Strict Liability

Something to push for here in the United States.

Tags: planning, Rights and Duties, Sustainability, Transportation

Need a street cleaned?

If you ride on skinny tires then you must appreciate street sweepers. Sure much of their work goes unappreciated when we cus them for rarely cleaning our favorite streets but now they are offering us a chance to give input.

Lets get our favorite streets cleaned!

Report Streets for Sweeping online by clicking here

And you can report potholes online or by phone too:
Join the Pothole Posse! click here or call 541-2595

Tags: Bicycle safety, city services, road cleaning, Transportation

Abq cyclists SEEN

With more than 200 cyclists riding together on Central and other major streets in Albuquerque Sunday, Albuquerque drivers are hopefully more aware that we need to be SEEN. BikeABQ’s Can You See Us NOW? ride was a major success and it received major media attention.

See Johnnys story on KOAT 7
http://www.koat.com/news/21022599/detail.html

Tags: Bicycle safety, Bike Ride, Critical Mass, Fun video, Ride, Sustainability, Transportation

Gustavo Vega Memorial Ride

This Saturday Sept. 12th there will be a memorial ride for Gus. Any one with a bicycle please come out and support his family. Let’s show the city of El Paso and surrounding communities that we cyclist stand united.

Gustavo Vega

The ride will be leaving Dick Shinaut Park on Saul Klienfeld at 9 am. It will then head down Pebble Hills to Eastwood Park, formerly Album Park. Once at Eastwood Park everyone will regroup and ride back to Dick Shinaut Park. It’s a 9 mile loop. Belen will be waiting with goodies and after ride drinks. The media will be present, so it’s very important that we let El Paso know we’re out there. Thank you to everyone ahead of time, and be careful.

Tags: Bicycle safety, Bike Ride, El Paso, In memory, Ride, Sustainability, Transportation

Unsung Hero

We At Urban Aggression would like to congratulate Senior Las Cruces City Planner Mr. Andy Hume for receiving the Unsung Hero Community Champion Award. Molina Healthcare of New Mexico recently recognized his efforts in implementing the Safe Routes To School program, which provides better bicycle infrastructure and education for schools, providing children a safe & healthy alternative way to get to school.

Mr. Hume is a planner for the local Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) and has been the crucial link between the community and the powers-to-be. He helps communicate ideas and concerns with city council as-well-as works to secure funds for future bicycle facilities. Mr. Hume has set a goal for the City of Las Cruces to become a recognized Bicycle Friendly Community by the League of American Bicyclist. A formidable task we know he can accomplish. We hope more of Andy’s hard work pays off in the near future. Bureaucracy and funding have proven formidable opponents to real on the ground improvements in facilities but we know with support from local cyclists, he can help this city get moving in a healthier direction.

Andy can also be found out-and-about at the various local events riding his bicycle. Congrats again and thanks for all your help!

Tags: planning, Transportation

We didn’t Start the Fire!

With the weather cooling down and NMSU back into full swing, unwelcomed confrontations between cyclists and motorists are sure to increase. Unfortunately, public sympathy is hardly on the side of the bicyclist. This is evident in the case of Anthony Lemieux, who was killed while riding on the correct side of a designated bicycle facility. The perpetrator, 23-year-old Stephanie Parra-Perez, was never investigated nor fined. No investigation into whether she was on the phone or texting at the time of the incident was ever conducted. In other words, she got away with murder.

In our auto-centric society, cyclists in general are view as second class citizens who are not entitled to utilizing the roads. A completely false sentiment that is deplorably shared by many in the law enforcement community, as I have witnessed. Sorry folks, all those expensive bicycles dangling on the back of squad cars (that tax payer money purchased) are hardly used… and it’s pathetic when they do! I have witnessed trained bicycling officers of the law riding on the sidewalk on the wrong side of the road which is most dangerous, illegal, and sets a very bad example. If you ever see a Las Cruces city bicycling officer at night, note that they don’t use their legally required lights, another terrible example for them to set.

Since a very minute percentage of society ever ride their bikes past the end of the street, coupled with ideals mentioned above; bicycle-automobile collisions have become a very hot topic. On most occasions, fault is automatically attributed to the cyclists. Tragically, many will never be able to tell their side of the story, as in Mr. Lemieux’s case. Read the Las Cruces Sun News article of this incident for an excellent example of backwards finger pointing.

Now, a report published by the University of Toronto’s Dr. Chris Cavacuiti of the department of family and community medicine and staff physician at St. Michael’s Hospital states otherwise. His research suggested that 9 out of 10 collisions are cause by the driver.

The most common type of crash in this study involved a motorist entering an intersection and either failing to stop properly or proceeding before it was safe to do so. The second most common crash type involved a motorist overtaking unsafely. The third involved a motorist opening a door onto an oncoming cyclist. The study concluded that cyclists are the cause of less than 10 per cent of bike-car accidents in this study.

This study does coincide with my feelings about bicycle-auto collisions, as we are at a massive disadvantage going up against a two-ton hunk of steel. What does Dr. Cavacuiti recommend? Better trained enforcement and public education, similar to whats seen in many European countries. I would also like to see our local law enforcement receive extensive training on the matter and for the civic leaders to appreciated what better cycling infrastructure can do to our community.

Until then… keep your eyes peeled people!

See what the Doctor says…

Tags: Bicycle safety, Rights and Duties, Sustainability, Transportation