Cycling Smackdown at the Bowling Alley

Central Florida cyclists will battle it out to raise money for advertising on Lynx buses to educate motorists on the 3 Foot Passing Law.

May 24th, 2008
4-7pm
Winter Park Bowl America
1111 W. Fairbanks Ave., Winter Park
(a mile east of I-4)

$20 per person donation gets you a bowling ball, lane, shoes and 3 games.

Cash prize: Top scorer wins $100!

Teams consist of 4 players---grab THREE teammates from your bike club, your neighborhood and register today!

Raffle Prize: Trek 3.0 Soho hybrid or set of Bontrager Race X Light wheels. Generously donated by David’s World Cycle. $1 per ticket or $5 for 6 tickets

Maybe you can ride a bike but let’s see if you bowl strikes or gutter balls.

Beer sold at the lanes.

Please email cstevens29@cfl.rr.com to enroll your team.

We hope to see representation from the following:
Armada, BOBbies, Florida Freewheelers, Flamingos, Glory Cycle, Team 19, Hal’s Pals, Seminole Cyclists, Windemere Roadies, etc.

WEAR YOUR TEAM COLORS

You Bike to Work? Oh, You Poor Thing!

The folks at Streetsblog have posted a video of a recent State Farm Insurance commercial in which some poor guy must resort to (gasp!) biking to work due to the high cost of gasoline. They dressed him up as a cycling fashion tragedy to help make the point.



If you're a State Farm customer like me, you might want to contact your agent and express your displeasure. (Of course it's not your agent's fault, but the corporate website had no way to send an e-mail to the PR or executive folks.)

UPDATE: Here's the comments page for the State Farm website.

UPDATE 2: In the comments section Kelt wrote: "I will not ever be a SF customer if that demonstrates their attitude." Now I'm not suggesting you should either become or remain a State Farm customer, but think about this: every problem holds the seed of its solution. Every corporation wants to be associated with good things. I asked them to contact the League and try to develop some Share the Road-themed commercials. They're buying ad time anyway, and they'd much rather run ads that make their existing and potential customers proud to be associated with them.

A1A: Losing a Skirmish, But Winning a Major Battle

The Florida First District Court of Appeal released its decision on Bruce Rosenzweig et al vs. FDOT today, and the news is mostly very good. The Court wrote:

Bicycle paths shall be established unless the Department exercises its discretion not to establish bicycle and pedestrian ways where any of the conditions in section 335.065(1)(b) are demonstrated. Accordingly, we agree with appellants’ interpretation of the statute and find that the Department’s discretion is limited.

The key point in that to my ears is "demonstrated." The Department must now demonstrate that a particular project cannot include bike lanes and/or sidewalks, due to reasons of safety, excessive cost, or an absence of need. The Court also made clear that cyclists and pedestrians clearly have legal standing in such matters. Cycling and pedestrian advocates must still be watchful on projects, but now have a much stronger hand to force FDOT to prove any of those three conditions. Indeed, FDOT procedures have long required that Districts record any variation from the requirement to provide bicycle and pedestrian facilities; now the Court says they must do so as well.

Unfortunately, due to procedural matters, the plaintiffs were not able to show that the cost of providing bike lanes and sidewalks on A1A in particular were within a reasonable cost range. Discussion is on-going to determine if they will pursue the procedural matter up to the Florida Supreme Court.

The decision can be read here in its entirety.

Huge thanks are due to plaintiffs Bruce Rosenzweig, the Boca Raton Bicycle Club, and the League of American Bicyclists for stepping forward, and especially to the law firm of Akerman Senterfitt for its untold hours (though I'm sure they know how many!) of effort.

Tallahassee Newspaper Reporter Gets It Right

Kudos to Tallahassee Democrat writer Gerald Ensley and to long-time cycling advocate Chris Sands for setting the record straight.

How it warms my heart to see the words: "bicyclists fare best when they obey the rules of the road and operate like other vehicles" in print.

New Way to Report Bad Drivers

For some years we've been thinking about a site where cyclists could report bad motorists. Well, it's out there: PlateWire.

You can report the tag number, behavior and location and even request a postcard be sent to the offending driver for $2 (if they are able to find the address). Go here to see the Florida tags.

You're not limited to complaints. You can also flirt with drivers who catch your fancy and give attaboys to polite drivers. The one "Award" tag in Florida was a Share the Road tag!

Kill Your Television

In his latest book Blink, Malcolm Gladwell describes the Implicit Association Test (IAT) developed at Harvard. This test exposes hidden biases by having subjects respond quickly to word associations (check it out at http://www.implicit.harvard.edu/). Gladwell explores how people score on the Race IAT, which makes associations with African-Americans and Caucasians. Over 80 percent of those who’ve taken that test showed “pro-white associations,” and even half of African-Americans have done the same. This is not evidence of racism or self-hatred, but about the many messages we receive from our culture on a continuous basis. As Harvard psychologist Mahzarin Banaji is quoted: “You don’t choose to make positive associations with the dominant group, but you are required to. All around you, that group is being paired with good things. You open the newspaper and turn on the television, and you can’t escape it.”

I have argued that the culture-wide relationship between bicyclists and motorists is similar to that of Native Americans and Americans of European ancestry. Like Native Americans, we were here first, and got in the way of the automobile’s Manifest Destiny. We "dress funny," have strange customs, make motorists uncomfortable when we gather en masse, and are being moved into reservations (trails, bike lanes) “for our own good.”

The automobile industry spends over $13 billion dollars a year for advertising, and whether one argues that the purpose of such advertising is to promote auto use in general or just to push one brand over another is really beside the point; all auto ads support the attitude that car use is good, and that even more car use is better still. News reports on the 42,000 annual deaths and 2 million injuries, global warming, ground level ozone, and the myriad other ills generated by auto use are of little consequence compared to such an advertising onslaught.

Bicycling and bicyclists are more often than not portrayed in negative terms: risk-taker, sacrifice, jobless, car-less, discomfort, geek, tree-hugger, freeloader, obstruction, slow, casualty… And where is the multi-billion dollar ad campaign to promote cycling?

The IAT results imply that, even though we know consciously and intellectually that bicycling is a better activity (healthier, greener, cheaper, more sociable, less dangerous to others, inspiring, etc., etc.) than automobile use, we might still (collectively) tend to defer to motorists as superior members of society.

Gladwell points out that it is in spontaneous situations when these cultural biases most affect our behaviors. With a 4,000 lb. vehicle breathing down the back of your neck it’s too easy to give in and make way; to feel as if you are the interloper.

Well, change is coming. You may have seen the Region’s Bank ads that use bicycles as symbols of freedom and joy. Lance Armstrong was a huge boost, even though he was not a symbol of the everyday bicyclist (and Floyd Landis has unfortunately become a negative symbol; two steps forward, one step back). This morning the price of gas was $3.10 a gallon and there’s serious talk of $4.00 by next summer.

As always, I try to leave you with something you can do with this new knowledge. Unless you can afford to buy lots of television air time to promote bicycling, I suggest you figure out ways to block out the pro-auto voices that permeate the culture. If the title of this post seems too extreme an option, you could instead use the mantra made famous by Saturday Night Live character Stuart Smalley (portrayed by Al Franken) as you bike down the road:

“I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me!”

Another Loss for Cycling, and A Story Illustrating the Imperative for Traffic Justice

Norman Benzing climbed tall mountains, sailed to far-off islands and bicycled
across the country -- twice.

Before 9 a.m. on Thursday morning, while he
and his wife strolled along the sidewalk on South Orange Avenue, a car jumped
the curb and hit him from behind.

Friends and family members of the
67-year-old man were shocked that he was killed while walking down the street.

See the Orlando Sentinel story here.

I didn't know Norman, but sometimes saw him and his wife riding their tandem in the neighborhood; they only lived about a mile away.

Whose Roads? Who Pays?

You’ll often hear or read some ill-informed person claim that cyclists don’t have the right to use public roadways because they don’t pay gas taxes. I suppose one could simply call them a fascist and be done with it (and be correct), but more reasonable and effective arguments are available.

First and foremost, use of public rights-of-way is a basic liberty, not a privilege of taxpayers.

But even if it were not a basic liberty, cyclists (and pedestrians) are certainly paying their way (and then some).

“User fees” such as gas taxes, vehicle taxes and fees, and tolls, account for only 60% of transportation funding; the other 40% is from property taxes, bonds, general funds, and other taxes, all of which are paid (directly or indirectly) by non-motorists. According to Todd Litman of the Victoria Transport Policy Institute,

“On average, local and regional governments spend $300-500 annually per automobile in general taxes on local roads and traffic services, averaging more than 6¢ per mile driven on local roads. Only 0.7¢ of this is paid through vehicle user charges, meaning that driving is subsidized through general taxes by about 5.6¢ per mile on local roads.”

Most gas tax money goes to widening roadways to accommodate more cars (thereby encouraging more driving) and to maintaining roads. Virtually all wear and tear on roads is due to motor vehicles (especially large trucks), not cyclists, and certainly not pedestrians. The cost of accommodating cyclists and pedestrians is generally less than 2% of the total cost of a road. Non-motorists therefore overpay for their use of roads, while motorists underpay.

Those who shop by bike, walk or transit pay gas taxes indirectly. Shipping costs, which are included in the costs of virtually all goods, include gas taxes.

Of course, most cyclists DO buy gasoline, since most own and drive internal combustion vehicles. To say one must always use the vehicle that makes the taxpaying necessary is an absurd trap. "You have no choice! You must drive a car because you paid the tax!" This argument also implies that those who pay more in taxes have greater rights than those who pay less. Those who drive electric cars might similarly be accused of driving on roads without paying “their fair share.” An electric car owner would only pay about one-third as much in “user fees” as the owner of an internal combustion engine vehicle.

Print and save for when you get into that inevitable argument!

Making Friends

I find it ironic that cyclists in one of the most bike-friendly cities in America are reaching out to motorists to get them to be even friendlier.

Check out the story here.

Bravo Portland!

Focus on the Truth, Not the Myth

FDOT Assistant Pedestrian and Bicycle Coordinator Dwight Kingsbury posted the following to the e-mail list of the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals. It's information that will be especially useful for advocates and safety proponents:

"The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently issued a flier to combat myths about the flu vaccine. It recited various commonly held views and labeled them either "true" or "false." Among those identified as false were statements such as "The side effects are worse than the flu" and "Only older people need flu vaccine.""

"When University of Michigan social psychologist Norbert Schwarz had volunteers read the CDC flier, however, he found that within 30 minutes, older people misremembered 28 percent of the false statements as true. Three days later, they remembered 40 percent of the myths as factual."

"Younger people did better at first, but three days later they made as many errors as older people did after 30 minutes. Most troubling was that people of all ages now felt that the source of their false beliefs was the respected CDC...the studies show that the brain uses subconscious "rules of thumb" that can bias it into thinking that false information is true...."

"The research also highlights the disturbing reality that once an idea has been implanted in people's minds, it can be difficult to dislodge. Denials inherently require repeating the bad information, which may be one reason they can paradoxically reinforce it..."

"Mayo found that rather than deny a false claim, it is better to make a completely new assertion that makes no reference to the original myth..."

The lesson for cyclists: the more you say "That road is dangerous," the more people believe you don't belong on it. Then, as other advocates say, "It's a myth that cycling on the road is dangerous," it only get reinforced even more.

The more motorists believe cycling on roadways is dangerous, the worse they will treat us.

ProBikeProWalk Florida '07 -- Vision and Progress

FBA's ProBikeProWalk Florida Conference for 2007 is now a wrap, and boy did we cover some ground! We kicked it off Monday with an elected official's luncheon featuring Canada's Gil Penalosa, who put cycling facilities and programs and walkable communities in the political context they deserve: the smart leaders are the ones who recognize the value of walkable and bikeable communities. Some of the officials were particularly interested in the Ciclovia concept.

Monday afternoon saw the kickoff of the Florida Traffic Justice Coalition, with leaders in law enforcement, the judicial system, engineering, education, and bicycling advocacy expressing their desires for a safer street system for ALL users, and developing the beginnings of a strategy, with core principles and short term priorities. (More to come on this in a later post.)

The Conference itself ran from Tuesday morning to Thursday afternoon, beginning with impassioned welcomes from City of Orlando Commissioner Patty Sheehan, and Orange County Commissioner Linda Stewart. Metroplan Orlando Executive Director Harold Barley challenged the attendees to "get cranking and step it up!," because "We are poised at a moment in which cycling and walking are increasingly seen as parts of the solutions to important global issues: health, climate change, energy costs, urban sprawl, traffic safety, and child development. Walking and bicycling shouldn’t be seen as sacrifices for the common good, but as liberation from a broken system."

The Conserve by Bike Study, ordered by the Florida Legislature and recently released by the Florida Department of Transportation, was a popular topic of discussion. The report shows strong preliminary justification for the provision of bicycling facilities, showing that such facilities do indeed increase cycling, and that the increase in cycling results in significant savings in gasoline consumption, CO2 emissions, and health costs.

The Conference finished up with concurrent meetings of FDOT District bicycle and pedestrian Coordinators, and of local coordinators. Such meetings offer unique opportunities for professionals to strategize ways in which the bureaucracy can function better for cyclists and pedestrians. Look forward to a compelling effort by FBA to communicate key remedies in this area to the Governor's office.

Traffic Justice Coalition of Florida

In Orlando on October 27, 2004, five-year-old Angelica Velez and her two-year-old sister Victoria crossed four-lane Goldenrod Road in a crosswalk with their mother. Ashley Townsend, age 22, ran the red light and killed the two girls as their mother watched in horror. Ashley was allegedly talking on her cell phone at the time. This tragedy brought intense attention in Central Florida to the need for improved motorist behavior and justice in our traffic system, but it was merely one of many such tragedies. The legal outcomes of this and similar incidents should address not only how careless drivers are punished; we must find ways for our justice, engineering, and education systems to help prevent such crashes in the first place.

Poor driving behavior is rampant in Florida. According to the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles there are over 120,000 licenses revoked each year, and another 29,000 suspended due to points alone. Over 114,000 motorists were convicted of driving with a suspended or revoked license in 2006; for all types of criminal driving violations there were over 235,000 convictions. 2.8 million non-criminal citations were handed out to Florida drivers in 2006.

Florida’s fatal crash rate is rising while the national rate drops; it is rising faster than our population. The cost of this mayhem falls hardest on our streets’ most vulnerable users – pedestrians, bicyclists and motorcyclists -- but all users of our roads are affected. It is an injustice that we permit the careless and reckless to continue to wield such power, while those who present little or no risk to others are discouraged from using our streets.

The former president of Boston University Dr. John Silber said, “The only standard of performance that can sustain a free society is excellence.” Considering the destructive power wielded by those in motor vehicles, we must raise our expectations. As humans we almost always fall short of our goals, so a goal of mere adequacy in motor vehicle operation inevitably results in too many incompetent motorists. Our goal must be excellence. Dr. Silber went on to ask, “[D]o we have the right as citizens in a free society to reject excellence on behalf of others who may not be so foolish?” No; the vulnerable among us deserve excellence behind the wheel.
Florida Bicycle Association invites you to join us to discuss problems and solutions, to build a coalition with a vision for change and plan for action, at the first Florida Traffic Justice Coalition meeting at the ProBike®/ProWalk Florida Conference in Orlando on August 27th from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. at the Downtown Embassy Suites Hotel, 191 E. Pine Street. While legislative solutions are certainly on the table, we’re looking for more; for creative approaches to changing the culture to one with high expectations for users of our public ways.

The format of the meeting will be as follows:
1:30-2:00 Overview, why we are here, encapsulate issues, break-out instructions
2:00-3:45 Focus groups
3:45-4:00 Break
4:00-4:15 Recap group discussions
4:15-4:30 Next steps

Mohandas Gandhi said, “You must make the injustice visible.” That is the first step. Only when injustice becomes fully visible and the voices of the victims are heard can we understand what is needed to remedy it.

Please join us for this important meeting. There is no fee, however, if you wish to attend the ProBike®/ProWalk Florida Conference, visit http://www.probikeprowalkflorida.com/ for details. Please contact Conference Director Bill Richards at 352-377-8342 or by email at paco25@bellsouth.net regarding your availability to attend the Florida Traffic Justice Coalition meeting.