So found this via the interwebs and thought I'd post here as well.
Basically, it's a helmet cam actually capturing a car swerving into the bike lane and taking out two cyclists.
Here it is, from Berkeley
Yes, people have commented on the cyclist running the stop sign well before the accident (actually taking a right turn without coming to a complete stop), which I see all the time. But there's not an equivalency going on here. You can't argue that because I turn right at a stop sign without coming to a complete stop, that I deserve what happens about two minutes later.
Friday, April 27, 2012
Monday, March 26, 2012
Springtime
So was playing hooky from work and napping with my door open. Slowly, as if almost in a dream, I heard 2 people yelling at each other.
I got up and looked out, and it's a biker and some body in a car.
I made out this exchange. "What am I supposed to do? There aren't any bike lanes..."
"Why don't you get a car?" and something else that I couldn't quite make out.
Then the biker says, "Fuck you," and walks off.
The car peals out, and the biker, angry walks his bike up the street.
As I fully wake up, I notice the biker is my neighbor and I pull on my shoes and go and find out if he's okay.
He is. He wasn't hit, and the confrontation started when he finally called out the driver on being overly aggressive, revving her engine, crowding him as he took the lane. He, like a lot of us, wasn't just willing to let the cars intimidate him and he spoke up.
I don't have any answers. and admit I'll generally take the biker's side in almost any car-bike conflict but want to point out a few things:
1) Bikers have the right to travel any road, at any time. Now the road in this case was Gold Ave, which is not a major thoroughfare. I've written elsewhere that while I, as a biker, may have the right to travel any road that doesn't always mean its a good idea. But, in this particular case, Gold Ave. is a perfectly fine road for a bike. I live on Gold Ave. and if you think its a good way to bypass Central Ave. or the Lead/Coal debacle, think again. People, some with kids, live here, and we don't take too kindly to choosing our road for your shortcut and in most cases its not a shortcut at all.
2) A car is not an extension of you. It is a large, almost 2 ton vehicle that can kill. So, if you don't have the wherewithal to keep your temper in check, then don't get behind the wheel. We are an overly violent society anyway, so we don't need your contribution.
3) Not all bikers, in fact most of the ones I know, bike because they 1) can't afford a car, or 2) lost their license. Most of the bikers choose bikes because they want to. It's a cost effective, efficient, environmentally friendly way to travel. So, we are going to assert our rights to travel on our streets.
Share the road....it'll make for a much smoother trip.
I got up and looked out, and it's a biker and some body in a car.
I made out this exchange. "What am I supposed to do? There aren't any bike lanes..."
"Why don't you get a car?" and something else that I couldn't quite make out.
Then the biker says, "Fuck you," and walks off.
The car peals out, and the biker, angry walks his bike up the street.
As I fully wake up, I notice the biker is my neighbor and I pull on my shoes and go and find out if he's okay.
He is. He wasn't hit, and the confrontation started when he finally called out the driver on being overly aggressive, revving her engine, crowding him as he took the lane. He, like a lot of us, wasn't just willing to let the cars intimidate him and he spoke up.
I don't have any answers. and admit I'll generally take the biker's side in almost any car-bike conflict but want to point out a few things:
1) Bikers have the right to travel any road, at any time. Now the road in this case was Gold Ave, which is not a major thoroughfare. I've written elsewhere that while I, as a biker, may have the right to travel any road that doesn't always mean its a good idea. But, in this particular case, Gold Ave. is a perfectly fine road for a bike. I live on Gold Ave. and if you think its a good way to bypass Central Ave. or the Lead/Coal debacle, think again. People, some with kids, live here, and we don't take too kindly to choosing our road for your shortcut and in most cases its not a shortcut at all.
2) A car is not an extension of you. It is a large, almost 2 ton vehicle that can kill. So, if you don't have the wherewithal to keep your temper in check, then don't get behind the wheel. We are an overly violent society anyway, so we don't need your contribution.
3) Not all bikers, in fact most of the ones I know, bike because they 1) can't afford a car, or 2) lost their license. Most of the bikers choose bikes because they want to. It's a cost effective, efficient, environmentally friendly way to travel. So, we are going to assert our rights to travel on our streets.
Share the road....it'll make for a much smoother trip.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Burque Bioneers 2011
Come check us out at the National Hispanic Cultural Center on October 21 and 22nd. There will be discussions from Homesteading on the Urban Edge to Accounting for Water in the Middle Rio Grande, from Permaculture, Activism and Solutions to a discussions of the Impact of Puebloan Water Settlements...and so much more.
In fact I will be on a panel on mobility called To Drive or Not to Drive: What are the Options?
Check out the information on the blog below:
Burque Bioneers
In fact I will be on a panel on mobility called To Drive or Not to Drive: What are the Options?
Check out the information on the blog below:
Burque Bioneers
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Accurate Statistics
I was out the other night and I glanced down the Harvard Mall.
There were a few cars navigating the narrow road, but what really struck me was how many bikers were out. I started ruminating as I listened to the band playing in front of Cellar Door. We're missing the whole point in our discussions about how bike friendly ABQ is. Yes, we should pay careful attention to the bike commuters, but if the number of commuters is the only metric by which to measure how bike friendly or bike embracing Albuquerque is, then we've screwed up.
Here's some quick math. For argument sake, let's say I average 7 hours of sleep a night so during a week I'm spending 49 hours a week sleeping, and let's say I average 8 hours a day working and have 2 full days off...no surprise that's 40 hours a week. A week has 168 hours in it. Thus if you subtract the number of hours worked and the number of hours slept, you get79 hours that are pretty much not really accounted for. Now, just getting back and forth to work adds another sort-of definable metric, commuting. Let's say that the average person spends about two hours a day commuting to and from work. Thus now we subtract 10 more hours from our weekly total. That leaves 69 hours that people have to eat, recreate, socialize, exercise, etc. Now what if, as I suspected from the other night, that all those bikers that were buzzing up and down Harvard did that all the time. What if the bike was their main source of "get around" transport? What if a good deal of those people actually drove to work, then we'd miss their numbers when planning a way to make the city better for bikers? I speculate that there are more people who bike (for recreation, entertainment, errands, etc.) than we realize. I speculate that by using commuting as the standard metric for how successful, how mainstream biking is, we're missing the real story.
The real story is most people spend only a fraction of their time at work, thus why is increasing the number of bike commuters the main goal of a lot of bike organizations?
There were a few cars navigating the narrow road, but what really struck me was how many bikers were out. I started ruminating as I listened to the band playing in front of Cellar Door. We're missing the whole point in our discussions about how bike friendly ABQ is. Yes, we should pay careful attention to the bike commuters, but if the number of commuters is the only metric by which to measure how bike friendly or bike embracing Albuquerque is, then we've screwed up.
Here's some quick math. For argument sake, let's say I average 7 hours of sleep a night so during a week I'm spending 49 hours a week sleeping, and let's say I average 8 hours a day working and have 2 full days off...no surprise that's 40 hours a week. A week has 168 hours in it. Thus if you subtract the number of hours worked and the number of hours slept, you get79 hours that are pretty much not really accounted for. Now, just getting back and forth to work adds another sort-of definable metric, commuting. Let's say that the average person spends about two hours a day commuting to and from work. Thus now we subtract 10 more hours from our weekly total. That leaves 69 hours that people have to eat, recreate, socialize, exercise, etc. Now what if, as I suspected from the other night, that all those bikers that were buzzing up and down Harvard did that all the time. What if the bike was their main source of "get around" transport? What if a good deal of those people actually drove to work, then we'd miss their numbers when planning a way to make the city better for bikers? I speculate that there are more people who bike (for recreation, entertainment, errands, etc.) than we realize. I speculate that by using commuting as the standard metric for how successful, how mainstream biking is, we're missing the real story.
The real story is most people spend only a fraction of their time at work, thus why is increasing the number of bike commuters the main goal of a lot of bike organizations?
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