This is a bit old, but apparently there is a passive aggressive war going on in Brooklyn. Hasidic Jews in Brooklyn got the city to paint over bike lanes in on certain streets in their neighborhoods and hipsters repainted the lines. The Hasidim say it’s a safety issue and the bikers ignore pedestrians and traffic laws, the hipsters say the Hasidim don’t like seeing women in shorts. Objectively, I think the Hasidim aren’t arguing in good faith. The way you get bikers to follow traffic laws is to get the cops to enforce them, not by making the roadways less safe for bikers. Apparently, the hipsters had a naked bike ride planned to further antagonize the situation, but a recent blizzard forced them to bundle up some. Oy.

There are 3 different things in this picture of Yao Ming’s Bike that make me giggle.

There’s a law in California that allows cities to create their own licensing process for bicycles, if they want to compel bikers to get licenses for their bikes. “CA CVC specifically states that if a city does require bike licenses, the fine for not having one can not exceed $10 (ten dollars) and will not include any jail time.” However, the fine folks of Santa Monica have thumbed their noses at this law and created penalties that don’t fit the crime in any reasonable sense. If you get nabbed riding an unlicensed bike in Santa Monica, they can put you in jail for 6 months and fine you for $1K. Maybe it’s just safer to drive?

Maybe the next time the Globe writes a story about how poorly behaved Boston cyclists are, we can point them to to this study.

But an analysis of police reports on 2,752 bike-car accidents in Toronto found that clumsy or inattentive driving by motorists was the cause of 90 percent of these crashes

I hope this works, but for some reason, I feel kind of pessimistic about it. However, the comments on this article do not disappoint!

-Props in the NYTimes for Boston’s efforts to become a friendlier city for bicyclists.

-Plans to bring bikesharing to Boston [Yes please]:

Bike sharing is the next step. The city envisions making available between 1,000 and 3,000 bikes at stations 300 or 400 yards apart, located at subway and bus stops, main squares, tourist sites, and across city neighborhoods.

-The Boston Globe takes on Boston’s poorly mannered bikers and Boston Biker takes them to task for not really getting to the heart of the problem; that it’s not just bicyclists in Boston that are irresponsible rule breakers.

Submitted with a giggle, here’s Bostonist’s take on Berlin’s recent banning of fixed gear bicycles. They’re hoping Boston is next and might check here or here for more ammo.

Via Universal Hub, news about a Boston start up that is looking for financing in order to bring bike sharing to Boston.

Mike sent over this video comparing the future of biking on 2 of Boston’s bigger streets, Mass Ave and Comm Ave. The short documentary makes the point that the streets are going in opposite directions (as it were) in regards to bike safety.

And here, via Dave, is a short story about London city planners using a 3D sidewalk design to try to slow bikers down. I don’t think it’s going to work more than once.

Following up on More Bikers Means Safer Bikers from last month, Kottke points to this chart that shows that, although the number of bikers in NYC has exploded over the last couple years, the number of bike-related casualties has decreased. Would love to see this chart for Boston/Cambridge.