Gosh, it seems like such a simple idea, doen’t it? And yet, it is a really good idea to know about how accidents happen before you decide to commute by bicycle.

Remember the time that you were driving and almost hit a biker or pedestrian?

I certainly do.

It really hurt because I consider myself a very cautious driver. Take a look at BicycleSafety.com’s web page on important lessons in bicycle safety.

You can learn about how to avoid meeting the fate of several bikers last fall who fell victim to the Right Hook, as displayed below:

Keep it safe out there.
~ms

Tired of being stuck in traffic? You’re not alone. As most commuters can attest, traffic congestion continues to worsen in American cities, according to a study by the Texas Transportation Institute. The 2007 Urban Mobility Report, which is based on 2005 figures, found that the nation’s drivers are wasting almost a whole work week–38 hours a year–stuck in traffic.

That equates to 4.2 billion hours and 2.9 billion gallons of gas, for a total of a $78 billion drain on the U.S. economy. That equates to 58 billion pounds of CO2 emissions per year from just gridlock alone.

Americans have more reasons than ever to start looking into alternative transportation options like riding a bicycle.

~ms

Portland, Oregon has one of the highest percentage of bicycle commuters in the U.S. (source: The Oregonian)

The City of Portland, Oregon has recently suffered the death of two bicycle commuters. Local residents have begun to engage in a very healthy debate about how to cope with the challenges of rapidly increasing bicycle commuting population. While the numbers of bicyclists have risen exponentially in recent years, the relative attitudes and awareness of drivers has not changed at the same pace.

Kudos to The Oregonian newspaper for their excellent coverage of the tragedy and the ensuing debate. Yesterday, the newspaper launched a website documenting the situation, called Bike versus Car: Sharing the road in Portland.

The website even contains an interactive Google Map mashup showing the locations of bicycle-car crashes in the Portland area.

Note the demographic data on salaries of car drivers vs. bicycle commuters. Interesting…

~ms

Kudos to Streetsblog for their excellent coverage of Portland, Oregon’s pedestrian-and biker-friendly streets.

I recommend going over and reading the post yourself, but it essentially discusses a preliminary bicycle count report for 2006. Even though new bike lane construction has essentially been flat, bike use has increased over 21% from 2005!

Image credit: Portland Bicycle Count Study via Streetsblog

Got a minute?

Check out the new Consumer Consequences game from American Public Media. The radio program Marketplace, produced by APM, gives excellent sustainability coverage and this is an extension of that.

The game is a flash-type interactive game where you have an opportunity to learn about your global footprint. It is an interesting way to find out if your habits are truly sustainable. The makers give kudos to velocommuters, so here’s an opportunity to pat yourself on the back, folks!

We found out that our coffee habits could use a little reigning in… OK, maybe we could find something else to fix first! (Wish we could source the java locally…)

~ms

Apparently so, according to a recent piece in the English Daily Mail. Citing research in a recent British Government Department of Transport’s National Travel Survey, the piece describes the recent trend in cycling in the U.K:

The poll shows that the richest fifth of the population cycle on average five times as far in a year as the poorest fifth.

It also found that those with less money are unlikely to consider cycling as a way of getting around, despite the fact they are less likely to have a car to use instead.

Poorer people appear more concerned about the stigma of riding a bike, fearing that others will view it as a sign of inferiority.

Apparently, people who are more affluent have more time to worry about global warming and are not worried about being considered inferior.

Aha, this is where velocommuter can help!

Biking to work is not only cool, but it is trend-setting and sexy, too! People who ride bikes are superior to their car-driving counterparts. Otherwise, they’d be out there with you, enjoying that crisp morning air.

Zara Philips and actress Penelope Cruz take to their bikes. (Photo credit: Daily Mail)

Velocommuters have absolutely nothing to feel inferior about. We’re lookin’ good!

~ms

Take a look at some of the miles these amazing bicycle commuters logged over the summer in Redmond, Washington. Truly amazing. Wow. To see all of those miles tallied up for each individual company must be quite inspirational to local bikers (winner Eric Bisset logged close to 1,300 miles during the summer bike-to-work challenge.

The Tour de Redmond 2007 Contest poster promised that “Something remarkable will happen” and I think they were right on target. That is the most compelling contest we have seen yet and the results are mind-boggling. What a great water cooler topic of conversation!

Thanks to our source, the Seattle Times.

~ms

According to the latest Census numbers, Americans are highly dependent on automobile transport for their commute to work. However, here is the list of the cities in the U.S. with the highest number of commuters:

The large cities with the highest percentage of bicycle commuters are:

1. Portland (3.5 percent)
2. Minneapolis (2.4 percent)
3. Seattle (2.3 percent)
4. Tucson, AZ (2.2 percent)
5. San Francisco (1.8 percent)
6. Sacramento, CA (1.8 percent)
7. Washington, D.C. (1.7 percent)
8. Oakland, CA (1.5 percent)
9. Honolulu (1.4 percent)
9. Denver (1.4 percent)

Among the 50 large cities in the analysis Kansas City, Memphis, Indianapolis, Wichita, Omaha, and San Antonio have the lowest percentage of bicycle commuters. The percentage of bicycle commuters in all of those cities is 0.1 percent or less. (Source: http://hr.blr.com/news.aspx?id=76065).

~vc