What follows is a press release from Ohio Senator Teresa Fedor. I just hope that:
A) The bill passes, and
B) It will be enforced once it does.
I’m dubious about the latter, though. I’ve seen too many reports from states that do have a “3 foot law” where a cyclist is hit by an overtaking motorist, yet no charges are filed against the motorist. Progress is slow, I suppose.
PRESS RELEASE
From State Senator Teresa Fedor
11th Senate District
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Ursula Barrera
September 23, 2009 (614) 466-5204
Senators Teresa Fedor and Mark Wagoner to Announce Bicycling Safety Bill Local cyclists and Ohio Bicycle Federation Representatives to Attend
Columbus, Ohio — Senators Teresa Fedor (D-Toledo) and Mark Wagoner (R-Ottawa Hills) will announce the introduction of a bicycle safety bill September 28, 2009 at 10:30 on the west lawn of the Statehouse. The legislation will define a safe lateral passing distance of three feet when a motor vehicle passes a bicycle or other non-motorized vehicle. The Ohio Bicycle Federation President, Chuck Smith, will be in attendance to speak in support of the legislation. Local riders and those injured by the failure of drivers to observe a safe passing distance will also be in attendance.
“Cyclists often do not feel safe riding in their neighborhoods or to work because of unsafe distances between cars. We must make Ohio streets safer for our over one million cyclists,” said Senator Fedor.
Senator Fedor, joined by Senator Wagoner for part of the journey, completed her 3rd Annual Bike to the Capitol tour during Bike to Work Week. The ride reinforced the need for bike-friendly communities and safer roads for those who use bicycling as an alternative mode of transportation. The tour took Senator Fedor from Toledo to Columbus over a 3-day period on a “Campaign for Healthy Kids and Communities”. The event was geared toward raising awareness about quality physical and health education standards in schools, alternative means of transportation and bicycle-friendly communities.
For more information on bicycling issues, check out the Ohio Bicycle Federation’s website at http://www.ohiobike.org/
I’m a firm believer in adequate illumination for night-time cycling. My personal set up for the last several years has been: A 7 LED red “blinky” light mounted to the seatpost and a 12W Cygolite halogen (I know, I need to get with times) mounted to the handlebars (henceforth: “headlight“). I’ve heard various people rave about head-mounted lights (henceforth: “headlamps“) over the years, but have resisted their pull, at least partly because of the perceived (on my part) dork-factor.
Anyway, some time ago I bought a Garrity 1W Luxeon LED Headlamp because of Woot having a great deal on them and my inability to resist a bargain.
Tonight I finally strapped the headlamp on and went for a ride. Oh, my God! Why did I not do that sooner. My old trusty headlight does a fine job of illuminating the road, especially the road right in front of me, but what an incredible addition the headlamp was. Its tightly focused beam allowed me to see well beyond where I could have otherwise (a real blessing when descending at speed) and the fact that it went where I was looking was most helpful, particularly when cornering and turning. It would also be quite helpful for the game of “skunk or kitty-cat” I sometimes play.
I wouldn’t want to ride with just the headlamp as its beam is too tightly focused for general illumination, but I can’t imagine riding at night without it now.
Now I just need to make the jump to an LED headlight, too. Boy, am I glad I didn’t drop several hundred dollars on an HID system a few years ago! LED’s are so vastly superior (for bicycle applications) in every significant way (more efficient, less heat, no mega-expensive short-lived bulbs to replace).
It’s just come to my attention that I first signed up with SETI@home on September 1, 1999. I did take some time (a few years, maybe; who knows?) off after they discontinued the original SETI@home and switched to the BOINC client. Anyway, during those first few years I completed 5,218 SETI classic workunits, donating 41,374 CPU-hours. Since switching over to the BOINC client I’ve earned over 900,000 credits split more or less evenly between SETI@home, Einstein@home and Rosetta@home. As a matter of fact I’m on pace to surpass 1,000,000 credits sometime in October. It really is quite remarkable to reflect upon. I first started crunching data for SETI with a Pentium 233 MMX with, I think, 128M of RAM (That’s 233 Mhz, kids). Now the slowest computer I’m running is a Pentium 4 2.8Ghz with 768M of RAM. Moore’s law, indeed!
If for some inexplicable reason you’d like to see my BOINC stats, you can do so here or here.
Finally saw the horn-as-doorbell idiot in the flesh. While I was out working on my car (@ 8:15AM) there was a familiar blast of steam-boat sounding car horn. Stepping from behind the raised hood I’m face to face with a Cadillac full of (I’m assuming) carpoolers. Lady in the passenger seat says “we weren’t blowing at you, we were blowing for our friend”. I don’t know if they heard me say “Have you never heard of a fucking doorbell?” as I climbed into my car (whose windows, like theirs, were down), but I don’t really care.
What the hell is wrong with people? Surely at least one of those people, too lazy to walk to the front door, has a cell phone and could call their friend to announce their arrival, rather than entertaining the entire neighborhood with their charming novelty horn every Goddamned morning, at 8AM!
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