via MomentumMag
A simple infograph that explains the nexus between bicycles and their economic value to the communities.. While you are checking out the infograph below, you might also read up on this Momentum Mag piece from April 2013: How Bicycles Bring Business
Image courtesy: http://momentummag.com
An awesome biking infographic from the team at Quicken Loans.
We have come across many studies over the years that dissected the ill-effects of long commutes. Add this to the collection. This video from Wall Street Journal Live summarizes a lot of these big issues associated with long commutes. It sheds light on how hours spent driving can wreck finances, health, and marriage. Market Watch’s Quentin Fottrell joins WSJ Lunch Break to chat about the five ways commuting may be ruining your life.
Came across this video of a dad advocating against drunk driving.. Mind you, this is not your average 2 mins. pitch. It leaves you with a haunting memory of a family that is trying to pick up its pieces after a horrific accident took away and shows you the lasting impact of a drunk driver on the society at large. Something about the man and his compelling but monotonous appeal still tugs my heart. Oh, please don’t think, even for a minute, that it is an isolated case. Here are some statistics from Mothers Against Drunk Driving that will sober you to the reality:
Source: Imgur via Reddit
Came across this cool pic. and had to share.. If you need a reason to buy a bicycle, here is all you need. It doesn’t get any better than this. LOL!
Image Courtesy: Imgur via Reddit
(Source: APTA)
Have you ever wondered what is the key to a good health and long life – I knew that it has to be the public transport. Look at the Europeans — healthy & happy– riding their bikes, trains, trams, buses, etc. If you still don’t believe what I’ve said, you now have the proof.
The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) has released a report that explores ways that public transportation affects human health, and ways to incorporate these impacts into transport policy and planning decisions.
Evaluating Public Transportation Health Benefits, a study conducted for APTA by Todd Litman of the Victoria Transport Policy Institute aggregates the findings of several recent studies and concludes that people living in transit-oriented “smart growth” communities enjoy several health benefits, not seen in other communities, including residents drive less, exposing them to a lower risk of fatal vehicle accidents.
People who live or work in communities with high quality public transportation tend to drive significantly less and rely more on alternative modes (walking,cycling and public transit) than they would in more automobile-oriented areas. This reduces traffic crashes and pollution emissions, increases physical fitness and mental health, andprovides access to medical care and healthy food. These impacts are significant in magnitude compared with other planning objectives, but are often overlooked or undervalued inconventional transport planning.
Various methods can be used to quantify and monetize(measure in monetary units) these health impacts. This analysis indicates that improving publictransit can be one of the most cost effective ways to achieve public health objectives, and publichealth improvements are among the largest benefits provided by high quality public transit andtransit-oriented development.
Some of the key findings from the report are listed below:
Where do aircraft safety researchers go when they want to compare notes? Dashlink — a special online community for brainiacs that you can actually visit. This online community allows NASA and non-NASA researchers with a special interest in a particular aircraft safety challenge to share their latest ideas real-time.
NASA researchers have created an online resource that dramatically changed how the agency fosters collaborative research. In this new innovative method capitalizing strengths of the Internet, scientists can share information about systems health and data mining while aiming to help improve aviation safety in ways never before possible. The web site is called Dashlink. DASH stands for Discovery in Aeronautics Systems Health. The name hints at the identity of the particular group of scientists who created this online gathering place in 2008. The site has more than 410 registered users.
“The primary goal of Dashlink is to disseminate information on the latest data mining and systems health algorithms, data and research,” said Ashok Srivastava, principal investigator for NASA’s Integrated Vehicle Health Management Project at the agency’s Ames Research Center in California.
Dashlink allows researchers, whether inside or outside NASA, who are working on a particular software application to share the applications they have written, test each other’s work, and openly discuss the results. “It’s totally different from how other projects are run,” Srivastava said, noting that the usual form of communication among scientists is published papers, which can take months to distribute and offer no immediate interaction with the author.
Interaction is important because a staple of scientific research is the ability of one group of scientists to duplicate the work of another group and achieve the same results. In the data mining field, duplicating results can be difficult and infrequent.
Dashlink is available to anyone with an interest in integrated vehicle health management software and sensor applications. Those outside NASA can join if a NASA civil servant sponsors the registration. That is what Suratna Budalakoti did when he joined the site in September 2008.
Read more at www.nasa.gov
(Source: TreeHugger)
The mayor of Copenhagen reckons Biking to Work in that city is as commonplace as brushing one’s teeth. But, as was evidenced by Utah’s plan to make cycling fashionable, much of the rest of the western world is well served by awareness-raising events like Bike to Work week. This week! In the US anyway. (In the UK Bike Week is 13 to 21 June and Australia’s Ride to Work Day is 14 October 2009)
But who needs some arbitrary date to get motiviated, huh? Dust off that racer, tourer, MTB or clunker in the garage, dig out the pant’s clips, or just tuck your duds into your socks and get pedalling.
And with “more than half the U.S. population lives within five miles of their workplace” it sure sound like a nifty idea, huh. Not withstanding that “over 66% of the adult US popula- tion is overweight and 32% of the US is obese,” which drains the nation health care purse of $68 billion in costs annually.
Now we know you’ve been putting it off for very good reasons. Ten of them, fact, according to the League of American Bicyclists, who have heard them all:
1. I’m out of shape
2. It takes too long
3. It’s too far
4. No bike parking
5. My bike is beat up
6. No showers
7. I have to dress up
8. It’s raining
9. The roads aren’t safe
10. I have to run errands
But they counter right back with three, yep, three methods to overcome each of these procrastinations. That’s 30 reasons why you can Ride To Work. So, be careful downloading the Getting Startedbrochure (PDF) from the League of American Bicyclists, because you’ll soon have no excuses left. Shown below is the exceprt from the brochure that offers the counters for excuses (page 13). Scroll the document to review the entire content.
(Source: Logos Blog)
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Bellingham, WA – Equipment purchases at Logos Bible Software typically include laptops, servers, and networking gear. So company president Bob Pritchett was surprised to see an IT department purchase request that included everything necessary to set up a bicycle repair shop.
“It was a great idea. Many of our employees bike to work, and others go for rides during the day. Having a fully-equipped bike shop on site is a great way to encourage healthy habits that are good for the environment, too,” said Pritchett.
With more than 170 employees, Logos has a number of serious cyclists who work on their own bikes. Their willingness to help co-workers with everything from simple repairs to getting a long-unused bike back into shape is encouraging more employees to trade four wheels for two.
“Since installing the bike shop, I’ve been super motivated to ride to work,” said Jim Straatman, Logos’ IT manager. “Also, my bike is running exceptionally smooth now that I have a place to work on it.”
Bellingham is a cyclist’s paradise, surrounded by bike lanes, mountain trails, and cliff-side drives. Logos’ on-site lockers and showers made it easy for employees to add their commute to their list of regular rides. The new bike shop and a bike-friendly downtown location provide a great motivation for those who haven’t ridden since childhood to get rolling again.
Logos Bible Software’s bike shop consists of an 8-foot workbench, a bike stand, and a peg board full of tools. The total investment was around $1,500, and occupies less than 100 square feet.
“In the space of a single office, and for less than it would cost to cater lunch for the company, we’ve been able to make a healthy investment that our employees really appreciate,” said Pritchett. “By making it easier to fix little things like a flat tire or squealing brakes, we’re getting more of us up from our desks and out of our cars.”
Hopefully Logos will see a big response from employees next Friday, and lots of folks will bike in to work. For added motivation, that Friday will also be the day of Logos’ annual Chili Cookoff. I am sure folks can enjoy an extra helping of chili without any guilt, knowing that there is an option to bike away the extra pounds on the way home from work.
Note: Way to go, Logos! I only hope that other companies around the country would follow/adopt such practices, which not only contribute to a healthly way of life for the employees but they also add to our country’s efforts to cut pollution from automobiles. TransportGooru appreciates Logos’ efforts to assist its biking populace!
