Members of the STAR Team of Ozark Greenways received the following e-mail yesterday (published here with permission) from Brent Hugh, executive director of the Missouri Bicycle Federation, regarding the HB 1250. Hugh had originally alerted us to the bill. His message is in response to our inquiries [...]
The New York Times today published a major article on the socio-political history of the marketing of cell phones for use by car drivers. I found this part particularly interesting:
Long before cellphones became common, industry pioneers were aware of the risks of multitasking behind the wheel. Their hunches have [...]
Don’t you just love a headline that promises more than it can deliver?
But what I’m about to do is something of a thought experiment in second-person voice. I’m imagining the following scenario based on my own experiences as a driver (for more on how drivers [...]
I don’t know — in any absolute terms.
I do know that I like the choices 23 Springfield drivers made today while I ran errands in the urban core.
What follows is anecdotal and should not be considered the basis for any decision regarding House Bill 1250 to create a “3-foot [...]
On my bicycle, riding through the streets of Springfield, Missouri, I am a legal vehicle on the road. If the road is sharable (wide enough for a car to pass a bicyclist safely in the lane), then I am obligated by law in this state to ride as far to [...]
Despite the obnoxious behavior of the two bicyclists in question (re: resisting a police officer), an Ohio court made exactly the right ruling:
The judge ruled:
The bicyclists may have been rude for riding two abreast but were breaking no law in Ohio–not the law requiring bicyclists to ride as far [...]Check out this recent article from the Dallas Observer about the tensions between vehicular cycling and bicycle advocacy that focuses on infrastructure (a dichotomy, BTW, that I do not believe is as clear as the polemics).
As I have tried to make clear on Carbon Trace: I follow VC [...]
It’s a gray, cold, yucky day. Luckily, I dress for riding a bicycle in cold weather. I find lots of appropriate bicycling attire in my closet — called clothes.
Here’s what’s happening:
I see no precipitation from my office window. But apparently it’s coming. Current conditions (1:30 CST): N [...]
I’m inspired by the story on the front page of the Springfield News-Leader today. The man who hit a teenage pedestrian in September will face charges for careless and imprudent driving for going 55 in a 40 mph zone. The police say his speed caused the crash that nearly [...]
So, how soon until we see the Cannondale Dutchess utility / commuter for women show up in Springfield? (Hat tip to Copenhagenize)
Wytze’s graduation project for Cannondale from Eelke D. on Vimeo.
Here’s the skinny on this design from Bicycle Design.
I recently mentioned the Dangerous By Design report and our own crash stats here in Springfield. While were not suffering to the same extent as Florida, we are suffering (here, here, here).
Keri Caffrey, of Commute Orlando, updated her Facebook page today with [...]
Kim Paul Nguyen is riding a chunk of planet earth to call attention to the roll the bicycle can play in reducing carbon emissions. He’s on his way to United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.
Thanks to Christopher McNeese (he of bicycle petition fame), we now have a thriving Bicycle Friendly Springfield group on Facebook. There are 456 members as of today. Be sure to check it out.
Also be sure to sign the newset bicycle petition at Springfield’s bicycle shops now.
Technorati Tags: [...]
Cross-country athletes at MSU are not happy about a paving project on the Frisco Highline Trail, according to an article on the front page of today’s Springfield News-Leader.
At the last STAR Team meeting, Ozark Greenways Executive Director Terry Whaley announced that some federal stimulus funds will be [...]
Click here to check out the Biking Rules handbook for New York City published by Transportation Alternatives. Its “mission is to reclaim New York City’s streets from the automobile and to advocate for bicycling, walking and public transit as the best transportation alternatives.” The book is remarkably [...]
Today is Black Friday.
But for me, today is No-consumption Day — the day I refuse to spend money.
My only nod to this orgy of consumption is that I’ll check CNN this morning to see how many people have been shot or trampled to death.
UPDATE: Evolution in reverse…
Technorati Tags: [...]
The Bicycle & Pedestrian Committee of the Springfield Traffic Advisory Board (TAB) met yesterday. And the STAR Team met recently. Here’s the latest news:
The STAR Team spent most of the meeting doing a minor bit of restructuring and planning for our 2010 campaigns. The team set up three sub-committees that [...]
Do people drive slower when the streetscape is beautiful?
Are “complete streets” beautiful? Or can they be? Or should they be?
I’m wondering because I’m chairing a sub-committee of the STAR Team that will, if successful, help encourage the City of Springfield to adopt a complete streets policy. More on [...]
Last week ChipSeal published an excellent essay on the “arch-principles [of traffic] and the six basic laws of traffic that follow from them. The arch-principles are: 1) Stay to the right, and 2) first come, first served. The balance of the essay examines these rules and what they mean for [...]
Well, here it is — my new messenger-pannier. Thanks to everyone who gave me suggestions. You’ll notice that I did not go with the one most people suggested. That’s not to say that I didn’t take your suggestion seriously. I did. In fact, checking out the Ortlieb helped me [...]
…cuz we sure don’t want to repeat it. Check out this bit of late 20th-century thinking (via Copenhagenize):
Not only are bicycles dangerous, they are as antiquated a form of transportation as the rickshaw. In no advanced city on earth will you find civilized people cycling to work. The urban [...]
It was a dark and drizzly afternoon.
I left for the STAR Team meeting at about 5 p.m. The meeting spot is slightly less than 3 miles from my house along residential and city streets — streets that were now filled with rush-hour traffic.
The drizzle made the streets slick and cut [...]
My recent article on educating the police has been published in Momentum Magazine. The focus is on Robert Johnson of PedNet in Columbia, Missouri and the efforts there to create an effective partnership with police. From the article:
Robert Johnson, the education coordinator for PedNet in Columbia, Missouri, will [...]
Technorati Tags: bicycle video, cycling
[...]Disclaimer: While I definitely have opinions about bicycle riding, everything I write on Carbon Trace should be read as my telling you about what I do and not my telling you what you should do. Further, this site is about utility bicycling (including short-distance commuting), not sport bicycling. I am [...]
Click here for details on the Continuing Path to Sustainability conference to be held at Missouri State University on 18 November (same day as STAR Team meeting). Of particular note:
8 a.m.-7 p.m.: Exhibits featuring sustainability initiatives, faculty research, student projects & community groups
Plaster Student Union Ballroom
5 p.m.: “Fresh”
Documentary celebrating [...]
I really enjoy bicycling in Springfield. We have so many good things going for our community, among them: a grid street pattern, flat terrain, a bicycle route system, and downtown streets that are mostly narrow with low speed limits.
Now add the progress the STAR Team of Ozark Greenways has made [...]
The recently-released Dangerous By Design report by Transportation For America shows that Missouri has plenty of room to improve pedestrian safety. But there are bright spots.
From the TFA website, here’s an explanation of the city rankings:
The Pedestrian Danger Index (PDI) is a measure of the relative risk of walking, [...]
An article in today’s USAToday says that pedicab businesses are growing and prompting municipalities to pass safety regulations. We have some pedicabs in Springfield, but I don’t know much about them. I’m thinking I need to change that.
The article isn’t very specific about what safety regulations are necessary — [...]
The STAR Team of Ozark Greenways meets on 18 November at 5:30 p.m. at 319 N. Main Street in the offices of Butler Rosenbury & Partners. It’s “bring a guest night,” which is our not-so-subtle way of acknowledging that to remain an effective committee we need new meat from time [...]
Today I rode downtown without a helmet.
(Play the shocking sound track of your choice in your head now!)
I felt perfectly comfortable, safe, and normal because, frankly, bicycling is a comfortable, safe, and normal thing to do.
If we’re going to wear helmets based on some probability that we might actually crash [...]
I’m a big fan of the Cycle Chic movement, epitomized by Mikael’s work at Copenhagen Cycle Chic. He links to many other similar sites — a growing number of them in the U.S. I like it because the whole point is to highlight how normal bicycling is or can [...]
Daypacks have been the popular choice for carrying one’s stuff on college campuses for decades. There’s good reason for this. Packs are, for the most part, convenient and hold a lot of stuff.
Mine is a simple, inexpensive model made of rip-stop nylon. It’s light, roomy, and very [...]
My daypack is my constant companion. But I’m getting a little sick of it.
It’s been great for carrying all my stuff — from work-related items to bicycle tools to rain rain gear — as needed for the past five years. I am, however, ready for something different — something that [...]
Is bicycle riding cool? Should we be trying to make it cool?
I don’t feel particularly cool. It’s hard to feel cool, or indeed be cool, riding about Springfield on a town bicycle — one with “more sh*t on it than a bulls ass,” as a recent commenter wrote.
It seems [...]
What does Swine Flu have to do with blogging about utility bicycling? Well, when you’re suffering the former you can’t do the latter.
Yep, I’m home sick with the disease du jour. And I’m not feeling much like blogging. Check back in a day or two. And thanks for reading!
Technorati Tags: [...]
Human behavior can be understood as making choices that weigh costs against benefits before taking action, according to the rational choice theorists. I don’t buy it because our choices are always complexly situated.
But this theory can be an amusing lens on bicyclist behavior. For example: I rode my bicycle [...]
I made a video of my trip to the grocery store on Saturday afternoon. The fall colors are spectacular. And shopping by bicycle is easy.
Fall Colors and Food Shopping from acline on Vimeo.
If you’re wondering why there are so few bicycles out on such a nice day, [...]
I’ll publish some fall color pictures soon. There are some spectacular scenes on my short ride to campus.
Today is one of those blustery, damp fall days that tell you the corner has been turned. Summer is a memory. That’s OK. Fall is my favorite [...]
Last weekend I was among the members of the STAR Team of Ozark Greenways who participated in bicycle advocacy training sponsored by the Alliance for Biking & Walking. The training took place in North Little Rock, Arkansas. About 40 advocates from states in the south-central region attended the [...]
The New York Times today has a special section on cars today. The lead story asks the question: Is happiness still that new car smell?
What I find fascinating about this article is that, despite the reported evidence, the tone and point of view are decidedly sympathetic to the [...]
Bad traffic day in California:
I won’t claim riding a bicycle will save us at the end of the world, but it will make getting there a lot more enjoyable. Have a nice day
Technorati Tags: bicycle advocacy, cycling, green revolution
[...]The following is a bicycle commuting video produced by students working with Brad Mitchell in the MSU Web & New Media office downtown.
The STAR Team of Ozark Greenways wants to talk to students interested in active transportation issues. If you’re a college student in Springfield reading this weblog, leave a [...]
I’ll be leaving in a few minutes for the bicycle advocacy workshop in Little Rock sponsored by the Alliance for Biking & Walking. Several of us from the STAR Team (yes, the thing we were recently calling the START committee that used to be the Sustainable Transportation Committee of [...]
So I was standing in line at the Break Time convenience store a few minutes ago getting coffee. It’s just across the street from Craig Hall where my office is located. I’m a fool for icky-sweet machine “cappuccino” drinks when the weather is chilly
I hear [...]
Mikael, at Copenhagenize, examines the “bull in the china shop” that traffic safety campaigns ignore:
Like our previous post about applying logic to the case and placing health warning labels on all cars and trucks, a change of focus about the very real possibility of killing innocent people [...]
I’m a little late mentioning this, but…
The best part about this new dataset is that we’ve been able to add a lot of new, detailed information to Google Maps – information that helps people better explore and get around the real world. For [...]
Here’s Colin Beavan, of No Impact Man, on The Colbert Report:
The Colbert Report Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c Colin Beavan www.colbertnation.com Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Michael MooreA couple of thoughts (i.e. painfully obvious assertions):
1. Using a bicycle as basic transportation can have a dramatic effect on [...]
The source of this justice problem is our social acceptance of inattentive driving. — Keri Caffrey.
Go read the entire thing right now.
Resources and information:
U.S. Legal Definitions Mid-America Regional Council Online Lawyer Source National Motorists Association Dealernews.comSomething to ponder:
There are approximately 40,000 traffic deaths per year.
A typical, fully-loaded [...]
Here’s what I wrote about the Oregon Manifest Constructor’s Design Challenge back in July:
Prediction (and I hope I’m wrong): The winning design will be a mountain bike hybrid of some sort with an aggressive seating posture. No fenders. No chain case. And difficult to ride dressed like [...]
Here’s an interesting article from the BBC asking if female bicyclists are in more danger than male bicyclists when encountering trucks at intersections (via How We Drive):
Many of the fatalities involving cyclists happen in collisions with a heavy goods vehicle (HGV). This year, seven of the eight people [...]
How do you change behavior? The folks at Thefuntheory.com say: Make it fun! (via How We Drive)
Ah, did you catch that at the end? This is sponsored by Volkswagen. Is this web site (and contest) just a clever bit of propaganda (unlike, say, this silly bit of [...]
I’m out of town attending a writers’ conference. I’m giving a presentation on media ethics (see my PowerPoint slides here). I did not bring a bicycle with me. But there’s no time to go exploring the local scene anyway.
Consequently, I haven’t posted anything since I left town on Wednesday.
Here’s [...]
Don’t turn the sound up too much. The beeped language will blow your ears out.
What accounts for this? Are these simply two loathsome, offensive brutes who are unable to control themselves? What role does traffic play in this?
Technorati Tags: bicycle crash, bicycle culture, bicycle video, crazy [...]
The FTC will start enforcing a rule in December that bloggers must disclose information about paid reviews.
A couple of issues:
1. I believe ethical blogging demands transparency. So bloggers should disclose such information if they hope to build, maintain, and defend integrity and credibility.
2. Bloggers ought to publish personal codes [...]
It feels, if not looks, a lot like Indian summer these days. High, clear skies. Crisp, cool temperatures. The only thing missing is the turning leaves — still a week or two away. I love the fall. This weather makes me want to ride purely for fun, i.e. to [...]
Here’s an interesting video I found at Bicycling is Better. There’s discussion of bicycles at the start of the video and again around 6:30. One word of warning: This film was made in a less-than-enlightened age re: race.
As Mighk notes, here’s a good example of bicycles mixing well with [...]
There’s never no weather. That, BTW, is an appropriate use of the double negative in English. The S – V- O word-order structure of English demands a subject or a place holder. We say: “It is raining.” What is “it”? It is nothing at all. Well, OK, it’s a pronoun, [...]
So there he is, minding his own business, when all of a sudden Robert Hurst picks up a copy of Momentum magazine and reads my review of his latest book (originally published on Carbon Trace). Hurst says:
HURST IS SKILLED AT ANNOYING. I picked up a copy of [...]
Here’s a talent that the trucking industry wants you to believe truckers possess: The ability to safely drive a big rig while working on a computer.
This would be hysterically funny — a real knee-slapper — if it weren’t for the fact that a trucker’s wipe out on the highway [...]
Following my punk phase in the mid to late 70s (a phase that continues, differently, today) I had a new wave phase in the early 80s. David Byrne and Talking Heads were a big part of that phase. I still catch myself humming [...]
The Interbike trade show begins this week. I had thought about going. But I’m really booked solid now, so maybe next year.
Plus, there’s the fact that I’ve spent very little time discussing equipment on Carbon Trace.
I may add a little more equipment coverage in the future — perhaps I’ll [...]
The problem with being interested in something is that one tends to begin seeing that something everywhere. This is a phenomenon caused, I think, by priming, i.e. one tends to see the things one has been taught (by whatever means) to see.
For this reason I always have to be careful [...]
The following are sentences from recent news stories about bicycle crashes. I gathered them by searching for “bicycle accident” on Google news. I’ve listed every statement mentioning helmet use in each of the first 10 appropriate stories (one mention per story). Two stories did not mention helmet use.
Her bicycle [...]
A funny thing happened on my way downtown this morning at the 4-way stop at Hammons and Walnut. I was heading north on Hammons and was stopped in the left turn lane to proceed west on Walnut. A car on my right arrive at exactly the same time as I [...]
I had to go to Kansas City yesterday to take care of business. I decided to go multi-modal.
Mode #1 was our Honda Civic. One could fly to KC from Springfield if one wished to pay more than $600 to do so (according to my search of Expedia [...]
Just for fun I visited YouTube and searched for “bicycle safety.” A lot of stuff pops up. So I thought if might be fun to highlight these things every now and then.
For example:
I like the monkey theme because it’s similar to my don’t-ride-like-children complaint. This video is obviously [...]
Here’s some more information that leads me to believe (dare I say know?) that sharrows are, in many cases, better than lanes in the American context.
Technorati Tags: bicycle advocacy, bicycle infrastructure, cycling, traffic design
[...]Here’s a new one: I was the passenger in a pick-up truck heading to Branson, Missouri yesterday. We stopped on our way out of town to get a couple hamburgers for the road — it being past lunch time and we being hungry.
Now the driver, who shall remain nameless, has [...]
Here’s a picture of the Square during the First Friday Art Walk last week. The renovations to the perimeter have created a really nice shared space that’s comfortable for all users — especially walkers and bicyclists.
The lane around the square has been narrowed and integrated with the [...]
I love living in an under-developed country because I know it’s possible to go from this uncivilized state…
Los Angeles Rush Hour At $4.70 gallon, regular from videorizing on Vimeo.
…to this civilized state…
Convenience from Amsterdamize on Vimeo.
…once we finally come to our senses.
It’s only a [...]
The one year anniversary of this blog has come and gone by almost a whole month. I note it only now because something occurred to me while riding downtown today for a cup of coffee: I managed to get all the way there without thinking about bicycle advocacy.
You see, that’s [...]
What if we instituted the Idaho stop for all road users?
Robert Hurst writes:
The Reality of bicycling in cities like Denver is that riders of all stripes from all walks of life and various sides of the tracks tend to take blatant liberties with the law, rolling stop signs [...]
USA Today says more motorists will be on the road this weekend — a good thing according to the AAA because it “bodes well for the economy.” The story neglects to forecast how many people will die in automobile crashes as a result of the increased traffic.
Moving on to [...]
Here I am on my front patio reading David Byrne’s new book Bicycle Diaries. I’ll review it here after I’m finished, which won’t be too long because it’s been a smooth read so far.
This also happens to be a good spot to watch bicyclists and pedestrians. [...]
Up until a few minutes ago I had no idea about the price of gas these days.
My daughter and I walked to school this morning because it’s sprinkling. I’m good to go in the rain on my bicycle. But I don’t make her ride in the rain. It’s a teenage [...]
On a slow news day, start a helmet war
Here’s my contribution:
As a rhetoric scholar I’m always interested in arguments (usually not the shouted kind). And I find the argument that helmets make bicycling look scary worth examining. I appears to go something like this:
Helmets [...]
Last night my wife and I rode downtown with friends to have dinner at Springfield Brewing Company and see a movie at Hollywood Theaters. We took advantage of the dinner-and-a-movie promotion, so tickets were just $5.
Walnut St., part of the Springfield bicycle route system, provides a [...]
This is the scene outside my office window right now.
That’s part of the Grand St. and National Ave. intersection improvement. Apparently they hit a water main. And it has created a big mess.
Technorati Tags: traffic design, transportation
[...]
I spent part of my morning downtown today, and I stopped by the library on the Square to return a book. Look what I found — bicycle racks are returning!
There are now three u-racks in front of the library — and a few others scattered on two [...]
Do safe-driving PSAs work (i.e. change hearts and minds)?
Following my posting of a new and controversial British PSA yesterday, Keri Caffrey posts a few more at Commute Orlando and asks some good questions:
What kind of message breaks through the Culture of Speed to actually change a viewer’s behavior? [...]
This British PSA about texting and driving is getting a lot of attention.
This does not portray a traffic accident. It is a crash. It is the predictable result of stupid and stunningly self-centered behavior.
And, as is all too often the case, the self-centered miscreant that caused the crash lives and [...]
This morning I was determined to succeed.
I figured my ride home from the farmers’ market would be the real test. I’d be loaded with fruit and vegetables, and I’d be stopping at the 4-way heading north on Fremont at Bennett. It’s uphill, too!
Today I was bound and determined to finally [...]
I decided to spend 30 minutes at the intersection of Cherry St. and Hammons Pkwy. on the MSU campus just to celebrate the beginning of school and test my new video camera. This is a 4-way stop. I recorded the action between 3:30 and 4:00, a time when most students [...]
Keri, at Commute Orlando, has published a nifty Flash animation showing how to make left turns in certain situations. Click here for a full-screen version. Also be sure to read her commentary about these turns.
--> -->Technorati Tags: bicycle advocacy, bicycle safety, cycling
[...]According crash statistics studied by Chris Cavacuiti, bicyclists were at fault in car-bicycle collisions in Toronto only about 10 percent of the time. “The available evidence suggests that collisions have far more to do with aggressive driving than aggressive cycling,” Cavacuiti said. His advice for staying safe:
Know and follow [...]As I’ve said before, I do not refer to college students as “kids” because they are adults. Referring to them as kids is insulting.
That said, the kids are back in town! They moved into MSU yesterday. And today they are swarming around campus and downtown on their bicycles — riding [...]
What a hoot! I gotta do this sometime soon
Technorati Tags: bicycle video, cycling
[...]Tom Vanderbilt speculates that providing adequate bicycle parking will encourage more people to commute by bicycle.
I’m a big believer in the City of Springfield and local businesses / organizations providing suitable bicycle racks. The advocacy committee met last night and discussed producing a brochure to help developers properly choose [...]
I saw the following video at Amsterdamize; it’s a trailer for a proposed movie by Michael W. Bauch of everydaybike.com.
I’m looking forward to seeing this for myself — perhaps as soon as summer 2010.
Even though it is unlikely we’ll ever build superior bicycling infrastructure like the Dutch, we [...]
Keri at Commute Orlando found another good one.
Actually, it would be a good idea to do a serious video about how drivers encounter bicyclists on the road. We’re all drivers, too. And I can assure you that I’ve seen some behavior from bicyclists around town that has annoyed me [...]
Carbon Trace reader and MSU student Nate Bassett interviewed me yesterday for an article he’s writing for The Underground, an unofficial student newspaper. The topic: College students and bicycling.
While I have much to say on the topic, the most important point is boiled down in my headline: Don’t ride [...]
I rode my bicycle to the grocery store yesterday afternoon. It’s been more than two years since I last drove a car to the store, and I do the majority of the family food shopping. Here’s what I saw upon returning to my bicycle parked in the rack the store [...]
Keri posted this video at Commute Orlando. This is an excellent illustration of how far away from a parked car you need to ride to be safe.
Now take a look at this picture of the bicycle lane on Boonville just north of the Square (from my earlier survey [...]
I’m in Kansas City for the Green Day concert — 21st Century Breakdown Tour. So no bicycle blogging today or tomorrow. Check back on Friday.
[...]I like fenders.
I understand why a sport cyclist doesn’t want fenders on a road bike. But for utility bicycles fenders are nice to have because they keep road gunk off your clothes.
Some fenders, however, are better than others. Take a look at these two cruisers parked on the MSU campus [...]
Earlier this summer I wrote about riding downtown with my wife for dinner-and-a-movie. Here’s how I concluded that post:
One of my favorite authors, Robert Pirsig, wrote that if there is to be meaningful change in the world it will happen by individuals making quality decisions for themselves. [...]
I own a copy of John Forester’s Effective Cycling (6th Ed.). I knew when I bought it that he was a controversial bicycle advocate. And I knew, because it is always the case, that I’d have areas of agreement and disagreement with him.
What I didn’t realize is that I [...]
My family will be attending the First Friday Art Walk tonight. And, because it’s easy, fun, and convenient, we’ll be bicycling there. My wife and I will be helping out at Global Fayre tonight for a special Kiva event (check out the Carbon Trace Kiva lending team). [...]
