From the Detroit News:
Todd Scott of Royal Oak is on the lookout for all who share the road: “Tom: I enjoyed reading your list of resolutions and would like to suggest additional resolutions for the safety of pedestrians and cyclists, including: Yielding to pedestrians in crosswalks; not obstructing sidewalks when parking my vehicle; and exercising due care to avoid colliding with any pedestrian or cyclist on any roadway at all times.”
The Minnesota Department of Transportation recently published a report entitled TOOLS FOR PREDICTING USAGE AND BENEFITS OF URBAN BICYCLE NETWORK IMPROVEMENTS.
Summary from page 6:
“Generally speaking, the results support the notion that people value bicycle facilities, in that they are willing to incur additional time costs in order to use higher quality facilities. In particular, people value having striped bike lanes. The incremental value of this improvement is much greater than the incremental value of moving the facility off-road entirely. The presence of facilities also appears to be associated with higher amounts of riding, although the precise nature of the impact is still unclear. From this research, it appears that a facility can increase the amount of riding in an area even up to one and a half miles from the ends of the facility, but it is not clear whether the effect is larger for residents that are closer than this.”
From Yahoo!News:
More bicycles than cars have been sold in the United States over the past 12 months, with rising gas prices prompting commuters to opt for two wheels instead of four.
Not since the oil crisis of 1973 have bicycles sold in such big numbers, according to Tim Blumenthal, executive director of Bikes Belong, an industry association.
“Bicycle sales are near an all-time high with 19 million sold last year — close to the 20 million sold during the oil embargo in the early 1970s,” said Blumenthal, whose association is based in Boulder in the western state of Colorado.