Category Archives: Bicycling

Massachusetts traffic law, the nation’s most disorganized and confusing

A major revision of Massachusetts traffic law has been overdue for decades.  It is the most disorganized and unreadable body of traffic law of any state and the only one not based on the Uniform Vehicle Code. In preparing comments … Continue reading

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Citi Bike and Lyft recall

Citi Bike (New York City’s bike share system), also other bike share systems and the Lyft ride-share company, are recalling hundreds of electrically-assisted bicycles as of April 16, 2019, see this blog post. The brakes shown in the photo here … Continue reading

Posted in Bicycling, Bike share programs, brakes, Equipment | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Autonomous bicycles

The dream of an autonomous bicycle is that it would control itself, relieving the rider of the need to know how to control it or ride safely. It would also have an electric motor so it could deliver itself to … Continue reading

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Traffic-signal actuators — some documentation

As described in another post on this blog, metal detectors embedded in the street to trigger traffic signals first appeared around 1970, when transistorized electronics made them practical. By 1986 they were in fairly widespread use, and the definitive report … Continue reading

Posted in Bicycling | 5 Comments

Bruce Epperson’s examination of bike-share legalities

Bruce Epperson is a lawyer and bicycle historian in Florida, USA. Bruce’s comment on a previous post drew my attention. Several years back (2014 or 2015) I wrote a detailed analysis of the legal status of bike-share operations in Florida. … Continue reading

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Mighk Wilson’s report on Orlando bicycle crashes

Mighk Wilson, who works for the Orlando, Florida metropolitan planning organization, has prepared a very interesting study of bicycle crashes in the Orlando area based on a database of 5,000 crashes, 2011-2017. The study is important in that it distinguishes … Continue reading

Posted in Bicycle facilities, Bicycling, Bike lanes, Crashes, Cycle tracks, Sidepaths | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Simultaneous greens: bicycle roundabout?

An article on the UKrant.nl Web site describes an intersection in the Netherlands with simultaneous green lights in all directions for bicyclists. The headline, “How to Survive Simultaneous Greens” misrepresents the installation (not all greens actually are simultaneous) and tends … Continue reading

Posted in Bicycling | 2 Comments

Some comments on electric scooters

At various dates in 2018, companies Bird, Lime, Skip and Spin have released dockless electrically-powered scooters  into a number of US cities — sometimes with approval from the city government, sometimes without. These scooters represent more or less a third … Continue reading

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New York Bike Lane Promotional Video

This video is long on promotion and unbalanced, weak on anything which approaches a description of a comprehensive bicycle program. Parking? Enforcement? Education? Other infrastructure? 0:00 Leads with fear and hyperbole. “Let’s be honest. For many people, the thought of … Continue reading

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The definitive paper about loop detectors, published 1986

The City of San Diego, California, USA published its Traffic Signal Bicycle Detection Study Final Report in 1986. I have scanned a copy of the document and posted it online. This report’s main topic is inductive-loop traffic-signal detectors. These are … Continue reading

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