Featured Links Archive: Mercer County, NJ: What is Bikeability? Bikeability is an estimate of how comfortable it is to bike along a roadway, and includes many factors, including traffic volumes, traffic speeds, pavement widths, and whether there is a usable shoulder. Here is an excellent example of an on-line, interactive mapping tool. Idaho Stops common among motorists Philadelphia, PA. An amazing video taken in Rittenhouse Square. Motorists routinely ignore three stop signs and a blinking red light - just like bicyclists do - only inside three ton vehicles with a more limited view of the street. Imagine a video where each bike actually stops with a foot down, at an intersection requiring cyclists to take the lane. It would be tantamount to constant assault if we were to follow existing stop laws on a bike, and a car behind had to wait for a full stop and restart. Benefit-Cost analysis of bicycle facilities How much do bicycle facilities cost? Can we quantify their benefits? In what cases do estimates of benefits outweigh costs? If your community is considering building a new bicycle facility, you can use this tool to estimate costs, the demand in terms of new cyclists, and measured economic benefits (e.g., time savings, increased livability, decreased health costs, a more enjoyable ride). Cycling's Risks and a few solutions The numbers tend to bear out that. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, 714 bicyclists were killed by motor vehicles in 2008 (the most recent year for which they have complete data). That figure accounts for about 2 percent of all fatalities involving automobiles, with 37,261 total deaths resulting from auto-related crashes that same year. A further breakdown of the numbers shows that of non-motorists killed by automobiles, about 85 percent were pedestrians. An Electric Boost for Bicyclists Detroit may be introducing electric car designs and China may be pushing forward with a big expansion of its highways and trains. But delivery workers in New York, postal employees in Germany and commuters from Canada to Japan - are among the millions taking part in a more accidental transportation upheaval. Financing transportation in an age of political cowardice The loss of the Democratic Senate supermajority will make any attempt at developing a new transportation funding source all the more difficult, especially for walking and biking. The Conservative Case for Walking and Biking Conservatives tend to believe that individuals should have as many choices as possible when it comes the decisions that affect their lives. Yet, according to George Will, transportation alternatives need not apply. Under our current system, the majority of Americans don't have a whole lot of choice when comes to finding a way to get to work, shopping, school, etc. We have to drive. Will Facebook Kill Off The Automobile? Lester Brown of the Earth Policy Institute has a new report out today showing that the U.S. auto fleet shrunk by four million cars in 2009 - the first time that's happened since World War II. All told, 14 million vehicles were scrapped and just 10 million were bought (by comparison, auto sales had been averaging about 17 million per year before 2007). Now, this could just be the recession talking, but Brown thinks it marks the beginning of a "cultural shift away from cars". UK: Cyclists not to blame in 93% of crashes Bike riders tearing through red lights, wearing dark clothing or riding at night without lights are to blame for less than 7% of accidents that result in a cyclist being seriously injured, according to research commissioned by the Department for Transport. MIT's big wheel in Copenhagen It is not easy to reinvent the wheel, but researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are giving it their best shot. The Senseable City Laboratory at M.I.T. has designed a wheel that captures the kinetic energy released when a rider brakes and saves it for when the rider needs a boost. Do bicycle helmet laws do more harm than good? Why do people bang their heads? It's often due to interactions with cars. An objective, in-depth analysis of helmet vs infrastructure advocacy. World oil demand growth to outpace supply in 2010: Poll NYTimes: Growing world oil use will likely outpace the rate of new supplies in 2010, eroding the huge stockpiles of crude which have mounted around the world since the start of the global economic crisis.  Also visit: OilPoster.org YouTube Video: Goofy in 'Motor Mania' (1950) Today, when Disney puts out a movie about cars, "Cars" are lovably anthromorphized characters.  But there was a time a long, long time ago when Disney actually supported a different point-of-view. Visit the Roller System's only known bike planet Planet Bike offers a wide range of products - everything from fenders to lights - and donates 25% of profits to bicycle advocacy.  In addition, they will waive your shipping cost if you are a member of an advocacy related organization.  Beam on over for a look! Bicycles, Rolling Stops, and the Idaho Stop "There's some controversy - and whole lot of misunderstanding - surrounding the proposed Idaho Stop law. I thought I could clear some of it up with the magic of animation" ~ Spencer Boomhower Stop Means Stop: How do we get bikers to obey traffic laws? A fair treatment of the two main factions of Bicycling Advocacy: The Vehicularists (conservatives/old school) and the Facilitators (progressives, current dominant thinking). The article lays out the pros and cons of both sides. Bollards: Defined A bollard is a short vertical post. Originally it only meant a post used on a quay for mooring. The word now also describes a variety of structures to control or direct road traffic, such as posts arranged in a line to obstruct the passage of motor vehicles. Crash-Type Manual for Bicyclists Approximately one out of six highway fatalities in the United States is a bicyclist or pedestrian each year. Estimates for 1995 indicate that 61,000 bicyclists were injured and 830 were killed in traffic crashes. These crashes can be classified or "typed" by their precipitating actions, predisposing factors, and characteristic populations and/or location that can be targeted for intervention. What would get Americans biking to work? When we talk about transportation, we tend to talk about things in motion. What is often left unremarked upon, in conversations about crowded highways, is something without which those crowds would not exist: parking. That humble 9-by-18-foot space (the standard size of a spot) is where traffic begins and ends. It is the fuel to traffic's fire. Tips on finding your stolen bike When Heather McKibbon's bike was stolen in May, she didn't just get angry, she decided to get it back, using bike blogs and social-media sites such as Twitter to take matters into her own hands. Watch out for the Right Hook "You are plugging along on your bicycle at about 15 or 20 mph on the right hand side of the road as you should be. A car approaches from behind; he is doing 30 or 40 mph and catches and passes you quite easily. But then the driver brakes and slows down to make a right turn". Suggest link(s) / Report invalid link(s)