Category: transportation law

Require bike helmets? There's not enough safety data

Require bike helmets? There’s not enough safety data

LA Times Editorial
3/18/15

[…] A bill in the Legislature to mandate helmets for all bicyclists is based less on evidence of significant benefit than on the mantra that it’s worthwhile if even a single life is saved. […] If it were, the state would require pedestrians to wear body armor; after all, five times as many pedestrians are killed in street accidents than are bicyclists. […]

Boris tells Londoners: Spend LESS time outdoors to improve health

Boris tells Londoners: Spend LESS time outdoors to improve health

Evening Standard
3/17/15

Boris Johnson today issued his first major public warning of high pollution in London – advising tens of thousands of people to cut back on physical exercise to protect their health. [..] She added: “It appears to be about advising the victims of air pollution rather than the polluters.” […]

Portland officials ban mountain bikers from longtime turf at River View Natural Area

Portland officials ban mountain bikers from longtime turf at River View Natural Area
The Oregonian
3/3/15

[…] Sponsel, a 26-year-old professional mountain biker, began practicing at the River View Cemetery Association’s undeveloped 146-acre property in Southwest Portland years before the city bought the land and renamed it River View Natural Area. […] Mountain bikers say the decision eliminates one of their few options in a city whose bike-friendly reputation doesn’t always extend to the off-road crowd. […]

Why it’s so hard to punish drivers who kill pedestrians

Why it’s so hard to punish drivers who kill pedestrians

Slate
2/22/2014

The vast majority of traffic fatalities never lead to an arrest. […] Less obvious, but no less consequential, was the legal shift through which society absorbed and dismissed the hazards of urban driving, exonerating individual drivers for crashes, even when they killed pedestrians. […]

‘Cyclist friendly’ trucks unveiled to cut deaths on capital’s roads

‘Cyclist friendly’ trucks unveiled to cut deaths on capital’s roads

The Evening Standard
2/26/15

[…] Radical “cyclist friendly” construction trucks were being unveiled today at a London conference into cycling deaths and injuries. […] The new trucks give drivers a much clearer view around their vehicle, enabling them to see cyclists who would otherwise have been in their blind spot. […]

State court’s ruling on bicyclists’ rights was the right one

State court’s ruling on bicyclists’ rights was the right one

One of two major rights affirmed allows bicyclists to sue if they are harmed by a negligent driver.
Central Main
2/14/15

[…] The coalition was concerned that if the bus company prevailed in its interpretation of the passing law, any time a bicycle was hit by a car while passing to the right of traffic – whether in a bike lane, in a shared lane or on a shoulder – the motorist would have been protected from any liability and the bicyclist barred from recovering damages. This would have had a chilling effect on encouraging people to ride bicycles, which are typically ridden to the right of motor vehicle traffic, because cyclists would basically be denied the right to bring an action against motorists, even in cases where the motorist was clearly negligent. […]