Ninety-nine years later and bicyclists are facing the same issues Tom Swift faced in the first chapter of the  first book of the popular series, Tom Swift and His Motor Cycle, or, Fun and Adventure on the Road.

Aggressive driving.

Cyclists’ rights to the road.

Hat’s off to Tom Swift for keeping such a calm demeanor.

From the 1910 book which is freely available via Project Gutenberg:

As the boy spoke, the breeze, created by the speed at which the car was traveling, lifted off his cap, and sent it whirling to the rear.

Andy Foger turned for an instant’s glance behind. Then he opened the throttle still wider, and exclaimed:

“Let it go, Sam. We can get another. I want to see what time I can make to Mansburg! I want to break a record, if I can.”

“Look out, or you’ll break something else!” cried a lad on the rear seat. “There’s a fellow on a bicycle just ahead of us. Take care, Andy!” (more…)

Here are some bike-related headlines from the past couple days.

Ghost Bike Driver Waives Exam

Kimberly Dancy waived her rights to an exam this week.  Dancy is accused of the hit-and-run accident on Woodward that killed a Detroit bicyclist.

Dancy’s waiving of her preliminary exam in Royal Oak’s 44th District Court amounts to “a concession that there was probably cause” for the felony charges, Royal Oak City Attorney Dave Gillam said.

Earlier this month, she dropped her lawsuit against the Royal Oak police that sought to force the return of her Jeep Liberty, Gillam said.

Dancy is going before Oakland County Circuit Judge Lisa Gorcyca on Monday.

This story was even picked up in the Chicago Tribune.

Polly Ann Trail Upgrade

The Polly Ann Trail is being extended in Orion Township as  we reported earlier (though it appears the costs have changed.)

Jimmy Carter gets Replacements for his Stolen Bikes

Someone recently stole Former President Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter’s bikes in Atlanta.  On the Daily Show this week, Jon Stewart presented Carter with two new bikes.  It was great watching his genuine gratefulness.

Yesterday Mayor Cockrel signed the U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Act.  He joins a growing list of other Metro Detroit signees that have done the same, including:

• John Hieftje (Ann Arbor)
• Marilyn Stephan (Berkley)
• Daniel Paletko (Dearborn Heights)
• Robert Porter (Ferndale)
• James Ellison (Royal Oak)
• Gretchen Driskell (Saline)
• Brenda Lawrence (Southfield)
• Norma Wurmlinger (Southgate)
• Cameron Priebe (Taylor)
• David Flaisher (Township of West Bloomfield)
• Mark Steenbergh (Warren)
• Paul Schreiber (Ypsilanti)

Part of this agreement includes the following:

We will strive to meet or exceed Kyoto Protocol targets for reducing global warming pollution by taking actions in our own operations and communities such as:

2. Adopt and enforce land-use policies that reduce sprawl, preserve open space, and create compact, walkable urban communities;
3. Promote transportation options such as bicycle trails, commute trip reduction programs, incentives for car pooling and public transit;

There’s no surprise that many of these Michigan cities have taken the lead on bicycle facility development.  Some have not.  For those communities that have not seen the light — or made the commitment to improve biking — this may be another justification to help push them along.

Today (Monday, January 26th) at noon I’ll be on CJAM radio (95.1 FM) to discuss biking in Detroit.

The program is called Scaledown Radio and it hails from Windsor.  The program hosts also have a web site call Scaledown with a vision to “connect every Windsorite to their own walkable neighborhood that has its own public spaces, local independent businesses and artists.”

Though the CJAM  listening area is limited to Windsor and Southwest Detroit, you can listen to it as an audio stream on the Internet.  Just visit the CJAM web site to lean more.

Today a group of us from Detroit are heading to Albuquerque, New Mexico for the 8th Annual New Partners for Smart Growth conference.

It looks like they really have some great sessions.

It’s likely that some of the excitement and energy from yesterday’s inauguration will be present at the conference.  It certainly seems the new Obama administration is more supportive of smart growth.

From freshly-updated Whitehouse.gov urban policy agenda:

Build More Livable and Sustainable Communities: Our communities will better serve all of their residents if we are able to leave our cars to walk, bicycle and access other transportation alternatives. President Obama will re-evaluate the transportation funding process to ensure that smart growth considerations are taken into account.

The tagline for the conference?  Building Safe, Healthy and Livable Communities.

It’s almost as if they shared the same author.