Palm Beach Bike Tours » Bicycle Safety and Advocacy

Wear Your Bike Helmet, Please

matt — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 15:03:35 +0000

It was a messy weekend on Jupiter Island this weekend.

A few riders in the A- group went down, one took a helicopter ride to the hospital, one took an ambulance and one had her husband pick her up. By Saturday afternoon, all were reported in good spirits though one was kept overnight for observation.

While waiting for the medics to show up, a southbound group of three riders were paying more attention to the crash than their riding. They touched and the 20 or so of us on the side of the road got to see them touch, flip and crash. They rode off in minutes, mostly unhurt but with some potential mechanical problems.

Later in the day, I’m told a rider on a TT or tri bike went down on the steel drawbridge. His deep gash was going to require stitches.

Be Careful — Wear Your Helmet

Accidents happen. No one was being especially stupid. None of the accidents involved cars, dogs or bad roads. You put enough hours into any sport and you’re going to get hurt. The trick is to be careful and be wearing the right equipment so that any damage is minimized.

The crack in the helmet above isn’t all that impressive. You can see from the photo below, the crack goes all the way through the helmet.

Cracks in Helmet Could Have Been Skull Cracks

This helmet belongs to the guy who took an ambulance ride to the hospital. He is an experienced cyclist with several thousand miles under his belt, many of those on the same road on which he crashed. You don’t get to pick when and where you’re going to crash so it’s best to always ride with a helmet. Those helmet cracks could have been skull cracks.

Helicopter Takes Injured Cyclist to Hospital

Group Riding No More Dangerous Than Solitary Riding

Before you swear off group rides as being more dangerous, keep in mind that you can fall and hurt yourself while riding alone, too. The advantage of riding with a group is that there are lots of people available to provide assistance, get a license plate number and call for help.

In either case, wear your helmet.

—Matt

Lake Worth Community Bike Ride

Ken Steinhoff — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 08:46:23 +0000

I’m not very good at keeping up with Event invitations that come into my Facebook account. Most of them are for things I have no interest in going to. That’s why I didn’t notice one for the Lake Worth Community Bike Ride and Bicycle Safety event until about two hours before it was going to start.

Last year’s bike rodeo was fun

I had a good time covering the city’s bike rodeo last May, so I got my act together and made it down to Lake Worth just as the event was getting started.

Sheriff’s deputies offered safety tips

To be honest, I thought there was a bit too much emphasis on wearing helmets and too little emphasis on vehicular cycling. Deputy Rafael Duran DID mention that it’s important not to ride against traffic, but I would like to have had some other topics mentioned:

Taking the lane when the roadway is too narrow for a vehicle to pass you safely without crossing the center line.
The legal and practical reason for equipping your bike with lights and reflectors.
The importance of being predictable: riding in a straight line; signaling turns and obeying traffic control devices.
How to properly position yourself on the roadway.

In fairness, they did provide Bicyclists Must Think Like Drivers, an excellent brochure by the Florida’s Pedestrian & Bicycling Safety Resource Center, that covered all those subjects and more.

For the record, I’m not anti-helmet. You can hear me toward the end of the video recounting the experience my riding partner had when she crashed without a helmet on the Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail. You can read about her crash here and track her progress three years later here.

A stop at a Ghost Bike

Sgt. Enrique Ponce told everyone at the start, “It’s gonna be a fun ride.” He was right, but there was one somber moment when the group stopped at a white-painted Ghost Bike to place flowers on the memorial to a cyclist who was killed at that intersection.

Video of Lake Worth Community Bike Ride

It was a ride worth doing. I’ll have to watch my Facebook events a little closer in the future.

Mary’s Life 3 Years After Her Crash

Ken Steinhoff — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 00:25:22 +0000

Three years ago, my friend, co-worker and riding partner crashed on the Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail.

Her skull was fractured in five places, she had double vision, vertigo and short-term memory loss, plus the normal road rash. To keep from rehashing the details of the crash, go to my July 9, 2008 post.

H-Word Warning

Some cycling forums and lists ban the mention of helmets because the topic invariably creates more heat than light. Be warned that the H-word does come up in the video and in the original story, but helmets aren’t the focus of either piece. For the record, neither Mary nor I were wearing magic foam hats the day of her crash (mine, in fact, is visible in the photo, strapped to the back of her bike).

How’s Mary doing?

Mary’s friends (both real and virtual) and former coworkers ask me from time to time, “How’s Mary doing?”

I have to confess that we’ve had less and less contact over the months, especially since she and her significant other, Tammy, moved a county away with 2-1/2-year-old Nicholas.

I used the anniversary month of the crash as an excuse to visit them in their new home in Palm City.

I’ve never been much partial to kids, but Nicholas immediately won me over. He’s bright, inquisitive and has the most beautiful eyes imaginable. After watching me take pictures, he ran to get his Viewfinder to “take pictures” of his two moms.

What’s the good news?

Mary seemed as happy and content as I’ve ever seen her.

She’s fit and tanned. She still has a few road rash “badges of honor” barely showing on her knees, but there’s no visible signs of her head injuries.

She loves her new life as a stay-at-home mom caring for Nicholas while Tammy is out working as a police officer at FAU.

Their new home is perfect for raising a family. It has plenty of room for Thomas the Train toys and all of the other stuff that a growing boy accumulates. There’s a sizable backyard and kids nearby.

What’s the less good news?

Three years after the crash, she’s still unable to work because of the problems with double vision and vertigo. Special glasses with prisms help with the vision problem, but the solution isn’t perfect. She copes with the memory loss by sticking reminder notes on the refrigerator.

She’s been told that surgery could end up making her vision worse instead of better, so she’s not going to take the risk at this point.

She hasn’t been back on a bike. She says she goes out to the garage and looks at it from time to time and she enjoys looking at the Adventure Cycling Association magazine, but she can’t bring herself to climb back on two wheels.

Part of it is the vertigo that would cause balance problems, but she told me for the first time this visit that she thinks she’s afraid to get back on the bike.

Overall, though, she’s glad to be alive

Here’s a video where she tells the story about how her whole life changed in milliseconds.

Facebook Fan Page Promotes Cycle Violence

Ken Steinhoff — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 16:57:37 +0000

The first lesson I learned way back in the days of computer bulletin boards, way before anyone thought of the Internet, was Don’t Feed the Trolls.

Trolls are folks who post inflammatory or extraneous topics with the intention of provoking outrage and / or disrupting normal orderly discussions. Drop a helmet comment in just about any bike group, and you’ll soon have the group snapping at each other like a school of sharks going after chum thrown from a fishing boat, for example.

Bike groups have been gnashing their collective teeth at a new hate group Facebook fan page with the name, “There’s a perfectly good path right next to the road you stupid cyclist.” The page leads off with a picture of a cyclist being doored and a warning “My car is hard and I’m not slowing down.”

Bike Hate Fan Page

I did a pretty good job of ignoring it

I’ve just about given up on reading comments to news media stories involving bicycles. They quickly devolve into shouting matches between jerks on two wheels and jerks on four wheels and accomplish nothing. Media outlets, that used to require signed letters to the editor with IDs that were verified before printin, now care more about hits and traffic count than reasoned dialog, so they rarely step in.

Here an example from Iowa and North Carolina.

The road rage page is every bit as bad as described

Yep, it was as odious as everyone said. Some cyclists joined to provide a counterpoint, but they only raised the volume. Another group set up fan page to petition that the first one be shut down.

Many of us asked Facebook to remove the page for for violating the terms of service, specifically:

6. You will not bully, intimidate, or harass any user.
7. You will not post content that is hateful, threatening, pornographic, or that contains nudity or graphic or gratuitous violence.

The hate site is still up and has 34,907 members (up 300 from last night).

The pro-biker page has 27,699 members, up 1,829 from last night.

Hit the advertisers

Someone on one of the bike forums had a good suggestion: if Facebook won’t take the page down because of user protests, maybe they’d listen to the advertisers who show up in the sidebar of the page.

It’s not a really practical idea because the ads rotate, so it’s not like an advertiser KNOWS where his or her ad is going to show up, but I tried an experiment.

See the car ad at the top right of the screen shot?

I sent the following email:

To: custsvc@einsure.com
subject: Is this a site you want your ad next to?
From: Ken Steinhoff
Date: Sat, 09 Jan 2010 18:38:33 -0500

Facebook has a Fan Group that encourages violence to bicyclists. I noticed that your ad was displayed on it.

I encourage you to visit the page, read some of the comments, including the originator’s, “My car is hard, and I’m not slowing down!” accompanied by a photo of a cyclist being doored, and see if you think you want your company’s name associated with such content.

As an advertiser, you might have more influence than the cycling community in getting the page taken down.

After all, you are an auto insurance company. Wonder what the payout would be if one of your customers was a commenter on this site and ran over a cyclist?

Here’s an example of some of the content

Read the comments that follow the picture.

[Note: the link I had to the photo and comments has expired or it has been removed. The comments were more disturbing than the picture, if you can believe that. The photo is small because of offensive language.]

Thanks.

I’ll let you know if I hear anything from them.

Monday morning update

A Phred posted this update to the group:

It should be noted that while the group itself has not been removed, all the vicious postings by individuals that break the FB rules, have indeed disappeared. The group has now been overrun by cyclists and those who stand by us. It has been reduced to mostly civil discussions, albeit, still with some of the silly cursing and name calling, but just about all of the threatening content has been removed.

The name of the group is not in violation of FB rules, but some of the content is (was). That is why the group was not shut down, and that is why we must target specific posts in our reports to FB. What needs to be worked on now are the few photos posted to the group that depict violence toward bicyclists. We’ve almost got it licked!

Adventure Cycling Will Be in W Palm Beach Jan. 14

Ken Steinhoff — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 03:22:25 +0000

The Adventure Cycling Association has been promoting bicycle touring since the Bicentennial Year. They produce a network of maps that will let you find your way across this country from just about any direction. I’ve been a member for nine years and I give out memberships as Christmas presents.

In addition to the maps, the ACA also leads tours, sells well-tested merchandise, publishes a magazine that causes you to want to hop on your bike and serves as a strong advocate for cyclists.

The ACA Executive Director will be here January 14

Jim Sayer (pictured here with his daughter) will be speaking to the Palm Beach County Bicycle, Greenway, Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BGPAC) on Thursday morning, January 14, from 10:15 to 11:30. The meeting will be at the Vista Center, 2300 N. Jog Rd., West Palm Beach.

Jim will be sharing the latest news on bicycle travel and adventures in North America (and perhaps beyond).

He’ll be looking to the year ahead, with new routes, trips, and policy and outreach initiatives to improve bicycling and bike travel in the U.S. There will also be time to talk about the economic and community benefits of bicycling, and to share cycling thoughts, ideas and stories.

Bret Baronak of the Metropolitan Planning Authority has asked Jim to cover some specific topics:

The development of the USA Bicycling Network
ACA’s interaction with the federal or state governments regarding transportation legislation and policy-making
And since you sit on the City of Missoula, MT BGPAC — a brief summary of some of the objectives and actions of the Committee that stand out as unique. Our BGPAC is always looking for new and creative ways that we can get involved in carrying out the mission of non-motorized transportation planning. We have an interest into seeing what other BGPACs do, that may be unique, as that can help us formulate ideas and/or develop new initiatives.

Florida gatherings

Here’s a complete list of Florida gatherings.

Imagine a City Full of Cycles, Not Cars

Ken Steinhoff — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 21:44:51 +0000

It appears to have worked in the Netherlands in the 1950s. (Notice how you don’t see many fat people.)

Don’t think it could happen in this country? Chicago banned cars on Lake Shore Drive to give 18,000 cyclists a crack at it. The video of a major freeway clogged with bikes is inspiring.

How about in Portland, where there are bicycle traffic jams and where it’s projected that more than half the trips in one corridor will be made by bicycles before long.

The Police Safety Review – Safety from the 50s II

Ken Steinhoff — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:25:31 +0000

As promised, here’s the full 24-page booklet distributed by the Cape Girardeau (MO) Police Department in the mid to late 50s. Click on any image to make it larger, then move through the gallery by clicking on the left or right side of the picture.

Beware of Strangers

Two pages have an unsual use of the word “moron.” They define it as one who molests young children – either boys or girls.

(“Your Parents Will We Pleased to Explain This Matter More Fully.” Yeah, I bet that was just the discussion they wanted to have at the breakfast table in 1956.)

I’ve never heard the word used in this context, it doesn’t show up in any online dictionaries that I could find, and my copy of the American Dictionary of Slang is silent on it.

Check out Rube Goldberg on Page 22

You normally think of Rube Goldberg’s crazy inventions, but this looks more like the Don Hesse style in the old St. Louis Globe-Democrat.

Actions have consequences

The overall message of the booklet is that actions have consequences. That’s not a bad thing.

1950-Era Safety Tips for Children (Part 1)

Ken Steinhoff — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:20:01 +0000

We Baby Boomers grew up in a time of contradictions: on the one hand we were told by friendly turtles that we’d be safe from a nuclear explosion if we ducked ‘n covered under our school desks; on the other, we were constantly being warned that some activity or another was likely “to put an eye out.”

While rummaging around in the time capsule otherwise known as my Mother’s attic, I came across a 24-page publication, The Police Safety Review, which had been distributed by the Cape Girardeau Police Department. There’s a 1954 Rube Goldberg cartoon – yes, THAT Rube Goldberg – in it, so I’m going to guess it was published in the mid-to-late 1950s.

Safety bottom line

Do something illegal or careless and you’re likely to be

Killed
Injured severely
Scarred for life
Arrested
Have your bike taken away
Have a mark on your permanent record
All of the above

Hold on to truck, be crushed to death

Ignorance of the law: die on way to hospital

Racing without looking: killed instantly

Ride next to trolley tracks: fractured skull

Fail to stop: severe injury

Racing with head down: seriously injured

Ride on the sidewalk: seriously injure a child

Failure to stop: die on way to hospital

Ride on handlebars: scarred for years

Train for Century: break your bike, go to hospital

These boys were training for a 100-mile ride between Chicago and Milwaukee when they got their signals crossed and crashed into each other. The editor was obviously disappointed to note, “The riders were not violating any city ordinance because they were outside of the city limits. The editor fails to find anything pertaining to participation of bicycle riders in races or endurance contests. On the contrary, these boys were not racing but were training on a highway; however, their act is a dangerous practice.”

Ride on park path: arrested, bike impounded

Don’t maintain your bike: die

Think about your boyfriend: never walk or ride a bike again

Here’s where you can find the whole booklet

Here’s a link to the whole booklet as a gallery so you can see the “rest of the story” that lead up to these horrible consequences.

There’s an excellent chart of bicycle parts and some very detailed pen-and-ink cartoons that are fun to look at. Overall, the publication makes some good safety points.

Your Fuzzy Dice are Safe in Michigan

Ken Steinhoff — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:45:28 +0000

The Michigan State Senate finally got around to making it safe for fuzzy dice in the State of Michigan.

The Detroit News reports that the chamber voted unanimously for a measure that strikes down a law that says items dangling from the rearview mirror are a no-no.

“We understand there are many distractions in cars, such as cell phones or GPS systems, but we did not feel that a rosary or air freshener was in the same league,” said Sen. Ron Jelinek, R-Three Oaks, sponsor of the bill. “This will help make it legal to do what thousands of Michigan residents already do — hang a memento from their mirror.”

Under the law, police officers can stop cars at their discretion. A court ruling in 2008 determined that any item was an obstruction, no matter its size. Jelinek’s bill drops “dangling items” from the law and says a motorist can only be pulled over for objects that clearly obstruct the driver’s vision.

What did the Senate NOT pass or vote on?

While making the world safe for fuzzy dice, streetblogs.net said they didn’t pass or debate

Senate Bills 529 & 530 which “enhance penalties for moving violations causing physical injury or death to bicyclists and other vulnerable roadway users” according to the League of Michigan Bicyclists.
Senate Bill 531 which stipulates that driver education “shall include information concerning the laws pertaining to bicycles and shall emphasize awareness of the operation of bicycles on the streets, roads, and highways of this state.”

What Do You Need to be Safe on a Bike?

Safety Recall of Schwalbe Ultremo R Tires

Ken Steinhoff — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 10:30:08 +0000

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed.

Name of Product: Schwalbe Ultremo R Bicycle Tires

Units: About 5,000

Important information for our customers

WARNING: The SCHWALBE Ultremo “R” tires that exhibit bulging should be removed from use immediately. Free of charge replacements will be supplied.

Regrettably, some ULTREMO “R” racing tires which have been sold into the marketplace might be prone to failure while in use because of an error that has occurred during the manufacturing process. In the limited number of affected tires, the casing layer was not sufficiently rubberized and thus will show a clearly visible bulge, due to the carcass layers separating. This carcass separation will show generally after only a short time in use.

Any Ultremo “R” tires that exhibit this phenomenon should not be used. Replace the tires immediately!

Danger: Not doing so may lead to a catastrophic failure, as the casing layer can chafe and consequently cause the inner tube to burst.

If you notice the phenomenon while riding, under no circumstances should you continue to ride the tires at high speeds. It is suggested that the air pressure be reduced to the minimum recommended psi while riding at a low speed and with great care while you “limp home”; then the tire should be replaced.