New emphasis on wrong-way riders from U of A police
I just got out of a bicycle-related trial (we won) and while there I got a chance to chat with a U of A officer who was there on a wrong-way riding violation. I asked him about that and he said that they had recently emphasized this over stop-sign violations. He completely agreed with me that wrong-way riding is a far more dangerous activity than the stop-sign violations.
He never came right out and said the stop-sign violation stuff was a waste of time, but he sure hinted around at it.
He also said they had spent a few months just giving warnings on the wrong-way riding. I like that. Most wrong-way riders genuinely believe they are riding in the safest manner. Many were taught to ride that way when they were young.
I was very pleased to hear the U of A has focused its efforts on a bike-riding violation that is actually dangerous and that really does result in many injuries every year.
I hope TPD follows their lead, if they have not done so yet.
–Erik Ryberg
A post for Lauren
My friend Lauren headed home today to Chicago, poor thing.
Stolen from my new favorite blog, Riding Pretty.
–Erik Ryberg
Brake what’s fixed
Good grief, I just spent the afternoon riding around the U District and 4th Avenue and I am here to tell you: the brakeless fixed-gear phenomenon has in no way abated. I even saw some doufus inexperienced rider riding a brakeless fixed-gear mountain bike with front suspension. What’s that about?
I think the only thing I haven’t seen is a brakeless fixed-gear recumbent. Any takers?
It’s only a matter of time before this turns tragic. Tragic in the physical injury sense.
–Erik Ryberg
All the more reason to bike there
This story needs more coverage to debunk the Fox News version, and I thought this was a good write-up of it.
How global warming contributed to the snow
A warming world increases atmospheric moisture, which leads to massive snowstormsBy Mike Tidwell
February 14, 2010
You can’t even find your car on the street, the kids have been out of school for days, and “blizzard conditions” is now standard weatherman talk in the D.C.-Baltimore region. So if global warming is happening, why in the world are we literally buried in snow?
It’s a good question, and thankfully, the answer is pretty straightforward. In fact, the growing pattern of extreme snowfall in our region has the fingerprints of climate change all over it — even as temperatures steadily rise across America and the world.
Let’s agree on one thing: Our weather has been totally unrecognizable this winter. Of the ten heaviest snow storms ever recorded in Baltimore since 1870, three have occurred in the last seven weeks. Before this winter, the city had never gotten even two storms of 19-plus inches in a single season, much less a trio. And we’ve shattered the old record for snowiest cumulative winter ever here, 62.5 inches, set in 1995-96. Philadelphia and D.C. have posted very similar snow statistics.
How could global warming be driving a pattern like this? One word: moisture. A warmer atmosphere holds more water. Plus, warmer surface temperatures are triggering more evaporation of ocean water worldwide. That water goes up, up, up into that atmosphere. And what goes up must sooner or later come down.
This is precisely what scientific studies are now documenting. Water vapor in the global atmosphere jumped by about 5 percent in the 20th century, P.Y. Groisman and his colleagues reported in 2004. This while there has been an observed, significant uptick in heavy winter precipitation events in the Northeastern U.S., according to a 2006 study. And all the while, global temperatures have risen sharply, including an average warming of 4 degrees Fahrenheit in the Northeastern U.S.
Consider further: We’ve had “Snowmaggedon” I, II and III this winter not because of record cold weather. The temperatures in our region have been only moderately colder than normal for the Mid-Atlantic winter. No, it’s because of record amounts of moisture here, pushed into our region by repeated Nor’easters. This historic wetness from the south has met cold-enough temperatures here to produce snow levels that neither science nor old-timers can recall.
Just last fall, the U.S. Global Change Research Program, established by Congress in 1990, predicted more violent storms in the Northeast due to climate change. “Strong cold season storms are likely to become stronger and more frequent, with greater wind speeds and more extreme wave heights,” the agency said. So, yes, we are getting record winter precipitation events here even as overall temperatures are rising.
And, yes, there is the usual caveat: No single storm episode can be blamed definitively on global warming. But the overall trend — the shear freakiness of this winter weather — fits the pattern scientists say will only intensify with more warming.
Read the whole piece here.
–EBR
Arizona Bikes Safe Yield Act to get a hearing — possibly this Thursday
The so-called “Idaho Stop” statute, as most of my readers know by now, has been introduced again here in Arizona. My representative Daniel Patterson has joined with Matt Heinz, another legislator from Tucson, to sponsor this bill. It was introduced by Rep. Quelland, a long-time bicycle commuter from Phoenix.
The bill is tentatively set for a hearing on Thursday, although my review of the agenda just now (which is here) does not yet reflect that. Patterson said to check back frequently, as the agenda may be updated soon to reflect this hearing.
It is important that we get some attendance at this hearing so we can get this bill out of committee and get some momentum on it. Especially if you live in Phoenix, please consider attending the hearing and speaking in favor of this law that would make cycling, particularly on less-traveled residential streets, a much more viable option.
–Erik Ryberg
$40 million award in Jose Rincon death
Story here.
-EBR
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.
More
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