CALIFORNIA BICYCLE NEWS AND CYCLING SAFETY TIPS BLOG

On May 18, the Mesilla Valley Bike Coalition will be hosting a Ride of Silence at the Mesilla Plaza in New Mexico, according to the Las Cruces Sun-News. The Ride of Silence is commemoration people who have been injured or killed in automobile-bicycle accidents. Trina Witter, co-founder and president of the Mesilla Valley Bike Coalition, encourages all cyclists to come out and join the 10-12 mile ride. The coalition tries to find the cause of bicycle accidents and prevent them in the future.  Witter believes that the vast majority of the accidents are preventable. “We don’t call them accidents,” she says. Since its founding in 1999, the Mesilla Valley Bike Coalition has been lobbying for bicycle safety legislation.  They have asked the New Mexico state government to ban the practice of partial paving, which is a cost-saving effort in which the government builds or repaves roads and leaves a thin…
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The League of American Bicyclists has awarded Stanford University with their prestigious Platinum Award for promoting a bicycle-friendly campus. According to BikeRadar.com, Stanford has promoted a commuter friendly campus with an emphasis on bicycle safety. “We encourage, reward and incent everyone to ride a bike and offer multiple programs and promotions to promote bike safety for all campus users,” says Ariadne Scott, Stanford’s Bicycle Program Coordinator. Stanford’s campus is home to 13,000 daily cyclists. The campus has bike paths, discounted helmets for sale and bike lockers; it also offers bicycle safety classes twice a month and a diversion program for cyclists who receive citations. “The results prove to be successful. Stanford University’s employee drive-alone rate dropped from 72 percent in 2002 to 48 percent in 2010,” says Scott. “Our bike commuter rate for university commuters is 21.7 percent.” The rankings for the League of American Bicyclists are based on campus…
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San Diego police are searching for the driver of a truck that struck a cyclist on January 25, leaving the North County cyclist in the hospital with injuries, according to ABC 10 News in San Diego. 33-year-old Heath Bernstein was riding with friends late Tuesday night when a dark-colored pickup truck swerved across two lanes on Highway 101, striking Bernstein, who was in the bike lane. Bernstein was riding with two other friends when the San Diego cycling accident occurred. “My recollection of getting hit is thankfully not there,” Bernstein said about the bicycle accident. “I turned around and went back, and that’s when I saw his bike lying down on the street with his light pointed in the bushes and I knew something had happened,” said Dr. Scott Holyoak, who was riding with Bernstein. Bernstein, who is staying at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, suffered fractures and other…
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