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The Monday Roundup: Bike buses, reckless drivers, advocate personalities, and extra

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Welcome to the week!

This week’s Roundup is sponsored by Action LED Lights. If you’re ready for serious bike lights, Action can get you set up with excellent options from Gloworm, Gemini, and Magicshine.

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

Bike buses on the rise: There’s so much to love about the boom in bike-to-school buses, but this piece is also notable for how it says some adults in San Francisco love to hop on the morning ride even without kids just because it’s safe and fun.

Some drivers just DGAF: This piece in the NYT jibes with my thinking about how the current anxieties and “fraying social norms” of American society play a huge role in the rise of dangerous driving and deaths on our roads.

Freeways are fossil fuel infrastructure: The Biden infrastructure package will be a colossal failure if we spend the money on more freeway capacity, says the NY Times in an article that makes excellent points about induced demand that mentions our homegrown anti-freeway movement.

Fewer drinks, fewer deaths: A new report from NHTSA says that traffic fatalities in Utah went down after that state passed a law to lower the BAC threshold from .08% to .05%. Oregon has proposed a similar law but it has failed to pass the legislature.

Which one are you?: I feel like this rundown of the three types of cycling advocates is pretty spot-on, don’t you?

Body image and cycling: Former BikePortland Podcast guests Marley Blonsky and (Oregon resident) Kailey Kornhauser were featured on OPB’s Oregon Field Guide show for their work on changing the narrative around what a “cyclist” is supposed to look like.

Drive less, save lives: David Zipper makes the case that switching trips from driving to other (safer) modes like transit should be a key part of our approach to Vision Zero.

Heavier e-cars: As we talk about the future of EVs, let’s not forget the impacts larger and heavier cars will have on our planet and lives.

In defense of open streets: Advocates in New York City are standing watch and ready to defend their open streets against political whims. Portlanders should take note.

“Jaywalking” laws suck: As if we needed more evidence that some laws focused on pedestrians are nothing more than tools for police to harass vulnerable people.

Thanks to everyone who sent us links this week!