Rob Toftness

@nosquish.bsky.social

1179 Followers 813 Following

Co-Founding member of the Denver Bicycle Lobby. I ride around Denver a lot. Just trying not to get squished 🚫🚴‍♂️💥🚙 (he/him)

Me at Casa Bonita
Capitol building lit up green with a hotel room window in the foreground
Traffic cones forcing reasonable turns from drivers.
Bike medics
I’ve always been proud to be a Coloradan, and especially proud to be a Colorado native – almost annoying-“NATIVE”-bumper-sticker-on-my-car proud. I went to Casa Bonita before it was cool. I can still smell Jolly Ranchers being made in Wheat Ridge. I drink Coors exclusively and consider John Elway family, even though I don’t know him personally.
Sweeping glass in the bike lane
bad AI image used for the new Colorado Connector website
Temp bike lane at a construction site
archived proven safety measures page with bike lanes, speed cameras, and road diets
The Quiet Truth About Parking Here's the good news: there are plenty of parking options downtown, including garages near the Arts Complex and throughout the surrounding blocks. What helps most is a slight shift in approach. Most people instinctively aim for the closest garage to the theatre, which tend to fill first and move slowest at peak arrival times. The experienced move is counterintuitive: aim slightly farther away. A garagea few blocks out often means: Smoother entry More available spaces Faster exit after the show
Sign pointing right for "bicycle parking only all times"
A post from Denver Police's Twitter account with a photo of text describing officer infractions
Aftermath of a vehicle crash with one of them in the bike and debris everywhere
Food truck
Art installation composed of paper stringers of different colors blowing in the breeze
Crane in the protected bike lane
A person pulls a cart holding plants across a crosswalk
e-moto rider on interstate 25 in Denver
A guy on the bike blender bike
Unable to enforce illegal parking by end of shift
"Bow Mar wants to gate off its public streets, but Denver and Littleton are threatening to fight back"
Ai generated image of Polis with a binky
Robert Downey Jr rides a bike in a bike lane and supports them via a 2022 Twitter post.
Hi Sophia, As an e-bike rider and one who uses it for transportation there were a few things that stood out to in your recent story about e-bike injuries. As is often the case with these stories it was noted that 1/3 of the crashes involved a motorist. We know in Denver that bad street design and lack of cycling/scooter lanes contributes to these crashes yet the coverage focused largely on the responsibilities of the children and not the motorists who are hitting them. In other developed nations it is often codified in law that the larger vehicle immediately bears the responsibility when operating around smaller vehicles like bikes and scooters. I think it sets a bad precedence putting the sole responsibility on kids. In at least 1/3 of these crashes a motorist was involved and the presence of a helmet may not have made a difference, yet it was the primary focus. Giro one of the leading manufacturers of helmets has stressed that helmets are not designed for vehicular crashes (https://www.forbes.com/sites/carltonreid/2020/07/10/bicycle-helmets-not-designed-for-impacts-from-cars-stresses-leading-maker-giro/). In a safe system protective armor is not the primary focus. Safe street design is the top, then motorist speed and attention. I am also worried that there was not a distinction made between e-bikes and e-motos. The two are very different, are regulated differently, and we should take care to note the distinction as the blowback from e-motos has already resulted in some bad legislation around the country. This helps a lot with the distinction https://www.peopleforbikes.org/news/the-e-bike-problem-is-an-e-moto-problem. In Denver we had 93 deaths due to traffic violence last year. Ultimately I'm curious why there was an outsized focus on the kids and not the drivers and the our street design that puts riders in dangerous situations? Thanks, Rob Toftness
Url that ends in "coalition will keep fighting for Colorado motorists"
A rider rides in the Blake Street PBL during a Rockies game
Kids could hula-hoop on Larimer street