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Tag Archives: bicycle politics

Faux Honk Report

On my way to the STAR Team meeting yesterday afternoon I noticed a distinctive car in my mirror as I was riding downtown — a Miles Electric Car owned by fellow team member Rick Scarlet. Unlike the hybrids, this is an electric-only vehicle. And it is quiet. He and I have discussed before the possibility [...]

Posted 19 August 2010 † Andy Cline § advocacy § ecology § news ‡ Comments (3) ° Also tagged: , , , , , ,

School Kids And Barrier Streets

One of the things I liked about graduate school was using critical theory to ask uncomfortable questions about social and cultural artifacts of various sorts. Another way to put it: It was fun learning to be an intellectual pain in the ass. Allow me to demonstrate… Consider this article (part of a series) in today’s [...]

Posted 16 August 2010 † Andy Cline § advocacy § ecology § news § policy ‡ Comments (13) ° Also tagged: , , , , , ,

A Dangerous Syllogism

See if you can spot the problem (from montrealgazette.com): A 2003 study published in the Injury Prevention Journal by Peter Lyndon Jacobsen concluded: “A motorist is less likely to collide with a person walking or bicycling if more people walk or bicycle. Policies that increase the numbers of people walking and bicycling appear to be [...]

Posted 11 August 2010 † Andy Cline § advocacy § ecology § news § policy ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged: , , , , , , , ,

Warning! Our Cover Is Blown!

Well, we’ve been found out. Cell 42: 293879(&wwe(&& Cell: 77: 338)(&88^^#9900 Cell: 109: 87*&%666 You have your orders. Nex ut licentia! Now back to my regular blogging in which I pretend to be a mild-mannered, slightly rumpled and befuddled college professor. Technorati Tags: bicycle politics, cycling

Posted 04 August 2010 † Andy Cline § ecology § news § policy ‡ Comments (6) ° Also tagged:

Placement of Sharrows

A “sharrow” is a shared lane marker painted on the street. Sharrows should not create de facto bicycle lanes, i.e. be painted on the road in such a way that it shunts bicyclists to side of the road in the manner of a bicycle lane. Dan Gutierrez has posted some interesting photos on Facebook that show what’s [...]

Posted 03 August 2010 † Andy Cline § advocacy § ecology § news § policy ‡ Comments (6) ° Also tagged: , , , , , , ,

We’re On Our Own, Part 2

Last year I wrote about the role riding a bicycle can play in helping us stay healthy. I don’t ride for sport, so I usually don’t work up much of a sweat. But even pedaling at modest speeds is excellent exercise that pays big health dividends. Given the state of our health care system and its [...]

Posted 25 July 2010 † Andy Cline § advocacy § ecology § news § policy ‡ Comments (3) ° Also tagged: , , , ,

STAR Team Items for July

Just a few news items from the STAR Team meeting yesterday: If you like to race bicycles, or watch people race bicycles, you’ll enjoy the St. John’s Powerful Medicine Criterium on Sunday 25 July at 101 E. Commercial St. For more information, see StJohnsCycling.com. The third iteration of the Bicycle Friendly Springfield petition is available for your signature now. This year’s [...]

Posted 22 July 2010 † Andy Cline § advocacy § news § policy ‡ Comments (1) ° Also tagged: , , ,

Boy Hurt in Crash

The details from the News-Leader are sketchy: A 7-year-old boy on a bicycle collided with a van at the intersection of Kansas Expressway and Hovey St. The child suffered a broken leg. I found this interesting: Phillips said the boy, who was riding a bike, and the van met at the corner of Hovey Street [...]

Posted 21 July 2010 † Andy Cline § bicycle safety § news § policy ‡ Comments (10) ° Also tagged: , ,

Explain Bicycle Lanes To Me

I’ll soon have the first results of my recent bicycle survey ready. But here’s an interesting preliminary result (as yet an uncrunched stat): A bunch of respondents (almost 40%) indicated that the best thing Springfield could do to make bicycling better is add bicycle lanes. And as I gazed across the columns of answers one [...]

Posted 17 July 2010 † Andy Cline § advocacy § ecology § policy ‡ Comments (20) ° Also tagged: , , , , , , , ,

Willing To Say Anything?

Some politicians are willing to say anything to win. Check out this reporting about the proposed ban on bicycles on some state highways in St. Charles County: At a St. Charles County Council meeting last night, Councilman Joe Brazil came prepared with statistics in hand. In his push to ban bikes from certain rural two-lane [...]

Posted 15 July 2010 † Andy Cline § news § policy ‡ Comments (3) ° Also tagged: , , ,

No Updates, But A Google News List

No updates today on the proposed bicycle ban on some state highways in St. Charles County. Here’s a list of news articles about the ban from Google. Need to jump start the ol’ blood pressure this afternoon? Check out a few of the comments on this article from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Technorati Tags: bicycle advocacy, bicycle [...]

Posted 15 July 2010 † Andy Cline § news ‡ Comments (2) ° Also tagged: , , ,

Bicycle Ban Unenforceable?

From the Springfield News-Leader (via AP) this morning: ST. CHARLES, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri transportation official says a proposal to ban bicycles on some state highways in St. Charles County could not be enforced. No word yet if the St. Charles County Council will continue to considering the ban on bicycles on some state [...]

Posted 14 July 2010 † Andy Cline § news § policy ‡ Comments (8) ° Also tagged: , ,

Update on St. Charles Co. Bike Ban

Here’s a report from FOX2 in St. Louis. Question: If these roads are so dangerous, why are the speed limits 55 mph? Perhaps what needs to happen is to slow drivers rather than to ban bicyclists. The council tabled the bill in order to consider expanding the ban. More coverage from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch AP [...]

Posted 13 July 2010 † Andy Cline § advocacy § bicycle safety § news § policy ‡ Comments (2) ° Also tagged: , , ,

State Highway Bicycle Ban Proposed

I’m just a little late on this news item because I’ve been traveling: Bicycle ban for shoulder-less highways proposed for SW St. Charles County. Roger Kramer has complete coverage on his blog here and here. Check out this press release for details on the proposed bill. Could such a bill pass and be upheld? Would [...]

Posted 10 July 2010 † Andy Cline § advocacy § news § policy ‡ Comments (2) ° Also tagged: , ,

Checking In Re: Infrastructure

Tom Vanderbilt (author of Traffic — required reading for all humans) took a quick look at bicycle infrastructure in his Slate column last week. His conclusion: One sometimes hears, in critiques of bringing bicycling in a bigger way to American cities, something along the lines of “that might work in Europe, but it will never work [...]

Posted 05 July 2010 † Andy Cline § advocacy § ecology § policy ‡ Comments (3) ° Also tagged: , , , , , ,