More bicycling = safer cities

Albany needs bicycle boulevards.

Portland’s Bike Boulevards Become Neighborhood Greenways from Streetfilms on Vimeo.

Why Bikes Rule:

Race Day from ergon on Vimeo.

Taco Tuesday :: Photography Ride from Kenny Ong on Vimeo.

BIKE POLO TOURNAMENT – CPCV09 from Renaud Skyronka on Vimeo.

Bike Polo Happens In Troy

The pedals come in two sizes (small for up to shoe size 8-1/2 and large for sizes above 9) and cost about $65 (you can pay $80, still not out of line for quality pedals). They have a composite body, large reflectors, and polymer bearings. What sets them apart from other platform pedals is a super large platform covered with “3-M Safety Walk,” a partial inner sidewall against which to position the shoe, a slightly angled platform (that promises to keep the leg bones and joints in alignment), and a 2-year warranty. Installation is a snap – although I had to buy a 3/8” drive, 8 mm hex wrench so I could insure the 20 Nm torque specs dictated in the 15-page instruction booklet (6-piece set, $29.99, Sears).

If you’re concerned about the sleek appearance of your ride, these are not the pedals for you – they are BIG! But, as promised, they are very comfortable, and you can really feel that large platform under foot. I’ve not tested the gripping quality of the 3-M surface in wet or snowy conditions, but I have to believe that it will exceed that of conventional toothed metal pedals – we’ll see.

It’s worth mentioning that this German company avoids that awful hard shell plastic packaging by using recyclable cardboard (see photo). The only “plastic” was a single zip tie.

Written by Lorenz

So, on my search to find the most innovative, entertaining, mind blowing, and soul captivating videos – and being that it’s the start of 2012, I’ve decided to post videos of shear greatness from a year just passed.

[2011 - VDLS 8] – Danny MacAskill – Way Back Home from Saturne on Vimeo.

Vienna Air King 2011 – 2nd Day from Peak on Vimeo.

Project Aura: Bicycle Safety Lighting System from Project AURA on Vimeo.

GoPro HD: Kokanee Crankworx 2011- Red Bull Joyride from GoPro on Vimeo.

Halloween ride in ChangSha city from Epique Magazine on Vimeo.

ZOOBOMB (trailer) from SAMKLEPAV DIFERENT on Vimeo.

Balance Bike JoJo takes on Toddler No-Pedal Racing from Balance Bike JoJo on Vimeo.

…wow

See you next Tuesday!

People for Bikes

You may have noticed cute flyers around town, specifically at the Albany Downtube. The front resembles a smiling face drawn with a bike in mind. Well those flyers are from People for Bikes, a growing initiation from Bike Belong for the public advocacy of bicycles.

People for Bikes is dedicated to channeling the passion we all share  for the bicycles that keep us fit, get us to our destinations, keep the roads less congested, and help save the earth by saving gas and keeping the air fresh. They are our vehicle to a healthier world, excitement, and adventure. From “who we are.”

People for Bikes wants to gather a million signatures to use as leverage for the support of bicycles. With one unified voice, People for Bikes can speak to law makers, the media, and the public to let them know that here in this great nation, bicycles are loved. From “goals“

Please join the effort to help promote and provide a bike friendly United States. Below is part of the message I received after I contributed my voice to the goal of one million signature.

“Thanks for signing the peopleforbikes.org pledge. We’re now one person closer to uniting one million voices for the future of bicycling.

Your voice will help build a national movement with clout and influence. Our unified message – that bicycling is important and should be supported – will resonate with leaders, the media and the public. We’ll work to ensure that new, cost-effective investments are made in bicycling facilities such as bikes lanes, trails, bike-share programs, and more that will benefit us now and well into the future.”

People for Bikes

2012 Hill Challenge By Jason Stilson

100 Miles of Hill By Andy Reeds (more like 110 jeez)

SAC Hell Ride By Andy Reed

Hell Century By Douglas Southwick

HRRT Century Route 2011 By Jonathan Stillman

Come Climb With Me! By Jonathan Stillman (120 miles, Yes!)

Charlton/Saratoga Battlefield Metric By Jonathan Stillman

Tour of the Battenkil By Jonathan Stillman

Sweat n Summer Century 2010 By Jonathan Stillman

Metric from Charlton Town Hall By Jonathan Stillman

Got Climb?

Happy New Years!

Bike Lanes from Casey Neistat on Vimeo.

Bicycles are a great means of transportation – they run on fat and save you cash, opposed from their counter parts which run on cash and make you fat! They are welcome in  cities all across the world. City planners in Portland, Amsterdam, Seattle, New York City and even here in Albany have incorporated encoraging bicycle lanes into their designs. This is great, until motor vehicles start to use bicycle lanes as their parking spots! Luckly we are we have smart people on our side.

Here’s one innovation we could use for evidence to encourage bicycle boulevards.  It’s called BKME. If we were to document all the hazards along the bike lanes in Albany, which there are many, this may go a long way to convince planners that bicycle boulevards would be a safe design. Another note – some of our main streets don’t have bike lanes… what happened to safety first?

From BKME.org

Image from The Bird Wheel

About la velolución

We use #BKME on Twitter to collectively defend our bikelanes in realtime, everywhere.

Join the Velolucion.

I also want to note that I went through NYS transportation laws. I was unable to find any law prohibiting parking in bicycle lanes by motor vehicles. Here are the laws.

This source says most everyone are cyclists. I find that doesn’t sink in too well.

Any thoughts?

Katy Beveridge has designed and produced some cool bike art. She’s inserted paper on spokes in just the right places to come up with cool art for bikes. Not to mention the cinematography is killer too.  This video of bike art does a good job to create a feeling of spring while showing off some bicycle animation. See the video below on Youtube.

The Bicycle Animation

Are you kidding me?!

The Section § 203 (d) (p. 226) says,

“(d) BICYCLE SAFETY.—The Secretary of the appropriate Federal land management agency shall prohibit the use of bicycles on each federally owned road that has a speed limit of 30 miles per hour or greater and an adjacent paved path for use by bicycles within 100 yards of the road.”

Andy Clarke, the President of the League of American Bicyclists (LAB) says,

“The problem with the provision is that the restriction applies regardless of the quality, safety, and utility of the path provided; it disregards cyclists need the roadway to reach shops, services etc.; and ignores our fundamental right to the road.”

Answering why this proposed provision, Clarke says,

“One such idea is that it’s just not safe for cyclists to sharing the road with cars going more than 30 mph and thus, for our own safety, we should have to use the provided path. This paternalistic (at best) approach is guilty of not only blaming the victim but simply doesn’t make sense unless every higher-speed roadway has a path alongside it.

The second principle at play is the idea that “we provided this path for you, you’d darned well better use it”. To which our response should be…if the path is any good, you shouldn’t have to force anyone to use it; they will use it voluntarily because it works. Our communities are replete with examples of poorly designed, built and maintained paths that are little more than glorified sidewalks. “

One blogger brings up a meaningful point. Michael Frank of Adventure Journal says, ”just code for a screaming headline, ‘Mountain Biker Takes out Iowa Mom on Grand Teton Walking Path’”.

This provision would affect 22 national parks in New York State according to the National Park Service. This includes sites from New York City, into the Appalachian Mountains and  many others. Who’s to say this law won’t spill over into state parks? How will we get to food and service shops on the roads? What about road cyclists?

Here are a list of statistics from Bike Belongs of why we need to bring bicycle boulevards to Albany.

• After two streets in Minneapolis were converted to be more bicycle friendly, bike traffic increased 43%, total vehicle crashes decreased, traffic efficiency was maintained, and parking revenues remained consistent.

City of Minneapolis, 2010
Hennepin and 1st avenues two-way conversion leads to fewer crashes, better access

• When protected bike lanes are installed in New York City, injury crashes for all road users (drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists) typically drop by 40% and by more than 50% in some locations.

Wolfson, H., 2011
Memorandum on Bike Lanes, City of New York, Office of the Mayor, 21 March 2011

• Cities with high bicycling rates tend to have lower crash rates for all road users.

Marshall, W., and N. Garrick, 2011
Evidence on why bike-friendly cities are safer for all road users, Environmental Practice, 13, 1

• The majority of bicycle-vehicle crashes are not a result of environmental factors, eg. darkness, fog, or rain.

Schramm, A., et al., 2008
How much does disregard of road rules contribute to bicycle-vehicle collisions? in Proceedings of high rish road users- motivating behaviour change: what works and what doesn’t work? National Conference of the Australian College of Road Safety and the Tra

• A survey of 1,600 cyclists from Texas revealed that 70% of riders felt bicycling is dangerous in terms of traffic accidents, but only 21% thought it is dangerous in the context of crime.

University of Texas at Austin News, 2008
“State Bicycle Survey Reveals Danger Concerns, Cycling Perceptions”

• Major streets without bike facilities are where the most bike crashes happen, followed by minor streets without facilities, bike paths, and then bike lanes.

Moritz, W., 1997
Survey of North American bicycle commuters: Design and aggregate results, Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 1578, 91-101

• Bicycle safety improvements attract proportionately more people to bicycling than automobile safety improvements (i.e. a 10% increase in safety results in a greater than 10% increase in the share of people bicycle commuting).

Noland, R., 1995
Perceived risk and modal choice: Risk compensation in transportation systems, Accident Analysis & Prevention, 27, 503-521

• Between 2007 and 2008, overall bicycle use in Portland, Oregon increased 28%.

City of Portland Office of Transportation, 2008
Portland Bicycle Counts 2008

• In Portland, OR, 2008 total traffic fatalities were the lowest in recorded history, with only 20 total fatalities, none of them cyclists. 2008 car, pedestrian, and cyclist fatalities were all at all-time lows.

Ciy of Portland, 2009
2008 Fatality Summary

• The more cyclists there are, the safer cycling is.

Jacobsen, P., 2003
Safety in numbers: more walkers and bicyclists, safer walking and bicycling, Injury Prevention, 9, 205-209

• Even though 85% of Amsterdam residents ride a bike at least once a week, only 6 or 7 cyclists are killed in traffic accidents every year.

City of Amsterdam, 2003
in “Cycling to sustainability in Amsterdam,” Buehler, R., and J. Pucher, Sustain, 21, Fall/Winter 2010

• Higher actual crash risk increases perceived crash risk, while higher perceived crash risk is negatively associated with actual crash rates.

Cho et al., 2009
The role of the built environment in explaining relationships between perceived and actual pedestrian and bicyclist safety, Accident Analysis & Prevention, 41, 692-702