When turning left at a green light but not a green arrow, you have to yield to oncoming traffic. It is the law.
It doesn’t matter if there’s a long line of cars you’ll have to wait for, if you’re in a hurry, or if you think the cyclist will be too slow. You have to yield.
“How far do I have to ride my bike to pay back its carbon footprint?”
Imagine you could work 500 hours less every year. That works out to be an extra 12.5 weeks of vacation. Alternatively, imagine you got paid for an extra 500 hours of work each year, without having to work those extra 500 hours. That would work out to be an extra $11,000 every year for an average American making $22 per hour.
500 hours a year – or 2 hours each day – is roughly the equivalent to what the average American worker will work in order to pay for their cars the average is between 1.46 hour/day and 2.90 hours/day depending on which data is used.
This is a substantial amount of time and cost in order to have the “freedom”, or as I like to call it “imprisonment” of automobile ownership.
via The Urban Country Bicycle Blog: Americans Work 2 Hours Each Day To Pay For Their Cars.
found on AZspot
This is absolutely horrifying. More info and statements from the driver’s lawyer (he’s claiming self-defense) here.
I watch this video and I am shocked, shocked! I don’t care your thoughts on critical mass or on cyclists; do any of them justify murder? Does no one ever realize that a car hitting a bike will always “win”? Self-defense or not, it’s like bringing a gun to a chess game.
The only way I can see anyone being OK with committing fatal and nearly fatal road rage against cyclists is the dehumanizing effect a car has on us when we’re behind the wheel. The illusion of safety, freedom and comfort work together to create an almost simulation experience for the driver. You are in a video game and your actions (though your car) are not “real” and have no “real” repercussions. Except, of course, they do, sometimes fatally. The only similar dehumanization I can think of is war, when you are so convinced that the enemy is “The Enemy” and not human, not real, not like you, can one ever muster the courage to kill.
But this is just driving. Just commuting. Just traveling. Just sad. So sad.
Over the past four days, we’ve had a few run-ins with cars where they were totally in the wrong, and yet, proceeded to blame us, citing what we should have done. In SF, I’ve never had this much blame for when a simple “my bad” or “sorry” would have done; but to turn it around and blame us? Sorry but YOU ARE WRONG.
Location: SE Stark and 29th.
Time: Saturday night.
Bikes: Cruising with the flow of traffic west down SE Stark Street coming up to 29th Ave on the right.
Car: backing up INTO traffic on Stark from 29th Ave. He does this rapidly so me and my girlfriend have to slam on our squeaky wet brakes (which probably saved our lives, note to self: get bell or horn).
He yells from his car: “You should put lights on the front of your bikes!” FACT: we had lights on our bikes, one of them was brand new and super bright. Regardless of our bike status, he was back up his car INTO the intersection of a crowded street on a busy night. He was being unsafe and we had the right of way.
Verdict: Car = WRONG.
Location: NE Tillamook Ave. and 17th Ave.
Time: Sunday afternoon, overcast.
Bikes: We were riding our bikes east along Tillamook (a known bike route) when we come up to a STOP sign.
Car: Cross Tillamook at the intersection but didn’t have a stop sign and therefore the right of way.
We stop and he stops and waves us through, giving up his right of way. We have a special pet-peeve about this because it distrupts the flow of traffic and generates a feeling that cyclists need to get special care like an old lady crossing the road or something. So we reject the wave through, calling attention to the fact that they do not, in fact, have to stop. He continues to wave us through and points to the mobile phone he is currently using as if to say, it’s cool, I’m on the phone anyway. Phone use while driving (even sitting at a stop) has been illegal in Oregon for over a year. We yell for him to hang up his phone and continue down the street.
Verdict: Car = DUMB. Also, WRONG.
Location: N Williams and N Thompson Ave.
Time: Just now! (Tuesday, 3:30pm, drizzly).
Bikes: I am riding north on N Williams in the bike lane.
Car: turning right onto N Williams from N Thompson.
He juts out into the bike lane right in front of me and I brake and they squeak so he stops and I just go around. At this point, this happens all the time so I don’t even really care. But he makes his right after I pass and rolls his window down and shouts out: “I had the right of way!” I yell back that actually no he did not and that he was wrong. He yelled some more and rolled his window and drove away. Sorry, but again, turning right onto a cross street never has the right of way over the cross street’s traffic.
Verdict: Car = SO WRONG.
Sheesh!
P2P car-sharing is a new concept being pioneered by at least three companies in the U.S.: Spride, RelayRides and Getaround It’s just like traditional car-sharing as practiced by Zipcar and dozens of other companies, but it takes the concept to a new level by allowing private vehicle owners to securely rent their vehicles to pre-screened and qualified members of the club.
via BikePortland.org » Guest Article: ‘Peer to peer’ car-sharing and its potential in Oregon.
The facts are clear: People who don’t drive much — including most true bike zealots — significantly subsidize those who drive a lot. And in any kilometre-by-kilometre comparison of city residents who travel exclusively by one mode or the other, drivers tend to pay less than their real costs, while riders pay more.
via Bikes vs. cars: Who pays their fair share?.
Key point are these “real costs” since cars and car infrastructure cost cities far more than anything produce by and for cycles.
BikePortland posted this video of one woman’s view (along with others’) on the new NYC 1st Ave. bike lane and how it’s not so perfect. Check it out!
YouTube – Junction design for safer cycling Netherlands.
a better way for cyclists to make left turns with cars.
I like the beginning with the transforming Power Ranger-esque bit.
Gonna Ride My Bike Until I Get Home video | On Our Own Two Wheels.
Kill your car! 