exhalations

Monday, May 22, 2006

Driving in India

Here's a fascinating video clip on You Tube of an busy intersection in India without a traffic signal. Traffic flows surprisingly well. Motorists and cyclists all approach cautiously, then move slowing into the gaps as others do the same. I suspect the intersection would be more of nightmare with a traffic light. There's growing evidence that the more types of users on the road, such as cyclists, pedestrians, etc., the safer the road becomes because motorists become more aware of non-motorized traffic.

posted by Bruce Wright at 10:36 PM #

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Sunday, May 21, 2006

Reston Bike to Work Day 2006

The event was a big success; at least I thought so. We had over 280 people ride to the Town Center Pavilion for food, drinks, and prizes. It was a record turnout for our 5th annual event. We were up at 4:30 a.m. to get ready for the riders who started showing up just after 6 a.m. For the first time there was almost no leftover food or drink, so we didn't have to worry about who to donate to. It helps to attract riders when we have lots of prizes for the prize drawings every half hour. Even though I had to drive to the event to carry the 350 t-shirts, food, and other stuff, I did manage to bike to work later in the day. By 7:30 p.m. I was whipped.

We had good publicity this year, with several mentions of the event in the local papers, and this article on a woman who's been bike commuting for several years.

posted by Bruce Wright at 9:47 PM #

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Monday, May 15, 2006

The rise of organic

There's a good article in the New Yorker on the popularity of organic food in the U.S. and the success of Whole Foods Market. The spread of organic farms in Michigan was the subject of my Master's project in 1977. It's only taken 30 years for the idea to finally catch on.

posted by Bruce Wright at 10:37 PM #

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100x100

Check out the photos on Michael Wolf's site entitled 100x100:

photographs of residents in their flats in hong kong's oldest public housing estate: 100 rooms,each 100 square feet in size.

If in the same situation, I would aspire to create a simple, uncluttered space, but I fear I would likely end up like the guy in photo #79.

posted by Bruce Wright at 10:32 PM #

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Friday, May 12, 2006

To catch a thief

Here's an innovative method to deter bike theft. Someone has developed a bait bike that is used in bike theft sting operations. The bike contains a radio transmitter used to track the bike, and there's a fine, invisible powder on the handlebars that is used to track the thief. Very ingenious.

posted by Bruce Wright at 10:16 PM #

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Thursday, May 11, 2006

Wall Street Journal article on bike commuting

So much for bike commuting being only for the us leftist environmental whackos. You know an activity is becoming mainstream when it's featured in a paper like the Wall Street Journal. Their article on bike commuting is attracting attention. It was forwarded to me by two people on the opposite site of the political spectrum.

Commuting to work by bike has renewed appeal right now. On top of health benefits -- like offering a chance to exercise without taking extra time -- it saves on the growing cost of fuel and even carries a certain cachet at the office.

A growing number of cities are making it easier to ride your bike to work -- erasing hurdles big and small, from securing bikes safely downtown, to taking bikes on public transit, to finding a discreet place to shower.

posted by Bruce Wright at 10:39 PM #

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CSC wins Giro team time trial

Bobby Julich is in ninth place overall, and his team, CSC, won the team time trial in convincing fashion today. Sounds like Jan Ullrich is typically overweight but doing well leading up to the Tour.

posted by Bruce Wright at 10:27 PM #

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Monday, May 08, 2006

Bicycle is king

Bicycle is king of the road as gas costs rise from the International Herald Tribune.

London, Paris, Chicago, Bogotá and Seoul have embarked on major campaigns to incorporate the bicycle into traffic grids. The results have led to substantial shifts in fuel consumption, commuting times and even real estate values.

London may be the greatest success story in the new wave. When Mayor Ken Livingstone introduced a congestion charge in 2003 on vehicles entering the city center, a surprising side effect was a 28 percent surge in cycling in the first year. The city says overall cycling mileage has doubled in the last five years and it aims to achieve another doubling.

In some cases, merchants who were initially nervous actually saw sales rising as the population of more fluid bus and cycle lanes fed them more customers.

What has also been discovered worldwide is that accident rates have dropped wherever cycling has gained momentum, as cars are forced to slow down and as they become more accustomed to sharing the road.

"We're seeing a lot of people willing to try this and now it's getting safer as we get critical mass," said Silka Kennedy-Todd, an official in London's transport office. "The number of accidents has roughly fallen in half as the number of cyclists has doubled."

posted by Bruce Wright at 3:13 PM #

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