Streetsblog USA

In February, a pickup truck driver in suburban Eugene, Oregon, ran through a red light at 40 miles an hour, killing three children -- 4-year-old Tyler Hudson, 5-year-old McKenzie Hudson, and 8-year-old John Day -- and critically injuring their mother. The family was walking with the right-of-way in a crosswalk, returning from getting ice cream.

When traffic engineers don't want to install protected bike lanes, they'll often say that more research is needed to prove their safety (because any results from outside America don't count, of course). But then when opportunities arise to study the safety of protected bike lanes, the engineering establishment doesn't take advantage. And so the cycle repeats itself.

How does your state measure up on bike policy? The League of American Bicyclists is out with its 2015 state rankings, highlighting the states that are doing the most -- and the least -- to make bicycling a safe and convenient way to get around. Washington tops the list for the eighth year in a row, with Alabama bringing up the rear.

Cross-posted from the Safe Routes to School National Partnership

It's more than a little ironic that in many places, hospitals are some of the worst offenders when it comes to perpetrating unhealthy transportation patterns. Often surrounded by enormous parking decks, hospitals have earned a reputation as isolated institutions hermetically sealed off from surrounding neighborhoods.

Michael Andersen blogs for The Green Lane Project, a PeopleForBikes program that helps U.S. cities build better bike lanes to create low-stress streets.

This week I chat with Jeramey Jannene of Streetsblog Network blog Urban Milwaukee.

Salt Lake City is on track to implement America's first protected intersection for bicycling this summer.

Cross-posted from the Frontier Group ...