Yes, there are intrepid souls out there today — like this determined young man trying to ride up the hill at Lawrence and 20th or so, by Washington Park.
He struggled. He fought.
And he met some strange newcomers in the street …
Share the road! It’s a multi-modal snow day.
Be careful out there. Anybody else out and about riding?
A while ago, we showed you a chart of traffic citations issued to cyclists in Eugene. Mixed in with the rolled stop signs and unlighted ninja cyclists, there was a speeding ticket. A couple of you wanted to know more about that one.
Well, we will offer our thanks to Eugene Police Department’s Jenna McCulley, who dug up that speeding citation for us — literally, as it sounds like they have go rifle through an old file cabinet somewhere to find this data, budgets for information technology being what they are at our public agencies.
“Yes, a bicyclist was cited for speeding,” McCulley tells us. “The officer was conducting traffic patrols and clocked the bicyclist going 38 in a 25 mph zone.”
This occurred on Feb. 4, 2011, on Hawkins Lane at West 25th Avenue. If you’ve never ridden Hawkins, it heads up into the hills of southwest Eugene. It’s a stiff climb, especially above 25th.
McCulley didn’t actually tell us so, but I think it’s safe to assume cyclist in question was headed down the hill.
Yeah, 38 is pretty fast, especially considering the cyclist had to negotiate the fun “S” turn right above 25th.
And we might say this cyclist earned a badge of honor. We might. But if we did, we would open ourselves up to accusations of hypocrisy — what with the way we bitch and moan about unsafe motorists. So we won’t say anything about the quiet pride swelling in our bosom for this unnamed cyclist. And we certainly won’t say how fast we went when we took a ride on Hawkins yesterday to check out the scene of the crime.
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And speaking of the chart of bicyclist citations, McCulley also sent us updated data, which includes the final six months of 2011. So now we have a picture of citations over 20 months, from May 2010 through December 2011.
Yep, there’s our speeder, too, still in there. Of course, we are now curious about the “unlawful load,” but I’m not going to ask EPD to fetch that one. I’m sure they have better things to do.
But I wonder if it was this guy:
Is it legal to carry a propane tank on a bike?
But speaking of safety on the roads, let’s talk cell phones again.
As we know, there’s a new law on the books (effective this past Jan. 1) banning cell phone use while driving a “motor vehicle” (unless the motorist is using a hands-free device). The earlier law had that big loophole that it was OK to use your phone if you were making a call that was in the “scope of your employment.”
We asked EPD how enforcement of the new law was going, and McCulley fished up yet more data for us — this time we think it came from an actual computer.
According to McCulley, here are the number of tickets issued for using a phone while driving, comparing a month under the old law, with the first month under the new law:
We also had an e-mail exchange with EPD Lt. Jennifer Bills.
(Quick pop quiz: Is Lt. Bills the SWAT Commander, or does she oversee the traffic cops?
Answer: Both!)
Anyway I asked if she could say how officers are being advised to handle
enforcement of the new cell phone law:
Officers are being advised to address enforcement of cell phone laws as they would any traffic related law.
The goal of traffic enforcement is public safety through crash reduction. Speed, following too close and disobeying traffic control devices (red lights, stop signs) are major contributors to traffic crashes. A distracted driver (cell phone user) is certainly a contributing factor. …
EPD sent out a press release about the changes to the law to, hopefully, better inform the public … We do not plan on enforcing it any more or less than other traffic offenses at this time.
I don’t know about anyone else, but I think I’ve seen less phone talking among drivers than I used to. Don’t get me wrong. I still see it a lot. Here’s a guy I spotted on Coburg Road the other day — not even worried about trying to be discreet:
And I think I have noticed more people pulled to the side of the road to chat, too. Not scientific, I know, but I’m curious if others have noticed a little less phoning and driving than we used to see?
James Robert Gleich was jailed yesterday, Eugene police say, on charges of first-degree manslaughter, negligent homicide and reckless driving.
Gleich was driving a car on River Road last Aug. 29 when he hit Mingo Pelkey on her bicycle. Pelkey died shortly after the crash.
Here’s the news release I just got from Eugene Police public information officer Jenna B. McCulley:
James Robert Gleich
Yesterday afternoon at 12:23 p.m. officers from the Eugene Police Department arrested and lodged at the Lane County Jail James Robert Gleich, 53, Springfield resident, on the charges of Manslaughter in the First Degree, Criminal Negligent Homicide, and Reckless Driving in connection with August 29, 2011 death of Mingo Pelkey after a vehicle/bike crash.
On Wednesday, February 22, a Grand Jury at the Lane County Circuit Court heard the evidence presented in the case and moved to indict Gleich. Officers completed additional investigation and arrested Gleich on Sunday.
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For a list of all posts about the Mingo Pelkey case, go here.
I’m happy to learn that the afternoon of car-free streets — known as Sunday Streets — is coming back next summer. But before I get to that, I need to tell you a story.
My daughter somehow acquired a betta fish for her fifth birthday.
Here is what a betta fish looks like.
Don’t be fooled by its exotic beauty. A betta fish is sometimes known as a “Siamese fighting fish” — which sounds dangerous for a 5-year-old, but I don’t like to be the overprotective sort of parent.
We set the fish bowl on my daughter’s dresser. The dresser has a mirror behind it. Luckily, we happened to pick up a book about betta fish at the library, and we learned, among other things, that bettas should not be placed in front of a mirror. It may make them think they are in the presence of a second Siamese fighting fish.
This causes their fighting instinct to kick in and leaves them living in a constant state of heightened anxiety.
Much like riding a bike around town.
Which brings us back to Sunday Streets. Sunday Streets is when the city closes a stretch of city roads to cars (for a few short hours) and lets pedestrians and cyclists and dogs and whatever else roam free on the asphalt.
Perhaps you remember Eugene’s first Sunday Streets event this past September? Was it fun, you ask? What do you mean, was it fun? You remember this guy?
But something happened at Sunday Streets that I did not expect. The simple absence of cars made me aware that I do experience a state of low-level stress whenever I ride around on city streets. I don’t think I had even realized this until I found myself freed from it. With cars removed, I had to keep reminding myself not to be constantly checking over my shoulder or listening for the buzz of big 4×4 tires coming up behind me.
And I realized how our betta fish must have felt when we finally took him away from the mirror.
Anyway, the second Sunday Streets event is being planned for next Sept. 9. (See, we finally got the point!)
Last summer, the route was along Fifth Avenue, past Skinner Butte Park, into the Whiteaker neighborhood. This coming summer, Sunday Streets will head to the south university/Amazon area. Here’s a map of the proposed route:
Thanks to Shane McRhodes for the photo.
In the northeast-most corner, we are at 19th and Agate, i.e. Prince Pucklers and 19th Street McMenimen’s, etc. It goes west on 19th, down the ritzy stretch of University Street to University City Park, across 23rd and 24th to Hilyard, etc. You can figure it out.
Two bits of Springfield-y news:
A portion of every T-shirt sale is donated to the Greater Eugene Area Riders Education Fund.
