Monday, August 17, 2009
New Law Protects Bikers and Pedestrians
The Crime Victims Compensation Act that Gov. Quinn recently signed into law has an amendment that includes in the definition of a 'crime violence' leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident that involves the injury of death of a pedestrian or biker. The significance is that it gives pedestrians and bikers access to the Crime Victims Compensation Fund.
The Underground Railroad Route
Underground railroad by bike
The Rev. Joseph "Joe" Culpepper, pictured here, and his friend, the Rev. Rick Jensen, pedaled the 2,521-mile Underground Railroad Trail from its start in Mobile, Ala., to Ontario, Canada, in 48 days.
(For the Pantagraph)
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Biking and Politcs
So the first entry goes out to Harry Wray. He's a professor at of Professor of Political Science at DePaul University in Chicago where he introduced a class called 'Biking and Politics'. And he literally wrote the book on the issue. Its called 'Pedal Power'. In an Aug 08 interview with Time Out he reflects on how the class and the book came about:
So it occurred to me that I could do a course on biking and politics where we’d have these big rides—some of them are as long as 60 miles throughout the area. And then when the regular quarter begins, we can start talking about how is it this experience is really connected to politics. And so that was an idea I could make a course out of.... And I knew there was a book there because when I was looking around for reading material for the course [“Biking and Politics”], I couldn’t find anything. So I said, Well I guess I should write it.
When I went to set up this blog I was curious as to whether the page name 'Biking and Politics' would be available. It was. And it occurred to me that I hadn't fully realized that Harry was the first person to really engage this idea of biking as something political in the contemporary political context. The notion that riding a bike could constitute a political action, I think is a pretty foreign concept to most people on their first take.
Well, it turns out that there is rather profound connection between biking and politics, if only because it goes so unnoticed. But here's the thing: it's not at all difficult to see, its just really unlikely that you'd see it unless someone pointed it out to you. Unless you're Harry Wray, which is why you should read his book.
So why is biking political? At the moment I am working very hard to convince a group of people that biking is very much political and moreover, that talking about it is the responsible thing to do. One reason that biking is political is because in order for you to bike, you need a road. And roads are a public good because they are paid for by all of us, which means that my use of the road should not inhibit your use of the road, or vice versa. But as anyone who bikes or drives in the city knows, conflict inevitably arises between bikers and drivers on the road, just as it does between drivers. In a battle of strength, the car wins everytime. But for obvious reasons, most of us do are best to avoid that. And so the battle of wits becomes a politcal battle as representatives both parties hash it out before those people dictating policy. As it turns out, we often times get a say in who gets to make that policy.
The United States is the most auto-centric country in the world. By far. But right now the bikers have got all the momentum, and the reason for it is simple: the biggest challenges that we face as a civilized society - the economy, healthcare, energy and the environment to name the big ones - are actually made worse by more driving. And they actually get better with more biking. Look it up.
Biking rules. Spread the word.
So it occurred to me that I could do a course on biking and politics where we’d have these big rides—some of them are as long as 60 miles throughout the area. And then when the regular quarter begins, we can start talking about how is it this experience is really connected to politics. And so that was an idea I could make a course out of.... And I knew there was a book there because when I was looking around for reading material for the course [“Biking and Politics”], I couldn’t find anything. So I said, Well I guess I should write it.
When I went to set up this blog I was curious as to whether the page name 'Biking and Politics' would be available. It was. And it occurred to me that I hadn't fully realized that Harry was the first person to really engage this idea of biking as something political in the contemporary political context. The notion that riding a bike could constitute a political action, I think is a pretty foreign concept to most people on their first take.
Well, it turns out that there is rather profound connection between biking and politics, if only because it goes so unnoticed. But here's the thing: it's not at all difficult to see, its just really unlikely that you'd see it unless someone pointed it out to you. Unless you're Harry Wray, which is why you should read his book.
So why is biking political? At the moment I am working very hard to convince a group of people that biking is very much political and moreover, that talking about it is the responsible thing to do. One reason that biking is political is because in order for you to bike, you need a road. And roads are a public good because they are paid for by all of us, which means that my use of the road should not inhibit your use of the road, or vice versa. But as anyone who bikes or drives in the city knows, conflict inevitably arises between bikers and drivers on the road, just as it does between drivers. In a battle of strength, the car wins everytime. But for obvious reasons, most of us do are best to avoid that. And so the battle of wits becomes a politcal battle as representatives both parties hash it out before those people dictating policy. As it turns out, we often times get a say in who gets to make that policy.
The United States is the most auto-centric country in the world. By far. But right now the bikers have got all the momentum, and the reason for it is simple: the biggest challenges that we face as a civilized society - the economy, healthcare, energy and the environment to name the big ones - are actually made worse by more driving. And they actually get better with more biking. Look it up.
Biking rules. Spread the word.
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