- Last year, 100,000 people died in car accidents in China.
- In Minneapolis, USA, every candidate who supported a US$153
million highway-building project was defeated in the recent elections.
The Minneapolis Department of Transportation says the project will
not happen until 2023.
- A study published in the journal Injury Prevention found that
people are 400 times more likely to be killed in a car crash than by
terrorism.
WORLD CARFREE NEWS #27 - DECEMBER '05
Because of departmental realignments in the City of San Francisco, we have had to wait until now to be able to show you why the Golden Gate City is truly one of this nation's best biking metropolises. The keen interest that the city's political leaders have taken in the bicycle as transportation has been somewhat of a mixed blessing, however. While there is a far greater capacity for good for the two wheeler to be done, there are also growing pains. Generating this report, long sought by Supervisor Chris Daly, is one such example of defining who it is that does what where bicycle matters are concerned. Luckily for us, Peter Tannen, San Francisco's long time bike coordinator, was granted staff time to complete the following:
http://nationalbicyclegreenway.com/CityBikingReports/SFBiking2005.php
While San Francisco still has a long way to go to make it safe to ride a bike on its streets, it has come a long way from the Dark Ages of two wheel awareness that once defined it as Pete's report shows. Pete's been at it as the city Bike Coordinator almost as long as I've been beating the drum for the NBG. And during that time, he and I have seen a lot of change. Hopefully the SF Muni, the city department that now clears everything he does, will let me interview him for our Podcast series so I can show you, besides his story and that of San Francisco cycling, how it wasn't always cool to be a cyclist, much less a Car Free cyclist in the home of Cable Cars, Coit Tower and the 49ers of Gold Rush and football game. Especially in what was once a city that took a lot its lead from the rough and ready longshoremen unions that had a big say in how the city was governed..
To see all the Mayors' Ride report cards, go to: http://nationalbicyclegreenway.com/Events/Mayors_Ride/BikingReportCards2005.php
San Francisco Mechanical Engineer and Metal Artist, Max Chen, talks about his bicycle art, his long involvement with the NBG including the TransAmerica ride he did for us in 2000 and the on line mapping project he is working on for us now. Coast to coast and up and down both seaboards, it will chart the route that connects our Mayors' Ride cities to one another. Here's the interview:
http://nationalbicyclegreenway.com/Podcasts/MaxChen11-25-05.mp3
To hear other NBG Podcasts: http://www.bikeroute.com/NBGPodcasts.php
THX 4 all of U!!