The Great Big Five-Mile-Per-Hour Bike Blog Roundup

This week appears to have been national Propose a Pointless Rule week, with Magnatom wondering if he can actually cycle slowly enough to use Glasgow's parks - with proposed limits for bikes (but not cars) of 5mph leaving campaigners speechless (no mean feat, if you've ever met a Glaswegian). Darkerside has a closer look at the rules while the People's Front picks away at the internal contradictions of registering cyclists and even banning them altogether - perhaps the real problem lies with the word 'cyclist (and the perception thereof)- while contradictory messages make it impossible for cyclists to be anything but scofflaws. And while banning the school run isn't the answer either, perhaps it would help if you didn't build a bridge - however pleasant - where you won't be able to cycle (not even at 5mph) - or didn't offer cyclists paths more akin to muddy chutes, although admittedly it would serve to slow them down (something As Easy as Riding a Bike missed in this otherwise spot on piece). Meanwhile, the Freight Transport Association complains about regulatory creep banning them from driving lethal lorries at speeds far in excess of 5mph through London's streets - although at least if you're a professional driver, it seems you can't be banned however many points you might clock up. Eager not to be left behind, in the US a town has required pedestrians to wear reflective gear after dark - while Maryland's Department of Transport seems a little unsure about the state's own safe passing laws - perhaps the UK's own Keith Peat can clear matters up

With New York's recent adoption of 'Vision Zero' for road safety widely welcomed, the Invisible visible Mand does call out New York's new police commissioner on some dodgy statistics and while elsewhere in the city his officers have been making themselves useful, they've also been threatening elderly jaywalkers with jail - likend to arresting people for breaking windows when they were getting out of a burning building. Instead, grieving relatives feel reckless driving needs to be treated like drink driving (and in the UK drivers should at least be re-tested before getting their licences back) - while another campaign asks drivers to be 'driven by love', rather than using being blinded by the sun as an excuse and not an admission. And with Beyond the Kerb wondering where this 'nowhere' is that cyclists come out of, an American cyclist encountered the ultimate Smidsy and a brand new bike commuting legend has been born.

Drunken Smidsies aside, with fingers still being pointed at cyclists when it comes to their safety, our own police are still going after cyclists riding quite legally while a twitter chat suggests the police don't always know the law themselves; no wonder we're all reduced to rants and bitterness. The Guardian wonders if they'll ever see sense over pavement cycling (those that don't ride on the pavement themselves) while Cycling South Tyneside points out worrying about cyclists on the pavement is to miss the real point altogether. Of course we do all need to know how to cycle safely around HGVs - and if speeding's a problem in your area and you are behind the wheel, obviously we'd never recommend that you flash your headlights to warn drivers of a non-existent speed trap.

With even superheroes - and, indeed, car firm bosses - now understanding the iron laws of congestion, there seems a general consensus in the US on creating walkable communities, creating a multi-modal transport vision among transport bosses and using bike lanes to improve a place's quality of life - after all, Portland's cyclists spend less time commuting than its drivers. But are all these gains just for the benefit of the rich? While sometimes poorer neighbourhoods might miss out on cycling improvements poorer Americans are still more likely to cycle for transport - and excluding people not in cars, for whatever reason is discriminatory. Meanwhile, American cities are seeing a rise in car-free households while census data shows that cycling is on the rise in Christchurch in New Zealand,while in Hungary cycling levels have increase dramatically in recent years - in contrast with the UK where the CTC is meeting the Department for Transport to ask them to look again at their model that shows cycling levels set to fall in the UK.

Perhaps it's because cities like London are making slow progress in Dutch terms - although the cycling hordes of central London make a nice contrast with the relative desert of its northern suburbs (or indeed the apparently cyclist-free streets of Huddersfield. Camden's transport boss has more plans for separated cycling in the borough although its famed light segregation is getting knocked about a bit - a further sign perhaps that it's not that suitable for Manchester's Oxford Road. And while Manifietso welcomes the Birmingham Mobility Action Plan, Coventry plans will make cycling worse. In Newcastle, there are fears that the city's ambition is ebbing away (and on the other side of the world, some quick fixes might make life better for another Newcastle...). While there could easily be space for cycling on Seven Sisters Road, the tortuous saga of the Lewisham Gateway continues and the Olympic park is a massively wasted opportunity - although at least they haven't gone quite as far as listing road-widening schemes as pedestrian improvements.

With ScotRail's franchise up for renewal, Spokes urges everyone to email the bidders about what they want for bike/rail integration - remembering that integration with public transport more than about spaces for bikes on trains, although it would be nice if Sheffield's ban on bikes on trams could be reprieved. With Glasgow's Fastlink bus scheme being fast-tracked through construction despite consultation not being completed, perhaps rolling out bike racks on buses might prove one answer - just one of five ways you could make public transport more cycle friendly (that's assuming anyone can afford to travel on public transport any more). And once the trains have gone how about building Europe's longest ever cycle tunnel - or just linking two communities with a traffic-free path - or repurposing Seattle's hole in the ground for something way cooler than a car tunnel.

Putting a slight dent in bikenomics' reputation, Bixi - the company behind the Boris and other hire bikes filed for bankruptcy although it apparently won't affect planned schemes in Portland or Seattle - and it doesn't mean that bikeshare itself isn't working overall - after all if you build a bloody good folding bike then the world will still beat a path to your door. And with news that touring cyclists (in Montana anyway) spend an average of $100 a day, perhaps it was wise of one Harrogate shop to back down about parking in the bike lane...

If you do want more bike lanes then here are five ways to bring them to your community - and with a $600 pop-up demonstration bike lane you'd get widespread support from anyone who tries them - perhaps they ought to try that in Tokyo (and once they've got them here's how to ride the classic Japanese mamachari bicycle). With local London groups meeting to decide on their local election demands for Space 4 Cycling, Sheffield's local paper welcomes the national meeting, while concerns about costs could be met by calling on councils to combine building cycling infrastructure with planned road maintenance. With an annual memorial bike ride planned in Auckland, Stop Killing Cyclists have a short film about their recent mass die in. And while Ciclovias are welcomed in New Zealand, cycling promotion campaigns need not to put the cart before the horse. Elsewhere the bikelash continues with old-school attitudes revealed but even at its worst the US hasn't seen five days of rioting in response to planned bike-friendly infrastructure.

Of course, to have a bikelash first you need some pro-bike policies, with Chris Boardman slamming government apathy over cycling - and Jim Davies welcoming the new Messiah. Up in Glasgow, Magnatom wonders what the point is of having a cycling tsar with no actual policies - but at least petty politics isn't threatening to scupper already funded bike lanes. And with additional funding announced for London's cycling infrastructure, looking at Europe as a whole the ECF asks what the EU Urban Mobility package means for cycling.

This wek we learned that one in four new joiners of the Cycle to Work scheme were women - although accidents are still putting women off; what women (indeed everyone) need is not cycle chic but cycle space (and we'll let the chaps use it too if they like) although little cake never goes amiss. The Bike League offers ten reasons to attend the women's bike forum at the US national bike summit. And with New York Cities' awesome lady cyclists rocking the snow in style, we congratulate the first man to cycle to the South Pole (obviously a Welshwoman on a trike got there first - perhaps while she was waiting for the chaps to catch up she could use the snow to mark out some safer streets?

With competition hotting up to be the Dutch cycle friendly city of 2014, Bicycle Dutch looks at the shortlisted cities starting with Zwolle, despite a few pockets of almost UK-like infrastructure. Here in the UK, getting rid of its thousands of 'crappy alleys' would be a good start - while remembering that a convoluted alternative back street route is no substitute for building proper protected bike lanes - wherever you are. In a slightly surprising move, Copenhagenize gets American students to reimagine a Copenhagen neighbourhood - while a Canadian compares Brussels and Amsterdam. New Zealand recognises the need for forgiving intersections - and a city council is looking for suggestions for where more separated bike lanes could go - while in Seattle, a new greenway gets raised crosswalks. Closer to home, with consultation continuing on plans for Dublin's quays, the council distances itself from a draft report on the future of its city centre - despite the design being based upon its own strategy.

Looking on the brighter side, a stolen bike shows one Milwaukee cyclist how awesome his community is - and while Chafe City makes peace with her fellow cyclists, People for Bikes reminds us it doesn't hurt to say hello and for Lady Fleur, even the bike commute can turn into a cafe stop.

And finally, although a solar- and pedal-powered trike sounds pretty cool, as does an economical e-cargo-bike, both of them pale into comparison with a three-wheeled travelling cake stand - N plus one plus nom-nom-nom