Category: Biking Elsewhere

[Gee, it looks like we are not the only ones with this problem.]

Since Alice Swanson’s death, WABA has been trying to meet with MPD for a discussion of bicycle safety. Their meeting was rescheduled once, and then a second time, WashCycle reports. In response, they’ve sent a letter to the Mayor and Council asking for more action. From the letter:

Alice Swanson, a 22-year old cyclist from Washington DC, was killed while riding her bike over two months ago. … MPD has offered no new information about the tragedy. This lack of responsiveness only reinforces our concerns that the needs of those that walk and bike in Washington, DC are seen by MPD as not a concern worth addressing. …

The effectiveness of [DDOT’s and WABA’s] efforts in reducing crashes will be dramatically reduced if MPD does not see the safety of the most vulnerable roadway users as a priority. If officers are not fully trained on the laws as they relate to cyclists and pedestrians, and if critical motor vehicle laws on the books are not enforced, we run the risk of more tragedies occurring. …

We request that MPD…

• [Restore] a traffic division of the police department … DC has the highest combined rate of biking, walking and transit use in the country and more dedicated resources need to be devoted to public safety.
  
• Improve the training of police officers in the laws related to cyclists and pedestrians …
  
• Target high risk locations [for enforcement] in a way that maximizes educational efforts and recognizes that behavioral change, not punishment, is the ultimate goal. These enforcement efforts should be seen as preventative, not punitive.
  
• Expand and improve data collection of bicycle and pedestrian crashes and report annually on high risk locations …

It is the policy of the government of the District of Columbia to promote alternative means of transportation, be it cycling, walking or transit. As more and more people choose these modes whether for health, environmental or economic reasons, the Metropolitan Police Department’s role in maintaining safe streets to walk and bike is ever more critical.

WABA is asking people to contact Councilmembers and the Mayor on this issue. WABA is also asking Phil Mendelson, Chairman of the Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary, to hold a hearing on this issue.

Jim Graham, for his part, is taking some action. This morning, Graham introduced a bill with four main provisions:

1. Equip all DC vehicles with “blind spot mirrors, reflective blind spot warning signs, and side-underrun guards to prevent bicyclists, other vehicles, or pedestrians from sliding under rear wheels”;
   
2. Train the drivers of these vehicles in safe operation for pedestrians and bicyclists;
   
3. Require a three-foot passing distance when any vehicle passes a bicyclist (a standard common elsewhere, including, as discussed in this video, Wisconsin);
   
4. Establish a $100 fine for driving in a bicycle lane or a bicycle-bus lane, such as the one on 7th Street northbound around Gallery Place (which is very commonly and illegally used by private cars). Currently, it is illegal but there is no fine.

This bill will give police two new ways to enforce laws against unsafe driving that directly endangers bicyclists. MPD will have to do its part, as WABA is asking, to then enforce these and other existing laws to make everyone feel safe on the road.

Continue reading “WABA letter and Graham bill for bike safety”

[While we still do not know why the police think that John Yates was at fault for riding on the right side of the road but here are some cyclists in trouble for not riding on the right.]
The volunteer bike-riders who pull a trailer load of donated food to the Damiano Center each week are willing to deal with bad weather, Duluth hills and dangerous brushes with cars.
But they draw the line at traffic tickets.
“We take it as an issue of discrimination,” said Alex Strachota, 22, who graduated from the College of St. Scholastica last year with a degree in biology.
To the Duluth police, it’s an issue of public safety.
Police officers have ticketed Strachota, Greg Schultz and Sadie Sigford twice for impeding traffic.
Every Friday and Saturday for the past two years, Strachota, Schultz and Sigford have ridden bikes up from their home at the Dorothy Day House in the Endion neighborhood to the Whole Foods Co-op on Fourth Street, picked up about 100 pounds of food that otherwise would be thrown away, and taken it to the Damiano soup kitchen to donate.
Even if the thermometer reads 20 below zero, they’ve never had problems on the route, the three say. That is until July 31, when they were riding back from the Damiano Center and were given a traffic ticket.
Two weeks later they again were stopped and ticketed. They say they plan to fight the tickets, alleging their civil rights were violated.
But the police say the bicyclists were riding in the regular lane of traffic and that their slow speed was a safety hazard.
“They were impeding traffic,” [on a bike route] police spokesman Brad Wick said. “In both instances there was an opportunity to move to the right, and they did not.”
The volunteers don’t deny riding in the traffic lane, but they say they have the legal right to do so.
The problem stems in part from the route they take to deliver the food, Fourth Street, which, though it’s designated as a bike route and directly connects the Co-op to the Damiano, is a difficult ride because it’s a single-lane traffic and filled with parked cars along the streets.
Compounding the problem for the three riders is that their rig to tow the food takes up almost two bike-widths. To keep that rider safe from being rammed from behind, the other two follow behind two abreast.
Though they say they ride 10 to 15 mph, cars still back up behind them.
“It would be illegal for any car to pass us,” Sigford acknowledges.
So why not take another mode of transportation [on a bike route]?
For starters, the three have no cars and use bikes as their way to get around, including to school and work. And they say they’re following bike statutes, which includes riding 3 feet away from parked cars. On Fourth Street, that means riding into the traffic lane.
“It may seem like hyperbole and we’re being over the top comparing what’s happened to us to the civil rights movement,” Strachota said. “But we feel very much marginalized when we ride on our bikes.”
Adds Schultz: “It’s not a stretch to consider ourselves as second-class citizens in regards to transportation.”
Ironically, when they got their tickets on July 31, a friend visiting from out of town, Erin Cartwright, was riding illegally — too close to a parked car — when she got “doored” — someone opened their car door and she was sent flying.
She wasn’t injured, but a block after the accident she was pulled over by a Duluth police officer, who later called for two additional squads as backup. Not to check on Cartwright, but to give Schultz and Sigford tickets.
According to the report filed by Officer S.R. Peterson, he gave the tickets because he believed the bicyclists weren’t following state statutes and they needed to follow the right side of the road and weave into empty parking spaces when possible to let cars pass.
[Ya like weaving in and out of park cars is not safety hazard? Sheesh!]
Continue reading “Ticketed bike riders speak out”

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Brita Climate Ride supports essential climate and bicycling advocacy projects at three beneficiary organizations: Focus the Nation, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, and Clean Air – Cool Planet. Your fundraising helps the beneficiaries continue to provide the critical services and education needed to address climate and energy issues.
Be Part of a Grass-roots Effort- Join a fascinating group of renewable energy experts, climate activists, recent college grads, and everyday folks.
Make a Statement- Carry your message 300 miles to the steps of the Capitol, where you have a chance to personally meet your representatives in Congress to encourage action.
It’s a Climate Conference on Wheels- Hear informative talks each evening from expert speakers, and join the discussion on climate science, green technology, and solutions to the climate crisis.
The Time is Now- We’re at a climatic tipping point, and with the important COP15 Conference coming up in December, this year’s Brita Climate Ride is more important than ever.
It’s Fun- Unite with fellow Climate Riders for an unforgettable, fully-supported adventure. Our experienced team takes care of all the logistics, so you can network, make friends, and enjoy cycling through some of the most beautiful scenery in America.
Continue reading “Brita Climate Ride”

[Baltimore Spokes: There is another issue covered here about removing a ghost bikes but some things have an eery resemblance to the crash that resulted in our first ghost bike.]
…
Over a year after the crash, … The police have still not released their report of the incident.
…
Swanson’s family and bicycle advocates have also been trying to get a copy of the police report. Thus far, the police have refused. WashCycle got an informal look at a redacted version, where the police seem to go out of their way to blame the cyclist for getting hit. The investigating officer concludes that the truck driver didn’t violate any laws, but, according to WashCycle, implies that Swanson violated the law against moving faster than is "reasonable and prudent."
That’s right, the MPD investigating officer thinks Alice Swanson — who was biking a half mile to work in flip flops and light clothing on a 10 speed Huffy Free Spirit that is no longer manufactured — died because she was biking too fast. Read that again, they think she died because she was biking too fast.
Meanwhile, the truck apparently did break the law, whether or not the police particularly care about said law. If you’re turning right in a car, and there is a bicycle lane, you are supposed to move into the bicycle lane before making the turn. You should signal and look over your shoulder to move into the lane, just as if there were a regular car lane to the right. Turning from the car lane is the same as making a right turn from the left-hand lane when there are two regular lanes. It’s illegal.
According to the report, the truck driver didn’t see Swanson. There’s no reason to disbelieve that. But that doesn’t mean the driver bears no blame whatsoever. Too often, however, police assume that cyclists are the ones responsible for not getting themselves hit, and if a car or truck driver doesn’t see a cyclist, that’s just too bad for the cyclist. Yes, driving is tricky and mistakes happen, but that doesn’t excuse drivers from being careful. But since more people drive than bike, especially police officers, many people imagine themselves in the position of being the driver who inadvertently kills a cyclist than the cyclist who gets killed because a driver was inattentive and didn’t follow proper procedure.
…
Continue reading “R-E-S-P-E-C-T, that’s what the ghost bike means to me”

Eco-friendly town bans cars and residents live carbon neutral (they actually get money back from the electric company as the produce more electricity then what they use.)

MADISON (WKOW) — Exclusive video WKOW-TV obtained from the City of Madison – Metro Transit, shows a vehicle driven by state lawmaker Fred Clark running a red light and colliding with a bicyclist on a downtown Madison street.
Rep. Fred Clark (D-Baraboo) is due in Madison municipal court September 22, his first court appearance, after being cited for running the red light.
The fifty nine seconds of video from August 18 comes from the on-board camera of a metro bus on N. Webster Street. Officials said the bus was out-of-service, with only the driver in the bus. The video begins as the bus driver approaches the intersection of N. Webster and N. Hamilton streets, stops at a red light and waits for the light to change.
On the video, the light changes to green, the bus’ engine revvs, and a bicyclist passes the bus and enters the intersection. Nearly three seconds after the light change, Clark’s SUV enters the intersection and slams into the bicyclist.
Continue reading “Red light runner, SUV/bicycle collision (caught on video)”

…

The problem isn’t that police hate cyclists, despite common perceptions in the cycling community. It’s that most officers receive little or no training in bike law — and none in the mechanics of cycling or investigation of bike accidents.

That’s not just my opinion. Consider this recent quote from a retired police officer:

In virtually every state, bicycles have most of the same rights and responsibilities as motor vehicle operators. Many officers don’t seem to know, or care, that they do. Training in bicycle traffic law is virtually nonexistent in police academies and crash investigation courses.

Unfortunately, many serious road cyclists know and understand traffic laws regulating bicycles far better than most street cops. Officers who have received quality bike patrol training, such as the IPMBA Police Cyclist™ Course, have been trained in the legal status of bicycles in traffic, proper and legal lane use, and other pertinent provisions.

When investigating a bicycle-vehicle crash, it may be a good idea to involve a trained bike patrol officer to help get a comprehensive perspective as to the bicycle-related factors and conditions involved. Criminal charges may be warranted. An officer knowledgeable in bike law could be a victim cyclist’s best advocate, or a legal opponent, providing the details for fair prosecution.

The simple fact is that the operation and mechanics of bicycles are different from that of motor vehicles. And unless the investigating officer understands that, he or she won’t be able to accurately determine how the collision occurred and who is actually at fault.

Continue reading “Who is at fault in cycling collisions? And who decides?”

BURLINGTON— A driver has been sentenced to at least three years in prison for a hit-and-run accident that left a Vermont college student critically injured.
Twenty-three-year-old Adam Desjardin of Vergennes pleaded guilty to pulling in front of a bicyclist in Burlington last fall, and taking off. Twenty-one-year-old Rose Long of Sutton, a member of the University of Vermont cycling team, suffered massive facial injuries that required $500,000 in reconstructive surgery so far.
On Friday, she told Desjardin in court that his action changed her life forever.
WCAX reports Desjardin asked to serve a reduced term in the state work camp, but that was rejected by Judge Patricia Zimmerman.
Continue reading “Driver gets 3 years in prison in Vermont accident”

[I so want to do something like this here.]

The NYPD likes to brag that they issued 1.2 million traffic tickets last year. That’s not much considering that drivers run 1.2 million red lights each day.

In New York City, the phrase “traffic law” often seems a misnomer for the rules of the road. More often, those “laws” appear to be suggestions, recommendations or afterthoughts.

To test this assumption, T.A., with the help of dozens of volunteers, set out to quantify just how often New York City’s traffic laws are broken. We sent out scores of observers to a few big intersections and recorded nearly 40 hours of traffic data. In doing so, T.A. was able to demonstrate a simple method for understanding the pervasiveness of traffic violations that the City could easily adopt.

The results, published in the new study titled From Chaos to Compliance (PDF), are hardly surprising, but still, they paint a shocking portrait of New York City streets:

• Traffic law violations occurred approximately three times every minute per intersection — 157 times an hour.
• Drivers failed to yield the right of way 24 times an hour.
• Drivers disregarded traffic controls, including traffic signals, signs and roadway markings, approximately two times every minute — over 100 times an hour.
• Over 38 hours of surveying, no summonses were issued for moving violations in the survey areas.
• 57% of pedestrians believed they were endangered by traffic while navigating the survey areas.
• 43% of pedestrians actually avoid an area or intersection in their neighborhood because they feel endangered by lawless driving.

The report suggests that a lack of deterrence facilitates this type of behavior and calls on the Mayor and the New York City Police Department to approach this problem scientifically, by deploying personnel where they’re needed most, adopting the study’s methodology and applying it to gauge compliance, deploying traffic cameras to monitor conformity with speed and traffic-signal laws and enabling citizen-reported violations through 311.

Had the NYPD been enforcing the violations observed in the study, the City stood to make a minimum of $478,645 in fines. Considering the budget woes of New York City, the fact that thorough enforcement at just four locations for only 38 hours could yield nearly half a million dollars in benefits, makes a better approach to enforcement both a financial and safety necessity.

As of press time, neither the Mayor nor Police Commissioner Kelly has acted on these suggestions, but if they want to make traffic laws into more than suggestions, they’ve got a good place to start.

In blistering August heat and sopping city humidity, Councilman Alan J. Gerson held a rally on the busy corner of Mott and Grand Streets in Chinatown at noon on Friday to oppose a bike lane. Mr. Gerson, his collar wilting in the heat, told the sweat-drenched crowd, which included a fair share of helmet-wearing cycling advocates, that while he supported bike lanes in general, he objected to the way this particular lane was put into place.
“It’s not whether or not there should be a bike lane,” he said, “but where.”
…
Others voiced concern that reckless cyclists were putting pedestrians, especially the elderly, at risk. Those concerns have not been backed up by studies by the city’s Transportation Department, which found that total traffic accidents along the lane decreased 29 percent, despite a significant increase in the number of bicycles.
“The Grand Street bike lane provides critical protection for the nearly 1,000 bicyclists who use it daily and also for motorists and pedestrians along the corridor,” Seth Solomonow, a department spokesman, said in a statement.
Continue reading “As Bike Lanes Proliferate, So Do Disputes”