The Monday Roundup: Ford is anti-car, bike lane defender, free transit cash, and more

Welcome to another wonderful week full of potential and hope! Don’t you just love Mondays!

Here are the most notable items our writers and readers came across in the past seven days…

Even Ford says drive less: I’m not sure what to make of this (greenwashing?) but the European chief of Ford Motor Company is behind an initiative that encourages people to “park the car.”

Different bikes, same problem: Wait a second… So you’re telling me that the same crappy infrastructure that prevents people from riding non-motorized bicycles will also prevent them from riding electric bikes? Who could have seen that coming?!

America’s traffic death epidemic: The latest national figures for traffic deaths are out and they are terrible. NHTSA says not only did nearly 43,000 people die while using our transportation system in 2021 (highest total since 2005), but the amount of people not inside cars went way up yet again.

African rider makes history: Professional cyclist Biniam Girmay from Eritrea became the first ever Black rider to win a stage of Grand Tour with his sprint victory in Stage 10 of the Giro d’ Italia (then had the champagne cork knock him out of the race!).

Figure it out, journalists!: David Zipper’s latest in-depth piece lays out the reasons the media gets crash reporting so wrong, including the all too common practice of copy/pasting biased police statements.

Mo Wilson was murdered: A very tragic case in Texas where it appears a love triangle led to the shooting of a rising cycling star and authorities are on the hunt for her killer.

Oregon land-use changes: Insiders are hailing a sweeping set of new laws to reform parking and transportation policies that moved ahead at the Oregon Land Development and Conservation Commission last week.

24 hour speeding: Last week we learned a jaw-dropping fact: That because of state politics and societal normalization of dangerous car driving, New York City’s speed cameras are turned off at night when people tend to speed the most.

How to win money and influence cities: Transit Center has a how-to guide for advocates on how to make sure as much of the “highway” funding as possible from the Biden Infrastructure Law goes to transit.

Lax enforcement: KGW did a segment on how so many drivers have expired tags — part of a widespread shift where car drivers don’t fear getting pulled over by police so they simply don’t pay registration fees and many people don’t even bother to have plates these days. These ghost cars are dangerous and we need more attention on this issue!

Universal Basic (Transit) Income: Looking to level the playing field between cars and transit, Los Angeles officials are giving all residents of one section of their city $150 to help pay fares.

Tweet of the Week: Bike Lane Uprising rolled up on a truck driver trying to unload a new vehicle while parked in a protected bike lane. So they decided to hold their ground and a face-off ensued. Check the tweet to see how it played out…

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Thanks to everyone who sent in links this week. If you want to sponsor this column, please get in touch!