Your life is not normal right now, no matter who you are or where you live. COVID-19 is sweeping the planet and affecting everything from whether your grocery store has toilet paper in stock (it likely doesn’t) to whether you…Continue Reading
Category: Policy, Politics, & Advocacy
Thoughts on public policy in biking and active transportation, elected officials and candidates and their stands on bike issues, and opportunities to advocate for a bike-friendlier world
Once upon a time in 2012 before I worked as a professional in bicycle advocacy, I became the first person to ride a bicycle on the newly dedicated Martin Luther King, Jr. Way in Spokane, Washington. Back then I wrote,…Continue Reading
Every Thursday night since 2010, bike-friendly people have gathered on Twitter to attend an hour of “#BikeSchool”. Participants follow the hashtag and answer questions asked by a guest “professor.” No academic credentials required to serve as guest prof, mind you.…Continue Reading
I’m taking liberties with this title. Day 6 didn’t exactly overflow with magic on the bike. Sweet Hubs tuned up Tessa the Folding Bike to get her road-ready for a trip to Spokane. I rolled her through the garage, confirming…Continue Reading
In my work at Washington State Department of Transportation, where I’m Director of the Active Transportation Division, I put out an e-newsletter 2-3 times a month. If you subscribe (everyone welcome!) you’ll get two types of emails: A news round-up…Continue Reading
I’ve been developing this theory for a while now. The longer I ponder it the more I think it makes sense. Stay with me while I work through this line of reasoning: We’d dramatically improve transportation safety if we all moved…Continue Reading
We showcase our assumptions, biases, and default settings every day with the words we choose and the choices we present to others. Sometimes we can’t see it when we’re looking straight at it. Here, for example, is how not to wrap…Continue Reading
“It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and can coast down them…. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motorcar…Continue Reading
If you haven’t read A Bit of a Rant on Data and Data Rant Continued, they’ll provide additional context for this. You wouldn’t think a place would vie for the title “Most Dangerous Intersection in the US.” But somehow a…Continue Reading
I like a good infographic as much as the next person. They’re eye-catching, they get passed around a lot, they’re more readable than dense academic papers full of footnotes (sorry, academics). So when I saw one highlighting “the most dangerous…Continue Reading
I’m a wee bit active on Twitter, where I find many resources, experts I can quickly question on a fine point of transportation policy or design, and inspiration. By now we all recognize the dark side as well — the…Continue Reading