safety

Motorist Involved in 50 (!) Bicycle Crash

Friday, May 9th, 2008

I subscribe to a feed on Google News with the search term bicycle. It tends to be a rather depressing feed, with news stories of bicycles hit by cars on a daily basis. This one stood out among the rest: “Furious driver takes out 50-strong cycle pack” from the Sydney Morning Herald.
Witnesses to [...]

Turn signal cycling jacket

Thursday, April 24th, 2008

Here’s something just for Sue, who keeps asking for turn signals for her bike.
Michael Chen of Middlesex University in the UK designed his “Reactiv” responsive cycling jacket. The jacket uses an accelerometer that senses movement to change the color of the LEDs in the back from green (accelerating) to red (braking). It has amber [...]

What happens when a bicycle helmet meets the wheels of a car?

Friday, April 11th, 2008

Lest you’re ever tempted to believe claims that bike helmets can hold up to the weight of a truck, allow me to direct you to the Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute (aka Randy Swart) page demonstrating the true effectiveness of bicycle helmets when placed underneath a car. Click here for more photos, which feature sticky red [...]

Stupid, but for different reasons

Monday, March 31st, 2008

Everybody has been talking about this video from Slate about the “stupidest bike lane in America.”

Andy Bowers thinks his one block long bike lane makes it “the stupidest bike lane in America.” In many areas, local governments have committed themselves to striping every wide street in their jurisdiction, so these short bike lanes abound these [...]

GroupThink: Alternative Safety Tactics

Thursday, March 20th, 2008

A constant topic here at Commute by Bike is ways to stay safe during our two wheeled travels. There are lots of common ones such as blinky lights, helmets, signaling, etc. However in recent comments on our posts I’ve seen a couple of unique ones:
Ghost Rider: I mounted a yardstick as a [...]