December 2009
32 posts
Road Rage at Philly Newspapers →
Why are Philly journalists whipping up fear when cars and trucks pose a bigger threat?
It’s hard to find a friend to Philly bicyclists at the city’s daily newspapers these days. Take three opinion pieces that ran in the days following the police department’s crackdown on errant cyclists — amidst proposals in City Council to layer on additional rules and costly licensing for...
November 2009
44 posts
Dear Driver, let's take the time to listen to each... →
Dear Driver is a project to improve the understanding between cyclists and motorists.
We provide cyclists with Dear Driver letters which can be given to motorists when you feel endangered in traffic.
We provide a 3 steps method to handle conversations that get heated in traffic.
“It’s still perfectly acceptable to wear a “One Less Car”...”
– Bike Snob NYC
Bicyclist charged with vehicular assault in... →
With more attention than ever on people riding bikes this Fall, cyclists should pay extra attention towards safe riding. Always yield to pedestrians! Be the rule, not the exception.
Blaming the Pedestrian, Again →
Despite the growing national attention to the dangers posed by distracted driving, full accountability for drivers who kill or maim pedestrians while fiddling with electronic devices is likely a long way off. As today’s post from Streetsblog Network member Sustainable Savannah notes, law enforcement officials too often seem to see things from the perspective of the person behind the...
The Case to Obey Traffic Law
Since I started at NBW and became responsible for other people’s kids on bike rides and for helping these young people know how best to ride, this issue started looking a whole lot simpler. We should all be obeying all traffic laws at all times. And by traffic laws I mean all of them. If we want to change laws then there are mechanisms to do so which we’re aware of—the whole...
“What is not an option, however, is that the city continue to do nothing when it...”
– But it does seem that [Philadelphia] continues to do little when it comes to the regulation of motor vehicles, the education of the motor vehicle-driving public, and the safety of pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists.
-Sheldon Isaac
Resist Mandatory Bicycle Registration in... →
Compulsory registration, increased fees, and potential confiscation of a person’s bike are all on the table. These potential new laws would create more barriers to cycling and may widen the gaps of inequity for access to active forms of transportation.
6 tags
Watch
“Over a 10 minute period, I counted over 200 cars that didn’t stop. Only 42 did.” - Katherine Scott, ABC Action News
The flagrant violation of most cars through this stop-light represents a mockery of traffic enforcement in Philadelphia. All this at a time when Philadelphia Police are warning that a crackdown on cyclists is imminent.
6 tags
The Hidden Treasure of Jaywalking
In Manhattan, creative jaywalking is an environmental positive, because it makes traveling on foot easier: it enables pedestrians to maintain their forward progress when traffic lights are against them, and to gain small navigational advantages by weaving between cars on clogged side streets - and it also keeps drivers on their guard, forcing them to slow down. -David Owen (via Living Car-Free in...
“If you want to kill somebody and get away with it, you should do it with your...”
– Portland lawyer Ray Thomas via Portland Mercury
NYC: Civil Servants Behaving Badly, With Deadly... →
The killing of Seth Kahn by MTA bus driver Jeremy Philhower was the fourth instance in a recent spate of pedestrian deaths at the hands of public employees, either on or off the job. These fatalities have brought to light disturbing patterns at both the MTA and NYPD that could be putting more New Yorkers at risk.
New Traffic Signals Installed At MLK Crosswalk in... →
The Philadelphia Streets Department has completed installation of the new traffic signals at the MLK Crosswalk between Schuylkill River Park and the Art Museum which was the scene of a near fatal crash in April.
Philadelphia: Bicycling up 38% during SEPTA Strike →
“This spike in bike commuters is a glimpse into Philadelphia’s future as an increasingly bicycle-friendly city and confirm that building buffered bike lanes, off-road trails connecting the city to its suburbs and providing bicycle parking can change commuting habits.”
There was also a 27% increase in the number of women bicycling during the strike. This is encouraging because...
Driver jailed after road rage incident →
Officials said Moss allegedly drove into oncoming traffic to keep up with the man. The victim told police that when he stopped at a red light at Southwest Day Road, Moss began punching the passenger side window.
“I was told by the 311 operator to get the homeowners to sweep [the glass], when...”
– John Boyle, Has Philadelphia Given Up On Clean Streets?
Driver found guilty of all counts in LA road rage... →
It is rare to see this sort of accountability for such dangerous driving.
A Los Angeles Superior Court jury on Monday found Dr. Christopher Thomas Thompson guilty of assaulting cyclists by abruptly stopping his car in front of them on a hilly Los Angeles County road last year.
Thompson, a former emergency room doctor, was found guilty of six felonies and one misdemeanor and could face as much...
WatchCycling in Toronto. Pretty!
Oxford Circus X-crossing Debuts in London →
One of Europe’s busiest diagonal crossings has opened in central London’s Oxford Circus.
Based on crossings in Tokyo, the new design stops traffic in all directions, allowing shoppers to cross diagonally in an “X” as well as straight ahead.
The £5m junction is able to handle double the number of pedestrians and ease overcrowding at the busy intersection.
See another...
French Ideal of Bicycle-Sharing Meets Reality →
Many of the specially designed bikes, which cost $3,500 each, are showing up on black markets in Eastern Europe and northern Africa. Many others are being spirited away for urban joy rides, then ditched by roadsides, their wheels bent and tires stripped.With 80 percent of the initial 20,600 bicycles stolen or damaged, the program’s organizers have had to hire several hundred people just to fix...