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Tag Archives: traffic law

Free ChipSeal!

On the Carbon Trace blogroll you’ll find a link to ChipSeal (also mentioned in this post). The author, Reed Bates, is a bicycle blogger in Texas, and he’s recently had run-ins with the “law.” Those quotes indicate irony. Commute Orlando has a round-up of the events so far. And you can follow the story is [...]

Posted 09 March 2010 † Andy Cline § advocacy § announcement § news ‡ Comments (1) ° Also tagged: ,

HB 1250 Hearing Is Today

The transportation committee hearing for HB 1250 is today in Jefferson City. I was unable to change my schedule, so I won’t be testifying. I did, however, send Rep. Sara Lampe my thoughts on the bill, including links to everything I’ve written so far on Carbon Trace.
Click here for my reasons for opposing this bill.
I [...]

Posted 23 February 2010 † Andy Cline § advocacy § news § policy ‡ Comments (3) ° Also tagged: , , ,

Risk and Rewards

Charles Pelkey’s bicycle safety article in the VeloNews makes this claim:
Getting a precise breakdown of the actual risks per mile is a bit more difficult, but a rough analysis of 2005 fatalities would suggest that riders are between three and 10 times more likely to die per mile traveled than are drivers.
Sounds scary.
I prefer my [...]

Posted 28 January 2010 † Andy Cline § advocacy § bicycle safety § ecology ‡ Comments (4) ° Also tagged: , , , , ,

Honk Report

This morning’s honk report is a bit different. I walked to work again today. I was honked at in a crosswalk while legally crossing with the light in my favor.
I walk north on Fremont to Grand. From there, I go left on Grand and cross National. My building is on the corner of Grand and [...]

Posted 26 January 2010 † Andy Cline § ecology ‡ Comments (12) ° Also tagged: ,

A Lesson in Lane Positioning

Take that you horn honker!

Who are you honking at? from Keri Caffrey on Vimeo.
Such smooth video! This weekend I’ll finally get around to showing you some of Keri Caffrey’s video of our two rides in Orlando earlier this month. My excuse for not posting it sooner: The first two weeks of a new semester are [...]

Posted 21 January 2010 † Andy Cline § bicycle safety § ecology ‡ Comments (6) ° Also tagged: , ,

Bad Driving

An interesting report from the UK has this to say about the cause of bicycle crashes with cars resulting in injury and death:
With adult cyclists, police found the driver solely responsible in about 60%-75% of all cases, and riders solely at fault 17%-25% of the time.
The cyclists’ lobby group CTC said the report showed that [...]

Posted 15 December 2009 † Andy Cline § bicycle safety § ecology § news § policy ‡ Comments (5) ° Also tagged: , , ,

Hugh Responds to Concerns About HB1250

Members of the STAR Team of Ozark Greenways received the following e-mail yesterday (published here with permission) from Brent Hugh, executive director of the Missouri Bicycle Federation, regarding the HB 1250. Hugh had originally alerted us to the bill. His message is in response to our inquiries and comments.
I wasn’t very precise in my wording.
The [...]

Posted 08 December 2009 † Andy Cline § advocacy § bicycle safety § news § policy ‡ Comments (3) ° Also tagged: , , ,

Cell Phones and Driver Distraction

The New York Times today published a major article on the socio-political history of the marketing of cell phones for use by car drivers. I found this part particularly interesting:
Long before cellphones became common, industry pioneers were aware of the risks of multitasking behind the wheel. Their hunches have been validated by many scientific studies [...]

Posted 07 December 2009 † Andy Cline § bicycle safety § ecology § news ‡ Comments (3) ° Also tagged: , ,

How Drivers Think

Don’t you just love a headline that promises more than it can deliver?
But what I’m about to do is something of a thought experiment in second-person voice. I’m imagining the following scenario based on my own experiences as a driver (for more on how drivers think, I suggest reading the How We Drive [...]

Posted 06 December 2009 † Andy Cline § advocacy § bicycle safety § ecology § policy ‡ Comments (5) ° Also tagged: , , ,

What Is a Safe Passing Distance?

I don’t know — in any absolute terms.
I do know that I like the choices 23 Springfield drivers made today while I ran errands in the urban core.
What follows is anecdotal and should not be considered the basis for any decision regarding House Bill 1250 to create a “3-foot law” in Missouri. I urge Carbon [...]

Posted 05 December 2009 † Andy Cline § advocacy § bicycle safety § ecology § policy ‡ Comments (16) ° Also tagged: , , ,

I Want More Than Three Feet

On my bicycle, riding through the streets of Springfield, Missouri, I am a legal vehicle on the road. If the road is sharable (wide enough for a car to pass a bicyclist safely in the lane), then I am obligated by law in this state to ride as far to the right as is safe [...]

Posted 05 December 2009 † Andy Cline § advocacy § ecology § news § policy ‡ Comments (5) ° Also tagged: , , , , ,

Important Ruling In Ohio

Despite the obnoxious behavior of the two bicyclists in question (re: resisting a police officer), an Ohio court made exactly the right ruling:
The judge ruled:

The bicyclists may have been rude for riding two abreast but were breaking no law in Ohio–not the law requiring bicyclists to ride as far right as practicable (the lane was [...]

Posted 03 December 2009 † Andy Cline § news ‡ Comments (9) ° Also tagged:

Why It’s Safe To Ride In Traffic

Check out this recent article from the Dallas Observer about the tensions between vehicular cycling and bicycle advocacy that focuses on infrastructure (a dichotomy, BTW, that I do not believe is as clear as the polemics).
As I have tried to make clear on Carbon Trace: I follow VC practices using what I’ll call the Hurst [...]

Posted 03 December 2009 † Andy Cline § bicycle safety § ecology ‡ Comments (6) ° Also tagged: , ,

What Is Traffic?

Last week ChipSeal published an excellent essay on the “arch-principles [of traffic] and the six basic laws of traffic that follow from them. The arch-principles are: 1) Stay to the right, and 2) first come, first served. The balance of the essay examines these rules and what they mean for drivers and bicyclists who interact [...]

Posted 23 November 2009 † Andy Cline § ecology ‡ Comments (4) ° Also tagged:

Our Acceptance of Inattentive Driving

The source of this justice problem is our social acceptance of inattentive driving. — Keri Caffrey.
Go read the entire thing right now.
Resources and information:

U.S. Legal Definitions
Mid-America Regional Council
Online Lawyer Source
National Motorists Association
Dealernews.com

Something to ponder:
There are approximately 40,000 traffic deaths per year.
A typical, fully-loaded Boeing 747 holds 416 people. Imagine two of these crashing each week [...]

Posted 12 October 2009 † Andy Cline § bicycle safety § ecology ‡ Comments (1) ° Also tagged: , , , , ,