billallbritten

https://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25695376/

bikebuddha 

I've said it before and I'll say it again I love the high gas prices.

envane

Deadly tension on the roads — cars vs. bikes

Accident toll rises as gas-shocked commuters opt for bicycles

oh how I hate these sensationalistic headlines.

one_beatnik

Overall, though, it was a balanced article and tried to show both sides evenly. In fact, it may have favored bicyclists a bit. It at least showed bicycling in a positive light overall.

iPirate

I understand the want to get people riding but high gas prices don't just change people's commuting.

The price of food has gone up as well. Price of many other things have been increased because of gas prices, even the price to ship a bike to your house to ride!

MMACH 5

This is true. However, as long as we have cheap gas, there will be no real push to find alternative sources of energy. We, as a society have proved this. There were very few fuel efficient cars in the U.S. until the oil "shortages" of the 70s. Once that passed, we went right back to buying big, gas-guzzling behemoths.
And so, here we are. The big story in the news yesterday was about getting oil companies to drill on the land they lease from the government and allowing exploration and drilling, offshore. Rather simplistic to think that we will reduce our "dependence on foreign oil" by drilling locally. Come on people, there is a global pool that oil companies draw from. The U.S. will see very little benefit from the small amounts we add to that pool.
Hopefully, the prices will stay high, long enough for technology to make some real gains in alternative energy.

mjw16

Cool. I know Ron at Wheel Nuts, in fact my wife and I met at his shop, he's my on the trail-emergancy-go to guy if I have an emergancy or just need a tube or something. Now, back to the artical...

freemti

I agree, in balance it leaned towards seeing bike communting as a positive not a negative albeit with issues. I was upset by its use of unsupported statictics and what seemed to be anecdotal hearsay. like this part:


Either show me some supported statistics or not. It might be true there is a sharp rise, but with not hard numbers anything else is just a SWAG

or this:

Maybe there was a critical mass rally in town, otherwise this statement doesn't make any sense. Maybe they mean there was large numbers of riders who were possibly commiting standard traffic offenses.

However the article was OK, pretty mainstream MSM blather, but not obviously stupid or one sided.

lksfirecapt

My frustration is too many of these stories make the sole connection with high fuel prices. And while I understand that is the current "driving force", but in reality the cost of fuel should not be the motivation. We are at the brink of some climate changes that could eclispe the issues with fuel prices.

This whole "drill, drill, drill" thing is kinda like showing up at an AA meeting with a six-pack. Now that the price of oil has had a slump (all though temporary) I just know the huge SUV's and motorhomes will be back in vogue.

One of my favorite comedians makes the following statement: "Americans are like ******** trust-fund kids with nuclear weapons".... Unless gas goes to $8 a gallon I hold out very little hope that these changes will become the norm.... we just never learn.

corripio

Amazingly, that wasn't a terrible article. At least the anecdotal evidence was balanced (cyclists ignoring signs, but drivers being aggressive toward cyclists). Too many articles I read on bike commuting, and cycling in general, often leave out the whole thing about drivers yelling at you, throwing stuff, passing too close, trying to run you off the road, etc. and just try to focus on things like "cyclists always just coast through stop signs! ban bikes on roads!".

I think the point about new riders is pretty valid though. A lot of people new to bike commuting, or to riding in traffic in general, don't really know how to be part of traffic safely. I constantly see people biking on the wrong side of the road. I see a lot of people struggling to make it up small hills (presumably because they don't know how to use their gears, or the bike no longer shifts because it hasn't been used in 10 years). Or struggling to pick up any speed because their seat is in the lowest position and they can't get any power. These are all really simple things to correct, and once corrected, would make riding a lot safer and more fun.

I would love to see these articles on bike commuting link to places like this forum (it's a great place for advice and answers), to some of the online books on bike safety, to the pages on basic bike maintenance and adjustment, etc.

corripio

I agree. It might be motivating some people to make a positive change, but not all. I personally have been bike commuting for years...it may be shocking to some people, but a big factor in determining the apartments/houses I've lived in was the proximity to my work (e.g. could I walk there? could I bike there?) and the proximity to mass transit...and that was when gas was about $1.25 a gallon!

murphstahoe

When I compare those two concepts I will opt for higher gas prices and the higher food prices. I have been hit by an inattentive driver and ended up with a broken wrist. At the time if given the option of paying $50,000 and having my wrist not broken I would have done it in a flash.

The Figment

Here in Kansas the skyrocketing fuel prices have done Nothing to get folk out of their Cars and Trucks,They still go 80+Mph on ALL of the state hiways,drive like fools and have this 'tude of "Pry my F-350 7.8 Liter Turbo Deisel From My Cold Dead Fingers"
I can't wait till Gas hits $10 bucks a gallon.....Then and only then will we see any REAL change in the way the US uses and thinks about Fuel and Energy Conseveration.
Right now energy cost are only a major inconvenience to most folk (Tho its starting to hurt some of us lower income folk) and the only way to change this is to Force people to change.....Americans Will Not Change their ways on their own!
I remember Odd-Even Plates and $2.00 was all you were able to buy at a time (1973-74) and that didn't work......Americans have a bad case of memory loss!!

chipcom 

THE SURGE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR A SURGE IN BIKE COMMUTING!

Can I spin or what?

vtjim

Now we're seing average or below average motorists being forced onto bicycles, having no idea what they're doing, and getting themselves into trouble. Until now they've been protected by lots of metal and good visibility.

I've ridden with a couple of newbie commuters and been horrified by their behavior. Sidewalk riding with pedestrians, trying to go straight from the right wheel-track of a right-turn lane, that sort of thing. I try to gently educate, of course.

You need to both blend with traffic as well as stay out of its way. If that makes sense.

caloso

Yes, but look at this way: an incompetent driver can kill several others instantly with his machine; an incompetent cyclist is likely to hurt only himself or a few others.

daveF

[/QUOTE]It’s not their right to assault a cyclist or to run a cyclist off the road because they get impatient,” sheriff’s Lt. Pete Kelting said.

After the Seminole County, Fla., sheriff’s office recently began fielding scores of complaints from drivers that bicyclists were clogging major streets, it sent out deputies with video cameras. The cameras revealed large groups of bike riders illegally disrupting traffic.[QUOTE]

I ride with the group that they are talking about here. Seminole County deputies were targeting us after they received complaints from motorists. We were essentially harrassed by the deputies on several occasions when we were obeying traffic laws. One deputy almost ran my son off the road while he was physically trying to get the group to ride in a single file on the extreme right edge of the road. This is on a vary narrow road. Under Florida law, it is not required to ride single file nor on the extreme right edge of the road. On a substandard lane (under 14ft in width), cyclists can take up the entire lane.

After receiving numerous complaints & a visit from several bicycle advocates, including Keri Caffrey, Lt Kelting came & spoke to all of us prior to our Saturday morning ride. He told us to take the lane for our safety, ride a double paceline, etc. We weren't harrassed after that by the Sherriff's dept. The main point is that we are getting law enforcement as well as drivers informed concerning laws involving bicyles & cyclists rights.

nemo

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...81#post7085081

Technojunkie

But the royalties and income taxes that would be paid on that domestically drilled oil could pay for a lot of neat things. It would certainly be better than sending hundreds of $billions a year to unfriendly nations.

MMACH 5

Except that we aren't sending hundreds of billions to unfriendly nations. We are sending it to Shell Oil, ExxonMobile, ConocoPhillips, etc. They get their oil from the world oil supply and unless they or the government has plans of using that money to subsidize our thirst for oil, there will be no relief at the gas pump for the United States. No matter how much domestic drilling we do. That is, until the Futures market crashes.

PunkMartyr

I would love for our society to move to bikes being the normal transit mode