News from Elsewhere

@tomflood1

25/12/2021
“It wasn’t until the early 1980s that Dutch cities developed a network-based approach: Instead of designing individual bike routes, they built an entire grid for a variety of destinations, distances and users; allowing cycling from anywhere to everywhere. https://t.co/BCWbgIbjfV”
twitter.com

Andrew Dessler, climate scientist at Texas A&M, explains the impact that extreme climate events are having on the world right now and says things could actually be worse than scientists’ most dire predictions.
Wed, Jul 21 2021

Bad Cycling Excuses @cyclexcuse
“Hospital staff should not have to pay hospital parking charges” Correct, because they shouldn’t have to drive to work. Enable public transport and active travel. Parking charges should increase, if anything. This is not a hot take.

Gabrielle Canon 31/12/2021
Two fast-moving wildfires driven by strong winds erupted in northern Colorado on Thursday afternoon, destroying close to 600 homes and forcing tens of thousands of residents to flee.
At least one first responder and six others were injured, though Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle acknowledged there could be more injuries and deaths could be possible due to the intensity of fires that quickly swept across the region as winds gusted up to 105 mph (169 km/h).

According to a study done by ScrapCarComparison (SCC), BMW drivers are most likely to be psychopaths. That doesn’t indicate all BMW drivers are psychopaths; it just means more are than any other car brand. Drivers of BMW models already have a negative reputation, between failure to use turn signals and much worse offenses. SCC noted that a Google search of the phrase “why are BMW drivers…” is followed up with words like “arrogant,” “idiots,” and “so hated.”

Mariam Ghaemi 31/12/2021
A bicycle bus is being trialled in a Suffolk town by a charity with the motto “more smiles per mile”.
Bury St Edmunds Rickshaw has loaned the four-metre long bike, which is believed to be one of only a couple in the country, with a view to buying its own to transport children to school to cut down on emissions.
If the trial goes well, Libby Ranzetta, one of the founders of Bury Rickshaw, said they would look to raise the £15,000 to purchase one of these bikes from the Netherlands where they are made.

@BicycleLobby
Did you know? For every $1 the country spends on highways, it shouldn’t.

Allison Hart was hit and killed as she rode her bike in a D.C. crosswalk on Sept. 13.

Angie Schmitt
The government can no longer allow the auto industry to treat walkers and bikers like collateral damage.
After a decade of steady increases, the newest Ford F-250—part of Ford’s F-Series of pickups, the No. 1 selling vehicle model in America—measures some 55 inches tall at the hood. That’s “as tall as the roof of some sedans,” a Consumer Reports writer remarked in a recent analysis examining the mega-truck trend. This height would easily render someone in a wheelchair, or a child, totally invisible at close range. If I, a tallish woman at 5 foot 6, were hit by a new F-250, I would be struck above the chest. The face, head, neck: These are not great places to suffer a forceful blow—like the kind that an up-to-7,500-pound F-250 can deliver.