We at Carectomy view bikes as a legitimate form of transportation, not merely an exercise method or recreational distraction. Bikes are traffic and as the popular pro-bike slogans espouse, “Bikes Belong” and “Same Road, Same Rights, Same Rules.”

One recent editorial in the Washington Post echoes an all-too-frequent perspective of motorists to keep bikes where they “belong”:

Why was his group of bicyclists riding on the road and not on the bike path? A bike path is aptly named "bike path" because that is where bicyclists should ride. A group of cyclists riding on the road is a danger to drivers and to themselves. Cars have to swerve into the other lane to avoid cyclists and risk getting hit head-on by other cars.

Commute by Bike argues the complete opposite perspective. Not only should bicycle traffic not be marginzalized to bike paths – they should stake their claim to the road and take over the lane.

Federal tax rebate checks are already appearing in mailboxes nationwide. The $100 billion in federal funds aimed at staving off a recession and boosting the national economy through localized spending will largely end up paying for higher-priced gas.

From CNN Money:

Rising gasoline prices means that up to a third of your stimulus rebate check - designed to boost the U.S. economy through spending at stores, restaurants and other businesses - could be spent buying gasoline, most of which is imported from abroad.

Photos via flickr by Jill - Glossy Veneer and by Paul Robert Lloyd.

Environmental groups forced the ironically-named Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) hand by suing them for not adequately regulating pollution. The upshot: 300 cities and counties nationwide are in violation of the new, stricter standards – up from 85 counties based on the old rules. One in ten U.S. counties is over the new limit for ozone levels.

According to the Daily Green excess ozone, generated by factory smokestacks and the tailpipes of our good friend the car “...interacts with heat and sunlight, primarily on hot summer days. It can trigger asthma attacks, permanently scar lung tissue and contribute to respiratory and heart diseases. It can also damage crops, forests and other ecosystems.”

EPA scientists actually believed that more stringent air pollution restrictions were required by law. The Bush administration stepped in to soften the blow to industry and allow one-third more pollution than the EPA's Science Advisory Board deemed safe and legal.

Photos via flickr by pfala and Simone Ramella.

This spring has already featured national programs to promote train travel (National Train Day) and to give pedal power a boost with Bike to Work Week. On a more localized level, add Ann Arbor's Curb Your Car Month to the list of organized efforts to improve our environment by decreasing car use.

getDowntown hosts the initiative, which lasts for the entire month of May. Events include free public transit days, cycling education discussions, presentations on reducing car use, and walking events. The last week of Curb Your Car Month is coming up, with the last editions of the recurring Carpool/Vanpool Tuesdays, Walk to Work Wednesdays, Transit Thursdays and Bike to Work Fridays.

The big draw for Ann Arbor residents is the Commuter Challenge in which companies compete against one another to determine who can make the most sustainable commute choices.

In light of fuel price spikes, commuters are already opting for mass transit and bicycles in increasingly greater numbers. Events like Curb Your Car Month help to spread the gospel and to show people just how easy and practical going car-free can be.

Photo via flickr by carlcollins.

The nation’s capitol is making pedestrian safety a priority. With luck, the rest of the U.S. will follow Washington’s lead. On Tuesday, Mayor Adrian Fenty unveiled a decade-long plan to make D.C. more pedestrian-friendly by bumping out sidewalks and bumping up traffic enforcement.

According to the Washington Post, The Pedestrian Master Plan, composed after a year and a half study of Washington’s streets, calls for the following actions:

• Improve safety at signalized crossings and intersections

• Improve safety at uncontrolled crossings and intersections (those without stop signs or traffic signals).

• Focus on improving eight high priority corridors, with sidewalk repairs and construction, better location of bus stops, changes in signals, enhancements to crosswalks and reduced crossing distances at intersections. (There's one corridor in each ward. Here's a map.)

• Increased penalties for drivers who threaten pedestrian safety. (Example: Boost the $50 fine for failing to yield to pedestrians.)
-- Expand the photo enforcement program.

• Broaden the Safe Routes to School program.

The plan also calls for a concerted effort to crack down on reckless driving and ped-endangerment at busy intersections, specifically, 61 intersections that have been the scene of repeated pedestrian fatalities/injuries. Between 2004 and 2006, 13 pedestrians were hit at the intersection of Benning Road and Minnesota Avenue NE, the most dangerous of all D.C. crossings. Last year, a total of 25 pedestrians were killed in on city streets.

George Branyan, the city's pedestrian coordinator, told the Washington Post that the Plan is intended to create "a culture of civility" between pedestrians and drivers. Whether or not the plan will have peds and drivers sharing the streets in harmony is dubious, but it’s surely a worthwhile effort.

Photo via flickr by Christopher Chan.

Reality shows abound these days – People getting Punk'd, Survivor-ing, being the Biggest Loser, or trying to bag Flavor-Flav. Discovery Channel's Fit to Live offers an interesting twist.

There's a fire in your office building. Can you make it down 90 flights of stairs...? Your car is submerged in water...can you swim to shore...?

“What the heck does this have to do with Carectomy?” you might ask. And, hey – what were you doing in that car before it went into the drink anyhow?

The connection is that our sprawling car-laden society has properly fattened us up and watered us down to the point that many of us would not survive the show's tests. Turns out that time behind the wheel, slurping Cokes, hasn't prepared us well for real-life struggles after all.

The fitness challenges aren't all focused on dramatic life and death situations; as the show points out, we rely on basic fitness levels for mundane tasks like running to catch a plane or grabbing your loose dog before it escapes.

As show host Dr. Pamela Peeke says, “I am redefining 'fitness' as a more comprehensive and holistic concept that goes way beyond the old definition of a buffed body. I’m asking people if they are Fit to Live to survive a life and death scenario that takes them out of their usual comfort zone. Do you have the mental and physical ability to save your own life or that of others if pushed to do so?”

Maybe some of the carectomy patients out there think they have what it takes? Perhaps all that walking, cycling, and even transit-riding have given you some base endurance and a leg up on the competition. Round 2 of Fit to Live is having an online Casting Call right now for their next four-week training program that will both get you into shape and expose your experience to the whole TV-world.

Photo via flickr by Spiritualmonkey.