There’s no escaping psychology And since the first human-like creature used the first tool there’s been no escaping the fact that our tools change us. Not just help us. Change us. So I was interested to read What Drivers Really Thing About Bikers: The History And Psychology of Sharing the Road in Good. Two things: [...]
A short list: 1. Me traveling along Cherry east-bound at MSU. Girl pulls out of sorority parking lot on bicycle, also heading east. Me traveling in a commanding lane position 5 feet from curb roughly right-center in the lane. She riding along the face of the gutter. Car approaches from behind and passes me by [...]
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 [...]
It’s Bike-Bus-Walk to Work Week in Springfield. For me it’s just another week of doing what I do every day. Here’s the thing: I would not be doing it — commuting by bicycle — if it were difficult to do. Seriously. Why is it not difficult? Primarily it is not difficult because I live 3/4 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
I often walk to work on Tuesdays and Thursdays because I do not head downtown first on those days. Plus, I like to mix it up. Walking home yesterday — all of 3/4 mile — I saw five separate incidents of people being silly on the streets. Upon seeing the first one, I thought: Oh, [...]
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 [...]
I’m lucky to live in the Midwest because my natural way of being fits the general (stereotypical?) ethos. I grew up on the East Coast, but I left there pretty much knowing I would end up in the Midwest. I’m not making any claims against other regions of the country. I was lucky today, on this [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
How did Springfield not make this list of America’s top 10 bicycling cities? 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 [...]
Well, obviously, the most important thing in the world is our tender convenience. Let no rules (especially the Golden one) or conventions of polite behavior stand in the way of our desires. Technorati Tags: crazy drivers, cycling
