Step one, DO NOT WATCH THESE VIDEOS by the AAA and the LAB!!! Oooops. You watched them, didn’t you? And after I told you not to. So, is it clear why theses are bad videos? Here’s a hint: lane positioning. It simply cannot be that these videos are a mistake and that Andy Clarke, president [...]
Check out the cover picture of the new edition of Effective Cycling. What in the heck is that person doing? Are those parked cars on her left? Why is she on the line? Why isn’t she commanding her lane? Is that the image of modern urban bicycling? Why are her feet strapped into pedals in [...]
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 [...]
Mighk Wilson, of CyclingSavvy and author of Bicycling Is Better, posted this on Facebook this morning: An idea for discussing lane control with non-cyclists (and perhaps even cyclists): I’ve tried this a couple times and it certainly gets people thinking. I either show them an image or video of a lane-controlling cyclist on a high-speed [...]
In the classroom portion of CyclingSavvy we present a nifty interactive pie chart demonstrating that a bicyclist who knows how traffic works and follows the rules can mitigate 96 percent of the most common types of crashes. That leaves a 4-percent slice of the pie called “other.” I had a close encounter with “other” this [...]
One of the reasons you should be reading Commute Orlando is because it’s like an on-going traffic class. This week Keri Caffrey demonstrates why a leftward position at intersections is the safest way to proceed straight across. General rule of vantage: “The best vantage in your lane will generally be gotten from where a car [...]
Last year I reported here, based on a conversation at a STAR Team meeting, that the city was uninterested in painting more bicycle lanes. With the creation of new lanes on Division and Benton and the discussion at night’s STAR Team meeting, it has became clear to me that painting more bicycle lanes is in [...]
You’ll recall that I took my recent CyclingSavvy class through the diverging diamond intersection at I-44 and Kansas Expressway. It’s scary looking. But, given the traffic speeds, it is rather easily negotiable by bicycle. Walking through it, however, is another matter, according to the following critique: I disagree with the narrator’s comments about driving this [...]
Keri Caffrey, of Commute Orlando and CyclingSavvy, has updated her excellent video Bicycling in Traffic is a Dance You Must Lead. Something to note: You are NOT watching “hardened” cyclists or “road warriors” or “adrenaline junkies” who brave the dangers of traffic. Bicycling in traffic is safe (compared to a lot of other dangerous things [...]
What ought to be the order of courtesy in traffic between car drivers and bicycle drivers? I think the best way to approach this question is to check what the law and common understandings of the traffic system call for. First among these is the order of right-of-way (304.351. 1. Right of Way). In general, the [...]
The first CyclingSavvy class in Springfield was a success. I define success this way: We had students! We had five! Two were members of my family. One other was known to me. And two signed up after having seen the announcement on Facebook. It’s tough to fill bicycling classes for a number of reasons. So I’m good [...]
Tom Vanderbilt — author of a book everyone should read — wrote about the diverging diamond intersection in his column for Slate. The first one in the U.S. was built right here in Springfield. I’ll be taking my CyclingSavvy class through that intersection tomorrow Technorati Tags: bicycle education, cycling, cyclingsavvy, traffic design
I gave a presentation to students in the MSU planning department last week about Transportation and Civil Rights as an outside “expert.” I’m working on an undergraduate certificate in planning, so I was presenting to some of my fellow students and professors. My situated ethos is bicycle-pedestrian advocate/blogger and future amateur transportation planner, i.e. a pain in [...]
CyclingSavvy Course for Ladies — Springfield, MO 30 September – 1 October Empowerment for Confidence in Traffic Instructors: Karen Karabell, CSI, St. Louis Andy Cline, CSI, Springfield CyclingSavvy weekend course includes all three sessions: Truth & Techniques of Traffic Cycling – Friday 9/30 6-9PM Train Your Bike and Tour of Springfield – Saturday 10/1 8AM-4PM [...]
OK, yeah, I can be a bit insufferable about the whole students-ride-like-children thing. It’s especially insulting because they are not children. I’ve always been the kind of professor who refuses to refer to them as “kids” because, well, they are adults. So I guess that’s the crux of the problem for me. They are adults. I want [...]
