Ray LaHood Dons Helmet And Bikes To Work

WASHINGTON -- Continuing his very public campaign to encourage urban biking as an alternative to automotive transportation, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood biked to work on Monday morning.

Donning a helmet and sporting trendy Nike sneakers, LaHood pedaled the roughly 1.5 miles from the Washington Monument to the Department of Transportation's headquarters in southeast Washington D.C. There, he treated his colleagues and fellow bicyclists to a breakfast of bagels and coffee.

The Huffington Post was among the press outlets invited along for LaHood's well-publicized downtown ride by DOT staff, but fell victim to the snooze button, missing the 7 a.m. departure time.

LaHood's promotion of urban bike riding and bike lane construction have become increasingly recognizable elements of his transportation agenda. The Secretary delivered a much-discussed speech, from atop a desk in the Senate Dirksen building, to the National Bike Summit during its closing ceremony. He's taken to his blog to announce a "sea change" in departmental focus, away from "favoring motorized transportation at the expense of nonmotorized." He's also tried to raise awareness over biker safety. “Bikers have as much right to the streets as anybody driving a car and I am concerned about [their safety]," he told The Huffington Post in a recent interview.

This might seem like finely tailored transportation policy with no discernable political impact. But the department is at least attempting to incorporate a pro-biking platform in its broader campaign to ease pain at the gas pump.

"At a time of record high gas prices, the ride will highlight DOT’s commitment to providing Americans with convenient, affordable, and healthy transportation options," read a statement the department released prior to Monday's bike ride.

"Last year, DOT formulated key recommendations for state DOTs and communities to integrate the needs of bicyclists and pedestrians in federally-funded road projects. Through the TIGER program, DOT funded major projects across the country that allow Americans to safely and conveniently get where they need to go on a bike or on foot. In May 2010, DOT gave its employees a new bicycle commuting benefit that allows bicyclists to receive reimbursement for qualified commuting costs similar to that provided to employees who take public transportation to and from work.”

Comments

[Joseph Furtenbacher]

09:08 AM on 06/08/2011

I've often remarked to my friends that I consider a driver's license a beginner's license for a wheelchair. But then, I've often wondered why cyclists are told to follow the same rules of the road as someone strapped into a ton of metal; standing in a left-turn lane is somehow safer with a bike between your legs?

On the other hand, I can understand the desire to reduce fatalities caused by cyclists on sidewalks... assuming there have ever been any...

[Moarku]

12:29 AM on 06/07/2011

Just think. If we could get the Tea Party to support bike riding, we could be watching videos of Sarah Palin talking about how the Revolutionary War was fought over peoples' right to ride bikes.

[Syed Ashraf Meer]

08:52 PM on 06/06/2011

I haven't even read the article yet, but a transportation secretary on a bike is the most beautiful thing I've seen this year... next to my daughter riding without her training wheels.

[nothingchanges]

07:45 PM on 06/06/2011

Maybe if more people rode their bicycles, the country would not only be healthier, but better informed.

I often comment on our "crumbling infrastructure". Biking will let you view and experience it firsthand like no other way I know of. It's a tragedy to see what was once the envy of the world literally falling apart before my very eyes.

There are more bicycles in Holland than people, and they build them for transportation, not to impress their neighbors. I recently bought a Dutch bicycle it has impressed me no end. The Dutch philosophy on cycling, if you're sweaty when you get to where you're going, you're in too much of a hurry.............slow down and enjoy the scenery.

Now if I could just figure out a way to flatten some of the hills, and widen some of the roads so that I don't have to compete one on one with SUV's, I'd be all set.

[rusty apache]

06:56 PM on 06/06/2011

Motorola has a bicycle to work program. They provide lockers, and a shower facility for bicyclists. I would pass hundreds of gridlocked cars every morning on my daily commute. I never even locked my old cruiser bike to the bike rack, and nobody stole it.

[presenseOfcolor]

05:50 PM on 06/06/2011

He didn't bike from home, unless he lives in the Washington Monument, no he pulled a phot op, huzzah !

Now, when works done it's a personal cheaufered armored limo home, his real ride.

[philss]

05:19 PM on 06/06/2011

it is too bad that the sec of labor is alolowed to ride a non worth y bike to work
it shows his insensetivity to car drivers
the bike has no electronic turn signals , nor does it have a brake light or even a forward light
cyclists need to be road ready
raods are meant for cars and cyclists need to be liscenced and have theri vehicles inspected just like cars
and cycclists should be reqired to carry no fault insurance at the very least
I know thsi will upset many of you cyclists but if you want to ride on streets you need to be liscewnced and have reular inspections of these inferior road vehicles

[giddylockjaw]

05:26 PM on 06/06/2011

Didn't you learn the hand signals in driver's ed?

[philss]

06:11 PM on 06/06/2011

hand signals are so 18th century
get with the new one and go electronic
cars have to have them and so should all road drivers

[Harvey32]

05:13 PM on 06/06/2011

I like Ray Lahood. He's been a great Secretary of Transportation. With Hillary at State, Arne Duncan at Education, Steven Chu at Energy, President Obama has a good cabinet.

[presenseOfcolor]

05:52 PM on 06/06/2011

Gee, a cannot full of Global Governance corporate RULERSHIP elite, yup that's a surefire all anti- American cabinet for sure!

[Harvey32]

08:37 PM on 06/06/2011

Uh, I've met Steven Chu personally. He's a Nobel Prize winner. I like smart. He's smart. He's not Sarah Palin. If you don't like smart, though, knock yourself out.

[DXM]

04:58 PM on 06/06/2011

While I live in a small pedestrian- and bike-friendly city (being a ten-minute walk from downtown was one of the reasons I live where I do), I have a 40-mile (one way) commute to my office with no real options. Biking to work is impractical for me and, during the harsh New England winters, is pretty much impossible (not to mention suicidal). Even public transportation, given the available rail and bus routes and schedules, would make my current one-hour commute a two to three hour ordeal each way. Biking to work or even using public transportation is simply not a viable option for myself and a lot of other people.

[walkinthedogdude]

04:20 PM on 06/06/2011

I don't see any bike racks outside the US Capitol.

[realitycitizen]

04:06 PM on 06/06/2011

Bicycles are liberal.

[YoBear]

04:20 PM on 06/06/2011

Then go buy a bike and liberate yourself!

[Austintatious]

05:18 PM on 06/06/2011

Yes, they are, not to mention that they are enlightening and healthy.

[YoBear]

04:05 PM on 06/06/2011

Biking works on a larger scale if people can live within a couple of miles of work, and there is a bike-safe route, and one has a safe place to store the bike for the day, and one doesn't need to shower, and it's not raining, and it's not too hot. Not that I'm making excuses. ;

[invisbl]

04:01 PM on 06/06/2011

Oh brother. Can we quit with the doom and gloom anti-bicyclism?

No one is mandating that people ride their bikes. If you can, you might want to try, if you can't, then don't. Avoiding the cost of gas, while putting fewer miles on your car, getting some exercise and potentially some enjoyment. You would think that's a simple concept.

(That said, I'm scared to death of biking in my own city's streets, but that's just me...)

[bluntobject]

03:59 PM on 06/06/2011

The way this headline reads, one might constru that HP thinks riding a bicycle to work is a bad thing?

[Nowa and Delia]

03:55 PM on 06/06/2011

Live what you say. I am impressed. But "some cyclist ride their bikes dangerously not only to themselves but to other people. Bicyclists should be reminded to follow the same rules when we drive our vehicles on the road. Many (but not all) abuse the stop lights and don't stop at intersections or give way to a 4-way stop even when they were supposed to.