Peter Furth is spreading the misinformation (as has Pete Stidman before him) that I prevented the installation of bike lanes in Boston. This is absolutely not the case. The Mayor was opposed to bicycling and bicyclists at the time, and of course the default in any road design project is no special bike lanes. I [...]
An amazing story from New York City: bicyclist Christina Thede passes a double-parked car, is nearly doored by its driver, complains to him, and goes on her way – but is chased and assaulted by the door-opening motorist. Only it turns out the driver is an off-duty police officer, who arrests her — actually brings [...]
The Sept/Oct issue of American Bicyclist has a feature article, “Bringing Bicycling into the Mix: The New AAA” (not yet on the LAB website) consisting of an interview with Rhonda L. Markos, a Traffic Safety Specialist with AAA. She acknowledges that “AAA’s involvement in bicycle safety has targeted predominantly school-aged children.” I kept waiting for [...]
Every time that a newspaper or magazine runs an article on laws and advice about safe bicycling, I cringe. I know that there is a good chance that they will get stuff wrong. Well The Boston Phoenix messed up big time in its “Boston Bike Bible 2010” special just in time for Bike Week. In [...]
This morning on my way to work on Centre Street, a wrong-way rider is coming right at me in the 4 feet between stopped traffic and parked cars. I slow and wave at him. He just keeps charging along. Fearing a collision, I hop off the bike, and he barely fits past, still zooming, and [...]
Finally, a bill fixing some of the problems in Massachusetts traffic laws relating to bicycling has been signed in to law by the Governor.
Peter DeMarco’s “Who Taught You to Drive?” column recently took up the subject of mopeds. This topic is timely, since people are discovering these small motorcycles now that gas is more than $4/gallon. He also brings up two issues related to non-motorized bicyclists: passing between lanes of stopped traffic and parking on Boston sidewalks.
UPDATE June 27, 2008: Aaron Fine was sentenced to two years, but only two months in prison, followed by a suspended sentence for six years with supervised probation, including these special conditions: mental health counseling, abstaining from driving for four months, 600 hours of community service, and no contact with the Shatz family.
A few weeks ago I bought a new bike — a Jamis Commuter 3.0. Mine is black, the 2008 model, but Harris Cyclery was good enough to put on the 2007 bars, which are more of the moustache variety, and a shorter stem. I also put on a lighter, narrower seat, a Delta rack, toe [...]