[Brendan von Buckingham]

VC is not 100% right or 100% wrong. It has pros and cons both for riding tactics and policy. Downtown LA getting it’s one and only protected bike lane is hardly the nail in the coffin on VC. It’s going to take a lot of VCing to get to that bike lane. We’re getting protected bike lanes only now because of a confluence of things: bike shares, learning from Europe, city population declines reversed, transporation funding mechanisms that require spending on enhancements like bike lanes and not just highways. None of those were even imaginable when Forester came up with VC. Much of his reasoning was that VC was safer than sidewalk riding (still is), and at the time, “Go ride on the sidewalk,” was the extent of bicycle policy and infrastructure just about everywhere. As for Forester and protected bike lanes, see my first sentence. As for how everyone needs to ride, see my first sentence.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

I found on Wilson Blvd the security badge for someone who had just started work at the FBI building downtown. I mailed it back to the FBI.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

@Steve O 141762 wrote:

Is that the name of the trail? I’m thinking you are referencing the route 50 southside trail alongside Fort Myer. I didn’t know it had a name. Or do you mean somewhere else?

So who is responsible for cutting it back? VDOT or Arlington?

That’s the one. Fort Cass at least as far as the silver historic marker along the trail.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

My on-road route alternatives (Pershing, Wilson, Clarendon) haven’t seen a change in behavior and a slight increase in numbers. It does help that opposing cyclists are on the other side of the road.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

@semperiden 140929 wrote:

Thank you for the article. Their follow up article says that the courts have a checkbox to record it as a bicycle, which should not receive demerit points. The courts might record wrongly, in which case the DMV must be notified. http://www.cvilletomorrow.org/news/article/17348-bike-tickets-in-cville-part2/

Glad you found that. That makes much more sense.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

@semperiden 140693 wrote:

I was wondering…if there were points deducted from their driver’s license from this.

In Virginia, [retracted, see follow up article] (according to this article which is easier to find than the code itself), but I’d like to be proven wrong on this one.

In DC, no. Bicycle infractions are specifically exempted from the points system (DCMR 18, Section 1200.6)

[Brendan von Buckingham]

I’d be willing to show you on an upcoming commute. I’m Ballston to Southwest Waterfront via 14th Street Bridge. If I’m not near you, if you posted where you were starting from, I’m sure you’d find someone willing to just show you.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

Smugness factor to 11. I will be insufferable in the office tomorrow. Or maybe the only one in the office tomorrow.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

I had a similar but different experience crossing GWP at south side of Memorial Circle earlier this fall. I was standing waiting for cars to yield to me as required by the sign. The far lane yielded. The near lane did not yield. I told the near car what I thought of his maneuver and proceeded across. Once across I heard screeching tires to my right and looked over that shoulder to see that the car that previously couldn’t yield for me had come to a screeching halt 30 feet past the crosswalk. The driver got out of his car and began to sprint at me across the circle. Which I had to laugh at since it would be charitable to call his foot-speed a “sprint” and the longer he tried to catch me the funnier it got. Funny except for the fact that he was obviously troubled and his abandoned car was blocking half of the parkway. So I stopped toying with him and picked up the pace to my regular cadence and let him be.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

No thank you very much please.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

Meanwhile I’m curiously optimistic about studies that have linked removal of lead from gasoline to lowered crime rates and other social improvements in the U.S. and other countries too as they also removed lead from gasoline.

Mother Jones
BBC

[Brendan von Buckingham]

@TwoWheelsDC 128150 wrote:

Perhaps… but in that case the pollution (and proximity to it) probably would still be a primary factor. In the one study I read, they didn’t go into how much outside time kids got, but it did note that air pollution readily penetrated indoors…so yeah, keeping kids indoors may make it worse.

I remember seeing that study and recall that criticism of it was whether proximity to highways caused asthma or was it a matter that highway properties have lower property values, inhabited by poorer families, with poorer health protocols in general. Interesting none the less since I live on Arlington Boulevard. Our house keeps the windows closed not because of the pollution, but because of the noise.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

When I’m breaking the law, I’m doing it the right way. When you’re breaking the law you’re doing it the wrong way. I just explained bias, just war theory, racism, Wall Street and traffic behavior, in two sentences. Conversation over. Let’s go for a ride.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

@ginacico 127186 wrote:

So while I’ve been more routine using the TR bridge, I tried Key bridge – M Street – Penn one day last week on my way into work. And it was awesome! The right lane through Georgetown was almost clear, and what little traffic there was moved at a speed I could merge in easily. I failed to get over three lanes in time to take a left onto L Street, so I stopped at 25th (where I usually cross Penn anyway) and used the light to cross. Also there were very few pedestrians on the bridge. Overall it was a smooth commute, and seemed much less hassle than taking that route the opposite direction in the evening.

Now I know I have options.

Nice. An alternative to moving over left to take L off of Penn is to take Penn all the way to Washington Circle, go 3/4s around and take New Hampshire. One block on New Hampshire gets you to L. I like it because it avoids the crunchy merge from Penn to L. The circle is also frequently faster because of the timing of the lights. And if you’re careful of 24th Street, you can right on red onto to L Street which is a time-saver.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

I avoid trials and bike lanes because I like to go fast and if anyone is going to get hurt, I want it to be me. But when I use 4MR trail to walk my pre-K son to the park I keep them on a shorter leash than I do when walking along any road. Roads look dangerous to children and keeping them on the sidewalk is intuitive for them (cars are loud and scary). Trails do not present as dangerous to children or inexperienced parents (bikes are quiet and faster than you think). I’m constantly shepherding them to walk the extreme right 3″ of the bike trail so they’re as far away from cyclists as possible. But if you have kids you know how difficult it is to make a 4 year old walk a line invisible to them.

We need to be slow around unpredictable children. Parents need to understand the dangers to their children on the trails.

[Author]

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