Things we found on youtube
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Well its another snowy day at the Bike Joint so we were searching the Internet for things to watch. So after watching a couple of good shorts about how to build a chemical bomb from kitchen supplies we came across a couple of interesting films on people putting jet engines on bicycles. Here they are.
and this one.....
and finally the one that I want to put on the course at the ice race
and in case your interested here is a film about making bombs with kitchen chemicals
Bike Lanes get show and tell
So February started off with a bang for cyclists. Well when one thinks of cycling you don’t think of February for an awe inspiring time. But it was. On February 1st the city released what it hopes Toronto will look like in 2010-2011.
The meeting was held at Metro Hall, you know the ugly one down on John Street where no one knows where it is. The meeting was well attended with interested cyclists wanting to know what was what. Of course I arrived late thinking that it was just another one of those wander around and look at the pictures on the wall. Well it was, but it seemed that there was a lot of talking and asking of questions first.
What I heard was questions on Bloor Street, the fact that there is going to be a study done about bike lanes on Bloor Street that will not be finished until 2011. That would mean that any kind of painting on Bloor will not happen until probably 2015. There was an interesting question about how many people took canbike and when was the city going to force everyone to take a course.
The highlight of the night was when Hamish Wilson took the city to task of why there will be no bike lane through the Yorkville area and it would only be sharrows. My first thought was because Holt Renfrew bought the block with their $20 million dollar donation and there was no way in heck they were going to allow dirty post and rings let alone a bike lane to go through their block.
After the talking was done, I wondered around and marvelled at the maps with their crayola coloured lines. To me it looked like there was going to be a bike lane on every street. The highlights was connecting the Harbord Street bike lane from Spadina to Bathurst as well as the gap that exists on the College Street bike lane west of Manning Street.
Was all of this for real, could this be happening? Well it could be because a lot of its easy and there are huge holes in the plan. At first what I thought were markings designating Queen and others to have bike lanes were actually sharrows. The proposed bike lane on University ends at Adelaide, just a few hundred feet of linking up with a bike lane on York, the extension of the College Street bike lane were also Sharrows.
It is to early to say exactly what is going on with the whole plan. I only had a cursory look at things and the whole plan should be on the city’s website tomorrow. I still think there is room on College for a bike lane, but according to city cycling officials the TTC will never allow it to happen.
What Councillor Joe Mihevc said at the end of the question period is true, that if we want this stuff we are going to have to fight and fight hard. This is going to be a tough political year for everyone, especially with people like Rocco Rossi running for Mayor.
Dalton McGuinty should re-think Cellphone Charges
Dalton McGuinty might well consider the following story and the growing number of stories of drivers killing pedestrians, cyclists and each other while talking and texting while driving. The Ontario government’s long awaited law banning such behaviour will hit the streets, complete with charges, February 1st.
Mr. McGuinty had the chance to deal with this problem in a responsible way, in the same way that many jurisdictions have, with heavy fines and jail time. Unfortunately Dalton decided that it was better to try and get re-elected then do the right thing.
In Ontario the maximum fine for talking or texting on your cell phone is $500.00. One wonders how many of the recent pedestrian deaths in the Toronto area could have been averted if the cell phone charges had been more heavily enforced with a harder hitting fine? Your tough enough to save us from pit bulls, but not enough to save us from negligent drivers. More people are killed by drivers then pit bulls.
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“Hi, I’m Carrie Patterson, Gordon Patterson’s wife,” she said softly. “We were married 23 years. But a distraction on a text message caused us his death.”
So ends the sad tale of a distracted driver, a teacher’s death and the ongoing lesson’s of why texting and driving is as bad as drinking and driving. In Washington’s states first vehicular homicide conviction due to text-messaging, Antonio Cellestine, 18 was sentenced to five years for hit and run on a cyclist while he was texting. Phone records indicate Cellestine was texting his girlfriend at the time his car hit and killed the Hudson’s Bay High School teacher.
“I’ve heard the term ‘accident’ used quite a bit today,” Bennett said after Cellestine pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide and felony hit-and-run. “But this was no accident.”
Gordon Patterson, 50, was hit at 4 p.m. Sept. 15 in a bike lane near the top of the hill on Northeast St. Johns Road in Vancouver City, Washington. He was riding his bicycle home from school where he taught, when Cellestine’s car trailed into the bike lane and struck him from behind. Cellestine then sped away.
Based on witness statements and evidence gathered at the scene, officers arrested Cellestine the next day on suspicion of hit-and-run. They seized his cell phone and subpoenaed records from his cell phone company.
The records showed Cellestine had received and sent numerous text messages in the time leading up to and during the crash, said Deputy Prosecutor Jim David.
That constituted a disregard for the safety of others, David said, so prosecutors filed the vehicular homicide charge earlier this month.
“By focusing on the texting as opposed to driving, he wasn’t paying attention because he was watching his cell phone,” he said.
Cellestine first made up a story to police about smoking a cigar while driving and brought it up again in court Friday. But police say they found no evidence he was smoking.
This is the first of several cases dealing with homicide charges, texting and driving. A Bellingham teenager was arrested on suspicion of vehicular homicide for allegedly driving and texting when he hit and killed a pedestrian on New Year’s Day. He also was accused of drinking. That case has yet to be resolved.
“I never understood loss until I lost my dad — my best friend,” she said, her voice breaking. “I will always miss my dad …”
The biggest loss, Carrie Patterson said, was losing the future.
“He impacted thousands with his life,” she said. “And we can only imagine how many more it would have been if he was still here.”
Bikeway Network Event Public Notice
An email was sent to our super secret email that is so secret that we didn't even know we had one. Below is the information. Read it, memorize it and then come out and have your say. The city of Toronto is not going to do anything for you, so you better do it yourself.
The City's Transportation Services Cycling staff are hosting an important public consultation session regarding the Bikeway Network. Many of the ideas being presented are things the city's cycling advocates have been pushing for - these are long overdue, and most welcome improvements!
You are invited to join us on Feb 1st to give your feedback and to hear about some of the plans for 2010 - event details are below.
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Bikeway Network Event Public Notice
Date: Monday February 1, 2010
Time: 6:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Location: Metro Hall, 55 John St. Room 308-309
The objective of this meeting is to get community input on proposed new downtown bikeways that the Transportation Services Cycling Infrastructure and Programs group is working on for 2010.
Topics will discuss concepts and criteria for new projects, including:
• 2010 bicy cle lanes
• Rush hour sharrow bicycle markings on streetcar routes
• New bicycle lane intersection treatments at signalized intersections
• Locations for bicycle boxes at intersections
• Updates on the West-End bikeways project
Participants are invited to attend for a brief presentation and question period with City Staff from 6:30 – 7:00 p.m. From 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. the floor will be open for the public to view maps, talk to staff about projects, and submit comments and suggestions.
Visit the city's website at www.toronto.ca/cycling
Largest speeding fine, ever!!!
The $290,000 Speeding Ticket
We picked up this story, stolen really, though it was a clean get away, from Streetblog, about the world's largest speeding fine being dropped on a swiss millionaire, take that you bourgeoisie swine.
The fine, 299,000 Swiss francs, or just under $290,000. According to the BBC, the motorist was speeding through a swiss burg at 136 kph. Like the smart Europeans they are, the swiss frown on people endanging their citizens, of course it did not help the driver that he was a repeat offender.
In Toronto the same cannot be said. There have been numerous examples of Pedestrians and cyclists being killed and the perp getting away with it. The one that pops to mind is Micheal Bryant dragging Darcy Sheppard down Bloor Street and depositing him into a mailbox. There are many who believe Bryant will get off because of his standing, because of his money, because of his high paid lawyers and publicity department and of course that he was the former Attorney General of Ontario.
Ther is the example of the BMW speeding, which is a light term for the speed the carbon burner was going, that careened off a couple of cars, ran a red and mowed down a woman crossing the street. No word on how that case turned out. There is the woman a few years ago who crashed into a crowded bus shelter. Many people injured, an elderly man lost his leg and the driver was fined $350 but didn't pay because she skipped the country. And finally the story of the elderly woman crossing the street at Avenue and St. Claire who was killed by a driver. He recieved a $150 fine with the excuse that he did not see her.
So this basically shows the differance between the European mind set and the North American. It also shows that if you want to assassinate someone in Toronto you just have to rent a car and run them down.
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Puff the Magic Dragon
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