Surprise Gridlock!

Surprise!

It always strange to me how one day can have a completely different traffic situation than the day before or after it.  Something must have been in the air yesterday (all the students returning?), but it was total gridlock traffic in the morning and afternoon commute.  And then this morning, almost no traffic, but crazy amounts of cyclists on the road.  Coincidence, I think not!  (perhaps)

Bikes, good for traffic, good for you.

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What A Moron

In what can only be described as click bait written by a person who seems to have suffered a head injury (perhaps a helmet would help?) Jeff Jacoby continues the Globes tradition of publishing foolish OpEd’s about cycling (see here here and here).

The death last month of cyclist Anita Kurmann, who was fatally struck by a tractor-trailer turning from Mass. Ave. onto Beacon Street, was a terrible tragedy. The 38-year-old medical researcher was at least the 13th cyclist killed in collisions with motor vehicles on city streets since 2010. That number is sure to rise if Boston keeps encouraging people to ride bicycles where bicycles don’t belong.

Busy thoroughfares aren’t meant for cyclists. They are meant for the cars, trucks, and buses that transport the vast majority of people moving through the nation’s cities. Those vehicles weigh thousands of pounds, operate at 300-plus horsepower, and are indispensable to the economic and social well-being of virtually every American community. Bicycles can be an enjoyable, even exhilarating, way to get around. So can horses, skis, and roller skates. Adding any of them to the flow of motorized traffic on roads that already tend to be too clogged, however, is irresponsible and dangerous.

I can’t imagine a less tactful way to talk about the very real problem of  cyclist road safety.  Not only is he being incredibly crass about a recently killed person, he is missing the point that cycling as a mode of road share has been growing rapidly over the last 5 years.  With surging numbers of cyclists on the road, you would expect much higher number of fatalities in a city so poorly designed for cyclists (like Boston).  Indicating that cycling is a much safer mode of transportation than he lets on.

He goes on to assert that because someone died we shouldn’t use that method of transportation anymore?  Did anyone tell him that in the same 5 year period (2010 to 2015) over 1000 people have died in Massachusetts due to fatal car crashes. (source) many of them in Boston, including pedestrians.  Are we to assume no one should walk or drive either?

He also seems to forget that it was cars that were added to pedestrian and cycling traffic, not the other way around.  Cars were late comers to the road mix, and have done nothing but kill and maim since they were introduced.

He also fails to address that Boston is only several feet above sea level, and continued use of oil (cars still run on oil) puts the very city itself in danger of destruction.  Business as usual use of oil will not only clog city streets with traffic, it will submerge those streets under water.  Also you know cars make people fat, angry and clog our air with pollution.  Cycling, solves many if not all of those problems, and causes very few new ones.

He continues to confuse his imagination with reality to such an extent that it seems to be pointless to even type out a response to the whole mess.

Seriously this guy…I think this comment summed it up best:

The distinction between a newspaper columnist and an internet troll gets more subtle every day.

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More Bikes Than Cars!

For the last 7 or so work days I have noticed that on my morning commute, there are significantly more cyclists than their are motorists.  The insane part of it is, the cars still take up vastly more room.

You will pull up to a red light and see 10 cyclists crammed into the tiniest little area, and next to them 3 people in cars taking up the entire road.  The light changes green and all the cyclists cram into a narrow bike lane (happily I might add), while the 3 or 4 cars struggle to find room on roads clogged with on street parking and construction.

There are two lessons I have learned form this.

1.  WE ARE WINNING!  Cycling is clearing a preferable form of transportation, this is due to many peoples hard work promoting cycling infrastructure and education.

2. Driving a car is about the dumbest way to get to work.  If you don’t have a really good reason, leave the 4 wheel vehicle at work, dust off that bicycle, and join the crowd!

Have you seen an uptick in the number of cyclists on your commute?  Have you noticed that you are outnumbering cars?  Let me know in the comments.

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Back From The Corn

I am back from Iowa, 520-ish miles over 6 days, lots of fun. Expect a full review post later.

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Heading To Iowa Again This Year

Anyone else doing RAGBRAI this year? Want to see if we can make a little Boston meet-up in the corn?

What’s RAGBRAI you say? See here (2014, 2013, 2012, 2011).

Let me know in the comments.

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