@satan - There's a bike lane on Carroll and (faded) sharrows on Maple. Sligo Creek Parkway closes Sundays but is open to bikes. I believe Takoma Park has some of the "bikes may use full lane" signs too.

I'd like it if the fine were proportional to the mass of the vehicle, representing the increased danger and stopping distance of unnecessarily heavy cars on the road. (Otherwise, I agree with PdE.)

Levi was hit in Spain, but flew back to California for treatment. http://velonews.competitor.com/2012/04/news/leipheimer-i-could-be-dead-for-sure_211934

I thought oboe was being brilliantly ironic. (Like rain on your wedding day.)

It's frustrating that the link titles are mangled online, often adding inaccuracies or losing clarity, just to make them fit on the home page or for search engines.

Chris, That reads to me as "concern trolling". It's not written by a cyclist who has to dodge cars in bike lanes. It's not written by someone with Alice Swanson in mind. It's not written by someone who has read struck in dc. It's written by somebody who thinks cyclists need a crackdown, or at best, someone who wants the approval of the angry driver.

Does anyone know if Maryland has an equivalent of California's basic speed law? I learned to drive in CA, and it seems like it should matter. (i.e., if you didn't see a cyclist, you were traveling too fast for the conditions of the road). Obviously, IANAL. 22350. No person shall drive a vehicle upon a highway at a speed greater than is reasonable or prudent having due regard for weather, visibility, the traffic on, and the surface and width of, the highway, and in no event at a speed which endangers the safety of persons or property.

@Nancy - I just went by there. Amazingly, if counting the gutter, the part with the stencil is 4' wide. However! Just down the hill is a big sign that says "bike lane", pointing to a stretch that is narrower, 3'3", counting the gutter. I sent Jim the originals. Here's some picasa fun. Bad Bike Lane

@jeff - you mean this carroll street view? Look right, there's a bike lane; look left, there's a line by the gutter. What's the line for? And on the other side, there is a lane, but it looks pretty narrow to me. I'll try to measure it tomorrow. I'm curious what 4 feet looks like from a bike. In defense of Takoma Park, that stretch of carroll is on the boundary (I think).

The Post has been part of the AAA spin machine for a while. Finding a Washington Post transportation article without a quote from AAA (Lon Anderson or John Townsend) is difficult (not impossible, but difficult). I respect the AAA, in the sense that they're the automobile association and have no reason to support anything that isn't an automobile. I just want no part of short-sighted transportation advocacy, and encourage people to drop their membership.

That entire road should be reconsidered, and reduced to one lane in each direction, potentially with space for (frequent) bus traffic to the metro station. A stop light for pedestrians is the least they could do.