Skip to content

Category Archives: policy

Kinda Cool Greenwise

Check out the Bamboo Bike Studio. Technorati Tags: bicycle advocacy, bicycle design

Posted 10 May 2012 † Andy Cline § advocacy § bicycle § ecology § news ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: ,

Bike Lane Laws; It Could Happen Here

What can happen after a community spends a lot of money painting bicycle lanes? Well, someone will get the idea that, having spent so much money, bicyclists should be required to ride in the lanes. Check out what Keri Caffrey writes about why that’s a problem. A couple of highlights: Forward focus is your priority in a [...]

Posted 02 May 2012 † Andy Cline § advocacy § safety § traffic ‡ Comments (3) ° Tagged: , , , , ,

PedNet Video Promotes Police Education

Police training is one of the important educational programs of PedNet in Columbia. Click here for a promotional video about this training. I’m in the video talking about the time a police officer honked at my daughter and told her to ride on the sidewalk. She was riding legally and responsibly on a residential street [...]

Posted 24 April 2012 † Andy Cline § advocacy § news ‡ Comments (2) ° Tagged: , ,

The Whole New Reality

Next week the STAR Team kicks off a new campaign for alternative transportation. I’ll have more specifics as we get close to the main event: Who: Joe Kurmaskie, The Metal Cowboy What: A public talk about bicycling When: 19 April at 7:00 p.m. Where: City Utilities Auditorium, 301 E. Central Click here for the official [...]

Posted 11 April 2012 † Andy Cline § advocacy § bicycle education § news ‡ Comments (4) ° Tagged: , , , , , ,

Visibility On The Road

Visibility on the road is far more a matter of lane positioning and far less a matter of color under most road/weather conditions. The proposed reflective vest bill (HB 1937) solves no problem that exists on Missouri’s state highways. Bicyclists are not suffering deaths or injuries comparable to people in cars. Perhaps we ought to [...]

Posted 02 April 2012 † Andy Cline § advocacy § bicycle safety § news § safety ‡ Comments (50) ° Tagged: , , , , ,

Vest Bill To Be Heard Tuesday

It’s being sold as a safety measure: HB 1937 would require bicyclists to wear reflective vests on state highways. What it’s more likely to accomplish: Making bicycling more difficult and less attractive. The language of the bill offers no exceptions, so it is reasonable to assume that a bicyclist would be required to wear a vest even when crossing a [...]

Posted 01 April 2012 † Andy Cline § advocacy § bicycle safety § news ‡ Comments (5) ° Tagged: , , ,

Riding Into Cultural Oblivion

Warning: This post may piss you off. Good. Can you spot the problem(s)? I’m torn. On the one hand, I am a supporter of everyone enjoying bicycling in all of its many forms. Get out there and have fun! But… This video represents more than simply the predictable results of running a stop sign. This [...]

Posted 28 March 2012 † Andy Cline § advocacy § bicycle safety § news § safety § traffic ‡ Comments (20) ° Tagged: , , , , , ,

Engineering And The First Amendment

Can you be persecuted (and, perhaps, prosecuted) for having an (informed) opinion about traffic infrastructure and voicing/writing that opinion as part of bicycle and pedestrian advocacy. Apparently, yes. This is partly a case of attempting to criminalize speech for political purposes. Although it also appears apparent that you’ll “win” even if the worst should happen. [...]

Posted 12 March 2012 † Andy Cline § advocacy § news ‡ Comments (15) ° Tagged: , , , , , ,

Lots Of Participation At The Open House

The open house hosted by the Traffic Advisory Board yesterday to get citizens’ comments on bicycle and pedestrian issues was a success. I was only able to be there for the first 30 minutes — needed to get home before the storm, seeing as how I drove my bicycle to the event. It gave me [...]

Posted 29 February 2012 † Andy Cline § advocacy § bicycle infrastructure § news ‡ Comments (2) ° Tagged: , , , ,

How To Increase Participation

My headline over-promises. I am not particularly interested in increasing participation as an end in itself. But it is clear that many bicycle advocates believe that providing such infrastructure as bicycle lanes, tracks, and separated paths does increase participation. According to recent studies, it’s not entirely clear what the cause-and-effect relationship actually is between infrastructure and participation. [...]

Posted 28 February 2012 † Andy Cline § advocacy § bicycle infrastructure § ecology § news ‡ Comments (10) ° Tagged: , , , , , , , ,

Bike-Ped Plan Official Website

The official city website for the Bicycle-Pedestrian Plan is ready to view. Just click here. From the website: The City presently has a Bicycle Plan, a Greenways Plan and miscellaneous pedestrian policies and manuals.  Our goal is a comprehensive strategy that updates these plans and adds a formal Pedestrian Plan. This project is in response [...]

Posted 24 February 2012 † Andy Cline § advocacy § news ‡ Comments Off ° Tagged: , , , ,

Bicycle-Pedestrian Plan Open House

Here’s a good opportunity to have your say about the future of sustainable, carbon-neutral transportation in Springfield (i.e. bicycling and walking): The City of Springfield Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan Open House. When: 28 February, 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Where: Busch Municipal Building I assume there will be much talk of bicycle lanes. Again, I have [...]

Posted 23 February 2012 † Andy Cline § advocacy § bicycle infrastructure § news ‡ Comments (2) ° Tagged: , , , ,

Just Crazy

Raise your hand if you own a computer. Keep your hand up if your computer has ever glitched while in use, i.e. lost its internet signal or crashed or done some other annoying thing that basically ended its functionality if even for a few seconds. Ahhhh … all of you Now imagine a computer driving [...]

Posted 17 February 2012 † Andy Cline § news ‡ Comments (10) ° Tagged: , , ,

Legislative Alert From MoBikeFed

The following is a legislative alert from Brent Hugh, executive director of the Missouri Bicycle & Pedestrian Federation: We aren’t exaggerating when we say this ask has never been more urgent. Click this link to contact your member of Congress in support of bicycling and walking: http://support.railstotrails.org/site/R?i=MU6Bn3Xx8UZZlnZ9Tmaq9w Thursday, February 2nd, the Transportation Infrastructure committee in the U.S. [...]

Posted 01 February 2012 † Andy Cline § advocacy § bicycle infrastructure § news ‡ Comments (1) ° Tagged: , , ,

Shunted to the Shoulders

Here’s a follow-up to my previous video of bicycle infrastructure in suburban Wilmington, Delaware. What you will see is painted shoulders with bicycle lane markings. But simply putting lane markings on a shoulder does not create a proper bicycle lane. These lanes demonstrate a complete lack of understanding about how to handle intersections.  These lanes [...]

Posted 08 January 2012 † Andy Cline § advocacy § bicycle infrastructure § bicycle safety § safety ‡ Comments (10) ° Tagged: , , , ,