In an effort to increase driver and rider awareness and safety, Team zMotion – a Zimmerman Advertising Team – created the “Ride Right, Drive Right” campaign in conjunction with the Florida Department of Transportation. The campaign’s goal is to make the roads safer and to save lives by building awareness on the part of both motorists and cyclists.

Judge Busch finds that City has complied with CEQA, grants City’s request to allow remaining safety, usability improvements

SAN FRANCISCO (Aug. 6, 2010) — San Francisco Superior Court Judge Peter J. Busch issued an order late this afternoon finding San Francisco in compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, in seeking to implement its Bicycle Plan citywide. The ruling effectively dissolves an injunction that continued to prohibit City engineers from moving forward on some planned bicycle route improvements intended to enhance the safety and usability of streets for bicyclists. A previous order from Nov. 2009 lifted significant portions of the original 2006 injunction, but left limited restrictions intact while the adequacy of environmental review for certain projects was adjudicated.

“I am very gratified by the ruling from Judge Busch, who carefully considered an enormous amount of evidence in this case, and found that the City met its environmental review requirements,” said City Attorney Dennis Herrera. “Today’s decision clears an important hurdle toward making San Francisco safer for bicyclists, and healthier for all of us. I am very thankful to the many dedicated public servants involved in this policy initiative and meeting the stringent legal requirements to fulfill it, including Mayor Gavin Newsom and the Board of Supervisors, the Municipal Transportation Agency, and the Planning Department.”

The case is: Coalition for Adequate Review et al. v. City and County of San Francisco, San Francisco Superior Court No. 505-509, filed July 28, 2005.

Peopleforbikes.org is a movement initiated by the Bikes Belong Foundation, the national nonprofit focusing on bicycling safety and working to put more people on bicycles more often.

Bicycling is great for health, good for communities, and a solution to many of our most pressing societal and environmental problems. Although millions of Americans recognize these benefits, and love to ride their bikes, only a fraction of those who ride have stood up to help improve bicycling in America. To bridge this gap and make our country a better place for all who ride, peopleforbikes.org is gathering a million names of support, to speak with one powerful voice—to make bicycling safer, more convenient and appealing for everyone.

By uniting a million voices for bicycling, we will help build a national movement with clout and influence. Our unified message—that bicycling is important and should be promoted—will resonate with leaders, the media and public.

Results: The likelihood that a given person walking or bicycling will be struck by a motorist varies inversely with the amount of walking or bicycling. This pattern is consistent across communities of varying size, from specific intersections to cities and countries, and across time periods.

Discussion: This result is unexpected. Since it is unlikely that the people walking and bicycling become more cautious if their numbers are larger, it indicates that the behavior of motorists controls the likelihood of collisions with people walking and bicycling. It appears that motorists adjust their behavior in the presence of people walking and bicycling. There is an urgent need for further exploration of the human factors controlling motorist behavior in the presence of people walking and bicycling.

Conclusion: A motorist is less likely to collide with a person walking and bicycling if more people walk or bicycle. Policies that increase the numbers of people walking and bicycling appear to be an effective route to improving the safety of people walking and bicycling.

In the last three years, Sunday Streets events in San Francisco have proven to be incredibly successful – growing from two events in 2007 to nine events planned for 2010, due to the popularity among residents, business owners and local government.

Walk Oakland Bike Oakland is excited to give Sunday Streets some Oakland flair – Oaklavía will take the concept of street festival to the next level, allowing residents to experience the city’s best natural and architectural assets, outdoor activities, and arts in some of our most well-loved and unique streets and neighborhoods.

This report is the third status update to the National Bicycling and Walking Study, originally published in 1994 as an assessment of bicycling and walking as transportation modes in the United States. Following the 5-year status report (1999) and 10-year status report (2004), the 15-year update measures the progress made toward the original goals of lowering the number of fatalities while increasing the percentage of trips made by bicycling and walking. Injury and fatality statistics are presented to measure this progress, as well as results from surveys related to travel habits. The 15-year report, unlike its two predecessors, examines a range of efforts to increase bicycling and walking in the United States. Programs at the Federal, State, and local levels are included, as well as case studies on best practices. Finally, the report makes recommendations for research, policy, and other measures that can be taken to meet the goals of the original study.

“If you go down Main Street there is not much room for a bicyclist, a bus or a car, a truck. We are trying to promote safety…. It’s a choice. We made our choice and now the bicyclist needs to make his or her choice.”

They’re spooky. Painted stark white, stem to stern, they’ve appeared seemingly out of nowhere in recent weeks, each chained to a pole on a major Sacramento street.

They are “ghost bikes,” standing silent watch where cyclists have died.

The people responsible for them have kept a low profile. The spray-painted monuments, however, are striking, a form of guerrilla public art that has prompted debate, appreciation, and some unease.