Archive for May, 2010

More ‘non’-data from http://www.flickr.com/photos/dotbike/

Friday, May 7th, 2010

So, we’re analyzing the photos taken at http://www.flickr.com/photos/dotbike/ over the past year or so. With over 300 images, predominantly of folks riding in Dorchester we see that as a pretty solid data set. These shots were collected in a totally random fashion. Today we’re doing the ethnic/racial make up of our riders. In the future, we’ll review potential bike parking spots. There are about 50 shots of just plain bikes in fairly awkward or compromised parking spots…But that’s later.  Today we’re reporting that fully 51% of our riders were identified as Black or African American, 14% as obviously Hispanic (what is the right term for American Spanish origin folks?) 8% Asian and 27% Anglo. So what conclusions can we draw from this? It is obvious that riding in Dorchester is done by all no matter their ethnic origins. The numbers run fairly close to the demographic nature of Dorchester, although the Asian and Hispanic #’s might be a tad higher (and no doubt some of the Afr0-Americans may well be of Hispanic origin). Would you agree that it is more evidence that riders in Dorchester aren’t who the prevailing wisdom identifies as the riding community? Refer to yesterday’s post as to why we may not be seeing a representative number of folks showing up at meetings and events. Why bother? We never get anything anyway. Where did this attitude develop? Is it our neighbors mis-perception? What do you think?

OK So now we’re all for helmets. How do we tell the story?

Thursday, May 6th, 2010

Thanks for that great link Andy (see comment on yesterday’s post) that prove to me with a wide range of statistics that there is every reason to wear a helmet. I think it is the statistics about who dies when riding that got me. Without a helmet the odds go way up so who cares about the other muddy stats. It is interesting that dotbike’s flickr site produced a statistically relevent base measuring helmet-wear. So that means efforts to get into the neighborhoods is even MORE important making it more tragic that we’re not out there as much as we should because we’re using our precious resources in other unproven areas. Next we’ll try to determine ethnicity to see how that reflects the surrounding neighborhood. Any guesses there?  When dotrider first became involved we heard comments like, “Black women don’t ride because it messes their hair.” among other racist generalizations about our neighbors in Dorchester. The dotbike flickr site pretty much sinks most of those generalizations.  Dotrider’s generalization is that bikers in general and working class bikers in particular aren’t going to speak out and react to attempts to organize them (hell most don’t even want their picture taken). The article in today’s Globe about a section of Dorchester that responded less to the Census than anywhere in the state might help shed some light on why dotrider’s generalization is the one to use and try to overcome. Why bother? We don’t get anything here anyway. Perfect illustration. Thank you Globe. I hope our bike leaders read that and connected it to their efforts… Do you think that is happening?

Informal survey of Dot riders…71% with no helmet.

Wednesday, May 5th, 2010

At the Mayor’s safety summit the other day, officials were bandying about a statistic that indicated 83 or 86% percent of all riders in bike accidents were not wearing helmets. Well we just did a quick count of the riders on the dotbike flickr site who weren’t at a sanctioned riding event and found 71% of the 240 riders captured were not wearing helmets. So instead of a 6 out of 7 chance wearing a helmut will help you, our informal survey suggests it is more like 1 out of 5. Still compelling, but not overwhelming. Why do we want to deconstruct that number? It’s probably because the real number is 71% of folks riding in Dorchester aren’t wearing helmets! If you believe that helmets are a necessary assessory then where’s the community effort to get my neighbors to wear their helmets?

No helmets, wrong way, on sidewalk but still riding

Tuesday, May 4th, 2010

You can find over 300 images of riders in Dorchester at www.dotbike.org (look for flickr photos on the banner). We haven’t done a count but a vast majority of these riders aren’t wearing helmets, are often riding facing traffic or staying on the sidewalk. Given State accident report figures indicate Dorchester’s youth are in bicycle accidents at a higher rate than any other neighborhood in the city and our adult residents are significantly above ‘average’ in their rate of accidents (besides lousy reporting data) what does this say about riding in Dorchester? Would that argue for more infrastructure? Would that argue for more attention by the city to these riders? We think so. How about you?

Questions questions questions

Monday, May 3rd, 2010

Was there ever a public hearing asking for community input on Boston’s impending Bike Share Program? Was there ever a market research study conducted? Does anyone remember anywhere someone asking the question, “Doesn’t Boston just really need a bike share program?” What benefit will it have for workers riding to work? Did anyone think of that? While we’re asking: When did Cambridge and Somerville become part of Boston? When did most of Dorchester, all of Mattapan, Hyde Park, Roslindale and West Roxbury get annexed out of Boston? How much tax payer money has been wasted because our lone bike official wasted hundreds (probably thousands) of hours on an unwanted, unneeded and unasked for program that won’t benefit the residents of Boston? Why did it take a bike fatality for us to finally plan a bike safety summit? Does anyone else have any similar questions?

Hello Why I bike to work!

Monday, May 3rd, 2010

Why have a I bike to work blog? Well we’re really thinking about those riders who aren’t about the exercise or the bike or the clothes. Like most of us they’re just interested in getting to work and getting there on time and efficiently. To date, leadership in the Boston’s bike-world doesn’t seem to care or recognize these riders. This is especially true in Boston’s neighborhoods, most notably Dorchester (I thought I’d done a post earlier outlining Dot so if it did post forgive the repeat). We’ll come back later and expand on this idea.