"Bicycles Have Evolved. Have We?" from The New Yorker

[Jim Baross]

Very entertaining and informative. 

"From the velocipede to the ten-speed, biking innovations brought riders freedom. But in a world built for cars, life behind handlebars is both charmed and dangerous."

By Jill Lepore
May 23, 2022

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/05/30/bicycles-have-evolved-have-we-jody-rosen-two-wheels-good

Ride-On!

Jim Baross

Board Member, League of American Bicyclists

President, Calif. Assoc. of Bicycling Organizations

Board Member, San Diego County Bicycle Coalition

[Bob Shanteau]

Jim,

Did you read the article? The author has been in multiple crashes with cars:

"The first time I was ever hit by a car, I was riding home from school ... Maybe I was distracted ... I don’t remember. A station wagon hit me from behind; I broke its windshield ..."

"I’ve been hit more times since—doored, mainly"

Sounds like the lesson the author learned from her first crash was always to ride in the door zone. How can you help people who refuse to help themselves?

Bob Shanteau

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[Gary Cziko]

"The first time I was ever hit by a car, I was riding home from school ... Maybe I was distracted ... I don’t remember. A station wagon hit me from behind; I broke its windshield ..."

I suppose the windshield is the softest part of the front of a motor vehicle to be hit by.

Unfortunately, for pedestrians and cyclists the windshield is out of reach on my vehicles on our roads today.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/12/suvs-trucks-killing-pedestrians-cyclists/621102/

-- Gary

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[Stephen Bingham]

Everyone should weigh in on the issue of gigantic SUV’s by submitting a comment to NHTSA regarding its New Car Assessment Program (NCAP)  here.  Deadline to submit comments was extended to  June 8.  As NHTSA is having a separate Request for Comments on this issue next year, your comment should mention the need to do something this year, in particular to include in NCAP testing protocols Direct Vision Standard (DVS),  which objectively measures how much the driver of a large truck and SUV can see through their windows and mirrors and how big the resulting blind spots are.

 

Families for Safe Streets is finalizing comments which we’re happy to share, once submitted.

 

steve

 

Stephen Bingham

Co-Director

Sylvia Bingham Fund

www.sylviabinghamfund.org

Coordinator, California Ride of Silence Organizers

Board of Directors, Ride of Silence

Member, Families for Safe Streets/San Francisco

 

 

 

From: cabo...@googlegroups.com <cabo...@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of Gary Cziko
Sent: Tuesday, May 24, 2022 11:22 AM
To: Bob Shanteau <rms...@gmail.com>
Cc: Cabo Forum <cabo...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [CABOforum] "Bicycles Have Evolved. Have We?" from The New Yorker

 

"The first time I was ever hit by a car, I was riding home from school ... Maybe I was distracted ... I don’t remember. A station wagon hit me from behind; I broke its windshield ..."

 

I suppose the windshield is the softest part of the front of a motor vehicle to be hit by.

 

Unfortunately, for pedestrians and cyclists the windshield is out of reach on my vehicles on our roads today.

 

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/12/suvs-trucks-killing-pedestrians-cyclists/621102/

 

-- Gary

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[Serge Issakov]

I call bigger fish to fry. 

Like semis. 

Serge

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[Jim Baross]

Let's fry all the fish, sometimes one at a time.

Jim Baross

Board Member, League of American Bicyclists

President, Calif. Assoc. of Bicycling Organizations

Board Member, San Diego County Bicycle Coalition

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[Bob Shanteau]

Stephen,

How about lobbying Congress to expand NHTSA's charge from just motor vehicle safety to also include bicycle and pedestrian safety?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Highway_Traffic_Safety_Administration

Bob Shanteau

[clint.sandusky]

NHTSA does deal with motor vehicle and highway safety -- including https://www.nhtsa.gov/road-safety/bicycle-safety.

Of course, The CPSC deals with consumer product safety -- including the bicycles and e-Bikes themselves.

Clint

Sent from my Galaxy

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[Stephen Bingham]

Bob, no federal law has prevented NHTSA from addressing VRU’s.  The failure of NHTSA to do so is an abominations.  The good news is that that is changing under Buttgieg’s leadership.  In the proposed New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) revisions which you can comment on til June 8, there are numerous proposed changes to NCAP which will require NHTSA to include car safety equipment designed to make it less likely cars crash into bike/peds.  The proposed changes are woefully inadequate so do comment.  On the Federal Register site, you can see the comments which have been submitted.

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[Bob Shanteau]

Stephen,

To address VRU safety comprehensively, NHTSA needs explicit permission from Congress. That will take a significant lobbying effort. Until then, NHTSA will continue to focus on motor vehicles, as Congress has directed.

Bob Shanteau

[Stephen Bingham]

I’m part of a national group advocating for federal requirements that semis and SUT (single unit trucks) have adequate rear and side guards to keep VRU’s from being swept under the truck’s wheels, which is how my daughter was killed.

 

If you know of similar truck crashes or are interested in doing serious work on this issue, shoot me an email.

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[Stephen Bingham]

Bob, check out the proposed NCAP provisions.  Inadequate as they are, it’s obvious NHTSA knows it can address the problem of VRU safety around cars.

steve

[Frank J. Lehnerz]

I think what Bob is saying though is that this stuff right now unfortunately is just window dressing, and doesn't have any "teeth" unless Congress gets serious with some legislation that's not on the 800th page of an 1100 page bill packed with unrelated items.

Formal lobbying to Congress to get legislation written that's more specific to non-MV roadway users is what Bob's trying to say is needed. As individuals and small organizations, someone could put together a basic form letter along with links to the electronic contact pages and/or telephone numbers of members of Congress. Organizations like CABO, Calbike, PfB, LAB, local coalitions have access to millions of bicyclists. 

This would have to be done sooner than later - especially with the midterm elections coming up. 

Frank 

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