..Since bicycle helmets are so limited in their protection and little conclusive scientific evidence exists that they save lives or prevent serious injury in collisions with other vehicles, it is possible that placement of air bags on cars can help.

Air bags are standard features on all new cars sold in Denmark but it is only the driver and passengers inside the car who benefit from them.

The Danish Cyclists’ Union [DCF] wants to change all that. The DCF wants the Traffic Safety Board to research the possibility of putting air bags on the outside of cars, between the hood and the windshield. Last year 62 pedestrians were killed in traffic and between 40-50 cyclists lose their lives on Danish roads each year.

“We should exploit all the technological possibilities that can reduce the number of cyclists and pedestrians who are killed or injured because of impact with cars”, said a spokesman for the DCF.

copenhaganize, 29.06.08.

This is really a grand idea.

(Source: dr.dk)

The eight tables give Cafe Abir’s parklet a restaurant-alcove feel.

The most significant change to San Francisco’s landscape in 2011 involves a conjuring act that turns parking spaces into pedestrian nooks.

They go by the name of parklets, a word that didn’t exist two years ago, and when 2011 arrived there were only four. Now there are 22, with six more approved and 44 in various stages of review…

They’re also attracting attention beyond the Bay Area. Parklets have popped up in Philadelphia and Vancouver, British Columbia. Several are planned for Los Angeles. Architectural Record devoted a page this fall to “the ultimate revenge on the modern city: one two less parking spaces, one more park.”

sfgate, 29.12.11.

The Four Barrel Coffee parklet — one of seven in the Valencia Street area — has two bars, with bicycle parking in between. Photos: Liz Hafalia / The Chronicle

also see: Columbia Ave. Parklet.

A man has painted a 30mph sign the height of a double decker bus on the side of his house in a Devon village.

…And let’s be honest, it’s hard not to love 30 kph (~20mph) zones. The British Medical Journal published a study on 20mph zones over a 20 year period with the following results:

• Casualties as a whole were reduced by 41.9%
• There was a fall of 37.6% of killed or seriously injured cyclists
• The numbers of killed or seriously injured children were reduced by half
• The greatest reduction of cycling casualties was amongst children (aged 0-15) 

ecf, 23.11.11.
bbc, 23.11.11. 

I have no idea how to drive in the rain. It’s as if all my years of driving experience have gone out the window the moment the first drop of water hits the windshield of my brand new BMW. I firmly believe that merging onto the freeway at 40mph is a good idea because my top of the line non-performance tires are no match for these awfully slick roads. It’s only drizzling, but I mustn’t go faster than 20mph below the posted speed limit, and I STILL don’t believe in using my blinker. Fuck that, everyone should be able to read my mind. Oh, but it’s totally okay to drive dangerously close to the person on the bike—just trying to say hello and make my presence known!

I’m a San Diego driver—instant idiot, just add water! Oh, excuse me while I reply to this text while trying to get to the 805.

xD so funny but oh so true. x[

Another one-day-of-rain-but-sunny-rest-of-the-week is forecasted for Thanksgiving Thursday. My mom will be here. Perhaps that will be the right day to try San Diego’s new (launched this past Saturday) carshare program, Car2Go, instead of getting my mom to bike somewhere with me in this dangerous city.