Strava Gets Safety Right

The part Strava totally got RIGHT, the users you are sharing with don’t need to be Strava users!

Introducing Beacon

Safer activities for athletes, peace of mind for friends and family. Beacon lets Premium athletes share their real-time location during an activity with up to three safety contacts.

 

Interactive Map Tracks Portland Bicycle Maps

Article from KATU

Bicycle Crashes in Portland  OR

PORTLAND, Ore. — Portland cyclists have a new tool to examine the safety record of city streets.

A new interactive map from the MIT Media Lab tracks the 1,085 bike crashes that happened in Portland between 2010 and 2013. The numbers show some of the city’s busiest streets are also the ones most likely to see crashes.

Broadway, both the northeast and northwest sections, saw the biggest number of crashes. In the three-year period examined, there were ther 78 reported crashes. Southeast Division came in second with 49 crashes. Hawthorne and Burnside tied for third with 38 crashes. Southeast 82nd Avenue rounded out the top five with 35 reported crashes.

"For some who who look at the data a lot, this isn’t new," said Rob Sadowsky, executive director of the Bicycle Transportation Alliance. "But it does showcase that people are choosing to ride on larger arterial strees like Broadway and Hawthorne."

Just like those who commute in their cars, bike commuters tend to want to reach their destination as fast as possible. That helps explain why so many cyclists are seen on busy roads.

"If you want to travel more quickly, if you’re one of the faster commuters, you get a little stuck or slowed down on the neighborhood greenway system," said Sadowsky. "It’s nice to have those arterial opportunities."

If anything, Sadowsky hopes an examination of the map will encourage cyclists to be more aware.

"If you’re traveling on one of the busier streets, be a little more cautious," said Sadowsky. "Behave more predictably, be seen and be clearly seen and watch for doors opening in that door zone."

My New Bike Light–CygoLite Metro 300

2013-01-06 09.52.39This Christmas I purchased myself a CygoLite Metro 300, and have just mounted it on my commuter bike for tomorrow morning.  It was a gift to keep myself alive. 

Over the last month or two, as the days get dark and rainy, cars have missed my older, and not too bad, headlight, and it has been dicey at times requiring ninja reflexes to remain intact.

2013-01-06 10.25.24At the same time, the battery collection I have to recycle has grown and clearly there was a more ecological way to go.

And so, I am hoping to find that the USB recharge, the blink but don’t go dark, and simply the 300 Lumens provided by this light result in an efficient and effective upgrade to my commute.  If one care misses me because of this, it was worth it. 

2013-01-06 09.54.10

Get Visible! DIY Reflective Upgrades

I was just talking to my wife Saturday as we passed bicyclists in the dark on the way home how idiotic it is to have “bike friendly” clothes that have zero reflective material.  We noticed how blinkies certainly helped, but for the money, NOTHING comes close to reflective strips.  I was complaining as @petebikes added reflective materials to the rigs for @DaveNPetePartII and I haven’t done anything.  And THIS despite the wonderful folks at the Bicycle Repair Collective mentioning it about a zillion times.

This morning, this article “Reflective Tape DIY – “Get Visible!” from bikecommuters.com crosses my desk and I decide it is a sign and hop over to Amazon and order two of these.  I will show you what I do with it, but I am leaning to my bags as well as my rig.