Ride Boldly!

Speakers:

Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-OR)
Governor Jack Markell (D-DE)
Peter Rogoff, Administrator of the Federal Transit Administration
Peter Birch and Shannon Guyman, Google

League of American Bicyclists Director Andy Clarke kicked off the proceedings bright and early at 8 AM, clearly freshly caffeinated and excited by having over 700 bicycle advocates and friends of the cycling movement in the house [...]

I think we all know the stats:

Drivers are 8 times as likely to get in an accident while texting than those, you know, paying attention
Driver distraction was reported to have been involved in 16 percent of all fatal crashes in 2008
An estimated 22 percent of injury crashes were reported to have involved distracted driving

(Source: USDOT [...]

There are a few upcoming events of note to cyclists in Minnesota:

January 21 – Design open house for the Highway 52/Lafayette Bridge replacement project, t the Wellstone Center in St. Paul. More info: http://www.dot.state.mn.us/metro/projects/hwy52-stpaul/
January 25 – Surface Transportation Reauthorization Outreach Meeting with Secretary Ray LaHood and Congressman Jim Oberstar in Minneapolis. More info: http://www.bikeleague.org/programs/bikeadvocacy/minneapolis_mn_invite_01%2012%2010.pdf
February 25 [...]

The Met Council is looking at funding several trail projects in Anoka County – one to build a ‘missing link’ in the Rum River Trail corridor, and a second to build two canal-crossing bridges, from Anoka’s Mississippi Community Park nearly 2 miles up the river to the undeveloped Mississippi West Regional Park in Ramsey.
Meanwhile, Senators [...]

…unfortunately, it seems as though no one is quite sure how to implement it, and the IRS isn’t helping much.
The Chicago Tribune has a story on it today.
Under the measure, which passed with the $700B bailout plan, cyclists would get $20 each month toward reimbursable expenses if they ride their bikes to work regularly.
Problem is: [...]

As commentators note the number of non-related allocations passed as part of the national bank bail-out bill, it’s good to note that someone stuck the bicycle commuter tax provision onto the overall bill.
Since President Bush has signed the big bail-out legislation, that means that bicycle commuters will soon be offered similar benefits to people who [...]