Ride Boldly!

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 [...]

The Star-Tribune has posted an article about the specific tunnel in which the recent bike path fatality in Bloomington occurred. A few points:

A curve and downhill leads up to the tunnel.

Prior accidents have occurred in or near the tunnel, although they have not necessarily been well-tracked by Three Rivers Park District.
Kids like to play in [...]

I’ve said repeatedly that bike paths are not the magical safety zone that many would believe them to be. We have a tragic example of that from Bloomington, Minnesota, today. MPR reports a bicycle-related fatality as two cyclists collided head-on at a tunnel intersection on a bike path near 86th and Bush Lake Road.
MPR focuses [...]

The Star-Tribune reports a cyclist being crushed by a truck on Park Avenue in Minneapolis this morning.
If you look at the configuration of the bike lane and the traffic lane at this intersection, and, in fact, all the way along Park Avenue, this tragic occurrence is not surprising. The lane configuration will regularly put a [...]

Rules about lighting bicycles at night in Minnesota.

Last fall, when a cyclist was killed in a car-bicycle collision on Summit Avenue near Snelling Avenue, I observed that it was all but impossible for the crash to be the cyclist’s fault due to the street configuration.
Accident reconstruction agrees with me, per the Star-Tribune. The driver now has been charged with misdemeanors – failing [...]