Lets annoy Stu Bykofsky

As many of you are aware we have a local news pundit, Stu Bykofsky, he makes his living as a commentator for the Philadelphia Daily News. Back in 2009 Stu made bicycles, bicycle infrastructure, and cyclists his personal crusade.

And like Don Quixote, Stu has his imaginary world where bicyclists are the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse and bicycle lanes are the road they travel upon. In his columns cyclists are “bikeheads” and “pedalphiles” and every cyclist is a lawbreaker. Running red and stop signs, riding on the sidewalk, and weaving in and out of traffic. Bicycle lanes and cyclists slow down traffic and create congestion. Since Stu is just writing commentary he doesn't have to back up his claims with facts.

There is one thing, that try as he might Stu has not been able to counter, the bi-annual bicycle count held by the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia which the City of Philadelphia government uses as part of traffic engineering. Stu claims the numbers can't be trusted because of the partisan nature of the BCGP and looks for loopholes in the instructions such as “don't count bicycles on rainy days”. Which is the equivalent of counting cars during a blizzard. But for all of the whining and kvetching Stu does he is unwilling to provide a bike count of his own. After all how difficult would it be to send some interns from the Daily News to the same street corners that the BCGP uses?

So now you can help to annoy Stu Bykofsky by participating in the BCGP Fall bicycle count by volunteering 90 minutes of your time during the morning or afternoon rush hour. For more information click here. Remember your not just helping to improve infrastructure for cyclists throughout Philadelphia, you're also annoying Stu Bykofsky.

Honk, Honk

In Honk I made an attempt to educate the Honker, in this post I'll address what options you the cyclist have as the Honkee. First of keep in mind the state you are in, your riding along try to pay attention to the traffic around you because the slightest accident can hospitalize and all of sudden some moron behind you blares their horn for no apparent reason. Scaring the daylights out of you, as you desperately look around for the signs of the impending accident. When in reality it's some impatient idiot driving an SUV. Who thinks they are going to get to the next traffic light that much faster if you get out of their way.

So with your adrenaline on overtime there are options you can take, unfortunately some of them just generate more anger on the part of the automobile driver who is under the impression they are not at fault.

1.     Yell at them – This never works because you come off as an angry jerk that is causing the problem.

2.     Give then the finger – Not a good option, keep all of your fingers firmly on the handlebars unless you are going to wave back at them with all five fingers on the same hand. An extremely aggressive gesture that never works

So what are your options? 

1.     An air horn – I’ve considered myself but have yet to follow though on it. One way to go is the Airzound based on the reviews on Amazon and the video below it seems to be very effective. Personally I though it had to many parts where something could be stolen or break and I would consider using a refillable air horn with a handlebar bottle cage mount so for city riding I just have to remove one item when I lock my bike.

           2. An electronic horn – I’ve tried these and they sound like a really loud cricket.

           3. A whistle – Whistles have become the most effective and low-tech solution I have found, my personal preference are the Fox 40 whistles. These whistles are ear piercingly loud and the harder you blow the louder it gets, sometimes they even get mistaken for a policeman’s whistle. They also come with a bite guard so you can hold the whistle in your mouth for long periods of times with out drooling. Where it around your neck on a lanyard and you’ll always be able to find it.

South Philly Costume Crit 2.0

Looking for something to do this Saturday, October 29? Check out the Philadelphia Costume Crit 2.0. A costumed bicycle race at FDR Park at the tennis courts and recycling center. Hopefully the race organizers will require anyone not in a costume or someone who is wearing regular clothing over the Lycra to start at the back of the pack.

Philadelphia Stolen Bikes and a Facebook Solution

-->

In 2010 as a response to the on going problems with bike theft in Philadelphia a Facebook page was created where people could post stolen bikes in the hopes of recovering them, Philadelphia Stolen Bikes. Reading through many of the posts it seems that they have had success in recovering stolen bicycles, where the thefts have been happening, stolen bicycles that have been sighted, and the possible neighborhoods bicycle thieves live in.

With populations that change apartments, many of Philadelphia's neighborhoods intimidated by criminals, and the “no snitching” culture; quality of life crimes have become an acceptable part of a neighborhood. In the past this would have been a community effort as neighbors who knew neighbors and talked amongst themselves to prevent these crimes or identify the people who commit them. An interesting phenomena that has occurred with the Internet and the development of social websites. The creation of new communities within Philadelphia based on a common interest, in this case stolen bicycles. This a growing trend as documented by the Wall Street Journal and I am glad to see that it has reached Philadelphia.

There are some steps that you can take to make recovery of your bicycle goes smoothly in the vent it is found.

1.     Take a picture of your bicycle and a picture of you with the bicycle. You'll need to do this to document ownership.

2.     Write down the serial number of your bicycle and take a picture of it. The serial number can usually be found on the bottom bracket. If you can't find have your local bike shop show you where it is. This will also help you document ownership

3.     File a police report. Yes I know the police are not going to be terribly sympathetic, by having the theft on record makes it harder for a thief to claim they own or found the bike.

4.     Alert friends and coworkers who live in the city, regularly search E-Bay and Craigslist, talk to local bike shops, and post to the Philadelphia Stolen Bikes Facebook page.

Like us Facebook
http://tinyurl.com/kmpe8yk

Philadelphia Bicycling Tales of the Absurd – I

In Philadelphia its tough enough with periodic attempts by various Philadelphia City Council and those trying to get elected to Philadelphia City Council to make bicycling and bicycling infrastructure as difficult as possible. But when President of the Traffic Court Thomasine Tynes states:

“Make city bicyclists register their bikes, cite them for moving violations such as riding on the sidewalk or blowing through stop signs, and then have those tickets dealt with by Traffic Court, Judge Thomasine Tynes suggests. "I am not against the cyclists," Tynes said. "But the problem is there is no punishment for not abiding by the law."

I find it astounding that any traffic court judge, let alone the President of the Philadelphia Traffic Court could make such egregious statements. A simple Google search under “Pennsylvania Bicycle Laws led me to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation website regarding bicycles and traffic law. Section 3508 A&B, clearly explains that riding on the sidewalk is against the law and Section 3501-B states that: “Bicycles are considered vehicles under Pennsylvania Laws and must obey all the rules of the road which apply to vehicles. These are the "responsibilities" mentioned above. The "rights" refer to the roadway space required to operate the bicycle in a safe, lawful manner.”  In other words, bicycles are subject to the same laws as cars and the same fines.

You don't need to have a bicycle license or a bicycle license plate for a police officer to write you a ticket. Valid ID is all the police need and if you don't have one they can hold you at the station until they can verify your address.

So what would I do?

I would send President of the Traffic Court Judge Thomasine Tynes to a remedial course in traffic law. Clearly Judge Tynes needs this based on the statements she has made. What this really boils down to is enforcement of the existing laws by the Philadelphia Police Department, if Judge Tynes truly feels that this is an important issue than she should pressure the police to step up enforcement of the current laws instead of trying to create ineffective new laws. Otherwise this is just another attempt by an elected official to make name for themselves without actually doing anything.