Once ranked among America’s worst bicycling cities, Boston has cleaned up its act in recent years, becoming a safer place to bike to work, according to a Harvard Chan School study of injuries to bicycle commuters between 2009 and 2012. Read more
Category Archives: US Posts
USA
FAQ: Why do you ride like that?
“Biking in the middle of the lane like that sure looks dangerous.”
Driving in the middle of the lane actually protects cyclists against the most common motorist-caused crashes: sideswipes, right hooks, left crosses, and drive-outs. A bicycle driver’s top safety priority is to ensure he or she can be seen by motorists with whom they might potentially be in conflict, and bicycling in the middle of a lane is one of the most effective ways to do that. Most overtaking crashes involve a motorist who attempts to squeeze past (illegally) in a lane that is too narrow to share. Read more + video animation
One Simple Trick To Stop NYC Drivers From Killing You
Just a few days ago, Mayor de Blasio proclaimed 2015 to be the safest year on New York City’s streets since 1910 thanks to his ambitious Vision Zero plan; despite the decrease in traffic fatalities, a report a day later soberly pointed out that Vision Zero is on track to be some three decades behind its stated goal of achieving zero traffic fatalities by 2024. Some safe streets advocates are growing impatient with the pace of Vision Zero initiatives—and for the families of the 134 pedestrians killed in traffic crashes last year, the city is already moving far too slowly. Read article
The True Costs of Driving (USA)
Car owners don’t come close to covering the price of maintaining the roads they use
A report published earlier this year confirms, in tremendous detail, a very basic fact of transportation that’s widely disbelieved: Drivers don’t come close to paying for the costs of the roads they use
Deep snow Stateside
Cycling surges in the land of the automobile
America is known for its enduring love affair with the automobile. But in the last few years cities across the US have reported a surge in bicycle use, as people search for greener, healthier – and cheaper – transport options. The BBC’s Daniel Nasaw looks at what Washington DC is doing to push two-wheeled travel. Full article
How to Get More Bicyclists on the Road
Getting people out of cars and onto bicycles, a much more sustainable form of transportation, has long vexed environmentally conscious city planners. Although bike lanes painted on streets and automobile-free “greenways” have increased ridership over the past few years, the share of people relying on bikes for transportation is still less than 2 percent, based on various studies. An emerging body of research suggests that a superior strategy to increase pedal pushing could be had by asking the perennial question: What do women want? Full article.