Take The Lane

Some reminders from Chicago

I'm sure there will be arguments among dedicated cyclists about some of the suggestions in this story by Chicago Tribune writer Julie Deardorff, "Staying safe while biking in traffic," but there are good suggestions as well.

Even I dispute her figures on helmet use and cycling safety: head injuries are responsible for three-quarters of cycling fatalities? I've tracked cycling fatalities for four years now, and it seems that helmets wouldn't have helped in a significant percentage of accidents. I think they limit injury in many circumstances, but when a cyclist is hit from behind by a transport truck at highway speeds, a helmet is no help.

The good suggestions? One was, Don't cycle drunk. Because I cycle commute at night, I see a lot of wobbly cyclists who thought they would avoid driving home from the bar drunk and take their bikes instead. It is true that in Ontario, you can't be charged with drunk driving on a bicycle. But you can be charged with drunk and disorderly, drunk in a public place, and so on. If you want to get hammered, take a cab home.

The advice on roadway visibility is good, especially the info about white T-shirts viewed against the sun (they go invisible).

And Deardorff has a blunt assessment of the motoring public: "Assume drivers are blind. Also, assume car drivers are drunk and multitasking..."

Best to assume that you have to be vigilant, and look out for yourself.

More night cyclists are bike-lit

My last post left me in such a foul mood that I have to tell you something that makes me happy: I have given away the first handful of sets of BikeLit from NiteIze.

I posted about this product a few weeks ago (where I incorrectly spelled it Night Ize) and said that I liked these bike lights so much, I was ordering a couple dozen sets to give away.

I got the boxful last week, and have given away a few.

It has been harder to do than I thought. My plan was just to look for unlit cyclists on my commute home and stop them to offer them a free set of BikeLits.

First off, not every cyclist seems willing to stop for a guy who is calling to them from across the road. And some of them move really fast, and on the sidewalk no less. They are too hard to catch (I think some of them sped up when I slowed down to talk). And some apparently either don't trust my intentions or just don't want bicycle lights. One person said suspiciously, "What are you selling?" Another mature unlit rider said, "No thanks. I'm good," and pedalled off merrily into the dark.

One rider who turned down the free offer pointed out that he didn't need the free light, since he already had one. It was just that the battery was dead. He planned to replace it the next day (like Diogenes, I carried a lamp, and found an honest guy).

I have been happy with my successes, including two women who were delighted to have lights, and males of varying ages who dutifully listened to my spiel about being visible at night. "This is real cool," said one.

The best part is that on subsequent nights, I have seen the BikeLits glowing on bikes as I ride home. The lights are being used. Riders are more visible. I hope that this means they will be safer, and that other night riders will think about night visibility and bike lights.

This just makes me angry

Why do I look at these things just before I'm going to turn in for the night?

Videos and stories like this one on the gothamist.com just get me so angry that I can't sleep.

Stephen Mann, a New York cyclist, decided to follow the lead of a Canadian cyclist who filmed his rides to work every day, to show how many motorists and pedestrians can become hazards to cyclists. In the course of Mann's filming, he was doored by an NYPD officer getting out of a police van.

When Mann got up, bleeding, from being knocked from his bike and pointed out to the officer that he was supposed to look before opening his door, Mann was surrounded by some of New York's "finest" who began questioning him about why he was riding his bicycle on the street and was he high on drugs.

Mann tried unsuccessfully to get the names of the officers or a copy of the incident report (sound like the police in Toronto's G20 debacle?).

The lack of transparency that we complain about at the highest levels of government extends right down to the street.

A stake through the heart of Square2Square

I come away from this story in the Waterloo Region Record today thinking that the good councillors of Kitchener like the idea of a car-free Sunday enough to have one, but not enough to share one.

There's a Kitchener council meeting planned for Tuesday, Aug. 2 at which council will entertain the notion of having one more car-free Sunday this year, but without a designated linkage to any car-free event in Waterloo.

Since council is considering their next event for Sunday, Sept. 18, the same day as the final car-free Sunday in Waterloo, we'll have two car-free Sundays with no designated linking roadway.

Yes, pedestrians can still walk along the sidewalks. Yes, cyclists still have the same rights to use the roadway that they will have on Saturday, Sept. 17 and Monday, Sept. 19.

For me, the point of a car-free event is to show that you can safely use the road to get from A to B. Like the summer Sunday closings of  the Colonel By Drive in Ottawa, a street closed to cars will attract would-be cyclists who are frightened about using car-jammed streets.

The first true Square2Square event on July 17 had a pretty dismal turnout due in large part to the heat, but not helped at all by the measly single lane on King Street that was closed to traffic. Even I felt claustrophobic riding from Kitchener to Waterloo and back, and I've been a confident road rider for 39 years.

But as Kitchener council moves to fund and support its own car-free Sunday, the stake is being thrust through the heart of Square2Square. From the comments in the Record story, it appears clear that the success of vendors is the principal focus for the politicos. For Kitchener, this is not about car-free Sunday; this is about sidewalk-sale Sunday.

What a pity.

Two months in jail for killing cyclist

The man who killed a cyclist with the Otesha Project last year has been sentenced to two months in jail and fined $1,000.

I posted on Jason Donald Dickison earlier this year. He was the Meductic, N.B. truck driver who struck a member of the Otesha Project, an Ottawa-based group that makes presentations about environmental sustainability. The project members ride from place to place to demonstrate responsible transportation. They were on the highway between Saint John and Frederiction last Sept. 16 when Andrew Wolf, 23, of New York, was thrown 60 metres to his death after Dickison hit his back tire.

According to the Canadian Press report, Dickison had spent more than 13 consecutive hours behind the wheel of his transport truck before the accident. The $1,000 fine was for exceeding hours of service under the New Brunswick Motor Vehicle Act. The two months in jail, which BTW, he will be allowed to serve intermittently on weekends, was for his guilty plea on driving without due care and attention.

According to the news report, the Crown attorney told the court that the cyclists were in plain view and it was clear and sunny. There was really no excuse for this death. Two months doesn't seem like much of a consequence, esp two months that can be served on weekends.

Do safety vests make cyclists safer?

Interesting article on the New Zealand website Stuff that argues that high-visibility clothing doesn't help cyclists stand out from the crowd.

Not sure how what is essentially a reflective vest is going to help someone stand out in the broad daylight, but it would be interesting to hear from other vulnerable road users -- construction workers, crossing guards -- about their own observations of high-visibility wear and driver recognition.

Too cool to ride

You can drool or laugh at these bicycle tech innovations:

The plastic bike. The text says that the Frii is designed to be built from recycled materials where resources and production facilities are limited. Looking at it, I would think the tech going into this bike would exceed the capacity of many nations where resources and production facilities are limited.

The alien bike. The chainless INgSOC Hybrid an e-bike anyone would like to have. Sort of a tri-bike, sort of an other-worldly bike, it is made of carbon fibre reinforced polymer. I like the built-in charging dock for your iPhone.

The recyclable bike. Rumours abound that the Schwinn Vestige, with a frame made of 80 per cent flax, is to be available at the end of July. Since Schwinn is now one of the marks in the Dorel line, I await eagerly the release of this "Canadian" product. (I wonder if the frame should have been made of prairie wheat?)

 

Another approach to a bamboo bike

I have never heard of "growing" a bicycle frame before. And in point of fact, not all of this bicycle was "grown."

Nonetheless, it is very cool-looking. Now, how to arrange a test ride...

Cycle Chic in Rio

Mikael Colville-Andersen has taken Cycle Chic to Rio, and shows a bit of the cycling culture and cycling infrastructure in this video posted to Copenhagenize.

 

Use an off-peak-hour ride to conquer road wariness

A recent article from the Bellevue (Wash.) Patch, titled In Motion: Bike like a girl, adds some anecdotal observations about why so few women cycle.

Author Heidi Dietrich surveys her friends and then goes to state data that shows only about 26 per cent of Seattle-area cyclists are women (although that's up from 20 per cent in 1992). She offers stats from other sources about barriers to cycling for women, and offers a few tips about making cycling more accessible.

Of those tips, which aren't particularly gender-specific, one deserves to be repeated: tentative cyclists can overcome road wariness if they learn their route. Take a practise ride on an off-peak time, think about how you'll respond to railway tracks, transitions from bike lanes to roadways, etc. It can be a great confidence-builder.