Justice in cycling, cycling for justice

I’ve been trying to get back into cycling, not as an athlete — I’m no athlete — but as a commuter and for recreation.

This morning I found myself relating to issues brought up today in a New York Times’ article about Times Up! tactics and sites like MyBikeLane.com, which are responses to automobiles regularly disrespecting bike lanes.

It appears that MyBikeLane.com is, while New York City specific for now, intended to scale and eventually target other cities as well.

Here in Washington I’ve had similar experiences, albeit in less harried or intense surroundings than what I know exist in Manhattan and the commercial centers of the other boroughs of New York City. It is still unnerving to be forced to quickly pass into the main lane of traffic because of a vehicle sitting idle in the bike lane.

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Are the truckers’ protests already obsolete?

Independent truck drivers are organizing a protest in Washington today, in response to rising gas prices. While I caught a listing for the event in the AP Daybook, I haven’t witnessed it — I have taken in first and second-hand accounts of their lap around around downtown Washington (specifically to honk at the White House and the Capitol), and their rally (I think they parked their trucks at RFK after their lap).

They plan another lap to disrupt rush hour later, I’m told.

Meanwhile, BoingBoing has a post citing the New York Sun’s reporting on some speculation that American gas prices will have to be more in line with Europe’s (approaching $10 a gallon) sooner rather than later.

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