Bicycles - Dangerous Contraptions Driven by Communists
Quote from the Congressional Record - Alaska Rep. Don Young on why we should be drilling at ANWR:
"Some would say we have to get off the fossil fuel habit. All right.
Let's everybody buy a bicycle. Let's all buy a bicycle, and break our
leg, and let's go back to being China."
Inspiring enough apparently to pass drilling in ANWR. The house passed, 225-201 and to the Senate a bill (HR 5429) to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling. A filibuster in the Senate is possible.
A yes vote was to pass the bill
Voting Yes
(PA) Brady, Weldon, Pitt, Dent
Voting No
(DE) Castle
(NJ) Andrews, Lobiondo, Saxton, Smith
(PA) Fattah, Fitzpatrick, Gerlach, Holden, Schwartz
This is the legacy blog of the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia. It is an archive of posts from 2003 to 2014. Making your ride better since 1972. https://www.bicyclecoalition.org
Sunday, May 28, 2006
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Round Up Folder Festival June 9-11
Round Up USA Folding Bike Festival June 9-11
Do you own a folding bike or want to learn more about them? The fourth annual ROUND UP USA folding bike festival is free to all riders and fans of folder bikes.
All events start finish at Trophy Bikes, 3131 Walnut St. Philadelphia PA.
For a complete schedule, visit:
Saturday, May 20, 2006
Ride of Silence - 25,000 riders?
Ride of Silence - 25,000 riders?
Early rough estimates from various Ride of Silence reports indicate that about 25,000 bicyclists hit the streets on Wednesday May 17 at 7PM for a ride. An early count estimates 269 rides with many newspaper and email reports.
In Dallas, the home of the original Ride of Silence it was estimated that as many as 2000 cyclists attended the event. Ride of Silence rides are intended to be contiguous (unbroken). The Dallas ride may be one of largest contiguous rides every executed outside of San Francisco and New York City. (Critical Mass rides have drawn larger crowds in those cities).
ride of silence
Early rough estimates from various Ride of Silence reports indicate that about 25,000 bicyclists hit the streets on Wednesday May 17 at 7PM for a ride. An early count estimates 269 rides with many newspaper and email reports.
In Dallas, the home of the original Ride of Silence it was estimated that as many as 2000 cyclists attended the event. Ride of Silence rides are intended to be contiguous (unbroken). The Dallas ride may be one of largest contiguous rides every executed outside of San Francisco and New York City. (Critical Mass rides have drawn larger crowds in those cities).
ride of silence
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Ride of Silence A Big Success
Ride of Silence A Big Success
The Ride of Silence is quickly turning into the premier event of Bike Week. More than 200 people showed up at the Art Museum, many to remember 6 Year Old Riley Boyle who was killed on Saturday by an elderly driver striking a gate on MLK Driver and City Commerce Dept. Spokesman Tom McNally who died last September and the names of 23 others.
Ride of Silence Photos - By Jon Shinefeld
Kudos and thanks to Ray Scheinfeld, John Siemanowski and David Tran for organizing and coordinating
this event. It took many hours of planning and meetings. Please know that your efforts were absolutely worth it.
Link to Felicity Paxton's wonderful article about Riley Boyle, the child
killed last weekend.:
http://tinyurl.com/lnto5
The Ride of Silence is quickly turning into the premier event of Bike Week. More than 200 people showed up at the Art Museum, many to remember 6 Year Old Riley Boyle who was killed on Saturday by an elderly driver striking a gate on MLK Driver and City Commerce Dept. Spokesman Tom McNally who died last September and the names of 23 others.
Ride of Silence Photos - By Jon Shinefeld
Kudos and thanks to Ray Scheinfeld, John Siemanowski and David Tran for organizing and coordinating
this event. It took many hours of planning and meetings. Please know that your efforts were absolutely worth it.
Link to Felicity Paxton's wonderful article about Riley Boyle, the child
killed last weekend.:
http://tinyurl.com/lnto5
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Honor a victim and help make our roads safer
Honor a victim and help make our roads safer
Posted on Wed, May. 17, 2006
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/editorial/14595780.htm
Felicity Paxton is a senior fellow in the Critical Writing Program at the University of Pennsylvania
At 2 p.m. Saturday a good friend called to say he had just seen a 6-year-old cyclist killed on Martin Luther King Drive. A Mercury had smashed through one of the metal gates that "closes" this section of roadway to traffic on the weekends.
The boy, Riley Boyle of Bryn Mawr, was killed when the gate slammed into him. His siblings sobbed as their brother lay there. The driver, Doris Goodman, 81, of Lafayette Hill, was unharmed.
Two hours later, I cycled to the scene to pay my respects and send silent wishes to the boy and his family. As I stood there, I saw out of the corner of my eye a white van hurtling toward the gates. The driver didn't see me, the "road closed" sign, or the shiny new chain used to refasten the gates after the first crash. He flew into the exact same gate at about 50 m.p.h.
Fortunately for me, I was standing behind the gate he didn't hit, and by some law of physics I don't claim to understand, when the chain locking the gates burst, the one on my side didn't move. Fortunately for the driver, he was wearing a seat belt and survived the collision. Fortunately for all of us, there was no one else in the immediate vicinity as his van crashed through the gate and spun out of control. The van came to rest just feet from where Riley was killed.
That night I had nightmares filled with the sound of metal on metal. Of course, they are nothing compared with the nightmare visited on that little boy and his family.
I cannot explain why I got to live on Saturday and a child out for a family bike ride did not. I know that others who witnessed the first crash ponder the same question. But here's what we do know, and I say "we" because I spent Sunday back at the gates, this time collecting donations for the bereaved family and discussing the safety of this junction with others:
On Saturday, there were no orange cones out on the roadway ahead of the gates. These highly visible markers help motorists speeding down from the Art Museum see that MLK Drive, beyond Sweetbriar, is closed. (There were cones on Sunday, along with three police barriers and a squad car.)
On Saturday, the traffic lights at the Sweetbriar intersection were not set to flashing red, as they should have been to alert motorists to the road-closure ahead.
On any day, dark brown gates are a bad idea. They blend nicely into the park setting, but that is precisely the problem: They aren't sufficiently visible, especially for afternoon drivers with the sun in their eyes. Why not paint them bright orange or yellow?
Neither of Saturday's accidents would have occurred if we didn't have the highly controversial compromise that reopens MLK Drive from Sweetbriar to the museum at noon. This confuses drivers and endangers all those who seek to benefit from the otherwise excellent and enlightened road closure.
A final and painfully ironic twist in this tragic tale: Saturday marked the start of Philadelphia Bike Week, cosponsored by the Bicycle Coalition and the city. Tonight's "Ride of Silence" to commemorate cyclists killed while riding was already scheduled.
Now, we have another cyclist to mourn. Join us at the Art Museum steps, at 6:30 tonight. May our massed silence honor this latest victim and make loud our demand for a safer Philadelphia for all cyclists.
Contact Felicity Paxton at fpaxton@sas.upenn.edu.
Posted on Wed, May. 17, 2006
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/editorial/14595780.htm
Felicity Paxton is a senior fellow in the Critical Writing Program at the University of Pennsylvania
At 2 p.m. Saturday a good friend called to say he had just seen a 6-year-old cyclist killed on Martin Luther King Drive. A Mercury had smashed through one of the metal gates that "closes" this section of roadway to traffic on the weekends.
The boy, Riley Boyle of Bryn Mawr, was killed when the gate slammed into him. His siblings sobbed as their brother lay there. The driver, Doris Goodman, 81, of Lafayette Hill, was unharmed.
Two hours later, I cycled to the scene to pay my respects and send silent wishes to the boy and his family. As I stood there, I saw out of the corner of my eye a white van hurtling toward the gates. The driver didn't see me, the "road closed" sign, or the shiny new chain used to refasten the gates after the first crash. He flew into the exact same gate at about 50 m.p.h.
Fortunately for me, I was standing behind the gate he didn't hit, and by some law of physics I don't claim to understand, when the chain locking the gates burst, the one on my side didn't move. Fortunately for the driver, he was wearing a seat belt and survived the collision. Fortunately for all of us, there was no one else in the immediate vicinity as his van crashed through the gate and spun out of control. The van came to rest just feet from where Riley was killed.
That night I had nightmares filled with the sound of metal on metal. Of course, they are nothing compared with the nightmare visited on that little boy and his family.
I cannot explain why I got to live on Saturday and a child out for a family bike ride did not. I know that others who witnessed the first crash ponder the same question. But here's what we do know, and I say "we" because I spent Sunday back at the gates, this time collecting donations for the bereaved family and discussing the safety of this junction with others:
On Saturday, there were no orange cones out on the roadway ahead of the gates. These highly visible markers help motorists speeding down from the Art Museum see that MLK Drive, beyond Sweetbriar, is closed. (There were cones on Sunday, along with three police barriers and a squad car.)
On Saturday, the traffic lights at the Sweetbriar intersection were not set to flashing red, as they should have been to alert motorists to the road-closure ahead.
On any day, dark brown gates are a bad idea. They blend nicely into the park setting, but that is precisely the problem: They aren't sufficiently visible, especially for afternoon drivers with the sun in their eyes. Why not paint them bright orange or yellow?
Neither of Saturday's accidents would have occurred if we didn't have the highly controversial compromise that reopens MLK Drive from Sweetbriar to the museum at noon. This confuses drivers and endangers all those who seek to benefit from the otherwise excellent and enlightened road closure.
A final and painfully ironic twist in this tragic tale: Saturday marked the start of Philadelphia Bike Week, cosponsored by the Bicycle Coalition and the city. Tonight's "Ride of Silence" to commemorate cyclists killed while riding was already scheduled.
Now, we have another cyclist to mourn. Join us at the Art Museum steps, at 6:30 tonight. May our massed silence honor this latest victim and make loud our demand for a safer Philadelphia for all cyclists.
Contact Felicity Paxton at fpaxton@sas.upenn.edu.
Sunday, May 14, 2006
Boy 6 Killed by Swing Gate Struck By Car
Boy 6 Killed by Swing Gate Struck By Car
From the Philadelphia Inquirer
A boy, 6, was killed while on his bicycle on Martin Luther King Drive in Philadelphia about 1:30 p.m. yesterday. The boy was with his parents near Sweetbriar Drive, where one gate was closed and one open, said Philadelphia Police Sgt. John Long. A car making a turn hit the gate, which swung and hit the boy. No charges were filed, he said, and the investigation was continuing.
MLK Drive is closed to vehicular traffic on weekends from April to October from 7am - 5pm except for the section from the Art Museum to Sweetbriar which opens to traffic at 12pm. Wooden swing gates force traffic to turn left.
But sometimes inattentive drivers crash the gates, in April of 2004 a car hit the gate that swung into 6 cyclists, sending 3 to the hospital. It's time for the city to think of a better solution for keeping traffic off the drive.
From the Philadelphia Inquirer
A boy, 6, was killed while on his bicycle on Martin Luther King Drive in Philadelphia about 1:30 p.m. yesterday. The boy was with his parents near Sweetbriar Drive, where one gate was closed and one open, said Philadelphia Police Sgt. John Long. A car making a turn hit the gate, which swung and hit the boy. No charges were filed, he said, and the investigation was continuing.
MLK Drive is closed to vehicular traffic on weekends from April to October from 7am - 5pm except for the section from the Art Museum to Sweetbriar which opens to traffic at 12pm. Wooden swing gates force traffic to turn left.
But sometimes inattentive drivers crash the gates, in April of 2004 a car hit the gate that swung into 6 cyclists, sending 3 to the hospital. It's time for the city to think of a better solution for keeping traffic off the drive.
Saturday, May 06, 2006
Mountain Biker Killed in Crash
Mountain Bike Rider Killed in Ridley Creek Crash
According to the Delco Times - On April 26, a 21-year-old Widener University student suffered severe head trauma after he was thrown from his bike when he crashed into a tree while descending an unpaved hiking trail at a high rate of speed in Ridley Creek State Park.
According to the Delco Times - On April 26, a 21-year-old Widener University student suffered severe head trauma after he was thrown from his bike when he crashed into a tree while descending an unpaved hiking trail at a high rate of speed in Ridley Creek State Park.
Streets Department Fixes Whitby Avenue
Streets Department Fixes Whitby Avenue
The key connection between Philadelphia and Delaware County has been repaired. Whitby Ave at the Cobbs Creek Bridge was severely potholed and loaded with trash any many bike commuters chose to finally avoid using the high speed/high volume Marshall Road instead. Kudos to the Streets Department.
The key connection between Philadelphia and Delaware County has been repaired. Whitby Ave at the Cobbs Creek Bridge was severely potholed and loaded with trash any many bike commuters chose to finally avoid using the high speed/high volume Marshall Road instead. Kudos to the Streets Department.
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