddles for your perineum. “When you sit on a regular bike saddle, you’re sitting on your penis.”

Europe - The NY Times' Dr. Elisabeth Rosenthal is a bit out of her element (medicine and China) on this article about Europe's pro-clean transportation policies, which she equates with a war on driving.

The methods vary, but the mission is clear — to make car use expensive and just plain miserable enough to tilt drivers toward more environmentally friendly modes of transportation.

She goes on to accuse traffic engineers of 'tormenting" drivers and being hostile to cars. But she never actually finds anyone saying that this is the goal (making people miserable when driving so they will instead switch to something else). Instead what officials say in her article is that they'd like people to drive less and own fewer cars and to do that they are primarily trying to make walking, biking and transit better. That it makes driving worse is usually a byproduct. She even notes that people refer to Munich as a "walker's paradise", but not a "driver's Hell".

As examples she cites places where some streets are closed to car traffic, "car lanes" losing space for bike sharing, removing pedestrian tunnels, giving trams light priority and limiting driving speeds. That each of these things is primarily designed to promote walking, biking and transit is secondary to the secondary in her mind to the impact of slowing down drivers. And the safety benefits of slowing down drivers is secondary to the real, unstated goal of making drivers miserable.

One rule she mentions is a rule limiting clean cars only in certain parts of towns. So allowing drivers to behave as normal as long as they have a clean car is inducing misery?

The only things that come close are congestion zones and parking limits, but even these items aren't about misery but rather pricing congestion.

She almost backs up her point is this

As he stood watching a few cars inch through a mass of bicycles and pedestrians, the city’s chief traffic planner, Andy Fellmann, smiled. “Driving is a stop-and-go experience,” he said. “That’s what we like! Our goal is to reconquer public space for pedestrians, not to make it easy for drivers.”

that is, until the last line when he states what their actual goal is, and it isn't to make driving miserable.

It often takes extreme measures to get people out of their cars, and providing good public transportation is a crucial first step.

Yes, that does sound like the first step is all about making driving miserable. Oh wait, no it isn't.

Kitakyushu City, Japan - the city has electric-bike sharing.

Bikes Should Take the Lane, says AAA

The American Automobile Association's latest commentary on cycling says that "a major issue is that many bicyclists feel they are not respected by motorists and must fight for their place on the road."  AAA continues:

• Did you know bicyclists can ride on all roads, except where restricted? Bicyclists have the same rights and responsibilities as motorists, including the right to ride in the traffic lane.
• It is illegal and unsafe for bicyclists to ride against (or facing) traffic. Bicyclists should ride on the road, and must ride in the same direction as traffic.
• Motorists must maintain at least three feet of clearance when passing a bicyclist.
• When a road is too narrow for cars and bikes to ride safely side by side, bicycles should take the travel lane, which means riding in or near the center of the lane

The AAA post also links to a memo by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that discusses the divergent expectations that cyclists and drivers have when they see a yellow diamond shaped "[bicycle symbol] "Share the Road" sign:

Motorists’ perspective:

• Bicyclists need to stay off the roadway and ride on the sidewalk where they belong.
• If bicyclists want respect, they need to show respect and follow the rules of the road.

Bicyclists’ perspective:

• Bicycles are vehicles – just like cars, motorcycles and trucks. I have the right to ride on the road.
• The "Share the Road" sign means it’s okay for me to ride on roads. Vehicles are supposed to make room for me.

These articles come on the heels of a heavily criticized blog post by DOT Secretary Ray Lahood announcing a collaboration between NHTSA and AAA on National Bike Safety Month, which ignored most key points of safe cycling while recycling old canards.  Apparently they listened to the feedback posted on the DOT web site.

(Jim Titus is a member of WABA's Board of Directors from Prince Georges County. The opinions expressed herein do not necessarily represent the official view of WABA.)

Tour de Links - Vanderbilt

Maillot Jaune: A California cyclist was hit in a right hook. In the civil trial that followed [the driver] "admitted that, immediately prior to turning, she had not looked in her rear or side view mirrors, nor had she looked over her right shoulder. When asked why she did not check her mirrors, Goodell stated that she did not see or pass any bicyclists while driving down Mission and therefore had "no reason . . . to believe there would be a cyclist" on her right hand side." Two witnesses and the cyclist contradicted parts of the driver's testimony.  But the driver's laywer argued that "if we had a video camera on every driver in Southern California, you probably wouldn't see one who turns around and looks over at the curb and behind them. Why would you? There's no reason to, okay?" and the jury agreed. On appeal, the cyclist argued that the witness instructions were flawed and lost there too.

Podium - Tom Vanderbilt has a must-read article on bicycle-car road rage in Outside magazine. For a local element, it makes mention of Natasha Pettigrew.

Here's one sample:

In one study in which drivers were asked how they feel about cyclists, one of the recurring labels was "unpredictable." When asked to elaborate, drivers often blamed the "attitudes and limited competence" of the cyclists themselves, rather than the "difficulty of the situations that cyclists are often forced to face on the road." When asked to describe their own actions or those of other drivers, however, they blamed only the situation. Psychologists call this the "fundamental attribution error."

So drivers, perhaps already stressed out from being late for work or stuck in traffic, then have to negotiate their way around a vehicle they essentially don't understand, causing even more stress, which they tend to attribute to something about cyclists. It's a vicious cycle—most vicious, in terms of actual harm, for cyclists.

Podium - The mayor of Seattle had his bike stolen. Something like that could never happen here. I feel like I wrote a post about all the mayors who've had their bike stolen, but I can't find it. It's a surprisingly large club.

Podium - The Bicycle Film Festival is seeking submissions for 2011.

Maillot Vert: Boston is working on a 600 bike, public bike system. We should root for that to be a Bixi system, since DC members will likely be able to use those bikes with their existing keys, and Boston members use ours. There is quite a bit about DC's system in the article.

Chris Holben manages the Capital Bikeshare program for the Washington DC Department of Transportation...  Holben said that, since launching in September, 169,000 trips have been made on CaBi bikes (1-1.5 trips per bike per day), mostly by CaBi’s 5,500 annual members. The average trip takes 12 minutes, and covers a little over a mile. Holben expects the number of trips to jump as the weather comes around: “We have had 1,200 day users, which is pretty low compared to cities that launched in the summer… We haven’t captured the day-use market yet.”

“I do see it as a game changer,” agreed Holben, citing the greater number of bikes on the road and the visual impact of CaBi’s bright red bikes. “I think cars see them more because they’re unique… Once the spring season hits they’re going to be everywhere.”

CaBi has tried to address this challenge through education and working with local shops to offer users a discount on helmets. This strategy seems to be working. “We haven’t had a lot of blowback on it.”

Maillot a Pois Rouge:  The velodrome for the 2012 London games is the first facility completed. "London 2012 organizers are predicting the track will be the fastest in the world." You can see video of it at the link.

Maillot Blanc: The 2009 FHWA Traffic Safety Facts report for Bicyclists and other cyclists is available. As reported earlier, cyclist fatalities are down to 630 from 718 the year before, but as a percentage of total traffic fatalities they remain at 1.9% higher than any other time in the last decade. All traffic fatalities are down 17% and crashes down 13% since 2000, even as vehicle miles traveled have risen by more than 8%.

• 70% of bicycle fatalities occur in urban areas, and 67% at non-intersections.
• Night-time fatalities make up 27% of the total and are down as a percentage from 2008.
• The average age of killed cyclists is 41, up from 35 in 2000. Children now make up 13% of cycling fatalities, down from 28% in 2000. 
• 87% were male. 
• 28% of bicyclists killed had a blood alcohol concentration of .01 grams per deciliter (which means they had been drinking) and 24% were at .08 grams per deciliter (which means they were visibly drunk). In 40% of fatalities, either the cyclist or driver were drinking and in 33% of them one of the two was drunk.
• Virginia (1.5%) and DC (0%) had cyclist fatality rates below the national average of 1.9%. Maryland was slightly higher (2%).

Lanterne Rouge: Moving Beyond the Automobile: Bicycles...

Moving Beyond the Automobile: Biking from Streetfilms on Vimeo.