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Technorati Tags: bicycle advocacy, bicycle design

A couple of highlights:

Forward focus is your priority in a complex streetscape. Leaving a bike lane to avoid a potential conflict requires scanning behind you to negotiate before moving left. Any time a series of potential conditions would cause you to move in and out of a bike lane every 15 seconds (that’s common with a city street grid, it also happens on trash day), it’s easier and more predictable just to stay out.

… and …

Exceptions or not, the far right and mandatory bike lane laws repress defensive driving practices for the drivers who are most exposed, passed with the highest speed differentials, create the least impact upon the system, and are the least likely to threaten the safety of others. These laws are egregious. The costs of having to fight an unjust and unwarranted citation in a potentially-biased court are onerous. This creates conditions for targeted harassment, such as Fred has suffered in Port Orange, Ormond Beach and recently Daytona Beach. Exceptions or not, they make us second class citizens.

Technorati Tags: bicycle advocacy, bicycle infrastructure, bicycle politics, bicycle safety, cycling, Transportation Planning

Technorati Tags: bicycle advocacy, cycling, police

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 flyer.

Our new bicycling booklet will also be ready. Bike Smart Springfield replaces the old Drive Less, Live More. Please note, the .pdf linked here does not represent the printed version. The printed version may have minor changes, including a different cover photo. There are no substantive differences between the new printed version and the .pdf.

Technorati Tags: bicycle advocacy, bicycle culture, bicycle education, bicycle politics, bicycle safety, bicycle trails, cycling

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 require all cars to be painted day-glo and use headlights whenever the motor is running. And perhaps car drivers ought to honk at each curve and hill. Oh, and stiff fines (percentage of annual salary) for breaking traffic regulations. How about tax incentives for not driving? Why does no safety-conscious legislator suggest any of this?

(Literacy alert: That’s a (snarky) rhetorical question.)

Here’s a video I made yesterday that illustrates the power of lane position. I had not intended to use this video in this particular post — it’s a Sunday afternoon ride, so traffic is not heavy. But you’ll get the idea. The roads involved are Seminole and Fremont. The travel lane widths in most areas are not sharable (< 14 feet). Two things to note: 1) My position throughout this video is in the middle of the right tire track to the middle of the road. At no time am I closer to the road edge than 4 feet, and 2) You’ll see a motorcyclist buzz me (2:45). He is being an asshole (note that there was no on-coming traffic). I did not feel unsafe because he saw me; he did it on purpose. A driver who sees you is unlikely to hit you — even if they are being a jerk.

Technorati Tags: bicycle advocacy, bicycle politics, bicycle safety, cycling, traffic law, transportation