THE SIX PERCENT
From BikePortland, a study about how many cyclists go through red lights.
Nearly 94 percent of people riding bikes in Portland, Beaverton, Corvallis and Eugene stopped for red lights, a forthcoming Portland State University-based study of 2,026 intersection crossing videos has found. Of those, almost all (89 percent of the total) followed the rules perfectly, while another 4 percent entered the intersection just before the light changed to green.
Only 6 percent of riders were observed heading directly through the red light. …
That compares to, for example, an estimated 36 percent to 77 percent of people who tend to break the speed limit when driving a car on local streets, according to previous, otherwise unrelated research.
Let’s repeat that: Speeding in a car on local streets is at least six times more common than running a red light on a bike.
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HOW CAN A NEWBIE CYCLE SAFELY?
Grist has done a helpful video:
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IT’S JULY, IT’S VELOPALOOZA!
From Ron Richings:
Now in its fourth year, Velopalooza ( www.velopalooza.ca ) runs from July 25 to August 11 – timed for warmth and sunshine.
For Bike Fun to blossom this summer we need cyclists to create and lead rides – and put them up on our ride calendar.
And that is where you come in. Rides can be based on your neighbourhood, an interest, a destination, an organisation, favourite foods (always popular) or any other theme that appeals to you. Or maybe just based on YOU!
With our online ride calendar and ride creation tips we have made this easy, easy, easy. And we will distribute a printed ride calendar later in July.
For a spiffy illustrated guide to doing your own Velopalooza ride, go here.
So do it ! Post and lead a ride. And of course come along for rides that others have created.
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I bike more kilometres than I drive and as am big a proponent of cycling as anyone – but I don’t think bikes thru red lights vs. cars speeding is a fair comparison. Going through a red light – be it on foot, bike or by car – is IMHO a much more dangerous offence.
Experience tells me that there are probably roughly equal shares of idiots using all modes of transportation.
Because most of us speed but don’t run red lights it’s easy to assume that speeding is less dangerous, but I’m not so sure the facts support that.
Speeding is dangerous in almost every scenario – it increases the odds of an accident and the severity. Some studies show an extra 1km/h in speed increases the risk of an accident by 4%. The chance that a pedestrian will survive impact with a car drops precipitously as speeds increase above 30 km/h.
http://www.swov.nl/rapport/Factsheets/UK/FS_Speed.pdf
Running a red light is only dangerous if other vehicles or pedestrians are around. Christy Clark might have been chastised for treating a red light as a 4-way stop early in the morning, but was that actually more dangerous then speeding?