Jaywalking 2.0 - "Petextrians"

If you think that American streets and roads are safe, you either live deep in the woods or drive a heavily armored vehicle through your city. But many of us, mortals, think otherwise. Apparently, we made a big move in safety numbers on our streets - just in the wrong direction:

Fatality rates here in 1990 were roughly 10 percent lower than in Canada and Australia, two other affluent nations with a lot of open road. Over the last few decades, however, other countries have embarked on evidence-based campaigns to reduce vehicle crashes. The United States has not. (...) Our vehicle fatality rate is about 40 percent higher than Canada’s or Australia’s.

So it's true what they say about Americans - we love our freedom to the point we would rather kill each other than give up any part of it. In this case, it's a freedom to speed and to drive distracted.

But interestingly, we don't apply the same freedoms to people who don't drive. They are the enemy - those who impair our freedom to move at speed when they want to cross the street, especially "illegally".

Harassing anyone for jaywalking should a thing of the past, but it's coming back. Now, when nearly everyone is glued to a cell phone screen, apparently the biggest enemy of drivers in the city (apart of lack of free parking) is a texting pedestrian - "petextrian". Honolulu has already set a fine of $99 for this "illegal pedestrianism" (which really should be called "freecrossing") of the digital era. Now Boston wants to follow this example with fines up to $200 for distracted walking.

As they say, every place has its own village idiot and here in Boston we have Rep. Colleen Gary, who already made her name as a person who really hates everyone impeding car traffic in any way. Jaywalking 2.0 is her big comeback this year as she pushes for high fines for distracted pedestrians.

Fortunately, not everyone is this blind to see that it's not pedestrians but drivers who are the problem. Perhaps those autonomous vehicles wouldn't be that bad if they pay more attention to traffic than a human driver. But this mean we would need to give up our freedom to drive and speed. Are we ready for it?

OTTOLock review - small, light and secure?

Light or secure? You can only have one. That's essentially the only choice we have among all various types of bicycle locks. Or do we?

Enter OTTOLock, a bicycle lock that tries to solve the seemingly impossible - it combines low weight with high security. I wrote about this lock last year during my Kickstarter inventions review and I added that it's likely the first Kickstarter invention I would actually buy. Nearly one year later I finally got one of these locks.

I ordered the 30" version of OTTOLock and my first impressions were very positive. The lock feels very solid in hand. I can't speak of how secure it really is since I'm not going to try to cut through it, so I have to rely on manufacturer's claim that its steel tape enclosed in orange rubbery plastic would withstand any attach with ordinary tools much better than cheap cable locks. Don't be fooled though - OTTOLock is clearly not going to be as secure as heavy-duty u-locks, but that's not the point. It's not supposed to combine low weight with ultimate level of security. Rather low weight with security adequate enough to leave your bike unattended for that longer shopping trip.

When it comes to weight, OTTOLock delivers what it promised. I weighed the 30" lock at 152g - very decent result for a lock of this size.

In my early Kickstarter look I wrote that the only thing I'm worried about is its 3-digit combination lock. Fortunately, the locking mechanism seems to be very solid and doesn't look like it would easily fall apart in use or could be broken into with some simple tools.

However, if I could be critical of one feature of OTTOLock it would still be its combination lock. I just don't feel that not having a key is any advantage here. Certainly it isn't any faster. The way OTTOLock works is that in order to lock your bike you have to set your chosen combination on the dials, push and hold the small metal button on the side, insert the tape into the locking mechanism and finally turn the 3 dials to secure the lock. It isn't that bad as long you already have the right combination set on the dials, but if the dials rotate (and they can rotate quite easily) you will have to reset them to your code before locking your bike.

At this point you may think, this is still better than searching for key in your pockets, but I'm not so sure. You see, it's November, which means that early morning in Boston air temperature hovers around 32F (0C) and that means I wear gloves. And it's much easier to get a key from a pocket and use it to unlock the bike, than to try to set the right code on 3 tiny dials so close to each other.

The only other complain I would have is that depending on how you transport your OTTOLock on the bike, it may have to be rolled first and secured for storage using included rubbery strap. That makes it (again) slower to use than most other locks out there. Without rolling and securing it, OTTOLock wants to unfold itself thanks to its steel tape construction.

Other than that, OTTOLock is very nice. It is lightweight and feels much more secure than most flexible bike locks. I will keep using mine and see how it works for me long term. Since it would be easier to use in warmer weather, it may become my travel lock. My bicycle travels happen pretty much only in June through October and the low weight of OTTOLock makes it a good bike touring companion.

Pros:

+ very light for a bicycle lock

+ feels solid and secure

+ no key required

Cons:

- difficult to use in thicker winter gloves

- slower to use (setting the combination, folding for storage, etc.)