rpenmanparker 

Another one this morning. Two out of three of the recent crashes involved families I am familiar with. Apparently the victim today is not expected to survive his spine and head inujuries. My unofficial source says that when the family has gathered, they will pull the plug. More information when available.

redfooj

cant think of a worse city to ride a bicycle

rpenmanparker 

Don't be silly! New Orleans. I have wonderful routes right through the center of Houston. Low traffic, considerate motorists, multi-lane roads. The trick is to avoid the high class neighborhoods and ride through the lower income areas.

Celiacattack

It's true that it ain't the best but surely ain't the worst. I hear that H-town is at least coming up with more bike infrastructure. Slowly but surely. And like Rpen said there are already some great places to ride around. Gotta know where to look and helps to be familier with the area.

Always aweful to hear such news. Also another death involing the rail near fannin and 610 I heard this morning. Be looking out and looking out for each other.

BoSoxYacht

Sad.

I have so much to say, but there's no way to make sense of any of it.

My prayers go out to the survivors.

I'm thankful that I was able to fully recover from my wreck. I'd rather die than suffer from the injuries for the rest of my life

rpenmanparker 

Problem is the so-called infrastructure is not suitable for enthusiast level cycling. Some of the bike lanes downtown are two way all on one side of the street. So cyclists will be riding the "wrong" way against traffic and approaching intersections from a direction that motorists are not accustomed to scanning for oncoming traffic. That is a recipe for disaster.

Bottom line is that bike lanes and MUPs don't do a thing for the serious cyclist athlete, and having city government and police think otherwise just complicates life for us.

rpenmanparker 

Ya nevah know. You might be able to pick up a pair of tubeless wheels cheap.

HtownTREK

So sad. Prayers for the family. Yes like most other big cities Htown can be a challenge. There ARE some good places to ride but trying to get out of my neighborhood....well I would have a life expectancy of about two intersections. Y'all be alert and safe out there.

FBinNY 

Robert, You weren't clear whether you knew any of the victims, or if it was just local proximity, but either wau, I'm sorry to hear about the casualties so close to home.

Your point about infrastructure is well taken, and is part of the reason I parted company with the bicycle advocate community long ago. The type of infrastructure being proposed and built is designed for urban utility and commuter cyclists who ride in the 10-13mph range. More experienced cyclists tend to do better mixing into the traffic stream (though not necessarily the way the VC folk would have it).

Decades ago we fought (local to my area) to maintain our rights to share the roads, and for access at critical junctures such as bridges. Now my main fear is that as infrastructure is built, we'll lose those rights and be relegated to separate but not equal facilities.

When I'm in NYC, I now avoid all roads with segregated bike lanes, so I don't run afoul of "must use" rules.

This isn't to say that I'm opposed to all infrastructure, but I feel that we need to make clear that the advocates aren't speaking for all cyclists, and very possibly not even for most cyclists, and infrastructure has to be built that best serves the mixed needs of all players, including motorists.

rpenmanparker 

No personal knowledge of any of the victims, but two of the families are known to us through our extended family.

pdedes

I chair my city's cycling & trails advisory committee. Bike infrastructure isn't specifically designed for recreational enthusiasts. It's designed to provide a safer option for those who choose to use a bike to go to school, work, shop or play and should be useable for riders 8-80. Here, there's no requirement for cyclists to use the cycling infrastructure. As a former racer, I'm a confident cyclist and in the majority of cases, I prefer to mix with traffic. But for those who don't feel comfortable, there's a safer option for them. In any case, when I'm riding, 10-15 minutes gets me out onto rural roads which are ideal for fun, fast cycling, whether alone, or in a group.

FBinNY 

We're on the same page. Or are if you make that distinction clear to officials with whom you engage. As I said, I'm not opposed to bike specific infrastructure per se, just to it being promoted as the one answer for all. It makes sense in some places, for some users, and for some situations, but is not a smart trade off for unfettered rights to the road.

Keep in mind, that situations vary, where I live (north of NYC), there's very limited infrastructure, (some signs, a few (very few) sharrows here and there and not even painted lanes, and drivers and bicyclists share the road pretty well. And like you, I can get to nice 2 lanes with light traffic pretty fast. However in NYC it's very different, and the size means that it's about an hour to the city limits for most riders.

doctor j

Agree 100%. Some of our new infrastructure is in this two-way all on one side of the street configuration, but thankfully there aren't many stretches like this. Unfortunately, they converted one of my prime roads to this configuration, and I've come too close to being hit twice for the very reason you cited.

The other issue we have is tunnels. They're great for getting under a major thoroughfare; however, for whatever reason, the approaches to most of the tunnels are blind at the entrances. I'm leery about using them for fear that someone will be riding fast in the wrong lane on the approach.

There's been a ton of money devoted to MUTs in our area, and most of it is very nice. I'm glad to see the attention cycling has gained.

rpenmanparker 

My apologies. Only two car-bike crashes that I now know of. The third was a bike-only crash. I don't have all the details, but the rider was in a group, hit a road hazard, and went flying. Helmet? Likely, but I still don't know. Nevertheless it is not pretty.

Mr IGH

Always sad, not anything extra-normal for a city that size. I sense OP is worried about his own safety. There's risks in every activity, nothing has made me think road cycling is any less safe than mountain biking or hiking.

Celiacattack

I was downtown a couple weeks ago and saw this. Kinda took me off guard with the salmoning. Watched a couple of rec riders manage an intersection poorly, but then again I'm not sure what I would've expected

rpenmanparker 

Yeah, it's bad enough when it is just an ignorant individual deciding to salmon (what, were that taught that by their mommies), but when the city institutionalizes it, that is another thing altogether.

TexMac

Very sad and wish the family all the best.
It got worse with the flooding bike path that i use to commute on TH and GB.

indyfabz

We had a death in Philly last week. Driver allegedly ran a stop sign and killed some teenager. The guy stopped. Story is that his car was littered with empty beer cans.

Over in NJ a kid was seriously injured while riding his skateboard home. Hit and run. They caught the guy. Claims he thought he hit an animal. When he later heard the first responders he says he panicked and went out and stole a car cover to hide his vehicle. His windshield was caved in from the body hitting it. You only drive away from something like that if you are trying to flee. He had been out at a bar, buy the time the cops got him, it was too late for a blood alcohol test. We have had a couple like that over the years. The driver flees, waits for a few days and then turns him or herself in once they see the news. Of course, they usually claim that they thought they hit a cone or an animal.

There was also a fatal hit and run incident involving a pedestrian the other night. I think that was the second one in about a week.

bt

why do you feel the need to disparage a beautiful fish to describe abnormal cycling ?