Statistics

See more statistics on BikeGaurd’ website. Visit BikeGuard’s home page HERE. Check out all 50 states.

Featured in the New York Times – By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL — ONE spectacular Sunday in Paris last month, I decided to skip museums and shopping to partake of something even more captivating for an environment reporter: Vélib, arguably the most successful bike-sharing program in the world. In their short lives, Europe’s bike-sharing systems have delivered [...]

If you haven’t already read this book, prepare yourself for a surgical dissection of big box America, and its devastating effect on our land use, environment, and quality of life (Never mind trying to get there on foot or by bike.) In less than two decades, large retail chains have become the most powerful corporations [...]

Top 10 Bicycling Cities (Highest Bike Commute Rates) (via Clean Technica)   I don’t think we’ve ever shared this list, and the League of American Bicyclists (LAB) just recently updated its page on these cities, adding a graph and some more info, so it seems like a good time to share it. Before getting to [...]

Two recent (negative) letters to the editor of the Wilmington News Journal: Trails won’t inspire more bicycle commuters I own an “electric bike” and I ride it to work about three to four days per week during the spring/summer/fall. Fortunately, there is only a stretch of about a half mile where I am on a [...]

Cross-posted from Bike Portland | Does your mode of transportation have any relationship to how much you spend at restaurants and bars? That’s the question researchers at Portland State University set out to answer when they embarked on a study last year. I spoke with lead researcher Kelly Clifton at the outset of this project [...]

By Deborah Zabarenko | Reuters – To Shoshana Gurian-Sherman, driving seemed like a huge hassle. “Part of it was laziness,” the 23-year-old Minneapolis resident recalled. “I didn’t really want to put in the effort to learn how to drive … I knew how to ride the buses, so it was not necessary. “And the other [...]

  Featured in the Wilmington News Journal – Since 2002, Sussex Cyclists has been taking a two-pronged approach to promoting bicycle safety in the county. This year is the eighth season during which the nonprofit bicycle advocacy group has been conducting bicycle safety checkpoints in conjunction with the Delaware Department of Transportation and the Delaware [...]

From Governing By the Numbers – Many commuters living in growing urban areas are opting to ride bikes to work as an alternative to congested roads and higher gas prices. The most recent U.S. Census Bureau estimates show about 730,000 Americans bike to work as their primary means of transportation, a 50 percent increase from [...]

From the New York Times- At a press conference at the Transportation Department’s headquarters, [Transportation] Secretary LaHood introduced the Blueprint for Ending Distracted Driving, what he described as a comprehensive strategy to address the safety issue, particularly the growing use of cellphones behind the wheel. Deaths attributable to distracted driving “are 100 percent preventable,” he [...]

Cross-posted from Bike Portland – The Outdoor Industry Association just released their annual report on The Outdoor Recreation Economy. The report looks at spending on gear and travel for all the major outdoor activities and also calculates the “ripple effect” that spending has on the economy. Bicycling is one of ten “activity categories” analyzed in [...]

Cross-posted from  BikingInLA – One of the biggest lies told in this country is that drivers pay for the roads they use through gas taxes and license fees. The fact is, the federal gas tax, which isn’t indexed to inflation, hasn’t been raised in nearly 20 years, and doesn’t begin to cover the costs of [...]

By Darren Flusche — Has anyone ever tried to tell you that there are too few bicyclists to reduce traffic congestion in any noticeable way? Well, new data shows that it doesn’t take large reductions in driving to see major improvements in traffic flow. In 2011, total vehicle miles traveled (VMT) in the United States [...]

Cross-posted from mansgreatestmistake “Perhaps another marker of corroded social relations and lack of trust among people was the rapid rise in the popularity of the Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) …These are vehicles for the ‘urban jungle’, not the real thing.” Not only did the popularity of SUVs suggest a preoccupation with looking tough, it also [...]

From CapeGazette.com Lewes — Six high school students riding bikes home from school en masse is a throwback to a time long forgotten. It shouldn’t be headline news that students bike home from school, but in this car-crazy world, it’s unusual to see teenagers on bicycles. To drive – that is to bike – home [...]

By David Dooley, DART Transit — As part of May’s focus on Bike Month and Bicycling, the Wilmington Bicycle Advisory Committee is looking for volunteers to conduct DART’s 3rd Annual Bicycle Count in the City of Wilmington. There are 11 selected locations (refer to above Map). Therefore, we need a minimum of 11 volunteers, but [...]

As Congress debates funding for our future transportation system, America Bikes released the results of a survey that shows Americans overwhelmingly support funding for bike and pedestrian facilities. According to America Bikes: The national survey, performed by Princeton Survey Research Associates International, asked 1,003 adults in the United States about their opinions on federal funding [...]

Cross posted from grist. Re-posted from April 11, 2011. By Elly Blue – Bicycling and driving have one thing in common that is almost universally frustrating, time consuming, friction causing, and potentially expensive. Parking. No matter how seamless your ride across town, no matter how well-timed the traffic lights or low-conflict the bike lanes, it’s [...]

Dr. Karyl Rattay, Director of the Delaware Division of Public Health spoke on Thursday at Walkable, Bikeable Delaware in Dover on the cost to Delaware of obesity related diseases. The health consequences of increased obesity have been disastrous.   Dr. Rattay noted that a modest amount of physical activity every day – an hour or less [...]

Compliments of “the get around blog” – By John Krause — Admit it, when you see a hipster roll up to a stoplight on their bike and then pass right through, it raises your blood pressure a measurable amount. There’s nothing worse than some clown riding his fixie making the whole world hate those scofflaw [...]

“43% of i-Phone users would go shoeless for a week, rather than temporarily release their phones” “73% of people sleep with their smartphones on their bed” “25% Nomophobes (those who fear losing the phone) reported accidents while messaging or talking on the phone” Is it any wonder that most folks shudder at the idea of [...]

With special thanks to Copenhagenize.com – Brilliantly simple and effective video about the societal costs of automobile use. Filled with nuggets of wisdom, effectively communicated. Love the bit about how cars are like gasses – it doesn’t matter how large the container grows, the molecules will still occupy the whole space. Build more roads, more [...]

How we got off the pedestrian path – By Tom Vanderbilt|Posted Tuesday, April 10, 2012, at 6:28 AM ET – A few years ago, at a highway safety conference in Savannah, Ga., I drifted into a conference room where a sign told me a “Pedestrian Safety” panel was being held. The speaker was Michael Ronkin, [...]

In late February, the League of American Bicyclists announced a “New National Plan to Transform Bicycling” — the potential unification of LAB, Bikes Belong and the Alliance for Biking & Walking into one, powerful national organization. Their blog post received more than 40 comments. and proved a very popular topic. With that, they are providing [...]

Watch First for Friday, April 6, 2012 on PBS. See more from First. The University of Delaware is working on walkability plans with several communities, and the state now offers a checklist to help residents size up their own neighborhood. The Walkability Assessment Tool from the Delaware Coalition for Healthy Eating and Active Living is [...]

Not surprising, considering most Americans either refuse, or are unable to exercise as part of their daily routine. BBC — The obesity problem in the US may be much worse than previously thought, according to researchers. They said using the Body Mass Index or BMI to determine obesity was underestimating the issue. Their study, published [...]

=> One mile on a bike is a $.42 economic gain to society, one mile driving is a $.20 loss <= Cross-posted from Grist – Copenhagen, the bicycle-friendliest place on the planet, publishes a biannual Bicycle Account, and buried in its pages is a rather astonishing fact, reports Andy Clarke, president of the league of American [...]

Cross-posted from Sightline Daily – In a story about the decline of youth car culture, The New York Times quotes an advertising exec on the feelings of today’s youth toward the auto: “They think of a car as a giant bummer,” said Mr. Martin. “Think about your dashboard. It’s filled with nothing but bad news.” True [...]

WEAU.com — If you’re heading to the store you might want to grab your bike instead of your car. A study out of UW-Madison says if everyone ditched their cars, health care costs could be reduced by billions of dollars. People out biking say Wednesday was a perfect day to get out the bike. However [...]

Found in the Wilmington News Journal – Congratulations to State Representatives Helene Keeley and John Viola. (“Line item raises eyebrows,” Friday) It’s a shame more of our representatives don’t put their foot down and say enough of spending on projects we do not need. Dam and dike repairs are more important for Delaware residents than [...]