Archive for May, 2009

Ride of Silence this Wednesday

Posted by Erik on May 18th, 2009 filed in fatality, upcoming bicycle related events

Here is the press release:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 17, 2009
RE: RIDE OF SILENCE
WHEN: 6:00 pm, THIS WEDNESDAY MAY 20, 2009
WHERE: REID PARK (STARTING BY HI CORBETT FIELD, NORTHEAST SIDE OF PARK), TUCSON, ARIZONA
CONTACT: Brian Beck, Chair, Tucson-Pima County Bicycle Advisory Committee (T-PCBAC) 520-795-3000 X113 days; 520-326-9587 evenings coyotes@cox.net ; Martha Lemen, T-PCBAC 520-400-9095 [...]

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“People enjoying themselves while actually creating things that function”

Posted by Erik on May 13th, 2009 filed in Joie de vivre, imminent death of car-based culture, opportunity knocks

Some good press for bike co-ops. There seem to be a lot of different “business” models for bike co-ops, from the membership-model described in the article to the BICAS model, which is just a community tools center with employees to help you do whatever it is needs doing, along with huge bins of cheap [...]

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Vauban, Germany: pioneer car-free community

Posted by Erik on May 11th, 2009 filed in Joie de vivre, imminent death of car-based culture, opportunity knocks

To maintain the New Urbanism theme for a moment . . .
From the NYT:

Residents of this upscale community are suburban pioneers, going where few soccer moms or commuting executives have ever gone before: they have given up their cars.
Street parking, driveways and home garages are generally forbidden in this experimental new district on the [...]

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“A sure sign of the apocalypse” — Americans are driving less, and bike-hostile cities showing housing declines

Posted by Erik on May 11th, 2009 filed in imminent death of car-based culture

So says Esquire magazine and statistician Nate Silver. I read Silver’s blog FiveThirtyEight.com obsessively during the elections and the Minnesota recounts. Finally he is homing in on something useful: America’s driving habits.
Conclusion: The apocalypse is coming. Americans are driving less. And, ahem, are you listening, Tucson City Council? [...]

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That’s what I’m talking about

Three-minute contest winner on bicycles (sort of).

And equal time for opposing views, from the wonderful city of Scottsdale:

–Erik Ryberg

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Motorist in El Tour accident pleads guilty to “leaving the scene of an accident”

Story here.
This is the driver who hit and seriously injured Gary Stuebe. (He hit several others as well). After the accident, the driver inspected the damage to his car and then drove away. Once home he tried to remove the evidence of the accident.
Stuebe remained in a coma for months [...]

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A visit to traffic school

Posted by Erik on May 6th, 2009 filed in Carhead, opportunity knocks, safety

TBL reader M sent this in:

I was recently in traffic school (oh so fun) for supposedly not completely stopping at a stop sign in my car even though the cop couldn’t see me from where she was (but that’s another story).
I decided that my responsibility in the class was to bring up as much [...]

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Chandler area motorist on his way to buy a Hummer kills five people, gets one year in jail

Ed over at AZ Bike Law linked to this awful story earlier today and I just read it.
It was just before 10 a.m. on July 19, 2007, a Thursday. According to court records, Myers, then 24, was in his 2007 Chevy Avalanche, headed west on McDowell Road in Scottsdale, on his way to meet his [...]

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Update on injured El Tour rider, Gary Stuebe

This depressing news from Eric Post, another attorney in town who handles bicycling cases:
Would you please consider forwarding this to the bicycle community?
I spoke recently with Steve Leshner, the attorney for the Stuebe family and the family is not happy with how things are being handled. [...]

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County waits for blood test results to determine if motorist is guilty in Allen Johnson fatality

It appears that even drifting into the bike lane route and hitting a cyclist from behind, even if the cyclist is a Tucson police officer, will still not get you a citation for violating the three-foot safe passing rule. It seems the local authorities believe you can only be guilty of that violation if you [...]

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