It’s my understanding that the MPD has issued the final report on the circumstances surrounding the death of cyclist Alice Swanson, and that no charges will be made. I will try to get a copy of that report, and post it here, before coming to my own conclusions.
Update: the “Final Overview Memo” was actually issued on December 18, 2008. Reading it made me angry and sad. Out of deference to a legitimate request, I’m going to leave it at that, for now.
Washcycle (as usual) has the info you need. This time it’s about the recently issued IRS guidance on the benefits allowed under the Bicycle Commuter Choice Act. Check it out and send it along to your HR people. I can’t help but think that it was a poorly drafted bit of legislation, though. Because really, could this have been intentional?
The bicycle commuter act passed last year excluded bike commuter benefits from an employee’s taxable pay, up to $20 a month. However, if you receive the $20 bicycle commuter benefit, you can not receive any other transportation benefit such as commuter highway vehicle, transit pass, or qualified parking benefits in that same month. This is different than with transit and parking. If you want to, you can take the $230 transit benefit AND $230 in parking. But for cyclists, you can either have $20 for biking or up to $430 for using transit and driving (sigh).
The City Paper had an interesting look at the cyclists who don’t wear helmets in DC, and their reasons:
Unscientific observations of D.C.’s riding patterns suggest that about half of riders wear helmets. Riders commuting downtown during rush hour, wearing loafers and nice pants, usually wear helmets. Cyclists wearing gear like clip-on bike shoes or Lycra jerseys or padded shorts generally do so as well. In low-income areas, among messengers, and during noncommuting hours, helmet use goes down.
In the last 10 years, there have been a reported 232 bicyclist deaths in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. Correctly worn, bike helmets are about 70 percent effective in preventing damage on impact.
Now, I think you’re an idiot if you don’t wear a helmet, but I’m not a purist. I not infrequently make the three block trip to the grocery store without a lid, which I have no real defense for beyond just not feeling like bothering with carrying it through the store. It’s a pretty lame habit, and one that I’m working on changing. I would oppose any helmet law for adults (but support one for children). That said, the reasons some of the folks give for not wearing helmets? Make me wonder how they get through the day:
Kelly Johnson, 43, says he can’t wear a helmet because he wears headphones when he rides. Which means that not only does Johnson leave himself vulnerable in the case of an accident, but he’s also boosting the chance that such an accident will occur. He also admits that he thinks helmets look “corny.â€
Bob Twillger, 28, who has been known to hang out at Capitol Hill Bikes, blames good helmet technology for his failure to wear one. “The lighter the helmet,†he reasons, “the more you put it down, and the more you damage it. It gets kicked around and beat up.†This from a man who takes credit for totaling a Toyota Camry with his forehead. “Every time I get hit, I get wilder,†he says. “More bulletproof.â€
Yeah, no relationship between hitting your head and brain damage at all.
Sunday, March 1st, will bring us DC’s third VASA Ride.  They had 200 riders in 2007, and around 300 in 2008. Would love to see that increase substantially this year. And with snow and cold predicted for Sunday, who could possibly want to stay home?
Oh, right – what’s the VASA Ride? It’s a mass ride (of varying lengths) sponsored by the Embassy of Sweden to celebrate the Vasaloppet, a Swedish ski race.  Last year we rode from the Embassy up MacArthur Boulevard to Cabin John and back. It’s not a race – just a fun group ride. The best part? The free hot blueberry soup served by the Embassy at the end. If you’re in the DC area, I hope you’ll check it out.  More info, including start times and (optional) registration here.
The Amgen Tour of California is arguably the kickoff of the 2009 pro cycling season for American cycling fans.  And lucky for them, there’s lots of great coverage out there on the race. My three recommendations:
I’ll be heading to watch the ToC later this week, but strictly as a fan. Any interesting coverage or good shots that show up here will be little more than a happy accident, so go check out the links above.
Freewheeling Spirit wishes:
that D.C. had a DIY bike repair shop.
I’d like to see something like the Bike Kitchen in San Francisco (watch the Bike Kitchen video on youtube). Then, instead of working alone in a cramped space, I could be working and joking alongside fellow cyclists with lots of space and access to every tool I need.
I second that.  Bikes aren’t terribly complicated to work on, but very few people have the tools they need to do so easily and safely.  And who wants to buy and store tools that you’ll only need occasionally? A DIY bike shop – say, attached to a community center – would solve that problem.  The military bases I grew up around always had something similar for cars and woodworking, and they were heavily used. I suspect the right location would yield the same result in DC.
Bob Mionske, lawyer and long time cyclist, uses the occasion of his last Legally Speaking column at Velonews to give us a broad overview of the state of cycling and the law. I recommend it to both cyclists and drivers.
One of my favorite pro cyclists – Magnus Backstedt – is retiring.  At 6’4″ and 210lbs, he was proof that you don’t have to be a tiny little stick man to do well in cycling (tho’ it helps). Good luck, Maggy. We’ll miss you.
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End to high times in Dubai?
[F]aced with crippling debts as a result of their high living and Dubai’s fading fortunes, many expatriates are abandoning their cars at the airport and fleeing home rather than risk jail for defaulting on loans.
Police have found more than 3,000 cars outside Dubai’s international airport in recent months. Most of the cars – four-wheel drives, saloons and “a few†Mercedes – had keys left in the ignition.
I’m sure that no one could have imagined it.
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Did you know that the US is getting new pennies next week? I did not.
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Fred Kaplan takes a good look at Federal archiving policy. That might sound a bit dull, but it’s terribly important if we want to be able to ever assess the gap between what our politicians tell us and what the government actually does.
“Electronic records,” the study found, “are generally not disposed of in accordance” with federal regulations. In particular, many e-mails are “being destroyed prematurely,” for several reasons. [ . . . ]
Finally—and this is simply stunning—the National Archives’ technology branch is so antiquated that it cannot process some of the most common software programs. Specifically, the study states, the archives “is still unable to accept Microsoft Word documents and PowerPoint slides.”
This is a huge lapse. Nearly all internal briefings in the Pentagon these days are presented as PowerPoint slides. Officials told me three years ago that if an officer wanted to make a case for a war plan or a weapons program or just about anything, he or she had better make the case in PowerPoint—or forget about getting it approved.
And now, it turns out, all those presentations may be lost to the ether.
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Supposedly, Virginia will have smoking ban legislation soon. I’ll believe it when I see it.
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Trying to figure out what to do for your kid’s 15th birthday? Hire the Abstinence Clown! Can’t be that expensive, since it’s federally subsidized, and truly, the possible entertainment value is almost inconceivable.
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I’ve been looking for a new motorcycle helmet, and I think I might have found it.
I present Danny and the Demoncycle for your reading pleasure (and safety education!). Authored by the VA Department of Highway Safety and circulated in elementary schools in 1972. Click the link for a scan of the whole comic (during which you’ll see Satan Santa bring Danny the Demoncycle!)
Washcycle wrote the post answering the question I was thinking about at the same time – when will this year’s VASA Ride take place? March 1st is the answer, it seems.  They had 200 riders in 2007, and around 300 in 2008. Would love to see that increase substantially this year.
Oh, right – what’s the VASA Ride? It’s a mass ride (of varying lengths) sponsored by the Embassy of Sweden to celebrate the Vasaloppet, a Swedish ski race. DC, thank god, isn’t cold enough to have a companion ski race, so we do it on bikes. Last year we rode from the Embassy up MacArthur Boulevard to Cabin John and back. It’s not a race – just a fun group ride. The best part? The free hot blueberry soup served by the Embassy at the end. If you’re in the DC area, I hope you’ll check it out.  (In fact, if you’re on the fence about it, drop me an email and let me dragoon convince you to ride with me and the group I’m forcing assembling.)
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