Good Samaritan chases down drunk driver and snatches her keys after she nearly kills cyclist
What interests me most about this story is the total lack of hostility directed toward the cyclist. Not even a hint. Maybe it’s the good samaritan angle that accomplishes that. But nobody is asking whether he was wearing a helmet, whether he “swerved into traffic,” or was wearing reflective clothing. I guess that will come later.
I hope the cyclist has a swift recovery. He sounds to be very badly hurt.
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And the good Samaritans speak:
–Erik Ryberg
Bike lanes from around the world — including Tucson — on Huffington Post
But as usual, Copenhagen wins.
–EBR
BICAS, El Grupo, the GABA Bike Swap, and what is great about all three
Thanks K for sending this around and Ricardo for producing it!
–EBR
“Can I not just apologize?” asks motorist arrested for repeated attacks on cyclist
Suspended sentence for driver who tried to run cyclist off road…9 times
By Simon_MacMichael – Posted on 03 February 2010
A teenage driver who repeatedly tried to run a cyclist off the road has been told by a judge sentencing him to nine months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years, that he had made a “bit of an unfortunate choice of victim” – an off duty senior police officer. Even so, the judge only gave him a suspended prison sentence.
Detective Inspector Martin Melvin had been cycling home from Burnley police station last July when 18-year-old Benjamin Harrison, who lives in the town, pulled alongside him and started beeping his horn, shaking his fist and shouting, “Get off the road. I will run you off the road. I will kill you. Get off the road,” according to a report in the Lancashire Telegraph.
Burnley Crown Court heard how Harrison had made nine attempts to run Detective Inspector Melvin off the road, trying to hit him on the pavement and making contact with his handlebars and causing him to veer into trees, with the result he came off his bike. He also threw coins and stones at his victim.
Besides the suspended sentence, Harrison was given a 12-month supervision order, ordered to carry out 100 hours’ unpaid work and pay £750 costs, and banned from driving for two years.
Harrison was arrested at his parents’ house, where it is claimed he told police, “Can I not just apologise?”
Story here. I’ve got nothing else to add.
–EBR
Jose Rincon wrongful death trial commences
Most readers of this blog know about young Jose Rincon, who was killed two years ago while riding his bike along the shoulder on Broadway.
His family has sued the City of Tucson and the driver, Glenda Rumsey. The trial is occurring now in Superior Court. If you want to go, the trial is in Judge Kenneth Lee’s courtroom in Superior Court downtown. It will probably continue into next week.
–Erik Ryberg
The bikes are winning in Tucson and everywhere
For a look at how bikes are entering the popular cultural mind:
And a more local view:
Then one day a few years ago I started secretly following the CopenhagenCycleChic.com blog and marveling at how absolutely beautiful it is over there in Europe, and although I forgot for a moment, pining away for some Scandanavian or Mediterranean dream, it dawned on me so clearly just how beautiful the bike scene is as well right here in little Tucson, with our own distinct brand of BIKE BEAUTY and bicycle related goings ons.
(From www.tucsonbikebeautiful.blogspot.com.)
I’ve been finding myself having this exact same conversation a lot lately. Have you noticed the changes in Tucson’s bike culture over the past few years? I walked from my office to the police station the other day, which takes about two and a half minutes, and I saw five people on bikes and one bike on a Sun Trans bus.
We all like to complain about Tucson and how terrifying it can sometimes be to try to get around in this town on a bike, but things are improving really fast. When is the last time someone told you to “get on the sidewalk”? Seriously, when? It used to happen to me once or twice a year. But it’s been at least three years since it happened last. Bikes are becoming legitimate here.
Maybe it’s just the gorgeous weather talking, but I think Tucson is a great place to live and bike. I’m with Tucsonbikebeautiful: we should celebrate it more.
–Erik Ryberg
“Idaho stop” bill introduced in Arizona — would permit bicyclists to treat stop signs as yield signs when safe to do so
Bicycles, Rolling Stops, and the Idaho Stop from Spencer Boomhower on Vimeo.
I got a call yesterday from my State legislator, Daniel Patterson, who told me that the “Bike safe-yield” bill had been introduced again this year. This bill would permit bikes to treat stop signs as yield signs when safe to do so. I really support this bill as it would solve a fundamental problem with the application of our car-based traffic laws to bicyclists.
The bill does not permit cyclists to blow through stop signs. It permits bicyclists to slow to the speed necessary to determine whether an intersection is safe for them to pass through without coming to a complete stop. We already have these signs all over town in the form of “Yield” signs on those intersections where authorities conclude it is unnecessary to require vehicles to come to a complete stop. This bill would recognize that such intersections are far more common for bicyclists than for motorists.
Bicyclists have unimpeded views around them, they are usually traveling more slowly, they are more aware of their surroundings, and they don’t generally hurt anyone but themselves when they hit something. This bill improves the conditions for bicyclists considerably, and helps get cyclists off the main arterial roads because it permits them to navigate lesser-used streets that have lots of stop signs.
This practice is already in place in Idaho, and has been called the “Idaho stop.” Bob Mionske has a lot of information on the Idaho law; a good place to start is here.
The relevant part of the bill reads:
C. The driver of a vehicle approaching a yield sign and any person who is at least sixteen years of age and who is riding a bicycle approaching a yield sign or a stop sign shall slow down in obedience to the sign to a speed reasonable for the existing conditions and shall yield the right‑of‑way to any vehicle in the intersection or approaching on another highway so closely as to constitute an immediate hazard during the time the driver or bicycle rider is moving across or within the intersection. If after driving or riding past a yield sign or stop sign without stopping the driver or bicycle rider is involved in a collision with a vehicle in the intersection, the collision is prima facie evidence of the driver’s or bicycle rider’s failure to yield the right‑of‑way.
The bill is here.
Rep. Patterson has said he will need support from the cycling community, something that fell short last year when this bill was introduced.
–Erik Ryberg
Bikes in the *Old* Pueblo
Check out this righteous post on Tucsonbikebeautiful.blogspot.com of historical photographs of bikes in the Old Pueblo! Whoa!
–EBR
Tuesday Night Bike Ride, tomorrow at 8 PM sharp! With Special Guest Star Lauren!
My friend J has been on a campaign to whip the TNBR back into its advertised 8 PM start time, so sometimes we leave right at 8 PM. Most people, of course, haven’t even arrived yet thanks to the fact the ride doesn’t usually leave for another 30 minutes or more.
So consider this advance notice: if you want to attend our 8 PM ride, which is generally a little better behaved, a little more cozy, and (ahem) led by people with a little more knowledge of the neighborhoods, be there by eight o’clock, or we’re leaving without you!
See you tomorrow! Flagpole at Old Main Gate, Eight PM.
Lauren will be there too! (If we can find her a bike in time.)
–Erik Ryberg
My new bike
I’ve been riding my new Azor Workcycles Transport for about a month now. I’ve ridden it just about every day for a month.
It’s everything I hoped it would be. I got it from Dutchbikeseattle and it arrived just a few days after I ordered it. I hardly had to do any assembly — it arrived in a giant box and about all I had to do was install the pedals and turn the handlebars around. I did have to loosen the brake cables a bit as the brakes were dragging on both wheels.
The bike is a wonderful design. My friend P, who was born in Holland, noted that the basic design of this bike is pretty much the same as Dutch bikes of nearly a hundred years ago — but the technology is far advanced from those days.
The bike has an eight-speed internal hub, drum brakes, and a generator front hub that powers the front and rear lights. The basket is on a rack mounted to the frame, so you don’t have that wobbly front-rack thing going on. It’s a joy to ride.
It is definitely heavy, but I only notice that when I have to lift it, which I avoid doing! It’s not something you just swing over your shoulder and run up the stairs with.
It’s also good looking. I ran into my friends D, R, and A yesterday, three of the most stylish and beautiful women you’ll meet anywhere, and all were agreed on the aesthetic virtues of my new Dutch Bike. In fact I was a bit jealous.
Lauren remarked that it is like a Mercedes of bikes, though she cautioned “not like that hobo Mercedes you used to drive.”
I actually think it is more like a Hummer. An overbuilt, heavy, expensive status symbol that is completely unsuited to off-road use. But even with all its overbuilt, heavy, and overpriced qualities, I am not ashamed to say: I adore it.
–Erik Ryberg