In February, Boise Weekly published an in-depth investigation into the efficacy of Boise's safe passing distance law, which mandates that motorists must allow at least three feet of distance when passing cyclists. The general thrust of the article was that safety—for both cyclists and motorists—is better achieved through a focus on building bike lanes and paths than by passing laws so difficult to enforce that they have little hope of changing behavior.

Well, a new study in the Washington Post confirms that idea.

From the article:

In a new study in the journal Transport Policy, Ralph Buehler and John Pucher suggest that cities might actually be able to influence how many cyclists are on the road. Perhaps all they have to do is—and this shouldn’t come as a huge surprise—build more bike lanes and bike paths.

Buehler and Pucher found that the presence of off-road bike paths and on-street bike lanes were, by far, the biggest determinant of cycling rates in cities. And that’s true even after you control for a variety of other factors like how hot or cold a city is, how much rain falls, how dense the city is, how high gas prices are, the type of people that live there, or how safe it is to cycle. None of those things seem to matter quite as much. The results, the authors write, “are consistent with the hypothesis that bike lanes and bike paths encourage cycling.”

The study also lists Boise as one of the top cities for bike commuting in the country—with 3.4 percent of the population commuting by bike—which ranks us fourth, behind Minneapolis, Minn.; Madison, Wis.; and our ancient enemy, Portland, Ore.

After several consecutive years of spiking bicycle usage rates, Sweden—somewhat tired of being outclassed by its neighbors Denmark and The Netherlands—is proposing one of the most ambitious pieces of bicycle infrastructure in the world: a superhighway connecting the cities of Malmo and Lund.

The 20-mile, four-lane road would feature intersection-less on and off ramps like a car freeway, wind breaks provided from hedges and fences, and periodic air and bicycle service stations.

It is projected to cost $7.1 million and would take eight years to complete.

To many in the car-friendly United States, this seems like madness—a waste of taxpayer money to subsidize the quirky habits of health nuts. But in the cities the bicycle superhighway would connect, approximately 60 percent of the population walks, cycles or uses public transportation instead of driving. And when you compare that to the price tag of building a four-lane highway for cars, which is approximately $60 million per mile, it doesn't seem so crazy.

But the truth is that America isn't that far behind the demographic shifts. According to the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, there has been more than a 40 percent increase in the number of people who cycle to work instead of drive. But cycling infrastructure doesn't get the same funding or attention domestically. Instead, much of the focus has been on putting in place "safe passing distance" legislation.

In the Wednesday, Feb. 8, edition of Boise Weekly, we will examine Boise's approach to cycling policy, and the first recorded violation of its safe passing distance legislation, more than a year after the law was passed. Stay tuned.

Whether it be a classic roadster, a cherried-out sportscar or a gut-shaking, ear-deafening muscle car, some of the best in the automotive world were on display at the Boise Roadster Show. The show runs through Sunday, March 13, at Expo Idaho in Garden City.

Check out a slideshow of the event.

Blogger C.G.P. Grey put together a state-by-state breakdown of passport holdership.

With 41.24 percent holdership, Idaho is slightly above the middle of the pack, but we're getting our heinies hammered by New Jersey and their 68.36 percent.

We're still killing Mississippi though. Only 19.86 percent of its residents hold a passport.

One unfortunate aspect of being a Life Flight paramedic, is that neither I nor the "patients" accumulate frequent flyer miles on the job. In an uncharacteristically busy Friday afternoon, the Idaho contingent of Life Flight Network collectively logged more than 800 miles in a matter of hours. A day like this in the life of a chopper jockey, means lunchtime is a foreign concept because the only thing getting any fuel is the helicopter.

But we like to think we fly friendlier skies than United Airlines. After all, we love to fly and it shows—more than it does for Delta Airlines, even. Unlike Spirit Airlines, we don't charge extra to carry your personal items, as long as they don't push the limits of our weight and balance. Also at no additional cost, sometimes we'll even offer to transport a family member if the two of you tip the scales at less than our usable gross weight. And if you're lucky enough to still be able to enjoy the view, every seat is a window seat on the exit row.

So while I won't be jetting off to Europe on frequent flyer miles any time soon, I'll settle for more regional adventures into the Wallowa Mountains of the Eagle Cap Wilderness Area. It's the kind of terrain most people never see —except us and the bear hunters who need med-evac.

In my final Spain visitation post, I could play up any number of different angles, but here are the final three highlights/lowlights...

1) An insufficiently clean pair of contacts netted me a mean stye on my final full day in-country, so I was driven to the local pharmacia where, unlike American dispensaries, patients can be prescribed medicines on the spot based on whatever symptoms they're displaying. I paid 2.5 euros for a tube of antibacterial cream and was back out the door in under three minutes. A Spaniard in a similar situation in our country wouldn't dare hope for comparable treatment from our health care system.

2) My "eat what's on your plate" childhood training and vomit reflex towards shellfish duked it out on my last day of work in Spain. In celebration of their Falles festival, our Valencian hosts cut out of work early to partake of a massive paella, freshly prepared over a roaring fire in a back patio area. Chock full of lobster and shrimp, watching the witches' brew come together tested my ability to overcome years of picky eating. As is their custom, they heaped a mega-serving onto everyone's plates. Surprise of surprises, I actually liked it. I still bear no love for the rubbery texture of shrimp, but the flavor combination of the paella was absolutely outstanding. And sharing not only the food but the communitymindedness of my Spanish compatriots was a unique experience.

3) Stuck in a horribly cramped seat, sandwiched between three strangers for the 10.5-hour flight from Paris to Seattle, I struck up a conversation with a British national on her way to Vancouver, B.C. to visit friends. I admitted being a huge fan of the original versions of Life on Mars and The Office, and asked her what her own favorite British TV show is. "Only Fools and Horses," she said. And she guaranteed I'll like it—a bold statement from someone who'd exchanged less than five minutes of conversation with me. I plan to put her assurance to the test—and soon. Look for my findings in print or here on the Cobweb.

All in all, despite losing luggage, missing out on a great tour of historic Valencia, suffering an infected eyelid, eating shrimp and being forced to talk to strangers, my trip to Espana was a resounding success. Everyone on the planet could learn a lot by getting out their country to hobnob with foreigners once in a while.

Vidiot here ... still roaming the streets of Spain. My overseas coworkers arranged a tour of the city of Valencia last night. I joined the group late—after needing to ditch out for an hour to pick up my late arriving luggage from the airport—and hence missed a great deal of factual information about the city. So when I rejoined the tour, I quickly made an executive decision that taking pictures outweighed listening to the tour guide. Call me a brash, rude American, but I would've forgotten the story five minutes later. The pictures will last a lifetime—or until I accidentally delete the mislabeled folder housing them on my laptop.

I won't waste your time by parlaying details of the history of this 2000-year-old city, especially since I know very few (check out Wikipedia's description of the Valencian festival currently underway here). Instead, here are several of the pictures I snapped last night:

As luck would have it, during dinner following the tour, our generous hosts provided me and the other out-of-towners with a historical guidebook of Valencia ... which made the tour almost unnecessary altogether, and which is doubly funny because my coworkers made fun of me for appearing to be the consummate picture-popping tourist. So after having worn the same clothes for 48 hours straight, it looks like my luck may actually be turning around.

More from my final day in Spain soon.

P.S. Apologies if this entry was in any way disjointed. I am the slightest bit tipsy from fresh-made Spanish apple cider, cerveza and shots of two alcohols that tasted like mint schnapps and tequila's nasty older brother.

The Vidiot is in Spain on business this week. As I collect interesting anecdotes to relay (whether related to film, television, food or otherwise), I will pass them on.

In the meantime, here are two quick pieces of advice: If traveling to Europe by plane, avoid Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris. I was warned beforehand, but the itinerary dictated I land there. It's kind of a nutty landing pad and it was miraculous that I reached my connecting flight, even with an hour's layover.

Secondly, do your damnedest to not check baggage on overseas flights — especially those provided by Air France. I made the mistake of packing heavily so I'd look sharp for my business meetings and now I'm here, the night before the first day of meetings and I've got no change of clothes or toiletries on hand. So, I'm preparing myself to be known as the stinky guy in the corner wearing a two-day-old Boise State hoodie, cargo pants and Nike running shoes during the proceedings.

Sorry if I've inadvertently given a bad name to all other Idahoans on this side of the Atlantic. I wanted to show off my Boise State affiliation to the Euros and now people are going to associate the school with B.O. Great ambassadorship, Vidiot.

More stories to come.