Google Santa Monica Farmers Market crash and Porto Alegre Critical Mass crash. They are just two examples of escalating to the point of violence. Ten years after drunk driving we had to deal with distracted driving by phone (both take your mind off driving, the first for the whole trip, the second, for the duration of…

The screwdriver is screwing with them during the pass -punitive, not prevention. The pool noodle prevents it from happening because it’s big and harmless. It’s Gandhi Approved.

Every traveller (even without a vehicle) has what is called a dynamic envelope. Think of a car backing out of a driveway so narow they need to pull in the mirrors. They need to slow down to reduce the size of their dynamic envelope so they don’t hit anything. Cyclists need a wide enough dynamic envelope to steer to…

The silliness of the pool noodle is its advantage. How do you get angry against a pool noodle? It does happen but these drivers would get angry at a cyclist anyway. Better they get angry at the noodle getting in the way than at the cyclist only. Better a chewed up noodle than a chewed up cyclist.

There are four reasons for doing a close pass. 1) The Inattention Pass, You don’t notice the cyclist because you are not paying attention to your surroundings. 2) The Naive Pass, You don’t realize how serious and dangerous it is to pass so closely. 3) The Fly Past, like a jet buzzing over a group of people just for…

You are full of wisdom! In China, the fronts of cars are designed to be soft to reduce the force of impact, like a pillow. I can one day see airbags being installed on the outside of cars to both protect pedestrians and to increase the crumple zone of cars for when they hit hard objects. But eliminating cars and…

In Vietnam, schools make kids wear helmets when they take them on excursions when they walk on or cross the street. Helmets don’t protect the rest of their bodies or prevent collisions. All the more reason to focus on eliminating cars, trucks, buses first, then isolate the modes of transport and last, become competent…

A wheeled slug is a perfect description of a safe driver. Harm comes from the large mass plus speed (plus a hard surface). Everyone remember WHMIS? What’s the preferred way to stay safe? Eliminate the hazard. With roads, that means eliminate speed when driving residential or anywhere else. Better yet, eliminate the…