Safety
Streetsblog California
A State Legislator Is Really Proposing to Slash Fines for Running a Red Light to Turn Right
State Senator Jerry Hill (D-Millbrae) has been earning a lot of attention recently for a proposal to slash the fine for drivers turning right at a red light without stopping. This move seems particularly heartless considering California's streak of leading the country in traffic fatalities, nearly a quarter of which were pedestrians. Failure to yield is one of the top five causes of traffic crashes.
January 28, 2016
Evidence That Split-Phase Signals Are Safer Than Mixing Zones for Bike Lanes
When DOT presented plans for a protected bike lane on Sixth Avenue, one point of contention was the design of intersections. How many intersections will get split-phase signals, where cyclists and pedestrians crossing the street get a separate signal phase than turning drivers? And how many will get "mixing zones," where pedestrians and cyclists negotiate the same space as turning drivers simultaneously?
January 26, 2016
Late Late Show’s James Corden Opens Fire on Coronado Bike NIMBYs
Mocking people who fight safe streets improvements and bike lanes is hardly a new sport. From the subtle humor of the bicyclist crashing into Stephen Colbert's desk to Jon Stewart's rant about Dorothy Rabinowitz and the freakout about Citibike this issue has been fertile ground in the past.
October 1, 2015
CHP Finds a New Way to Blame the Bicycle Rider
On Sunday, a car driver on the wrong side of a two-lane highway in rural Yolo county crashed head-on into a bicycle rider and killed him. What was the California Highway Patrol's response? Blame the victim. The CHP says the driver of the car was just following the law, which requires a three-foot passing distance around bicycles. The driver was giving a wide berth to a group of riders on her side of the road.
September 29, 2015