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Welcome! We cover bicycling as alternative transportation, with an emphasis on Austin, TX, USA. We don't cover biking for recreation, sport, or charity. BicycleAustin.info is a volunteer project (not an organization) by Michael Bluejay. Advertising revenue supports local cycling advocacy. Read-only email list (web forum posts get sent to this list) Receive posts in Digest format (get all the day's posts in one big email, rather than individually) Unsubscribe | Switch to Digest See Rules | Upload files Reach archives: Recent | Prior to 10/03 Email List & Web Forum The best way to stay on top of what's going on is to sign up for the email list. Every day the posts from the web forum get sent to the email list, so by signing up for the email list you won't miss anything -- you'll see all the email posts and all the web posts. If you do sign up for the email list, please use it just to read, not post. Please make your posts on the web forum instead. Those posts will get automatically sent to the list anyway. And by posting to the web forum, we can make our discussions easily readable by any web surfer, not just to those on the members-only email list. See web forum posts made within the last 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 days. Investigative news story exhibits (unstated) bias against bicyclists by Tom Wald (2008-05-01) [Believe it or not, I agree with you that there should be more posts directly relating to bicycling in Austin, but until then... onto the blog post.] A TV news story from the Twin Cities in Minnesota: SAWKAR: The safe bicyclist The following is my e-mail to them: Subject: "SAWKAR: The safe bicyclist" Date: Thu, 01 May 2008 22:20:27 -0500 To: KSTP Investigative Team <investigative@kstp.com> Regarding: "SAWKAR: The safe bicyclist" http://kstp.com/article/stories/S429050.shtml?cat=118 -- both video and web story I hope that someone in your office will take the time to read this. I have been a long-time advocate and student of bicycling and road safety so I suspect that my comments will be worth your while. * Running another vehicle off of the road is a dangerous act for the victim. Oftentimes, the leve (more...) Lubbock driver gets only probation for hit-and-run killing of cyclist by Michael Bluejay (2008-03-08) Callie Long hit bicyclist Brett Walrath with her Lexus in 2003 and left him for dead. She was caught, tried, and convicted, but given only five years of probation. She paid no fine, and as long as she doesn't violate her probation, will face no jail time. Adding insult to injury, the newspaper article about the slap on the wrist shows an ad for a car right smack dab in the middle. (Lubbock Online on the conviction, and on the sentence) Bicycle groups to host candidate forum by League of Bicycling Voters (2008-03-05) The Austin Cycling Association, Yellow Bike Project and League of Bicycling Voters will host an Austin City Council Candidate Forum on the evening of April 7 at the LCRA Board Room, 3700 Lake Austin Blvd., 78703 (time to be announced). The City Council election for places 1, 3 and 4 will be held on Saturday, May 10 ... during Bike Month. This is our chance to show council candidates that bicycle issues will play a critical role in Austin's future. And the best way to demonstrate our significance is to show up in mass! Stay tuned for more info, including results from the LOBV candidate survey at http://www.lobv.org. Here's the list of candidates who have announced intentions to run, although we won't have definite candidates until the March 10 filing deadline. City Council Races*= incumbent (more...) NYC 1965 Mayoral candidate (1925-2008): bicycle facility advocate by Tom Wald (2008-02-27) William F. Buckley, Jr. died today. He was often cited as a conservative, but apparently in his 1965 NYC mayoral campaign he had proposed "an elevated bikeway on Second Avenue" and "bicycle lanes on major thoroughfares." I just want to remind people that using bicycles as an urban transportation solution transcends a liberal/conservative divide. Bicycles are a pragmatic, functional, and efficient component of a healthy urban transportation system. Some see transportation bicycling only as a hippie/liberal thing, but only so long as they stay in their caves (and strangely, a lot of people want to stay in their caves). Sources: Statesman, NY Times, Wikipedia

Quick Links Media Contacts for cycling issues Report roadway & sidewalk problems Traffic Laws Helmet Law Routes & Maps Local bike shops Austin a Top 10 cycling city? APD's Collision Database and 311 online form Yellow Bike Project's wiki about local bike culture Local Advocacy: Bicycle Advisory Council League of Bicycling Voters (Austin) Austin Cycling Association (mostly sports/rec, but some advocacy) Yellow Bike Project (teaches kids & adults how to fix bikes) Austin Cycling News (local news) BikeNotes (a website, not a group) State & National Advocacy: Texas Bicycle Coalition (works for safe cycling) League of American Bicyclists (national) Bikes Belong (national; works to increase cycling)   "No justice" issuue for cyclists gets big story in the Chron The Austin Chronicle ran a big story in Nov. 2006 about motorists not getting cited or charged for hitting cyclists, even when the motorist is clearly at fault. We've been banging the drum for years about this issue in our No Justice for Cyclists section, and it's good to see the media taking notice. It'll be a long time until this issue changes, but the first step is public awareness, so now we've taken that first step.   Bicyclists cheated out of bond money! On March 7, 2006, Raul Alvarez asked the city to reveal how the $150 million in city bond money for transportation passed in 2000 (Proposition 1 back then) has been spent so far. I got the results of his request in response to my own recent similar open records request made to reveal how our bond money had been spent. This bond money was supposed to be allocated in portions at $15 million a year for ten years. So far $84 million has been spent with $66 million in transportation bond authorization yet remaining. Guess where the first five years worth of Austin bond money went? The first $67.2 million ALL went for SH 130 right of way, and not a penny for any of the the other things promised to the bond voters on the ballot! Meanwhile those of us who live inside Austin are additionally paying a lot for Williamson County toll roads, like SH 130, via our Travis County property taxes. In the last year, for the first time, some of the $150 million has been used for other purposes like widening roads (to widen roads like one that leads to SH 130 for example), but not a penny has yet been spent for the promised bike projects, although $10 million was recently proposed in response to Alvarez's request (with about $5 million so far for sidewalks). If you read the Chronicle article, you will see that $20 million was being promised for bike and ped projects just before the election. The exact ballot language and more background on these bonds is below. To me, this kind of tightly held information and bait and switch bond stuff is proof of why we need to pass the Open Government charter amendment, Prop 1. -- Roger Baker, May 6, 2006   Site Updates: Updated "Who's usually at fault in car-bike collisions" on the No Justice page Added the 8/08 KEYE story which effectively blames cyclists for the increase in car-bike collisions, with zero supporting evidence Cyclist solves her own hit and run. Added a new cycling injury lawyer to What to do if you're hit or harassed. Added a link to the 311 online form to the front page. Lubbock driver gets only probation for hit-and-run killing of cyclist Updated the Austin bike laws page Added a PDF of "tickets" to put on cars parked in bike lanes. Added Quick Links to front page, updated govt. & city govt. pages Added historical info about the City's failure to spend bike project money properly Linked to the "No justice" article in the Austin Chronicle, from our No Justice section Our Open Letter to Dr. Crocker, who supports the helmet law Added The Peddler to the bike shops page Added a route from Austin to Elgin The Yellow Bike Project launches an Austin bike culture wiki Another drunk driver kills another cyclist Adult helmet law probably dead Law professor faces no penalty for intentionally hitting cyclist with her car Updated the City Council page Hit-and-run case in Garland, TX New helmet law being considered (see at right) Added our endorsements for the May 2006 city council race Added details about cyclists being cheated out of bond money (above) Driver who ran red light and hit two cyclists not ticketed. Created a new page about the ACA's advocacy on the Shoal Creek bike lanes issue Two April car-bike crashes, one fatal Added FrankenBike to the events and used bikes pages. Teenagers throwing stuff at cyclists near Shoal Creek Blvd. Linked to a new route for IBM to downtown. Council set to screw cyclists over Shoal Creek Blvd. Updated the list of bike shops Looks like the Lamar Bridge might get finished after all. Eric Anderson reports on cyclists' success in mitigating the redesign fiasco on the Riverside Drive project (Jan. 2006) New update on how bike facilities were omitted in the Riverside Drive project Added the law about administrative suspension of driver's license for DWI offenses to the laws covering motorists page Linked to a new, safer route to Bastrop on the Routes page Our endorsements for City Council Added more to the never-ending Shoal Creek bike lanes debacle Added another North Austin route Exemplary police response to harassment of a cyclist North Austin bike routes now has its own page. Plus added a couple of routes. Added Patrick Goetz's encouragement for cyclists to be effective advocates by joining the Urban Transportation Commission. Redesigned the site, nobody noticed. Added a failed statewide helmet bill from 2003. Reader-recommended locks Added a route to Ben White and I-30 The Lamar Bike/Ped bridge might actually be finished Yet another hit & run Hit & Run on Michael Passman May 19 newsletter posted Costs of car ownership updated Map to San Marcos Guide to Touring How to Rewire Christmas Lights to Run on Batteries Natural gas buses may be no better than diesel An online store selling electric scooters New section on bike lanes More news about the Shoal Creek bike lanes mess Triggering traffic signals Why is there no justice? Keith Vick's fatal collision TXDoT's 25-year transpo plan Another North Austin route Eric Anderon's status report of roadway projects Older updates.... New links to stuff on other sites. All Systems Whoa? What's wrong with the commuter rail plan Possible improvements to the Shoal Creek trail Kryptonite Lock Recall Safety of bike lanes & bike paths Chopper Bikes Take the survey.   BicyclingLife is conducting a survey of cyclists and cycling. 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