Via MattonlyMoore

Via Kottke

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

-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.

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.

The reasons for this inverse correlation are many, according to Peck, and include the likelihood of better cycling infrastructure in areas where more people ride, the fact that if car drivers also occasionally cycle they are likely to be more careful with bikes, and the statistical quirk that a higher proportion of riders in low-cycling areas tend to be young men with a higher than average threshold for risk.

I love the “statistical quirk”. It’s good to put a scientific survey behind something that seems intuitively obvious. I would have also thought that drivers who are more used to cyclists on the road would drive more carefully, but that didn’t seem to make the cut. Boston/Cambridge is just going to keep getting safer and safer the more people ride.

Via Twitter.

Then bicycles in motion stay in motion in regards to the ‘Idaho Stop.’

Bonus: The US DOT on the importance of biking. Plus, Boston might be ready for a revolution, but Massachusetts is not and if you’re dealing with a cop who doesn’t know the traffic laws, you’re pretty screwed.

Most of Boston celebrates Patriots’ Day by (drunkenly) cheering on runners of the Boston Marathon and (drunkenly) watching the 11 AM Red Sox game. This year, my friend Aaron decided he wanted to celebrate it a little differently so on Saturday he organized the 1st Annual Paul Revere’s Ride, a bike ride, following as closely as possible the route of Paul Revere’s midnight ride. Revere, you’ll remember, rode from Charlestown to Lexington to warn militias along the route that ‘regulars’ from the British Army were on the march. After 3 serious hills, the ride took us to the site where Revere was captured about 15 miles from Charlestown (though he was then released and made it to Concord to warn the arsenal which allowed the militias to win the day).

I ride to work everyday, but there’s a big difference between the 4.5 miles each way and the 31 total miles of the Paul Revere Ride. I was hurting afterward and spent the rest of the day in a haze of exhaustion. In any case, much fun was had by all (except one unfortunate fellow who blew a tube) and I’m already looking forward to next year.

(PS The comments in Universal Hub post from last year’s Patriots’ Day are really worth a read for everything that’s great about Massachusetts and the internet.)

The Bicycle Exchange, Broadway Bicycle School, ATA Cycle, Park Sales, Ace Wheelworks, and Paramount Bicycle, Cambridge Bicycle Shop, and the 3 shops above, are all jammed into a little Cambridge/Somerville corridor making it possible to visit all of them in one swoop if you’re so inclined.

Also, check out this 4K word Boston Globe article about whether Boston is ready to become a first class city for biking. We are.

(Via Universal Hub and STEP)