CALIFORNIA BICYCLE NEWS AND CYCLING SAFETY TIPS BLOG

San Diego artist Alexander Harman believes cycling can be a political act to promote civic engagement. To demonstrate, he plans to use hundreds of bicyclists to help him protest the overturning of the Barrio Logan Community Plan Update. The Barrio Update was a legal measure that would have installed a five-block-long buffer zone between residential and industrial areas in Barrio Logan. The plan would have allowed “community and neighborhood commercial [interests]” to use the area, but no housing would be there. Neighborhood residents believe the distance would help reduce the health risks of residents living close to shipbuilding yards, some of which mold plastic or paint car parts. Shipbuilding interests disagreed, however. Tighter ordinances from a nearby residential area could force nearby shipyards to change their hours or operating procedures,which could risk “billions of dollars of income and thousands of high-paying, good jobs,” critics argued. They also claimed the residents’…
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All travelers have a responsibility to treat each other safely. Pedestrians and bicyclists are incredibly vulnerable on the road, so every driver has a “duty of reasonable care” to exercise more caution around them. Some motorists believe that as the largest vehicle, they are entitled to act recklessly. They feel no responsibility to protect vulnerable travelers, driving under the assumption that, “It’s your job to get out of my way.” A volunteer police officer in California has been placed on administrative leave after posting a video to YouTube expressing her hate for bicyclists. The woman has several “comical” rants on her YouTube channel, but her latest tirade garnered attention from the Santa Paula Police Department and several angry viewers. In it, the reserve police officer berates and wishes harm on bicyclists who have done nothing wrong. The two-minute clip shows the woman proclaiming that she “hate[s] bicyclists, every single one…
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