While we’re not endorsing any presidential candidate at this time, it was great to hear Senator Obama recently highlight bike lanes during his recent visit to Portland, Oregon:

If we are going to solve our energy problems we’ve got to think long term. It’s time for us to be serious about investing in alternative energy. It’s time for us to get serious about raising fuel efficiency standards on cars. It’s time that the entire country learn from what’s happening right here in Portland with mass transit and bicycle lanes and funding alternative means of transportation.

Promoting bike lanes in Portland was a smart move since a large percentage of those listening to the senator were cyclists. From the Bike Portland blog:

In Portland, when 75,000 people show up on the Waterfront for any event on a gorgeous spring day, you’d naturally expect many of them get their on two wheels

One estimate puts the number of bikes at 8,000 on the railing above the river alone (that does not include the likely thousands of bikes locked to every pole, rack and tree in a one-mile radius!). After the event, bikes were reportedly bumper-to-bumper over the Hawthorne Bridge…

Today began the third annual Detroit Synergy bike to work day.  Today we had a great ride from Royal Oak to Campus Martius in Downtown Detroit.  Next Friday’s ride is from Dearborn to Campus Martius.

One of the riders today was going out of his way to ride with us.  His normal bike commute is from Royal Oak to Wixom.

Also, congrats to fellow bike commuter and Friend of the Clinton River Trail, Mark Pompetski.  He got some much deserved ink describing his bike commuting in the Hometown Life:

Three years ago, when Michigan’s perennial orange barrels sprouted along his route to work, Mark Pompetzki’s daily commute became even more of a grind than usual.

But prompted by a co-worker, Pompetzki found a way to take some of the pressure off the drive between Rochester and Southfield. He started riding his bike to work when the weather and his schedule permitted. He’s still doing it today, averaging one day a week.

Read the complete article

The 2007 bike and pedestrian crash results for the four counties in the MDOT Metro Region have just been added to our on-line database.

In summary, while pedestrian crashes have dropped, bicycle crashes increased by over 13%. As noted by SEMCOG, “traffic crashes involving bicycles are more severe than overall crashes.” In other words, they cause a much higher percentage of injuries. Bikes don’t have bumpers, crash cages, and air bags.

The only “good” news is there were 6 bicycle fatalities this year, down from 13 last year. Still, 23% of all traffic related fatalities in the Metro Region were pedestrians or cyclists.

These numbers only provide more justification for road agencies (like Wayne County and the Road Commission of Oakland County) to begin implementing best practices for safe biking. Agencies and municipalities need to create and implement non-motorized plans on how to reduce these crashes.  Road projects that increase bicyclist safety should be rewarded, not penalized as they can be today in Oakland County.

SEMCOG has released their 2007 Traffic Crash Report. The Michigan State Police should be releasing theirs sometime this month.

Today had two bike to work events sponsored by American Cycle and Fitness and Fox 2. One started in Grosse Pointe, another in Royal Oak. Both ended up a Campus Martius where a Trek commuter bike was raffled off to one of the participants. The weather was great as Fox 2’s Lila Lazaras led us down Woodward.

And a special thanks to Lila for noting how great it would be if Woodward Avenue had bike lanes.

Tomorrow is Detroit Synergy’s ride from the Royal Oak Farmers’ Market to Campus Martius. More ride details

It’s been well-documented that sewer grates can be hazardous to cycling. Poorly designed grates can trap cyclists front tires and cause accidents.

While I don’t recall seeing these hazardous grates in the City of Detroit, I have seen plenty of collapsed grates, missing grates, missing grates with tires stuck in hole, etc. However, there are dangerous grates on Oakland Avenue north of Manchester in Highland Park. They have raised ridges that are about 3 inches tall. These are definitely not bike friendly. I can only speculate that their purpose was to strengthen the grate while preventing parked truck tires from blocking the sewer opening. This area is directly east of Ford’s old Highland Park manufacturing complex.