The Monday Roundup: Vehicular terrorism, trackless streetcar, fashion police, and more

This week’s Monday Roundup is brought to you by The Weekender, a three-day event (July 7-9) by Cycle Oregon with rides, fun and friends.

While I’ve been in Montréal the past several days (headed home in a few minutes), I’ve continued to watch the news unfold. Things are getting heavy out there on our streets in more ways than one.

Here are the most memorable stories that came across my desk this week…

Ignorance not bliss: A UK study of 1,000 drivers found road rage often happens because people in cars think bicycle riders are breaking the law when in fact they are not.

Safety measures leads to danger: To improve safety on the London Bridge safer after the recent “vehicular terrorism” attack (more on that below), the city has placed concrete barriers in the bike lane.

Cars are weapons: Citylab says “vehicular terrorism has gone mainstream” and they want to know how to prevent it. Unfortunately — like we’ve seen with guns despite them being regulated as weapons — the only “fix” to this problem is to address the underlying causes.

Speed kills urban cycling: A look at Specialized’s new e-bike shows that the US bike industry just can’t stop its unhealthy fixation on performance and speed.

More bike riding = more bike injuries: We suspect this trend of rising injury rates is happening in cities across America. Just keep in mind that all these articles end the same: Health officials say the health benefits of biking outweigh the injury risks.

Fashion police and the windshield perspective: Seattle Times reports about auto users who don’t like it when people wear black.

Dutch reach education: The state of Massachusetts has added the “Dutch reach” method of opening a driver’s side door to its official driver’s manual. Oregon should do this too.

Bike share for all?: A Portland-based study of 56 bike share operators found that equity is only on the radar of one-third of them.

Bang goes a cycling career: Pro cyclist Danny Summerhill fired his gun while biking. Now he’s been fired from his team and faces charges of reckless endangerment and disorderly conduct.

Yeah, what the hell?: Washington DC’s bike advocacy org reminds us that people need to treat other road users with decency and respect — regardless of what they look like or how they ride. (Related: Read this Twitter thread by Alex Baca where she says, “Riding a bike in most American cities is basically a dick-measuring contest.”)

Down with “bro-ification”: On a similar vein to the story above, the outdoor industry has a major bro problem.

Impressive, mate: Australian pro road rider Adam Hansen has shown an amazing level of consistency by finishing 17 major professional stage races in a row.

Expensive roads for the few: George Monbiot writes in The Guardian that on many issues — especially highway spending — politicians face a central choice: Provide, “public luxury available to all, or private luxury available to some.”

Humanconomics: And when we preserve space for people over cars, it turns out our economy can be just as vibrant as our community.

Streetcar sans tracks: The Daily Mail is reporting that a Chinese firm has unveiled a streetcar train that runs on underground sensors and does not need tracks. Please watch closely Portland Streetcar!

Thanks for all your submissions.

— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org

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