The Great Big Still Trying to Catch Up Bike Blog Roundup

We'd barely pressed publish on last week's roundup when the bike blog world had already started to get its teeth into the actual Nice Way Code adverts (was that really just a week ago?) and wondered whether they were trolling or else some kind of a parody, a pantomime, or just a sick joke - either way they're pretty redundant when we already have the Highway Code and unbalanced although they have succeeded in getting people talking. The damage has already been done argues Magnatom while Manc Bike Mummy objects to being asked to grow up when she's just trying to keep her kids safe; As Easy as Riding a bike makes a similar point; "a small mammal pursued by a horde of angry bears". At least the bus ads highlight the problems with the infrastructure - Magnificent Octopus reads between the lines while Beyond the Kerb distills those bus ads down to their essence.

For those wondering how it could all have gone so wrong from a marketing point of view, Peter Matthews looks at it from the civil servant's point of view while the Invisible Visible Man gives us the view from New York and Highway lass the view from the motorbike (who knew the cyclists were more stroppy than the bikers?) Meanwhile we need to get the real message out there as cyclists - and the US launches its own everyone is a pedestrian campaign - which might have been a more useful approach. Perhaps one day we'll live in a world where taxi drivers donating bike pumps isn't a bizarre notion - or even a good deed between cyclist and driver (it can happen) and prompt action on dangerous driving...

Meanwhile, with tributes to Jaye Bloomfield, killed last week in Manchester (and a bit too close to home for Softypedals), and this week's fatality in Archway it's time for cyclists to take a stand and join the space 4 cycling protest on 2nd September - or do we need one sooner than that? &Bike argues that cyclists should continue to do what they have to do to stay safe (after all the drivers still rage at you when they're the ones in the wrong) - while Copenhagen refines its safety details and even LA puts dangerous roads on a diet.

However, there was good news too, not least the BBC catching up with the Netherlands at last - Cyclists in the City approves while Two Wheels Good points out what they missed. The American Department of Transport understands the role of infrastructure in promoting active travel (as does the war on the motorist, but we do need to think of it as a system not a single intervention. With the most bike-friendly cities in the US having one thing in common - great bike paths - how can we make over our cities so they allow us to love and leave our cars? Australian cities are making themselves over, while Vancouver has managed to grow while cutting traffic (despite its pesky helmet laws) - even the Dutch are updating their more dated designs, prompting Cycling in Dublin to ask how Ireland's cycling manual would compare. One way might be to reclaim the spaces below urban motorways - and while we should beware the pop-up approach to place making, sometimes a pop-up greenway can be a good idea.

Of course the main thing is getting the design right, and that can mean getting the terminology right - like some stringent definitions of quiet ways and super highways and the difference between a buffered and a protected bike lane. The Ranty Highwayman wonders if we can actually do floating bus stops better than the Dutch (we can keep the scooters off them for a start), although we should remember that whether it's a floating roundabout or beautiful cycle parking what really matters is the sort of cycling network where you don't have to recce the route even if you're cycling with your kids.

The good news is that building that sort of infrastructure creates more jobs (although possibly because construction firms are inflating the costs) and that bikes do flock to streets with protected lanes. Streetsblog Chicago finds a bike share station generates way more foot traffic than the two parking spaces it takes up - and while UK shops fear even a zebra crossing might put them out of business, even a dreary strip mall on the wrong side of the tracks benefits from a little bike infrastructure - a lesson that Leith's supermarkets could do to learn.

And our politicians. With the PM announcing today new money for cycling (of which more next week), Sheffield won't be bidding for any of it and the Greenwich / Gilligan spat rumbles on in London. With the Lib Dems proposing presumed liability, Manifietso dons the asbestos gloves and actually reads UKIP's cycling policy (well done that man). The CTC announce ten top measures to get Britain cycling while Cycling South Tyneside has some more ambitious ones of their own. In the run up to the Get Britain Cycling debate one MP would like your views, and Psychobikeology is guardedly optimistic. And elsewhere with the German Chancellor to visit Eurobike and strong political support for a new cycle route in Dublin - and US government support for separated bike lanes it does seem like there is political movement. Certainly Boris could learn a lot from the mayor of Rome - and from the mayoral race in New York which is fast becoming the complete streets election with one candidate adopting a zero deaths vision - no doubt encouraged by rallies at city hall.

Also in the US, the Women on a Roll report was launched - partly t try and quash some pervasive myths about women and cycling. And there are communities and tea and bike socials popping up for women cyclists and campaigners - perhaps Beyonce could drop in (proving incidentally that they really cannot see you). On the other side of the fence, Helen Blackman looks at the parallels between anti cyclist ranting and misogynist trolling while our latest tweeting driver reminds us sometimes the boot is on the other foot. And for the chaps - if you do want to meet cyclists of the opposite sex, Kevin Mayne has some advice for you.

The latest batch of surveys looked at the most recent attitudes to transport while half of all Londoners still say the roads are too dangerous for bikes and Cycle Action Auckland looks in more detail at who does and doesn't cycle there. The big science news was that we still don't know how bicycles work, except that in fact we do, it's just a bit complicated. As is safety matters with some research suggesting talking on your mobile while driving isn't as dangerous as we thought - although as Werner Herzog reminds us, texting still is. And while American motoring organsiations are ignoring their own research here in the UK, Rachel Aldred gets to edit a whole journal issue on cycling and society while the promoting walking and cycling book is to be published next month. No word on whether even more magic helmets than usual are part of the mix...

With the Guardian bringing us an Everyday tale of victim blaming by the police and a driver cleared of death by dangerous driving while eating a sandwich, Beyond the Kerb considers what we've learnt from the law - although at least action does seem to be being taken on one allegedly dangerous character. Cambridge cyclist asks why the police don't act on online threats on cyclists - possibly because they're too busy writing them all letters apparently. And as Cycalogical asks how it can possibly be legal to drive at 60 on a narrow rural road, one judge wants to know why doing over 80 on a residential street can just be charged as speeding. Police in Texas have been actively policing the three-foot bike passing law with helmet cams, but who will police the police when it comes to blocking bike lanes? It's never a good sign when your 'stop for pedestrians' signs are repeatedly hit by cars - nor when the police stop recording doorings on the grounds that they're not a collision.

Back in the UK, Ride London prompted some reflection and brought out the subcultures - and the Dunwich dynamo lit up the night on Strava - but you don't have to wait for the next Sky ride with cycle to work day approaching. Just make sure that if you're helping Sustrans celebrate its safe cycling network you wear a helmet - while if you're looking to explore off road in England you're probably breaking the law. The Vole O'Speed responds on the Aldgate proposals while Hackney Cyclist checks out progress on the CS2 and Bristol traffic discovers a bike path is not dead but 'converted to London-style infrastructure' in the euphemism of the week. Still at least London gets its first public bike counter while Sheffield manages to make its tram tracks even more dangerous and plans for a new station in Cambridge have little for bike access. In Colchester more cyclists mean more casualties while Edinburgh continues to design conflict in rather than designing it out.

Further afield, the visits go on with a random ride around a Dutch town showing Dave Warnock how far we have to come - Ely cycling would agree while the Cycling Dutchman enjoys an Americans take on Amsterdam. A visitor from Canada concludes that UK cyclists are insane while Transitized is a little more encouraging. Bike Delaware visits Eastern Europe while Gehl Architects visits St. Petersburg and Germany's fourth best cycling city gets the thumbs up.

In the US, where six new cities are sought to join the Green Lanes project, LA is to get its first protected bikeway while plans to detour cyclists in Portland get rethought (as long as the cyclists behave) and Lady Fleur continues her tour of the bizarre bike racks of northern California. In New Zealand, Auckland announces bold new plans while Pune in India is to get a comprehensive bicycle plan (with lanes suitable for bikes moving enormous loads we hope). And in Europe, the ECF is looking for input on e-bikes while the Dutch find that even an e-bike does wonders for your health - as does a normal one.

And finally, we end with two stories at either end of our lives: from a fantastic, and very hungry bakfiets for your kids... to the wonderful Cycling without Age in Copenhagen.