Here is a little project I do each spring. I take a broom and hike over to this transitional ramp from a local road onto the #bike pathway network and sweep it. Over the winter it gets covered in lots of sand and gravel and is quite a hazard for #cyclists in the springtime. it is like trying to make a turn on ball bearings and easy to wipe out there.
How do people even come up with ideas like this?
The Guardian
The extreme features of the Rezvani Vengeance – including electrified door handles and blinding strobe lights – are wholly in tune with lethal trends in the US market. (...)
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Road warrior … the Rezvani Vengeance SUV. Photograph: Rezvani Motors.
[T]his souped-up SUV boasts bulletproof glass, blinding strobe lights, electrified doorhandles, and wing mirrors that can shoot pepper spray – handy for putting those pesky cyclists in their place.
“Vengeance is yours,” trumpets the website, which details how the car can release a dense smoke screen to confuse people following you, as well as detect electromagnetic pulses from nuclear weapons. Always handy for the supermarket run. (...)
Which brings us to the most frightening thing about this weaponised monster of an SUV: that it is aimed not at military personnel, but at everyday soccer moms. (...)
This steroidal tank might seem like an anomalous extreme, but the truth is it represents the broader rise of the average US consumer vehicle into a supercharged killing machine. With its added tactical weaponry and paranoid styling, at least the Vengeance is honest about it.
According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, drivers behind the wheel of an SUV are two to three times more likely to kill a pedestrian in a collision than when driving a regular car. (...)
It comes down to simple physics: SUVs are more lethal due to their enormous weight, much taller front ends, and poorer visibility. While a regular car generally strikes a pedestrian’s legs, throwing them on to the bonnet, an SUV strikes their upper torso, or head, and then crushes them under the wheels.
Following the American love for supersizing everything, from Big Macs to McMansions, it is no surprise that the sale of ever bigger, ever heavier cars has mushroomed. Some reports show that 80% of all car sales in the US are now SUVs or pickup trucks. (...)
According to a Governors Highway Safety Association report, pedestrian fatalities have rocketed by 54% over the last decade. Cars might have grown safer for the people inside them, but not for walkers, cyclists or bikers. (...)
SUVs are killing us in another way too, as some of the world’s worst polluters. It was recently found that they are the second biggest cause of the global rise in carbon dioxide emissions over the past decade, eclipsing all shipping, aviation, heavy industry and even trucks. (...)
Tags: #cars #car_industry #us #united_states #suv #compact_car #pollution #exhaust #road_safety #pedestrians #cyclists #road_deaths
Yesterday's #cycle ride was just before dinner and so after #nightfall. There's a stretch of nearly 3 km that is unlit but I usually encounter #cyclists and #pedestrians on that leg of the journey. This time however, it was completely devoid of humanity. It was eerily quiet as there was no wind and only my #bike's lights illuminated the way. On the other hand it was very peaceful. Maybe it was because it had recently rained as there were generally fewer people outside anyway.
Part of one of my #CycleRoutes is through the #CityCentre which has a road for use only by #cyclists and #buses. Some pedestrians tend to be very inattentive, particularly if they don't hear an engine and are apt to step into the road without looking. That's what my bell is usually for. Today, however, took the biscuit; some man stepped into the road, not just without looking, but with is head in a novel! There was no time to use the bell and so I shouted very loudly, "Watch it!" and he stopped just as I passed him. I heard him say something like "Alright mate, don't get angry." The truth is, I wasn't angry, I was trying to get his attention off the book and on the road. At the next traffic light, I turned to the cyclist behind me who had witnessed the event and agreed that I hadn't overreacted. Oh well...
A good day for #cycling today and the #CyclePaths were pretty busy this morning. It's generally good to see people of all ages out there; friends, families and some more keen #cyclists but the weekend does bring out what I call #SundayRiders who only come out very occasionally and just generally get in the way or are not fully in control of their #bikes. It tends to be the middle aged who are worst at this. Of course I appreciate that people need to start somewhere and everyone of us was a beginner once but some people just don't have any regard for other users, whether in the saddle or on foot, or possess any road discipline.
As today's a holiday, we #cycled along the western side of the #ExeEstuary. As it's only accessible to #cyclists and #pedestrians, it's a lot cleaner and quieter than in town. It therefore is a great place to see #flora and #fauna, particularly #birds. I'll be several images of today's excursion but to start off with, here's one with a #stonehatch as the subject and a couple of cyclists approaching.
#MyWork #MyPhoto #CCBYSA #DSLR #Nikon #D7000 #Nature #Bike #Biking #Bicycle #Cycling
