The Archives
-
12.29.09Maryland sets a price on bicyclists: $313A Maryland motorist, Kathy May Lee, who killed a bicyclist, has been fined $287.50, plus $25.50 in court fees. This is an amount that the average motorist could probably budget for; you wouldn't want to kill a bicyclist every day, certainly, but for an annual, or even monthly, cost of operating your vehicle, it's certainly reasonable. I'm sure it can't be much more than a Hummer driver spends on fuel in a month. The motorist had failed to clean her windshield (she "had cleared a portion of the left windshield of morning dew but left the fogged up right ...
-
12.13.09Cyclists’ Special, 1955This short film is the perfect bucolic antidote to the cold, slush, and wind of the last week here in Minneapolis, December 2009. The weather forecast for next week looks to bring more of the same, at least in the first couple days; I'm hoping to squeeze a bike ride into the narrow window of Monday morning, but fear that the roads won't be clear again until Thursday. Though these cyclists on their solid old bikes with their stiff upper lips would probably not be dissuaded by a little ice. "There's a bit of rough weather about; we can ...
-
12.02.09roadside memorialsEvery morning, I ride past the "ghost bike" at Snelling and Summit, where Virginia Heuer was killed on September 27, 2008. It's a stark reminder that even a relatively safe route like Summit Avenue can be treacherous, and that bicyclists and pedestrians fare very poorly in tussles with automobiles. I keep my wits about me when I ride, pay attention and obey the rules of the road, but 25 pounds of bicycle are no match for a ton and a half of car. Most roadside memorials are a mixture of the public and the private, erected out of personal ...
