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BikeNerd: Today's Bike News
One BikeNerd feature we're hoping to run regularly is a sampling of the day's best bike-related news and commentary (which you should feel free to make me aware of via email). Today's links feature Congress, a new theater in the "War on Cars," and a narrowly averted homicide.
1) NPR's going to run a story on All Things Considered tonight about the US House GOP's assault on bike funding. According to the story, Seattle and several other cities have received federal funds for new bike lanes, but House Republicans, in their typical reactionary and change-averse style, have mounted efforts to scale down non-driving transportation funding significantly.
2) In a sigh-inducing and all-too-familiar editorial at the Huffington Post that could just easily have appeared in the Op/Ed sections of Crosscut or The Seattle Times, Keith Ecker, a Chicago freelancer, complains about "aggressive bikers" who "[feel] that a four-way stop [applies] to everyone but [them] and [their] Schwinn[s]." (Why is it always a Schwinn in these pieces?) The headline even refers to the "War on Cars." Ecker hits all the familiar points of anti-bike rhetoric and even cites a bike forum troll as the spokesman for all bike riders everywhere. In sum: Only read this if you want to be frustrated.
3) Meanwhile, an alarming near miss went down in our neck of the woods. In an open letter addressed to Mayor Mike McGinn, Central District cyclist Kit Newman describes a narrowly-averted head-on collision with a semi truck. Newman alleges that the trucker jumped lanes and attempted to run him down intentionally. If that's true, everyone on the road—bike, car, scooter, pedestrian— should watch their backs, fronts, and sides until the alleged sociopath driver is caught. The full text of the letter can be found here.
Stay tuned for more bike news.
1) NPR's going to run a story on All Things Considered tonight about the US House GOP's assault on bike funding. According to the story, Seattle and several other cities have received federal funds for new bike lanes, but House Republicans, in their typical reactionary and change-averse style, have mounted efforts to scale down non-driving transportation funding significantly.
2) In a sigh-inducing and all-too-familiar editorial at the Huffington Post that could just easily have appeared in the Op/Ed sections of Crosscut or The Seattle Times, Keith Ecker, a Chicago freelancer, complains about "aggressive bikers" who "[feel] that a four-way stop [applies] to everyone but [them] and [their] Schwinn[s]." (Why is it always a Schwinn in these pieces?) The headline even refers to the "War on Cars." Ecker hits all the familiar points of anti-bike rhetoric and even cites a bike forum troll as the spokesman for all bike riders everywhere. In sum: Only read this if you want to be frustrated.
3) Meanwhile, an alarming near miss went down in our neck of the woods. In an open letter addressed to Mayor Mike McGinn, Central District cyclist Kit Newman describes a narrowly-averted head-on collision with a semi truck. Newman alleges that the trucker jumped lanes and attempted to run him down intentionally. If that's true, everyone on the road—bike, car, scooter, pedestrian— should watch their backs, fronts, and sides until the alleged sociopath driver is caught. The full text of the letter can be found here.
Stay tuned for more bike news.
