All the smart people have been saying that campaigns promoting bicycle helmets are so much fear-mongering, that both the dangers of bike riding and the protective value of helmets are exaggerated.
One Arlington rider might disagree. A dump truck knocked him down and rolled over his head. He was wearing a helmet and thinks it saved his life.
“In the United States the notion that bike helmets promote health and safety by preventing head injuries is taken as pretty near God’s truth. Un-helmeted cyclists are regarded as irresponsible, like people who smoke. Cities are aggressive in helmet promotion.”
“Yes, there are studies that show that if you fall off a bicycle at a certain speed and hit your head, a helmet can reduce your risk of serious head injury. But such falls off bikes are rare — exceedingly so in mature urban cycling systems.
“Highway talks move into week three,” Keith Laing, The Hill
“US Chamber to Congress on transportation bill: You’re doing it wrong,” David Grant, Christian Science Monitor
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Friday, May 18, 2012 is Bike to Work Day in Metropolitan Washington DC. 11,000 bike riders will hit the streets during rush hour, and motorists can observe the day by not running them over. Even though it’s “casual Friday,” bikers are urged to refrain from wearing Spandex to the office.
May is National Bike Month in the USA.
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Image (“Bike to Work Day in DC, after Abel Brunyer”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
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Today is International Bus Driver Appreciation Day but there’s no holiday website and the bus drivers’ union doesn’t mention it. The holiday is the idea of Seattle bus rider Hans Gerwitz. Why March 18th? On that date in 1662, city buses premiered in Paris (for the record: they flopped).
It’s back! That 21st century city transportation question:
“Are urban bicyclists just elite snobs?” Will Doig, Salon.
Earlier iterations:
“Are Bike Lanes Expressways to Gentrification?” Paul M. Davis, Shareable
“Bike Lane Backlash, Even in Portland,” Sarah Goodyear, Atlantic Cities
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More of America’s city dwellers are trying bicycles, and that makes these trying times for bike riders, pedestrians and drivers alike. Bikes run into people, cars run into bikes, bikes run into cars. New York City is trying a novel approach to improve bike safety: poetry.
The NYC Department of Transportation has rolled out a new bicycle safety program, Curbside Haiku signs. The signs feature 12 designs, and each spells out bike safety tips in poems of 17 syllables. This official New York municipal program is based on an Atlanta guerrilla art project by John Morse.
The thoughtful Curbside Haiku poem cycle covers essential bicycle topics, all except one. This one:
Pedal with respect
The streets are for everyone
Spandex shorts are not
October 31, 1951: the Zebra Crossing first comes to the aid of pedestrians. As mandated by British law, a new kind of road marking appears in Slough, Berks., white stripes painted on black tarmac from curb to curb perpendicular to the flow of traffic. Labor Party MP (later Prime Minister) James Callaghan commented on the resemblance to the striped African equine, and the name stuck. Someone else named the Panda Car.
Today the Zebra Crossing is found around the world, but the most famous one is only about 25 miles from the first one. It’s on Abbey Road in London.
“Sixty Years of the Zebra Crossing,” Nicola Bowerbank, Britannica Blog
Abbey Road crossing live webcam
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May 20, 2011 is Bike to Work Day in the Nation’s Capital.
“Bike To Work Day demonstrates the many transportation benefits of bicycling,” US DOT Secretary Ray LaHood, The Fast Lane blog.
Image (“Bike 2 Work in DC, after Abel Brunyer”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
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Was your bus ride a bit crowded this morning? It’s not the bus, it’s us. We’re … um, bigger. Heavier. Bus capacity is still measured using our old average weight, 150 lbs., and bus testers pretend we can still cram into 1.5 square feet of standing room. But why do so many bus seats seem to be single-occupancy these days?
The Federal Transit authority thinks the old standards compromise safety. FTA wants to test new buses using a 175-pounds-per-passenger measure and calculate standee area as 1.75 square feet. But don’t get too comfy. All those old buses will be on the road for some years yet. If you want more room, you’ll have to take it off your waistline.
Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
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