Bike Safety, or Don't Let Your Kids Scare me Like That, Please.

Part of my route home is a steep (for a road) climb that curves right up a hill. Halfway up, I saw a young girl, maybe seven or eight, on a little bike coming toward me in my lane. I wanted to say something about what she was doing being very dangerous, but even if there was time to say something as our two bikes passed, I have doubts about whether people listen to critical comments about personal activities from people they don't know.

Just after she swung into the left lane to go around me, I heard a quick scream and looked back to see that a car was in her lane coming around the curve in the road.

There was no crash. I didn't see exactly what happened, but they avoided each other. But I want to take a moment to emphasize some bike safety things, both for people who bike and parents of little people who bike.

*Never ride in the opposite direction of traffic. It's far more dangerous than riding with.
*Never ride without a helmet. That little girl had no safety gear, and that makes me cringe. I ride thousands of miles a year and I literally won't ride to the corner store without a helmet.
*Don't let your kids do these things either. The daughter of someone at work just had a minor accident on her bike that sent her flying. It can happen anytime, and your brain is important. Take care of it.

Bicycles and Income Disparity

"While wealthier people increasingly reduce their car dependency, poor people still aspire to car ownership."

From Citylab: How Low-Income Commuters View Cycling.

It almost seems paradoxical, doesn't it? But it makes sense in this time of urban gentrification by Richard Florida's "Creative Class." Relatively wealthy, relatively White folks are moving into urban cores and dealing with the results of lengthy disinvestment in those areas. But while owning a bike and not a car seems less expensive on the face of it, being among the urban poor often puts you in a position where biking is not a viable option. This connects to other things I've been reading about bicycle infrastructure being poorly implemented from a social equity point of view and becoming a divisive issue. Where was all this capital investment when it was Black and Brown folks living there? And more importantly, how can we include places where they're living *now* in this kind of development?

Random Bits

Kenosha has 363 pages of zoning ordinances. I wonder how that compares to, say, Chicago.

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I just ate my last Cadbury Scream Egg of the batch that Lisa gave me as a birthday present. (Thank you!) Fortunately, two rounds of Easter closeout shopping plus a surprise gift from my dad have left my reserve in good shape, at about thirty. That will get me through to Halloween when the scream version returns!

They really need to make some that are themed for other holidays. Twice a year is not enough! Cadbury Kringle Eggs for Christmas? Cadbury Meme-orial Eggs for Veteran's Day? Cadbury Tree-m Eggs for Arbor Day? C'mon, the opportunities are endless!

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Work on my poster is coming along. I hope I can get it done in time to get printed at school before my conference. Otherwise, it will cost a lot more to get done at an Office Max or similar.

Missing my Road Trips

posicat and folks talking on Facebook about taking another photo trip somewhere reminded me of a great trip I took to Starved Rock State Park a few years back. I folded the back seats of my Suzuki Swift down and slept half-way in the trunk on a residential road next to a church. A little after sunrise, I walked over to one of the shower buildings at the park to get cleaned up, then shot some photos before the rush of people arrived later in the day. It was a great time; I really miss trips like that. Maybe I can manage one or two this Summer.




I'm a city-dweller, without a doubt. I don't do a lot of nature photography. But it would make for a nice change once in a while!