gradenko_2000 posted:

Walked over 23,000 steps today.

Walking ftw

quote:

Plan would refund 50% of road tolls for Pennsylvanians


HARRISBURG, Pa. (CBS) -- Another Turnpike toll increase would be no surprise for Pennsylvanians. After all, tolls have risen 15 years in a row, including 5% annually in recent years.

But a 50% toll refund?

"This idea – it's one I've had for awhile, actually, but it's becoming ever more important," State Sen. Steve Santarsiero (D-Bucks) said of Senate Bill 419, which would refund 50% of tolls on the Turnpike plus bridges over the Delaware River – up to a $500 maximum each year – to Pennsylvania residents and companies.

The refund would come via a tax credit. Pennsylvania residents and companies would have to show proof, such as E-ZPass receipts, by Sept. 15 each year for the previous calendar year.

Pittsburgh Fentanyl Cloud posted:

https://www.cbsnews.com/philadelphia/news/plan-would-refund-50-of-road-tolls-for-pennsylvanians/

lol just straight up paying people to drive on an optional superhighway

HashtagGirlboss posted:

Lmao countless pages of ink spilled lately on pedestrian deaths being through the roof but the solution is clearly sweeping homeless encampments and not enforcing basic traffic laws

HashtagGirlboss posted:

Funny anecdote for the car hate thread or the lmao at police thread but we don’t have one of those. Was jogging and entered an intersection and had to cold stop when I realized the pretty new looking Lexus approaching wasn’t going to stop behind the stop sign. They did stop, abruptly, like halfway into the intersection, but I think it’s because they realized a police cruiser was right behind them.

Anyway they turned left and the cruiser went straight.

Lmao countless pages of ink spilled lately on pedestrian deaths being through the roof but the solution is clearly sweeping homeless encampments and not enforcing basic traffic laws

BonHair posted:

Is this some American freedom thing where big government should not make you do anything even if it's in your best interest? Because honestly, using a helmet on your bike is a pretty good idea in my opinion, on account of you can actually get serious brain damage if you fall.

Steen71 posted:

Considering that of the approximately 1,200 Danes who die from head injuries every year, less than 1% are cyclists, it's kinda strange to only wear a helmet for cycling. At the very least, we should be urging all drivers and old people to wear helmets too.

Steen71 posted:

BonHair posted:

A lot of us use helmets though, so we don't actually get the injuries.

BonHair posted:

A lot of us use helmets though, so we don't actually get the injuries.
As I see it, wearing a helmet is very little bother and not very expensive* and cycling does carry greater risk than walking or whatever. It's just that not cycling is more than a hundred times more common as an activity than cycling.

*Unless you want it to be

Steen71 posted:

Oh, I had a fun experience yesterday. I'm riding down the bike lane of this one way street (one way for cars, dual way for bicycles) [black arrow] and a woman driving a car comes out of the side street and turns left against the correct direction [red arrow], and in order to avoid the cars coming against her, she drives unto the bike lane almost hitting me. As she continues, I shout at her to stop and back up her car. I manage to get her to stop and ask her what the hell she's doing. She opens the door and says "What's your loving problem?"

Me: "MY problem? You're going against the direction! And you're driving in the bike lane!"
Her: "So what? You wanna fight?"
Me: "What the hell are you talking about? I want you to go back! Can't you see the cars coming the other way?"

Then some white knight starts shouting at me from the park [to the left] that she didn't do it on purpose and "leave her alone, you loving bum!" And at this point I realise that I'm a loving idiot for trying to interfere with car-brained morons, that I'm liable to get myself hurt, and I get back on my bike and the hell out of there. I think what really pushed me over the edge is the fact that this was the third driver in a week I've seen going against directions on this street.

Incidentally, the woman didn't look a day over 20, and she was driving a Mercedes S-class. I've been thinking a lot about guillotines these last 24 hours.

eXXon posted:

You can lock your helmet with your bike though?

Real hurthling! posted:

lol yeah leave something that goes on your head at the mercy of passers by

AnimeIsTrash posted:

will be driving aorudn twon today

Real hurthling! posted:

lol yeah leave something that goes on your head at the mercy of passers by

mastershakeman posted:

The bigger problem is the bikeshare bikes have bells on them that the idiots riding ring incessantly because they're too timid to shout about what they're worried about

mawarannahr posted:

traffic is going to be terrible today. good luck. even you could probably outrun the average speed with all the closures and two big games.

Blackhawk posted:

Was behind a car today where it was clear the driver was looking everywhere except the road. Eyes constantly going up and down, randomly wandering out of the lane before jerking back across, slowing down and speeding up completely out of sync with traffic, leaning across to the passenger seat to do something. Several times they just kinda wandered to the side of the lane and then stopped for no reason at all, like they were trying to park but there was no parking spot and they weren't indicating, before driving off again.

I'm sure they do this poo poo day in day out and have literally never been pulled over for it.

AnimeIsTrash posted:

theres more to the city than just the white parts

BonHair posted:

Is this some American freedom thing where big government should not make you do anything even if it's in your best interest? Because honestly, using a helmet on your bike is a pretty good idea in my opinion, on account of you can actually get serious brain damage if you fall.

www.seattletimes.com posted:

By
In the face of data showing enforcement has been both minimal and has disproportionately affected people of color and those experiencing homelessness, the King County Board of Health voted Thursday to repeal its decades-old mandatory helmet law for bicycle riders. The repeal goes into effect in 30 days.

The board, made up of elected officials and medical experts from cities across the county, voiced its support for the voluntary use of helmets, passing a resolution encouraging riders to don the protective gear. But board member and King County Councilmember Joe McDermott said there are other ways of encouraging helmet use that do not rely on law enforcement, including educational campaigns and free helmet distribution. The Metropolitan King County Council recently budgeted more than $200,000 to buy helmets and expand education.

“Helmets save lives, full stop. But the disproportional enforcement of the requirement gives us concern” about how it affects people who are homeless and communities of color, McDermott said before the vote.
…
But recent data connecting helmet laws to their use and improved outcomes for cyclists is less clear. In Seattle, helmet use among riders of private bikes is as high as 91%, according to one study. Meanwhile, in Portland, which does not have an all-ages helmet law, one study found use is similarly high. A study in King County could not find any discernible impact on hospitalization rates following the law’s expansion into Seattle in 2003, although severity of injuries did decrease around the same time.

“When the Board of Health first adopted a helmet mandate, helmets weren’t part of our social norms and our culture, and so the legal requirements for helmets was new and carried weight,” said McDermott. “But I think societal norms and expectations have changed significantly in the 30 years since.”

The law came up for reconsideration this year after a Crosscut analysis of helmet citations dating back to 2017. That analysis showed that, even as bike sharing has become common, enforcement by Seattle police is minimal. When the law was used to issue a citation, at a cost of $30, nearly half the tickets went to homeless people, raising the concern that it was being used predominantly as a pretext to stop people for something else. In fact, in 2019, a Seattle Municipal Court judge tossed a firearm charge against a man that he received after being stopped for not wearing a helmet, calling the stop an illegal pretext.

A separate analysis from Central Seattle Greenways found that Black riders were roughly four times more likely to receive a citation for not wearing a helmet.
…

eXXon posted:

You put the lock through the triangle made by the front and back of the chin strap on each side and it's impossible to steal without cutting them, which renders the helmet useless and worthless. Granted some idiot might do it anyway but then just carry it or strap it to your backpack shoulder strap. This isn't some amazingly difficult problem to solve.

mastershakeman posted:

I've had my bike hosed with a bunch, seat unbolted and stolen and all that , but no one has ever touched my helmet I hang off the lock.

chadbear posted:

enough helmet chat can we go back to cyclists are a menace to pedestrians chat