Although it may seem that the more riders/walkers buzzing around, the more likely an accident involving an automobile, the converse is true. Freakonomics recently cited a series of studies compiled by Injury Prevention stating that injury rates of cyclists and pedestrians declines with the number of cyclists and walkers.

According to Injury Prevention, “an individual’s risk while [cycling] in a community with twice as much [cycling] will reduce to 66%”. In other words, the more people out hoofing and riding, the less likely it is a car will take them out. This pattern is consistent in a variety of time periods, locations, and situations.

We here at Carectomy.com can’t get enough of the cycling-based stuff. As with anything, this love can be taken too far. While extreme bike-love would typically conjure up images of keeping a rig super-clean, plastering your skin with bike tattoos, or bolting a bike chain around your neck… Robert Stewart took his obsession further than I thought possible.

Two hotel maids at the Aberley House Hostel in Ayr, Scotland opened the door to Mr. Stewart’s room to find him standing bottomless and “holding the bike and moving his hips back and forth as if to simulate sex."

 

According to the Telegraph, Mr. Stewart is not the first U.K. citizen charged with “sexual breach of the peace” with an inanimate object: Karl Watkins was, and I quote, “jailed for having sex with pavements.”

 

Given the choice, I think that Carectomy can, um, get behind the sex with bicycles more so than the “sex with pavements.” I have to assume that both Mr. Stewart and the bicycle were consenting participants. And the deed was done behind closed doors after all…

This just in: the answer to our transportation nightmares has been staring us squarely in the face for about 200 years. What’s largely impervious to weather-delays, a reliable tried-and-true format of transport, energy efficient, increases productivity by allowing passengers to actually do stuff rather than drive, and comfortable for passengers? Why, the train of course!

The efficacy of trains is nothing new to many Carectomy readers. However what is new and exciting is the growing mainstream coverage of the plusses of public transportation and the downsides of a car-based country. As this Sunday’s Boston Globe Parade magazine pointed out, in the last year Americans suffered a 60% increase in gas prices; 3.7 billion hours wasted in traffic in the U.S.; and an increase in flight delays. As a result, travel via Amtrak has increased for the fifth consecutive year.

 

While the increase in ridership is good news for trains and carectomy patients, it’s painfully obvious that the U.S.’ train system in particular, and public transportation in general, is greatly underfunded. Amtrak received $1.3 billion last year, equivalent to its budget 25 years ago. Meanwhile, $40 billion was spent on highways and $14 billion for airlines. The Bush administration, not surprisingly, has not helped the cause. In 2005, Bush sought to completely remove federal funding from Amtrak. For 2008, Amtrak’s budget will be slashed to $800 million.

 

The goal in San Francisco is to decrease traffic congestion and the accompanying pollution. The solution: to charge a fluctuating market rate to keep metered space occupancy rates at 85%. That way, spaces are available for would-be parkers, which decreases the amount of circling for spots. This will do much to keep cars moving in and out of dense urban areas, generate significant additional revenues for the city, and encourage people to quit driving so damned much.

One of the keys to decreasing car usage, and the myriad of associated problems that automobiles bring us (pollution, global warming, health issues, expense, war to name a few) is to stop subsidizing the car. Relatively inexpensive gas (even at $3+ per gallon) and endless roads are clearly factors that make driving and car ownership more appealing; cheap parking is another.

Much as the Slow Food movement sprang up in opposition to the McDonaldization of the world’s cuisine, the idea of “Slow Cities” has taken hold as a reaction to the automo-murder of quality life. Both the Slow Food and Slow City movements have their roots in Italy, and they share a hankering for locally-grown and freshly prepared foods. Slow City promoters also seek to make cities walkable again by banning cars from city centers and to facilitate renewable energy sources, green building, and recycling/reusing materials.

From the Slow Cities Charter:

Circular reasoning and truisms make up some of my favorite quotes. Try this one, from Icebike, on for size: “You will find that the weather is really not that bad, except when it IS that bad, which is not that often.”

As the air starts feeling a little crisp and we’re rapidly heading towards winter, I hear many people talking about putting their bikes into hibernation mode. While there are days where the most hardcore among us will forego the bike, riding through the winter in relative comfort is a lot more viable than most people think.

 

There’s something about the photo on this All Weather Sports webpage (also left above) that has always brought me joy. I initially came across this site once I realized that the biking bug had bitten me hard enough that I wouldn't stop riding in the winter. A little research brought me to that page, replete with info on staying warm and dry; riding safely in winter conditions; and equipment suggestions.

 

As cool as all the information on that minimalist website is, it was the youthful, goofy smile on that guy’s face as he crunches along on a snowmachine trail in Alaska that really brought me in. There I was looking for a solution for cold feet and maybe a suggestion for a breathable shell to survive winter days around Boston, and I’m confronted with a guy flying right along on top of many feet of snow.