Friday, May 23, 2008

bike advocacy - and vigilantes



D: http://tango.gnn.tv/headlines/14571/Toronto_Bike_Activists_Going_Guerrilla
D: Toronto cyclist were so frustrated, they started painting their own bike lanes.
At the present rate, the city would need to take a CENTURY to meet their bike lane goals!

D: the 2 pics above are:
1) New York City stickers for jerks that park in bike lanes. I've seen a couple around here.
You can stop to pick up a passenger, taxi-style, in a bike lane.
You cannot stop the car and leave it.
If you do, you'll be showing up on my Hall of Shame.

2) the other pic is more somber.
http://ghostbike.org/visitor/maps
D: when a cyclist dies, a bike is painted white with flowers and is chained to the area.
This does not clarify who was at fault, however.
I'd like to colour-code an online map for 'near misses' too.
I.e. injuries that were simply luckily not casualties.
This in turn ignores 'near hits', where it is just a matter of time.
I am safety rep, certified, for the workers in my factory.
An accident is just a series of risky events that finally culminated in an injury.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

accidents - breakdown of traffic stats



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_safety
"Other significant collision types involve turning-motorists failing to yield to oncoming cyclists and so-called "hook" or "overtake and turn" type manoeuvres. Expert opinion has it that, having taken due account of the nature and speed of any following traffic, cyclists may best protect themselves from such collisions by adopting a prominent road position approaching junctions."

D: we are already pretty invisible out there. So occupying the whole lane, particularly if there are 2, seems like a good idea.
We all know my tendency to walk across at the pedestrian walk.
Well, there is this odd tendency for cars to assume the green/walk signs mean gun it and hope the walker doesn't step forward. I had an incident like that at Northfield/Parkside on the way to work on Kumpf last week. Some guy in a work truck was plainly aware I was there.
The light changes. I hold my bike out, to my right, in front of me and start walking. Of course, I was assuming -rightly- he was a moron. He starts rolling forward. My bike is in front of me enough that IT not ME is in his way. If worst comes to worst, looks like he'd owe me a new bike!
It is my way of asserting myself while stopping shy of being suicidal.
He keeps rolling forward, trying to get past me. Instead of stopping.
(Yeah I hit the walk button and everything. I'd been standing there for minutes.)
I keep walking. He ends up nearly in the oncoming traffic lane but manages to squeeze in front of me.
I also like to suddenly make like I didn't see the vehicle and lunge forward.
Why?

They need to be shaken out of their complacency. Their lazy driving habits have resulted from a lifetime of a cyclist only being there 1-5% of the time. They are gambling. With our bodies. They just cannot be bothered learning better, more safe driving habits. I scare them. I irritate them. I bother them, upset them. I need to. I intend to...

My new 115db Zound bike horn is also very helpful this way. If they are not looking where they ought to, I don't wait to see if they plan to. A bike bell is fine in good hearing conditions. Around the U, for example, students will walk around listening their I-pods. They won't hear, or don't recognize the faint sound. I guarantee folks pay attention when it sounds like a big truck with an air horn is heading towards them!

I refuse to apologize for asserting my right-of-way by the traffic laws of the province.

What we really need is critical mass.
http://www.critical-mass.info/

"The Story Behind the Name

The name "Critical Mass" is taken from Ted White's 1992 documentary film about bicycling, "Return of the Scorcher". In the film, George Bliss describes a typical scene in China, where cyclists often cannot cross intersections because there is automobile cross-traffic and no traffic lights. Slowly, more and more cyclists amass waiting to cross the road, and when there is a sufficient number of them -- a critical mass, as Bliss called it -- they are able to all move together with the force of their numbers to make cross traffic yield while they cross the road.

"When local police learn of your ride, they may insist that you get a permit, perhaps a parade permit. Don't do it. The point of Critical Mass is that biking is a right, not a privilege. Cars don't need permits to ride on the streets, and neither should cyclists. They may threaten to arrest you if you ride without a permit. At that point you'll need to consider whether you're willing to get arrested to make your point. If you're not, and you choose not to ride or choose to get the permit, then you've allowed them to put cyclists in their place."

D: getting a permit to ride a bicycle? Right...

D: I read a California study. Half of accidents were causes by the cyclist. They did such clever things are failure to stop and riding the wrong way v.s. traffic flow. Bad idea generally.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

a proposed uptown waterloo redesign




D: pic2 is my first proposal for a new uptown layout.

Ottawa is happy to cordon off entire streets against cars.
We seem to think cars hafta own the uptown.

D: the lanes are particularly narrow already.
Your first reaction may be that I removed a car lane.
I have 2 comments:
1) the diagonal-style parking portrayed doesn't result in many fewer parking spots
2) people unable to parallel park no longer hang out in the lane
3) driver side doors no longer represent a death trap for cyclist who, due to narrow lanes, already don't fit anyway and represent a traffic obstruction.
You might notice in my pretty picture that I included more bike racks.
We seem to have one on every alternating lamppost... why not every one???

http://news.therecord.com/article/297406
Business owners who hear about parking problems, I am sure, listen and say, "yeah it's a problem," instead of promoting the awful looking parking garage right behind the Royal Bank of Canada on Willis Way. I know -- I drive through the parking lots of uptown Waterloo and curse about the parking, then I remember the parking garage.

D: does anybody have a measuring tape? I'm sure those lanes are not full-width, once bad parking is considered.

www.region.waterloo.on.ca/.../0/1F5C2DEF9637004A8525707C0065B4C5
D: and you know what the feedback said?
1) 4 lanes makes traffic too fast
2) there is no green space due to space requirements of 4 lanes
3) widen the sidewalks.
D: I am personally mad about the new KPMG building cuz it blocks my sunset.
But just recessing it 10' from the street and adding tree-age would have made it much less antiseptic.
The benefits of trees for sound, light and general quality experience are huge.

So here is another proposal, based on public feedback: (see pic1)


physically separate bike lanes, gas tax idiocy


http://takethetooker.ca/?p=285

D: watch the video. Amazing.

In the meantime, my bike lanes are still mostly full of gravel.
Possibly glass too, but it's hard to see with all the gravel.

http://p.streetsblog.org/wp-content/uploads/2006/11_20-26/shared_lane_copenhagen.jpg
D: separate, but one can still eat passenger car door.

It would make uptown a little less of a death-trap, though.

Aside: yesterday's Caroline St. bike lane doesn't even extend that far.

D: being bike friendly pays economic dividends.
Portland is the most friendly USA city.
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/4/15/portland_considered_most_bicycle_friendly_city
http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/004676.html
D: and Davis the best town.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copenhagen#Cycling
D; but Copenhagen in Europe takes the cake.
Cyclists have their own traffic lights.
Heck, we don't even have road sensors to detect them here, to change lights.
Meaning I can either wait an indefinite amount of time for a car, or run the red.

http://www.taxpayer.com/main/index.php
"HALIFAX / FREDERICTON: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) today launched its 10th annual Gas Tax Honesty Campaign, marking Gas Tax Honesty Day. The yearly campaign kicks off the summer travel season for Canadian motorists. It is also the day of the year that taxpaying motorists are reminded of the high tax component hidden in the price of gasoline – a tax burden that will only increase if the federal government and provinces adopt a carbon tax on fossil fuels."

D: see my entry on my other blog on "Cars are not cost effective".
By all rights, the gas tax should be HIGHER to incorporate the cost of car accidents/pollution to society.
I said as much on the comment section of today's CBC article.
We all subsidize automobiles, and oddly suburban sprawl with necessitates automobiles.
It is a remarkably absurd scenario.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

bike parking strategies



http://news.therecord.com/News/Local/article/349415
D: 20 million uptown Waterloo for more parking.

http://www.naparstek.com/2005_11_01_archive.php
Pic from here.

D: strangely, even though we will spend tens of millions on public parking to subsidize private business ventures, which by all rights can build their own parking, we cannot afford bicycle parking.

I've already observed the sorry state of uptown Waterloo bike parking.
This area, BTW, is very bike unfriendly.
Essentially, we have an area where you can
1) drive and park a car
2) walk
3) but not drive and park a bike.
Has anybody else noticed how very narrow the lanes are?
I managed to clip the mirror on a van I was driving by riding the line on the lanes.
The parking is that bad.
With some regularity, I see folks that cannot park within a foot of the curb.
For a cyclist, it is worse.
In theory, by law, as a cyclist I am supposed to stay in the car lane.
I occupy a whole one.
Worse, if a car that is parked suddenly opens its door I have to
1) waste time looking behind me to see if swerving is an option
2) eat car door.
Naturally, cyclists choose instead to ride on the sidewalk.
I disapprove of bikers gunning it near store doors.
But conversely, I'm not walking my bike for multiple blocks either.

Go on Caroline or Regina, you say?
Caroline has bike lanes, and Regina wide streets.
Well, yes and no.
See the pic of Caroline Street.
Wow, that bike lane goes for almost, what, 2 whole blocks!
That is ALMOST useful.
Of course, it doesn't reach William Street, which is suddenly very tight indeed, since they stuffed in an extra lane that doesn't fit.

As for Regina, half of it wasn't street swept.
In fact, there is a whole block near University that is pretty much steady broken glass.
Meaning, if I am on a bike on Regina,
1) I am looking down instead of up
2) I am suddenly and without warning swerving into traffic to avoid a 20 buck tire change, if I am in a hurry.
I spent about 100 bux last year on flat tires.
I figured it out, and allowing for various expenses, I didn't in fact save money compared to buying a buy pass all summer.

With bike lanes, it is not enough to put in some 2' narrow sections, with other sections missing entirely, and many parts of town being totally inaccessible.
Build it WELL and MAINTAIN it, and then the cyclists will come.

So we have Caroline, King and Regina, side by side, none of which are very bike friendly.

The car is only king cuz we treat automobiles like royalty.

Cycling doesn't hafta suck, but presently for much of K-W it does.