More people more injuries, but statistically the percent of people injured while riding has gone down, because there has been more people than ever. Yeah gas prices!
P.S. I love Yehuda’s gloves. probably made of hemp :-p
I have to chuckle. The Prinipal at my daughter’s school is a Triathelete. About 2/3 of the PTA are cyclists of one kind or another. If the school board wanted to take away the bike racks at her school, they’d have a battle!
MT gets the Gold Star today.
If the 24/7 Breaking NOOZ industry isn’t manufacturing one crisis after another, why, we might not have our eyeballs glued to the Glass Tit 24/7, relying on Zik-Zak Snakpaks for nourishment…
Today’s school lawyers would have peed themselves at the sight of my old print shop. 2 Lin-O-Type machines and 4 Chandler-Price hand-smashers…
Okay, this is weird. I’m seeing MORE commuters now that it is getting cooler and they have to ride in the dark! I’m also finding the earlier I ride, the fewer hassles, except for raccoons…they scare the heck out of me!
You wanna talk about scary, I had a big barn owl come up from behind and buzz me on his way to grab the rabbit that was crossing the road in front of me. Nearly loaded my pants that morning
You ought to come around a corner on a cross country bike trail in the dark and run on to 5 Black Angus cows, talk about scary. Any one that has used the RRVT in Iowa knows what I’m talking about.
I love Yehuda’s response in the first panel. Simple and to the point. I can just imagine him saying this in a “um, duh!” kind of tone. Great stuff Rick.
@ Mark Hendricks
I can understand your fear of Raccoons. I grew up on the Oregon coast where they’re not just plentiful, but I’ve never seen one as big as they get there! To make things worse, they are very aggressive there. I used to get chased almost daily there.
I love Yehuda’s response in the first panel. Simple and to the point. I can just imagine him saying this in a “um, duh!” kind of tone. Great stuff Rick.
@ Mark Hendricks
I can understand your fear of Raccoons. I grew up on the Oregon coast where they’re not just plentiful, but I’ve never seen one as big as they get there! To make things worse, they are very aggressive. I used to get chased almost daily.
Lzy Lowrider, replace “cow” with “bear” and you have a fairly accurate rendition of my old commute in BC, taking a cross-country mtb trail between home and the University I was working at, through forest fully unhampered by development. I came over a rise one morning to find Five black bears dead ahead of me. I’ve never changed direction so fast in my life.
About wildlife on the road…..I was coming back toward town a couple years ago on a paved county road at twilight and came within a few feet of colliding with a whitetail deer. She was standing in the middle of the road and we didn’t see each other until the last moment. Almost a pant filler.
I wonder If there is a study about injuries/deaths of bikers against illnesses/deaths of non-exercising people. Yes, it sounds weird, but I’d bet frequent cyclists spend less money on medicines during their lifetime than frequent drivers.
This news just goes hand in hand with today’s strip:
“California has become the first state in the nation to adopt a statewide Complete Streets policy for all local roadways (…) The legislation requires cities and counties to ensure that local roads and streets adequately accommodate the needs of bicyclists, pedestrians and transit riders, as well as motorists.”
The San Diego UT had an unfortunate article a couple of weeks ago that had a predetermined conclusion. The number of bicycle accidents had gone up by 10% while the number of bicycle commuters by one estimate had doubled in the same timeframe. Somehow this leads to increasing danger to cyclists.
After posting up all this data, I really should draw some conclusion from it. So here goes:
The #1 safety booster for cyclists is the presence of more cyclists.
Thus, any measures that discourage cycling, such as mandatory helmet laws, make cycling more dangerous.
Here in Toronto it used to be the case that well-meaning but not-knowing politicians would every so often suggest such a law. The immediate backlash so effectively educated them that I have not encountered any such suggestion for a long time.
Traffic counts to date in 2008 show that there are large areas of Toronto where over 20% of the traffic is carried on bicycles.
I found a comment in another forum which asserted that today 32% of all school children walk or bicycle to school in the Greater Toronto Area (That’s Toronto and its suburbs).
That intrigued me. I’ll see if I can find an authoritative source for this.
Lazy,
I’ve heard stories, usually about deer or skinned rabbits.
DM trails are wonderfully abandoned from my perspective, but they’re also useless for transit (you always travel too far, and they’re in flood plains). The other day (Lincoln, NE) I came around a corner to find young kids playing on the trail, not escorted. Nice kids, very apologetic, but it’s a reminder of why you have to keep your speed down on MUPS.
That was about a week after a minor crash involving dogs with an incompetent handler, another cyclists, another set of dogs, and my own ignorance of what a lip at the edge of cement can do at slow speeds.
I can tell you why more folks are biking right now even though it’s dark. It’s cooler! Nothing better than biking in autumn! You can get to work un-sweaty, have a nice cool ride, and see some sights… perfect!
William:
Yes, the school that shares a building with my kids school has a policy against riding to school. I am trying to fight that get a rack installed. We ride everyday to their school and there is not place to lock up the bikes except to the railings.
I Googled the notion of schools prohibiting cycling and found at the Illinois DOT a page on a SafeRoutes program that cited the apparently all too common phenomenon of schools prohibiting cycling or walking.
I’m glad our school district hasn’t proposed that. My oldest two walk or ride bikes most of the time.
Blackbear: I guess your answer is as good as any. I stink no matter what the temp. and have to give myself a sponge bath at the office every day.
BTW, what is it with everyone always trying to hook up Yehuda with one gal or another? Perhaps he’s happily single, already married, or in a committed relationship. If one were to observe only my office, hobbies or commute, I’m sure they would assume I am not married either (28 yr.’s, 2 grown kids). We even still meet for lunch because of her strange arrangement of days off.
Mark,
I’m in the same boat as you, but not everyone is. Or, maybe you’re going too fast. I’ve cured myself of racing to work by biking a cruiser some days… No amount of muscle makes those suckers fast.
I found the source. It is the recently-released provincial government’s draft transportation plan for the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA). This is Toronto and its suburbs.
Currently the percentage of school children 11 years of age or older who walk or cycle to school is 32%.
The goal proposed in the plan is to raise this to 50%.
It was rather shocking to read your comment that the corresponding figure in the USA is only 15%. And that only for children who live within a mile of school.
I looked it up, and that’s substantially less than 2 km!
lemme see. From 1959 until I got into high school in 1969, I rode a bike to school nearly every stinking day! So did HUNDREDS of other kids! You couldn’t FIND a spot to lock your bike up!
Today there is a bike rack at the local elementary school and one or two lonely bikes. However, at 3:30 the street is PACKED with cars and SUVs for blocks in all directions! yikes!
By the way, Car fatalities about 40,000 per year, bike fatalities, about 750 per year…..hmmmmm, which is safer?
Bush signed the bailout bill today. Included was the bicycle commuter act. If your employer has a program to pay your transit pass or parking with before tax dollars, and you do not use it for those expenses, and ride a bicycle for a substantial portion for a majorityof your commute to work, you can get $20 a month of you paycheck paid to you tax free.
Bush signed the bailout bill today. Included was the bicycle commuter act. If your employer has a program to pay your transit pass or parking with before tax dollars, and you do not use it for those expenses, and ride a bicycle for a substantial portion for a majority of your commute to work, you can get $20 a month of you paycheck paid to you tax free.
$20 of a paycheck paid federal tax free? What would that be at most $6 a month $72 a year. I guess for those fortunate enough to be in areas where there are transit passes and parking fees it’ll be something but it just seems kinda way to little to even bother.
What about including cycling lessons and traffic insight in the course? Yahuda will proof an inspiring teacher.
“um… so stop removing them” – a wonderfully simple and straightforward solution
In PDX, the number of cyclists has exploded, the number of fatalities/injuries is flat. There really is safety in numbers…
And is there REALLY a rise in “bike injuries and fatalities” or is that just the impression people get because of greater media attention?
More people more injuries, but statistically the percent of people injured while riding has gone down, because there has been more people than ever. Yeah gas prices!
P.S. I love Yehuda’s gloves. probably made of hemp :-p
“Kool more bike racks!”
no those aren’t gloves, yehuda’ve grown bigfoot-hands
;-P
I have to chuckle. The Prinipal at my daughter’s school is a Triathelete. About 2/3 of the PTA are cyclists of one kind or another. If the school board wanted to take away the bike racks at her school, they’d have a battle!
Yehuda wont let the man…er…woman put him down.
MT gets the Gold Star today.
If the 24/7 Breaking NOOZ industry isn’t manufacturing one crisis after another, why, we might not have our eyeballs glued to the Glass Tit 24/7, relying on Zik-Zak Snakpaks for nourishment…
Today’s school lawyers would have peed themselves at the sight of my old print shop. 2 Lin-O-Type machines and 4 Chandler-Price hand-smashers…
Okay, this is weird. I’m seeing MORE commuters now that it is getting cooler and they have to ride in the dark! I’m also finding the earlier I ride, the fewer hassles, except for raccoons…they scare the heck out of me!
@Mark Hendricks
You wanna talk about scary, I had a big barn owl come up from behind and buzz me on his way to grab the rabbit that was crossing the road in front of me. Nearly loaded my pants that morning
Yeah, I’ve been buzzed by raptors heading for mice I lit up with my headlights a few times. That will wake you up for sure.
You ought to come around a corner on a cross country bike trail in the dark and run on to 5 Black Angus cows, talk about scary. Any one that has used the RRVT in Iowa knows what I’m talking about.
I love Yehuda’s response in the first panel. Simple and to the point. I can just imagine him saying this in a “um, duh!” kind of tone. Great stuff Rick.
@ Mark Hendricks
I can understand your fear of Raccoons. I grew up on the Oregon coast where they’re not just plentiful, but I’ve never seen one as big as they get there! To make things worse, they are very aggressive there. I used to get chased almost daily there.
I love Yehuda’s response in the first panel. Simple and to the point. I can just imagine him saying this in a “um, duh!” kind of tone. Great stuff Rick.
@ Mark Hendricks
I can understand your fear of Raccoons. I grew up on the Oregon coast where they’re not just plentiful, but I’ve never seen one as big as they get there! To make things worse, they are very aggressive. I used to get chased almost daily.
Lzy Lowrider, replace “cow” with “bear” and you have a fairly accurate rendition of my old commute in BC, taking a cross-country mtb trail between home and the University I was working at, through forest fully unhampered by development. I came over a rise one morning to find Five black bears dead ahead of me. I’ve never changed direction so fast in my life.
About wildlife on the road…..I was coming back toward town a couple years ago on a paved county road at twilight and came within a few feet of colliding with a whitetail deer. She was standing in the middle of the road and we didn’t see each other until the last moment. Almost a pant filler.
I wonder If there is a study about injuries/deaths of bikers against illnesses/deaths of non-exercising people. Yes, it sounds weird, but I’d bet frequent cyclists spend less money on medicines during their lifetime than frequent drivers.
It still strikes me as odd that Yehuda would give them ‘wheel-bender’ racks, much less not even secure them to anything.
This news just goes hand in hand with today’s strip:
“California has become the first state in the nation to adopt a statewide Complete Streets policy for all local roadways (…) The legislation requires cities and counties to ensure that local roads and streets adequately accommodate the needs of bicyclists, pedestrians and transit riders, as well as motorists.”
Full article here:
http://tinyurl.com/4mchao
John Pucher did a set of graphs on injury rates versus bicycling rates. I’ll see if I can find them.
Hey, if you’re in the Cleveland area check out this week’s Sun Press lead story about biking featuring our very own RS! and YM!
OK, I found the data. See the section beginning on page 12 at:
http://policy.rutgers.edu/faculty/pucher/Irresistible.pdf
Particularly interesting is the Dutch case study on p. 14.
I’ll keep looking for the graphs.
I found the graphs. Compare the “Bike share of trips” graph on page 5 with the “Cycling fatality rates” on page 12 of:
http://policy.rutgers.edu/faculty/pucher/Cycling%20for%20Everyone%20VANCOUVER%2024%20June%202008.pdf
The San Diego UT had an unfortunate article a couple of weeks ago that had a predetermined conclusion. The number of bicycle accidents had gone up by 10% while the number of bicycle commuters by one estimate had doubled in the same timeframe. Somehow this leads to increasing danger to cyclists.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20080922-9999-1m22rides.html
I figured Yehuda’s gloves were ragg wool. I still can’t wrap my head around a school actively opposing kids riding bikes. Does this actually happen?
After posting up all this data, I really should draw some conclusion from it. So here goes:
The #1 safety booster for cyclists is the presence of more cyclists.
Thus, any measures that discourage cycling, such as mandatory helmet laws, make cycling more dangerous.
Here in Toronto it used to be the case that well-meaning but not-knowing politicians would every so often suggest such a law. The immediate backlash so effectively educated them that I have not encountered any such suggestion for a long time.
Traffic counts to date in 2008 show that there are large areas of Toronto where over 20% of the traffic is carried on bicycles.
I found a comment in another forum which asserted that today 32% of all school children walk or bicycle to school in the Greater Toronto Area (That’s Toronto and its suburbs).
That intrigued me. I’ll see if I can find an authoritative source for this.
Naionwide stats:
In 1969, 87% of students within one mile of school walked or biked.
In 2008, 15% of students within a mile of school walk or ride their bike to school.
Source: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Kids Walk to School” Program information.
Lazy,
I’ve heard stories, usually about deer or skinned rabbits.
DM trails are wonderfully abandoned from my perspective, but they’re also useless for transit (you always travel too far, and they’re in flood plains). The other day (Lincoln, NE) I came around a corner to find young kids playing on the trail, not escorted. Nice kids, very apologetic, but it’s a reminder of why you have to keep your speed down on MUPS.
That was about a week after a minor crash involving dogs with an incompetent handler, another cyclists, another set of dogs, and my own ignorance of what a lip at the edge of cement can do at slow speeds.
Correlation doesn’t prove cause but take a look at this chart…
http://www.futureofchildren.org/information2850/information_show.htm?doc_id=354477
In 1971, about 5% of children were obese. In 2002, 15% were obese. I’d be that here in 2008, the percentage is higher.
the last page i visited before this one is very sad. i don’t mean this in rebuttal to the yehudas of the world, but in support: http://www.hollandsentinel.com/news/x1288571899/Remembering-Giovanni
I can tell you why more folks are biking right now even though it’s dark. It’s cooler! Nothing better than biking in autumn! You can get to work un-sweaty, have a nice cool ride, and see some sights… perfect!
If Yehuda doesn’t own a car, how did he get the racks to the school?
Hey Stephanie!
Trailer!
William:
Yes, the school that shares a building with my kids school has a policy against riding to school. I am trying to fight that get a rack installed. We ride everyday to their school and there is not place to lock up the bikes except to the railings.
Somehow Moon is going to have a secret romance with this lady.
I like the last frame – looks like the kids are gonna lockup to the racks before the school idiots have a chance to remove them!
I Googled the notion of schools prohibiting cycling and found at the Illinois DOT a page on a SafeRoutes program that cited the apparently all too common phenomenon of schools prohibiting cycling or walking.
I’m glad our school district hasn’t proposed that. My oldest two walk or ride bikes most of the time.
Blackbear: I guess your answer is as good as any. I stink no matter what the temp. and have to give myself a sponge bath at the office every day.
BTW, what is it with everyone always trying to hook up Yehuda with one gal or another? Perhaps he’s happily single, already married, or in a committed relationship. If one were to observe only my office, hobbies or commute, I’m sure they would assume I am not married either (28 yr.’s, 2 grown kids). We even still meet for lunch because of her strange arrangement of days off.
replace deer/bear with a big dump truck … one buzzed me this morning on my final climb on my way to work. talk about pants filler.
@ Stephanie
He got them there using a either a Bikes-To-Work trailer or a Surly Big Dummy.
Mark,
I’m in the same boat as you, but not everyone is. Or, maybe you’re going too fast. I’ve cured myself of racing to work by biking a cruiser some days… No amount of muscle makes those suckers fast.
Yehuda just has hairy palms
Rick,
I found the source. It is the recently-released provincial government’s draft transportation plan for the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA). This is Toronto and its suburbs.
Currently the percentage of school children 11 years of age or older who walk or cycle to school is 32%.
The goal proposed in the plan is to raise this to 50%.
Source is on page 82 of:
http://www.metrolinx.com/Docs/DraftRTPandIS/Metrolinx%20Draft%20RTP%20-%20Low%20Res.pdf
It was rather shocking to read your comment that the corresponding figure in the USA is only 15%. And that only for children who live within a mile of school.
I looked it up, and that’s substantially less than 2 km!
Schools are for learning, not for riding a bike to.
lemme see. From 1959 until I got into high school in 1969, I rode a bike to school nearly every stinking day! So did HUNDREDS of other kids! You couldn’t FIND a spot to lock your bike up!
Today there is a bike rack at the local elementary school and one or two lonely bikes. However, at 3:30 the street is PACKED with cars and SUVs for blocks in all directions! yikes!
By the way, Car fatalities about 40,000 per year, bike fatalities, about 750 per year…..hmmmmm, which is safer?
mark
“Yehuda just has hairy palms”
Which is why everyone assumes he’s single.
Bush signed the bailout bill today. Included was the bicycle commuter act. If your employer has a program to pay your transit pass or parking with before tax dollars, and you do not use it for those expenses, and ride a bicycle for a substantial portion for a majorityof your commute to work, you can get $20 a month of you paycheck paid to you tax free.
Bush signed the bailout bill today. Included was the bicycle commuter act. If your employer has a program to pay your transit pass or parking with before tax dollars, and you do not use it for those expenses, and ride a bicycle for a substantial portion for a majority of your commute to work, you can get $20 a month of you paycheck paid to you tax free.
Yeah – that makes it totally worth it.
$20 of a paycheck paid federal tax free? What would that be at most $6 a month $72 a year. I guess for those fortunate enough to be in areas where there are transit passes and parking fees it’ll be something but it just seems kinda way to little to even bother.
@ mark hendricks and urban bomber:
i have a sad tale of woe from an encounter with a rabid raccoon from july of 2007.
for details and photos, go here:
http://theorphanageandyou.blogspot.com/2007/07/from-waukee-journal-star-71507.html#links