Comments on: ‘I AM traffic’: Four metro cyclists struck and killed this month

By: tom barron

tom barron — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 06:45:25 +0000

“i am traffic”… bumper sticker of the year.

By: Will Donovan III

Will Donovan III — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 03:36:54 +0000

We have a long way to go to be a truly bike-friendly community…I am going to start lobbying my local officials more intensely on bike related issues…the Downtown bike lanes are truly inadequate, even when I hear other biker friends say they are great…when compared to really well-done planning in other cities, they are not safe.

Just to be devils advocate…do these ghost bikes run a risk of making people feel unsafe and scaring potential commuters away?

By: mplsbikelove

mplsbikelove — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 16:26:58 +0000

As an update to what is going on in regards to the community, we are planning a bike ride and all are welcome.

Ghost Bike Memorial Ride
Saturday, October 4th, 2008
Wear a black shirt with orange ribbon around your arm or handlebars (ribbon will be provided if you do not have any)

10:30am meet
11:00am ride starts
13.6 miles for Twin Cities route (http://www.bikemap.net/route/89109)
14.3 miles extra for Blaine route (http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2304032)

We will meet at Summit and Snelling at the ghost bike memorial for Virginia Heuer-Bower. We will then head west down Lake Street to Excelsior and West 32nd Street, the ghost bike memorial for Jimmy Nisser. Then, we will head back up Excelsior/Lake then northeast on Hennepin to the ghost bike memorial for Nik Morton.

After that, for those brave enough to pedal it, there will be a ride up to Blaine at Central and Cloverleaf to the ghost bike memorial for Dale Aanenson.

Riders are expected to be orderly and respectful. If you are riding recklessly, you will be called on it and asked to leave.

More discussion on this ride can be found at viewtopic.php?f=20&t=9557&st=0&sk=t&sd=a.

By: Nick Raleigh

Nick Raleigh — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 15:00:50 +0000

These car-on-bicycle fatalities are truly tragic. Why don’t we have bike lanes like those found in Copenhagen or Montreal, where the auto lane is separated from the bike lane by curbs?

By: Julie Kosbab

Julie Kosbab — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 14:25:05 +0000

I will certainly concur with Matty, although I would also observe that bicycle advocates typically look for 5 Es to be in place:
Engineering (Matty’s point)
Education (training all vehicle drivers – motorists and cyclists alike – to share roads)
Encouragement (encouraging more people to explore alternatives to cars)
Enforcement (enforcing existing laws on all vehicle drivers – meaning cyclists too!)
Evaluation (constant tracking of all Es for improvement – I also like to call it ‘Evolution!’)

The fractured nature of government work in these areas – City of Minneapolis, City of St. Paul, the ‘burbs, etc. is also a challenge we all need to seek better answers to.

By: Matty Lang

Matty Lang — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 18:46:45 +0000

Improving street design to better accommodate all road users is what needs to happen to minimize these all too frequent tragic collisions between motor vehicles and bicyclists and pedestrians. For the most part, the streets throughout the Twin Cities region are designed primarily for automobiles with cyclists and pedestrians being treated as an afterthought at best. This is true even though all motorists become pedestrians at the end of their trips.

We at Twin Cities Streets for People are tracking these collisions and are mapping the locations in order to make design improvement recommendations. For a better understanding of what a more people-oriented, complete streets design approach would look like, please visit our website:

http://www.tcstreetsforpeople.org