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

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

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 state highway. Many state highways crisscross Springfield’s urban core.

The Missouri House Transportation Committee will hear the bill on Tuesday. Please click that link for details about how you can help, including details about testifying before the committee.

I think we should resist this bill. Please contact your state representative if you agree.

Technorati Tags: bicycle advocacy, bicycle politics, bicycle safety, cycling

Here’s what we have going for us:

Largely flat terrain: Getting around town is not a struggle physically.

Grid street system: You have choices getting from point A to point B, including long stretches of quiet, residential streets.

Marked bicycle routes: Traffic engineers have determined these streets to be easily negotiated by novice bicyclists. Here’s the route map.

Narrow, low-speed, urban core streets: The greater downtown area is a grid of 20-mph streets with widths that encourage bicyclists to control the lane.

Plenty of bicycle parking in the urban core: The city has done an excellent job providing U-racks at popular destinations, including the bicycle corral at Walnut and South.

Need help; we got help: The Star Team of Ozark Greenways published the Drive Less, Live More booklet a few years ago. The new edition, entitled Bike Smart Springfield, will be published this spring. It has lots of advice on bicycling in traffic.

Bicycle education: We have three League Cycling Instructors and one CyclingSavvy Instructor in Springfield who, combined, offer about three traffic bicycling classes per year. We want to increase this.

Police education: PedNet, in Columbia, held a traffic bicycling training class for the Springfield Police Department. The department will now be able to incorporate this modual into its regular officer training.

Programming: If you like group rides and races, we have them. Plus, Bike Bus Walk to Work Week is an annual celebration of alternative transportation.

Miles and miles of greenways: These trails are great for recreational riding.

The LINK: Once this complete streets project is finished, Springfield will have a multimodal corridor that will link the greeways north to south.

Great bicycle shops: No matter where you live, there’s a bicycle shop close to you in Springfield. Check the sidebar for links.

The STAR Team: Our local bicycle-pedestrain advocacy group works hard to keep alternative transportation issues on the forefront of civic concerns.

Bicycle bloggers: Check the sidebar on Carbon Trace

That’s not an exhaustive list

Get out there and ride like you mean it!

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