It must be spring. Bicycles are in the newspapers.
At work, I picked up a copy of the International Herald-Tribune and the feature in the business section was, Bicycle is King of the Road as gas prices increase.
Good article covering some effort being made thoughout the world to integrate cycling into cities to help the traffic problems. There is a mention in the feature that says, what has been discovered worldwide is that accident rates have dropped wherever cycling has gained momentum.
The Toronto paper, The National Post, had a big front page feature entitled, Why are Cyclists So Angry?
It pretty much concerned itself with how motorists are not being very safe (specifically towards cyclists) and maybe some cyclists are mad because of the unfair treatment they receive on the road. The only disapointment for me, was the emphasis on the cyclists being injured on the roads without a proper perspective on how great a problem it really is.
One of the subheadline quotes was from a police officer who said that a lot of these injuries are not just cuts and scrapes, they involve broken bones. There was a graph as to how many cyclists are injured and how many have died.
I wrote the author and mentioned (as I mentioned here in a different thread) that there were about 1 million cyclists in Toronto and maybe the few deaths wasn't what one would consider exsessive, and that of the thousand or so injuries, the majority of them were superficial.
The Post story was more high profile and suggested cyclists might be justified in their anger, but I feel it might not have been good in that, it paints cycling as a high risk activity, whereas the Herald-Tribune article was better because it showed how cycling helps cities deal with traffic problems and shows that the more cyclists are out on the road, the safer it is for everyone.
Is cultural perspective showing it self here?
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Not sure, but remember, it WAS the national post ;p
I think the article came on the heals of two deaths due to dump truck / bike altercations in Toronto over the last couple of weeks.
I just received an email from the author of the Post story (I sent him an email and said it was a interesting cultural stance) and seemed interested in the IHT storys' points.
I gave him some more links showing the Tribunes p.o.v. basis.
Just received another reply from the author of the Post story and he asked if he could print my emails to him in the Post. I said that'll be fine.
I don't want people to get the wrong idea that riding a bike on the steets is a dangerous persuit.
Just as I wrote on the thread, Toronto: Two city cyclists dead after colliding with trucks, I wrote,
...about 60% of people in Toronto own a bicycle and there are close to 1 million bicycle riders in the city so, the numbers of bicycle injuries and deaths in the city does not seem to be that high for how many people are riding bicycles.
I'd futher take issue with the extent of the average injury being serious. I believe the vast majority are superficial.
I do agree that many motorists drive in a poor manner and that does anger cyclists, but I think the overall viewpoint that cycling is "dangerous" is wrong.
I do agree that many motorists drive in a poor manner and that does anger cyclists, but I think the overall viewpoint that cycling is "dangerous" is wrong.
Good to hear that their publishing your e-mails. Just a bit of advice on that, if possible ask if they are only going to print the mails in part before you give consent. That way you can avoid being taken out of context and misrepresented.
I agree that that drivers in Toronto are terrible. I would even go so far as to so say that they are the worst city drivers that I have encountered in any place that I have been in. Seriously.
I've had over 50 letters published in newspapers since I decided it was worth it to shed some additional light on a report that might have missed something.
I'm not too worried about this one.
More spring press from the Wall Street Journal
The Cycling Commute Gets Chic
To Encourage Biking, Cities
Add Paths, Racks and Lockers;
To Shower or Not to Shower?
By KEVIN HELLIKER
May 11, 2006; Page D1
Commuting to work by bike has renewed appeal right now. On top of health
benefits -- like offering a chance to exercise without taking extra time
-- it saves on the growing cost of fuel and even carries a certain cachet
at the office.
A growing number of cities are making it easier to ride your bike to work
-- erasing hurdles big and small, from securing bikes safely downtown, to
taking bikes on public transit, to finding a discreet place to shower.
Eager to reduce traffic jams and pollution, cities including Chicago;
Louisville, Ky.; and Portland, Ore. are adding biking-policy departments
at city hall, constructing bike lanes or building bike stations where
riders can park and shower. A 2004 survey of American cities found that
more than 80% planned to build new bikeways. A new contest over which
American cities are friendliest to cyclists has attracted 160 municipal
contestants, each bragging about its bike lanes and lock-up racks.
Nationally, a bill introduced in the Senate last month would give
employers a tax incentive to offer employees $40 to $100 a month to cycle
to work, and a similar bill is pending in the House.
Buses and trains are allowing bikes to come on board in cities including
Albuquerque; Washington, D.C.; and Boulder, Colo. In Chicago, Allison
Krueger, a 26-year-old botanist, now can ride three miles to Union
Station, catch a train to the suburbs, then cycle three more miles to her
office. "The best part of cycling is the sheer joy of riding past people
stuck in traffic," she says. Plus, she adds, "Biking is definitely
fashionable in Chicago."
There are other signs that the cities' efforts are working. New York City
opened a 17-mile bike trail on the West Side of Manhattan, along with bike
paths on the bridges connecting the island to Brooklyn, in 2003 -- and has
seen a 50% increase in cyclists since 2000, to 120,000 cyclists a day,
according to advocacy group Transportation Alternatives. A three-year-old
bike station in Chicago is poised to sell out 500 memberships for the
third year in a row.
Since Louisville installed bike racks on its buses four years ago, cyclist
boardings have nearly doubled to 91,000 in 2005 from 48,000 in 2002. And
the percentage of commuters using bikes rises a point for every mile of
bike lane added per square mile of American cities, said a 2003 study on
bike lanes in the journal Transportation Research Record. The name of the
study: "If You Build Them, Commuters Will Use Them."
One of the newest urban innovations: bike stations, which an increasing
number of downtowns from various California cities to Washington, D.C.,
have added or are considering adding. Bike stations offer a safe place to
park, along with lockers, showers and repair shops. The Chicago bike
station, built and owned by the city, is run by a private company, which
charges members $99 a year for showers, towel service and a personal
locker. Denver, Seattle and Berkeley, Long Beach and Palo Alto, Calif.,
all have similar bike stations.....
The rising price of gas is adding to cycling's appeal.
In a trend reminiscent of previous public-health fashions, affluent
professionals seem to be leading the charge of commuters on bikes, just as
they were among the first groups to embrace organic food, to stop smoking
and to return to feeding babies healthier breast milk rather than formula.
"So far, it's a white-collar movement," says Dave Growacz, a Chicago
biking official and author of the book "The Urban Bikers' Tricks &
Tips."....
Managing the logistics of work-out clothes and office apparel is
difficult. Jerry Roscoe, a cycling attorney in Washington, D.C., arrives
each morning in biking clothes, grabs a shirt and suit from his office,
goes to a nearby gym to shower, then returns to the office ready to work.
"It's complicated," he says.
Of course, many bikers don't shower upon arriving at the office. Mr.
Growacz's book offers tips on how to wear a helmet without messing up your
hair.
The biggest downside of cycling is wrecks, particularly with cars. Per
kilometer traveled, a cyclist in America is 12 times likelier than a car
occupant to be killed, according to a 2003 American Journal of Public
Health article.
Yet the number of cyclists killed in America fell nearly 10% to 724 during
the decade that ended in 2004, according to federal statistics. And
studies show that as the number of cyclists increase, collisions with
automobiles decline because motorists become more alert to bikers'
presence. As cycling in London increased 100% from 2000 to 2005, the
accident rate for cyclists fell 40%, according to Transport for London.
The danger of cycling is far outweighed by the benefits, says Rutgers
University's John Pucher, a professor of urban planning specializing in
cycling issues. Cycling builds muscle, deepens lung capacity, lowers heart
rate and burns calories. "The health benefits of cycling outweigh the
health risks by two to one, if not something like five to one," says Dr.
Pucher, whose voice mail describes him as "car-free John".