Bicycle Safety

One of San Francisco’s most popular bicycle thoroughfares was the scene of a crash on Tuesday, when an automobile incautiously pulled out of a parking spot and struck a bicyclist riding in the bike lane on Valencia Street near 20th Street.

The disparity between the 13 percent of road fatalities suffered by non-drivers and the amount that the federal government spends on their safety -- less than one percent -- may come as a surprise to some Americans. But the situation is far worse in the developing world, according to a new World Health Organization report.

Matthew Modine has been getting a lot of negative attention recently for his stance on wearing a helmet while he cycles: i.e., he doesn't wear a helmet while he cycles (it would have to be a large helmet to fit that copious coif). A profile of his Bicycle for a Day in New York Mag spins off track into a diatribe about his perspective on gravity and head trauma, while closing with an objectification of his posterior that would never fly were he not a dude.  But hey, its New York Rag, what can you expect?

The rider went down -- Boom! -- just as she turned to see if the streetcar was getting close to her. Turning to look was her undoing, because her wheel got caught in the big gap between rail and street, toppling her hard. The big blue streetcar was only ten feet or so behind her, but luckily was slowing down and did not run her over. Scary though.

We've written before about obstructions caused by motorcycle cops parked in the bike lane (and the SFPD generally doesn't have a good reputation among cyclists), but yesterday around 4:30 p.m. -- a few hours after Sunday Streets wrapped up -- I spotted a cop parked in the bike lane on Valencia Street just before 16th for a good reason: to shoo away a motorist who was double parked.

The California Highway Patrol has confirmed the arrest a 53-year-old El Sobrante man allegedly responsible for last year's hit-and-run killing of bicyclist Mark Pendleton, who was hit while riding on McEwen Road south of Highway 4 near Port Costa in Contra Costa County.

DPW crews tearing up Howard Street have once again given short shrift to bicyclists, failing to put up proper signage and creating a dangerous mix of bicycle and car traffic on Howard just before 10th Street. As we've reported, crews are working on a sewer replacement project, and are tearing up the road, which is a major bicycle corridor. I dig the new smooth ride on portions of Howard Street, even though the bike lane markings have not been repainted, presumably because of that tired excuse we call the injunction.

All morning I've been asking myself (and some others) why kids riding bicycles to school is a pressworthy event. Don't kids always ride bikes to school or have we become so car-dependent that even this sancrosanct part of being young and carefree is a thing of the past?  Unfortunately, the latter is the case, as no school in San Francisco sees even 5 percent of walking and bicycling trips to school.