From the League of American Bicyclists:

On Monday, June 14, 2010, we alerted you to the possibility that the federal Safe Routes to School program could be targeted for a House floor vote to cut the program. Rep. Cantor (R-VA) had identified Safe Routes to School as one of five options that the public could vote on cutting through his YouCut initiative. Fortunately, Safe Routes to School was not subjected to a vote at that time, selling off excess federal property, got the most votes.

On very short notice, advocates across the country sprang into action and contacted their Members of Congress to ask them to vote against any effort to cut Safe Routes to School. More than 1150 people used the League of American Bicyclists’ advocacy system in a 24-hour period to contact their Members of Congress via email. We also heard from many others that made phone calls or contacted a Congressional staff person directly that wouldn’t be included in that tally.

The League and Safe Routes to School National Partnership is grateful to all the national, state and local organizations that helped quickly spread the word about this threat. And, thank you to everyone who took the time to contact their Members of Congress. Even though there was not a vote this time, it helped raise awareness about the importance of Safe Routes to School and the wide support it has across the country.

However, we will have to remain vigilant. This isn’t the first time Rep. Cantor has attacked bicycling and walking, and his press secretary has stated that bicycling and walking will likely be the subject of future YouCut votes.

If you have not done so please contact your Representative to urge them to support Safe Routes to Schools.

Thanks to everyone who wrote or called their representatives. Be ready to do it again though — we can probably expect more attacks on federal bike-ped funding soon.

From the League of American Bicyclists:

House Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) has targeted the federal Safe Routes to School program established under the 2005 Federal Surface Transportation Bill (SAFETEA-LU) as wasteful government spending in his weekly “YouCut program”.

Each week representative Cantor asks people to vote for which of five options they would cut from the federal budget. Republicans then hold a floor vote in the House of Representatives to try to eliminate the program that gets the most votes.

This week, the federal Safe Routes to School program is one of Rep. Cantor’s targets. He argues that SRTS duplicates other bicycling and walking programs, and that bicycling and walking infrastructure is a local government responsibility. We need your help making sure that Members of Congress understand the value of Safe Routes to School and support it.

Please take a few minutes to send a message to your Member of Congress to ask them to vote against any effort to cut Safe Routes to School.

[continue reading…]

What if you were to take driven, elite-level cyclists and develop them into civic leaders? That’s the idea behind Richmond Pro Cycling, a whole new paradigm for professional racing teams. Enjoy the video.

This month’s Bicycle Times has an excellent article about how, and why, motorists who injure or kill cyclists are not being prosecuted. Unfortunately, societal attitudes can be more sympathetic to the perpetrator than the victim: “Few families would seek to send to prison the soccer dad whose moment of inattention caused the death of a child…”

The bottom line is, we need to raise the duty of care required of motorists, in looking out for cyclists and pedestrians.