122782:

Just the other day a cop told me “We are the police.  We trump everything.” when I asked about several police cars parked in a bike lane.

Hoping this cyclist gets the justice she deserves.

on another note about cops—not only do they park their cars in the bike lanes, on crosswalks, on lanes blocking traffic when there are more sensible places to park or pull over someone to write them a ticket, but even cops with bikes park them in a stupid way blocking people.

yesterday i was walking on shattuck just north of university ave., and a cop just kickstanded/kickstood(?) his bike almost on the middle of the sidewalk while writing a ticket or something to three homeless men. like wtf! you could’ve propped your bike right next to the wall and not impeded heavy foot traffic.

(via thegreenurbanist)

stay away from drivers in flashy cars.

the friend shoulda taken a photo or video.

EVERY PERSON WHO RIDES A BIKE frequently should buy a GOPRO, mount it on the handlebar or strap to forehead, just in case any shit like this happens and you can’t pull your cameraphone out quick enough.

(not that this will magically create peace between cyclists and drivers, but it’d at least get you evidence ie. license plate number)

(Source: 122782)

This “Lisa” is probably a family member of friend or the guy who hit Scott. First of all, is it illegal to ride a bike at night? Secondly, he was hit at 6AM. in the morning. Thirdly, nowhere in any news articles states he was wearing all black. Fourthly, Scott was going straight on a green, so the driver turning on green is supposed to wait and yield until clear to turn. 

read the story and more comments here. there was a memorial ride on friday, 28.09.12.

During July’s Critical Mass in San Diego, a friend of mine, not cycling that night, was walking around the Gaslamp, when excited seeing CM ride through decided to high-five riders and pat them on the back. Unluckily, one of those riders was a police officer who snapped at the friendly pat-on-the-back and immediately threw him down hard on the ground and handcuffed him. Luckily now the charges against him have been dropped. But he posted about it after getting out of the officer’s grip. One of the early comments:

This “Zasueda” is probably a rookie police officer exactly the opposite of what he likes to call himself. My friend did not do anything “milicous and interntional” or the correct spellings. He did not resist the officer at all, was quiet, very dejected-looking, and was only trying to keep his face off the ground so his glasses wouldn’t get messed up.

anyway.. I think I was just going to show examples of trolls on serious stories like these. and the point that they suck and should not be ignored, their IP addresses recored and blocked, etc etc.

San Jose has just done something unheard of in Silicon Valley—the city converted car lanes on several blocks of 3th, 4th, 10th, and 11th streets in downtown, all busy one-way streets with 3 lanes in each direction—a total of 8 miles—to extra wide bike lanes separated by painted buffers from the remaining two lanes of vehicle traffic. What’s going on?

San Jose’s new wide buffered bike lanes provide much more physical separation from vehicle traffic and parked cars than typical bike lanes.

The new buffered bike lanes are just the first examples of one of the most exciting elements of what the city’s Bike Plan 2020 (adopted late-2009) calls “Primary Bikeways”, which will comprise a network of enhanced cross-town bikeways (bike paths, lanes, and routes) featuring bike boulevards, green bike lanes, urban trails, and physically separated bike lanes…

Is it worth it? Of course bicycling would become more convenient, but how does that benefit everyone else? What about residents who might never even ride a bike?

read more: peninsula transportation alternatives, 15.08.12.
map of San Jose Bike Plan 2020. 

A cross-section of a suspension cable shows how it is made up of bundles of individual cables. Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez

As state lawmakers contemplate an independent inspection of the new Bay Bridge tower foundation, construction crews are beginning what might be called the Big Lift — a major step in building the $6.3 billion east span, scheduled to open by Labor Day 2013.

Workers on Tuesday began the three-month process of lifting the 35,200-ton bridge decks from the temporary steel trestles on which they were assembled onto the tower and main suspension cable that will cradle and support the suspension span. As they started work, a state Senate committee grilled Caltrans over media allegations of irregularities in concrete inspections for the tower’s foundations…

sfgate, 16.08.12.