Cyclists running red lights is a common issue in cities throughout Northern California, including San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose. Understanding why cyclists run red lights can help improve... Read More
Summer vacation is coming to an end and the back to school blitz is officially here. With kids getting set to resume their daily commute, and some younger children... Read More
Biking on most urban streets may not always be a stress-free experience, but an individual with basic bicycle safety knowledge can usually navigate through streets without incident if everyone... Read More
Due to a lack of vision coupled with mismanaged implementation, the 51st and Broadway area has become even more of a mess today than it was before. Read More
The latest annual report on motor vehicle collisions from the California Highway Patrol has a ton of information about what’s happening on California roads and highways, with extensive datasets... Read More
On Feb 23, a 9-year-old girl riding a bicycle in San Jose was injured in an auto collision. A few weeks later, the same thing happened to an 11-year-old... Read More
The City of Oakland released a progress report for the Telegraph Avenue Complete Streets Project to assess the project’s performance over its first six months. Read More
These innovative Dutch-inspired designs (amongst the first dozen built in the U.S.) seek to maintain physical separation between drivers and bicyclists through an intersection. Read More
Oakland’s parking enforcement officers have been criticized recently for their lack of enforcement of illegal and unsafe parking behavior along Telegraph’s new protected bike lanes. Yesterday, parking enforcement was... Read More
A month after unveiling a road diet on Telegraph Avenue featuring Oakland’s first protected bike lanes, Telegraph remains a mess. Obstructions of the bike lanes are seemingly never-ending as... Read More
Last week’s Bike to Work day was one of the most significant in the event’s 22 year history in the East Bay. Four ribbon cuttings occurred in the cities... Read More
Alameda’s Central Avenue Complete Streets Project passed a key milestone in receiving city council approval to move forward into final design. As we’ve previously covered, safety improvements are badly... Read More
On February 2nd, Megan Schwarzman was run over by a car while bicycling along Fulton Street near Bancroft Way. Meghan was hit by Berwick Haynes, who was arrested on... Read More
Oakland’s new buffered bike lanes continue to experience frequent blockages due to illegal double parking. Robert Prinz of Bike East Bay recently posted a video of Webster Street in... Read More
Tonight (Thursday January 14th) at 7:00 PM, the Lafayette Circulation Commission will review a dangerous double-wide roundabout proposal at the intersection of Pleasant Hill Road and Olympic Boulevard, two... Read More
On Tuesday morning, Jeffrey Donnelly of Palo Alto was tragically killed while riding a bicycle on Page Mill Road near I-280. Riding along a popular recreational cycling route, Donnelly... Read More
Should Downtown Oakland be a great place to drive, or a great place to walk and bike? As Downtown lies on the cusp of rebirth and growth, these divergent... Read More
A recent study conducted by the University of Bath, Department of Psychology, has concluded that, improving street safety for cyclists is more effective than information campaigns when it comes... Read More
If you’ve recently traveled along I-80 in the East Bay, you may have noticed new electronic signage and metering lights. Caltrans is currently putting the finishing touches on the... Read More
As protected bike lanes become more common across the U.S., the way in which we design intersections is also evolving. American cities are on the cusp of implementing the... Read More
Streetsblog California recently proclaimed a new bike lane in Orinda “The Worst Bike Lane in the World.” The bike lane sits outside of our office on Camino Pablo, straddling... Read More
As long as bikes and cars share the same roads there’s inevitably going to be conflict. As much as we’d love to see protected bike lanes become more ubiquitous,... Read More
Big news from Oakland’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee last night: Walk Oakland Bike Oakland tweeted that the City is planning to install parking-protected bicycle lanes (cycle tracks) on... Read More
Good news out of Sacramento: S.B. 192, Senator Liu’s disastrous law mandating helmets and reflective gear for bicyclists, was gutted thanks to strong backlash from bicycle advocates across the... Read More
At long last, the Uptown Bike Station opened this week adjacent to BART’s 19th Street Station. The Bike Station offers free, secure bike parking between the hours of 7... Read More
A striking video was posted to the Bike East Bay Facebook page on Tuesday depicting illegally parked cars clogging Oakland’s new buffered bike lane along Broadway. The video, submitted... Read More
For the vast majority of people, signal timing is not an exciting subject. Apart from traffic engineers and a select group of superwonks, few people pay attention to or... Read More
Lane widths might seem like a boring, esoteric aspect of traffic engineering, but they really matter for creating safe, livable streets. Noted city planner and urban designer Jeff Speck... Read More
Oakland recently hosted Oaklavia, an open streets event that invites people to walk, bike, dance, play, and socialize in the streets. It’s a terrific, if underappreciated event... Read More
By now you’ve probably already heard that the Three Feet for Safety Act went into effect on Tuesday. The bill, which was finally signed by Governor Brown last year,... Read More
Starting Monday, August 18th, we’re partnering with five local bike shops to promote safety and provide free helmets with every kid’s bike sold. Bike safety is a cause that’s... Read More
Proposals for Cycle Tracks are emerging throughout the Bay Area, and that is generally good news for bicycle safety. But as the saying goes, the devil is in the... Read More
As Bay Area cities redesign their streets to better accommodate safe bicycling, key gaps in the region’s infrastructure become ever more apparent. Much of the growth in bicycling over... Read More
San Francisco ambitiously seeks to expand bicycling to 20 percent of all trips by 2020. Yet, real concerns over safety remain the single greatest obstacle to expanding bicycling in... Read More
In discussions of street safety there is a tendency to view traffic fatalities as isolated incidents or just another statistic. It’s important to reinforce the human element of these... Read More
There’s long been a heated debate surrounding mandatory helmet laws, but up until now sexism hadn’t really been one of the talking points. However, a recent complaint from an... Read More
Street safety depends on the fair enforcement of traffic laws, but enforcement is not always fair. The juxtaposition of two stories over the past week illustrates the incongruent enforcement... Read More
The City of Berkeley is a well-known leader in environmentalism, social justice, and public health. Given that active transportation plays an integral role in each of these fields, it’s... Read More
Bicycle accidents and auto accidents, technically, are treated identically under California law. The rules of determining who is at fault are the same. Practically Are They Treated Different? As... Read More
Recently we discussed the ongoing battle between California cities and Caltrans over street design, most notably cycle tracks. As it turns out, Caltrans just announced its official endorsement of... Read More
As cities across California seek to build safer, healthier, greener “complete streets,” many have come into conflict with Caltrans over what constitutes an acceptable (and legally defensible) design. This... Read More
One of the most common objections to wearing a bike helmet is that it’s simply not portable. Once you’ve arrived at your destination and chained your bike to the... Read More
Bike accidents at night without lights or reflective gear are very difficult cases, understandably. On the other hand, there are exceptions and we have successfully handled these cases. The... Read More
The team at Grist has put together a nice little video of “biking basics for folks who’ve always wanted to ride, but didn’t dare.” Although a lot of the... Read More
A report released earlier this week is urging San Francisco’s mayor and Board of Supervisors to increase efforts to reduce bike fatalities, calling for an ultimate goal of “zero... Read More
Cyclists across the pond have come up with a creative way to make sure surrounding motorists treat their safety with the appropriate amount of respect. By wearing reflective gear... Read More
Although the widely reported accident took place almost a year ago, the San Francisco cyclist who collided with 71-year-old Sutchi Hui on March 29, 2012 has recently been order... Read More
It may seem counterintuitive, but despite near unanimous support for the use of helmets, many cycling advocates disagree with the notion that helmet usage should be required by law.... Read More
With the end of the year fast approaching, our friends at TransForm are trying to set themselves up for success in 2013 by raising $75,000 to help them continue... Read More
With Governor Brown’s recent veto of the three foot passing bill, there’s a new product popping up specifically for cyclists looking to preserve a bit of personal space. The... Read More
A bike lane on Jarvis St. in Toronto, Ontario was scheduled for removal but six protesters staged a sit-in to prevent construction workers from removing the lane. The removal crew gave... Read More
Last month the New York Times ran an editorial written by someone who found it refreshing that she could rent a bike for $2 in Paris and spend the... Read More
A recent incident in Littleton, Colorado has highlighted the importance of always being alert and never taking your safety for granted. Last weekend a 55-year-old cyclist was injured while... Read More
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) is polling Bay Area residents on their customer experiences. The short survey asks for feedback on a variety of topics, from the... Read More
A recent experiment conducted by Brooklyn Spoke blog author Doug Gordon has confirmed what many people already suspected; simply having a barrier between the road and bike lane can... Read More
There are plenty of excuses people give for why they don’t wear a helmet. Reasons ranging from the understandable complaint that they’re bulky and hard to carry around to... Read More
Reports from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) show that between 2001 and 2010 nearly 70 people were killed in Bay Area car crashes resulting from problems with... Read More
In addition to having one of the highest traffic fatality rates of any Bay Area county, Sonoma County has also been the site of several recent cycling tragedies. Following... Read More
Thanks to a partnership between Better World Club and Portland’s Gales Creek Insurance Services, cyclists now have the opportunity to purchase the first nationwide comprehensive accident and liability insurance... Read More
Strava is currently being sued by the family of a 41-year-old engineer from Oakland, CA who died two years ago while trying to better a ‘King of the Mountains’... Read More
Congress is looking at a transportation spending bill this week, but bike advocates are worried that senators who are “anxious for a deal” will toss out a provision that... Read More
When it comes to cycling, using the proper hand signals is an essential element of making sure you’re riding safely. Now, a new helmet created by Exertion Games Lab... Read More
This past weekend marked the ninth annual World Naked Bike Ride, a clothing optional event designed to protest against oil dependency and promote cycling advocacy. In San Francisco, nearly... Read More
Instead of a traditional senior prank, students at Kenowa Hills High School in Grand Rapids, Michigan organized a bike parade as a fun, healthy way to celebrate their last... Read More
The recent and tragic death of a Portland bicyclist is serving as a stark reminder that “right hook” accidents are far too common. The woman, Kathryn Leah Rickson, was... Read More
With bright green bike lanes spreading across the Bay Area, the hope is that even the most oblivious drivers should start to take notice. The freshly painted bike lanes... Read More
Senate Bill 1464, which would require drivers to give bicyclists at least 3 feet of space when passing from behind, was approved by the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee... Read More
In fifteen years Toronto has gone from being dubbed the best cycling city in North America to the bike collision capital of Canada. Not helping matters is the current... Read More
Recently we talked about how in New York City, there’s a discrepancy between the number of cyclist deaths in the city and arrests issued. The city doesn’t quite know... Read More
Portland, Oregon has been a bit of a punchline city in recent years, especially due to the popularity of IFC’s quirky TV show Portlandia, in which Fred Armisen... Read More
Data shows that in New York City, when a driver kills someone with his car, whether it’s a motorist, pedestrian, or cyclist, 40% of the time no traffic ticket... Read More
It’s hard to find an online forum discussing bike lanes—or even cyclists in general—without inadvertently stumbling across another “us versus them” debate about motorists being irritated with bikers who... Read More
The San Francisco based company Bike Works has issued a voluntary recall of 4,100 bikes for “safety reasons” citing several customer reports that pedals had either cracked or broken.... Read More
New York is taking a unique approach to raising awareness for pedestrian safety. As part of an art installation, poetry designed to subtly raise pedestrian awareness have been posted... Read More
Volvo has always been at the forefront of safety technology, having developed a slew of features that other major car manufacturers have since copied (the three-point safety belt, safety... Read More
This video of a cyclist careening down a grassy hillside into oncoming traffic has gone viral thanks to its head-smacking “Well what did you think was going to happen... Read More
With the number of cyclists in San Francisco continuing to increase, creating a safe environment for bike commuters poses a serious challenge. One option currently being explored in London... Read More
The Alliance for Biking and Walking released their 2012 benchmarking report, and with 10% of San Francisco’s commuters doing so on foot and another 2.8% opting to cycle, the... Read More
When it comes to cities that put a priority on bike safety, you can’t do much better than California’s Alameda County, the East Bay bicycle mecca that includes Berkeley.... Read More
It’s no secret that biking on San Francisco’s Oak and Fell streets can be incredibly dangerous. In fact, the cross-town city arteries have proven dangerous for motorists as well,... Read More
Yesterday morning, a big rig truck collided with a UCSF shuttle van, killing 52 year-old Dr. Kevin Mack and injuring three other passengers. The accident occurred on Octavia Boulevard,... Read More
As the number of cyclists throughout California continues to rise each year, the state has consistently taken incremental steps toward improving bicycle safety on city streets and highways. This... Read More
We’ve all had moments where it feels like the traffic light will never change to green. Many intersections have sensors underneath the concrete that alert the traffic light when... Read More
We’ve all used Google Maps to find the best route to our desired location. What originally began as a resource for drivers has since expanded to include directions suggestions... Read More
As the number of California cyclists continues to grow, the debate surrounding bike helmet laws is likely to come front and center. Last year, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa... Read More
Since The Bay Citizen began publishing local news little more than a year ago, their Bike Accident Tracker app has been one of my favorite features. First, the app... Read More
There's no doubt that National Bike Month has been a resounding success here in California. The extended May cycle-centric holiday has lead to major safety campaigns statewide. But the... Read More
May is National Bike Month, which means that bicycle advocates and lawmakers throughout California are boosting efforts to increase bike ridership and improve bicycle safety. Thursday May 12 marks... Read More
San Francisco is getting serious about reducing bicycle accidents. The upsurge in bicycle and pedestrian fatalities in past months has lead the city’s Municipal Transportation Authority to improve safety... Read More
Both here in California and nationwide, residents and lawmakers are boosting bicycle safety awareness during May, National Bike Month. Many of these initiatives take aim at helping children learn... Read More
As National Bike Month rolls around, we’re reminded that too many cyclists currently on the road maintain bad habits on city streets. Many adult cyclists don’t wear helmets, obey... Read More
There’s no question about it: when it comes to reducing car accidents, pedestrian accidents, or bicycle accidents, states and local governments have been proposing the most interesting plans to... Read More
Jogging across San Francisco’s busy Masonic Avenue Monday, a pedestrian was blindsided by driver going 30 miles per hour, sending the jogger flying through the air and later to... Read More
So far, 2011 has been a great year for San Francisco pedestrian safety and bicycle safety. Facing troubling pedestrian and bicycle accident statistics, city lawmakers have enacted programs that... Read More
Lawmakers, cyclists, and safety organizations nationwide traveled to Washington DC this week for the annual National Bike Summit, hosted by the League of American Bicyclists. In past years, the... Read More
Bicycle use is in the midst of a major national resurgence. Due to crowded city streets, troubling environmental problems, and a call for healthier lifestyles, more people are choosing... Read More
As bicycle use continues to grow more popular, commuters remain vulnerable to bicycle accidents due primarily to the fact that city infrastructure for safe bicycle use lags far behind.... Read More
Most penalties for dangerous driving tickets are designed to prevent the perilous behavior from reoccurring. If you’re fined for driving 80 miles per hour in a 60 mph zone,... Read More
When the New York Times announced that it would devote a print section and webpage entirely to the Bay Area, residents were ready to step into the national limelight.... Read More
