Commuting

Go By Bike Day

17 February 2010

Leave the car at home and try cycling to work or school. It's fun, easy and costs nothing! Cycle along to your local Go By Bike Day event and enjoy a free Bike Wise breakfast.

for those who have not seen the email from Eldad regarding bike buddy programme for bikewise month. sorry to double up on those who already received.

google 'black spot' map for logging dangerous spots for bikes on the roads in Rotorua

Recently, while checking in on the Craigslist Missed Connections (for the blog, I swear, for the blog!) I happened upon the following post:

MC with bike partner/mentor - 25 (Williamsburg)

For all my derision, the last thing I’d want to do is discourage someone from riding a bike. If anything, I’d like to think I poke fun at the things that are actually barriers of entry to new cyclists, and not at new cyclists themselves. I’d also like to think it’s a good thing that someone might be afraid of both winding up on this blog and being killed, because some of the things I make fun of actually can get you killed. (Brakeless bike-salmoning, for example.) So with the bike boom in full, uh, boom, and with as many young people as ever moving to the trendier neighborhoods of various urban centers and thinking of taking up the filthy cycling habit, I think it’s worth taking a look at the barriers of entry to new cyclists so we can steamroll right through them and get more people riding

Commuting to work in Melbourne is set for major change now that bike infrastructure will have equal status in the planning and building of Victoria’s transport network.

The era of discrimination, where bike riders were lucky to get a few left-overs when roads were built, has officially ended with the government’s announcement of the Victorian Cycling Strategy

“This is a history-making document,” Bicycle Victoria CEO Harry Barber said. “For the first time in Australia bike riding has been formally recognized as part of the core transport system.”

Mr Barber was commenting on the release of Premier Brumby’s $115M blueprint for future bike infrastructure investment.

The release of the transport strategy follows 13 months of frank discussion between Bicycle Victoria and the state government.

Encouraging Cycling

There are many ways in which cycling can be encouraged which complement engineering and planning initiatives. Cycling England’s professional support team can provide advice on ways in which local authorities and others can encourage more people to cycle, working with those engaged as professionals and with elected members.

Cycle Lanes: Safety under Scrutiny

Latest research has shed doubt on the benefits of cycle lanes, often thought to be a key incentive for novice cyclists. It would appear that, in the absence of a cycle lane, drivers show more care and consideration when overtaking. If there is a cycle lane, drivers tend to treat it as the only space cyclists need and leave less room when overtaking them.

Women cyclists make up a far higher proportion of deaths involving lorries than men. Why?

Many of the fatalities involving cyclists happen in collisions with a heavy goods vehicle (HGV). This year, seven of the eight people killed by lorries in London have been women.

Considering that women make only 28% of the UK's cycling journeys, this seems extremely high.

How to Get More Bicyclists on the Road

To boost urban bicycling, figure out what women want...