Writings for MyCommuteSucks.org

[Emett]

I love biking to work and home. On the heavy traffic streets there is too much pollution from the cars, trucks, buses, and ultility vechicles. Even here in Portland, OR. School buses in the morning are scary-aggressive! Large vechicle drivers: please try to accelerate as smoothly as possible, you're wasting 20% or more of your fuel on those pointless fast-breaks from a stop. If you had to do the work instead of the engine then you'd go easier on yourself... That would reduce pollution, so please think about it! A stop-and-go zero emission solution for large vehicles sure is needed. That should help with a lot of the traffic noise in cities too. That reminds me, I wanted to look up a guy who invented a compressed air regenerative breaking system for his car. That should be ideal! Much cheaper than batteries, and it might be an easier system to retrofit into trucking and utility fleets... Explore solutions and gain personal inspiration with me on my little site: http://unpollute.ning.com. Honestly, we need more bikers. More people to try it, and then to voice out the issues, spot the weak links and report them... Advocacy starts there, I believe. Unlike many people that I talk too, I feel safe sharing the road with cars (although the thought of biking with kids or even kids in a trailer makes me realize that I'm operating in a fearless mode for most of my commute, I'd be near paralized with paranoia for their safety!) . No special bike lanes or marking are really necessary for me, but when I pay attention to the bike routes and lanes, I find the signage, markings, and sometimes hilly route choices to be weak! And why put a bike lane in someplaces: like where there's no bike route, lane, or sign, telling you where it is or how to get there, especially when the lane or markings disappear at the busy intersections -- just where they're most needed. I've seen good and bad, but for the most part, in regular city type areas, paint and signs would be a better value investment than building new trails and routes. But brigde crossings, be they over water or over freeways, tend to suck for biking, and a dedicated biker bridge and or lanes would be a boon for commuters. Well, there's lots more on my site. Unpollute!

[Joseph Fortino]

Thanks for all your hard work and great vision :)