By Bonnie L. Cook – INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
Lower Merion police filed charges today against a 75-year-old Villanova woman they said is responsible for a hit-and-run accident July 15 that injured a Bryn Mawr teenager.
Suzanne K. Lammers, 75, of the 1600 block of Hepburn Drive, was charged with causing an accident involving personal injury, a felony, and failure to stop and render assistance, a summary offense. The felony carries a minimum sentence of 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.
Lammers was arraigned via video camera at the Police Administration Building in Ardmore; the charges were lodged with Magisterial District Court Justice Kathleen Valentine several blocks away.
Lammers was released after posting 10 percent of $50,000 cash bond. A preliminary hearing is set for 10 a.m. Thursday, Police Superintendent Michael J. McGrath said.
According to an affidavit of probable cause, the accident happened on New Gulph Road near Morris Avenue in Bryn Mawr. Andrew Mallee, 13, was riding his bicycle on New Gulph when he was struck by a car described by witnesses as a gold Volvo station wagon. Both the car and bike were heading west. The car didn’t stop, the affidavit said.
Mallee was treated at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia for head injuries, but is expected to make a full recovery, McGrath said.
Detectives working from an anonymous tip went to Lammers’ home Tuesday. She offered to show them her Volvo, parked in a garage, and said the car was damaged when she struck a deer.
"Mrs. Lammers stated she continued to travel west in order to turn around, and when she heard sirens, she decided that she should go home, because she was not sure what happened," the affidavit said.
Detectives who ran forensic tests on Lammers’ car said the damage matched the circumstances of the hit-and-run accident, according to the affidavit.
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Eduction funds paying for roads???
Yesterday, for the second year in a row, Congress took big money from the general fund – the part of the federal budget that covers things like education or unemployment assistance – to keep the Highway Trust Fund from going broke.
– Transportation for America press release
CDC.gov: Halt Obesity Epidemic by Building Complete Streets Now
In a comprehensive report just released by The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a national team of researchers and policy experts is recommending that communities adopt “Complete Streets” policies in their fight against obesity. The authors cite over 100 recent scientific studies to justify their proposed interventions and suggested measurements.
The critical need to create streets that are safe and accessible for physical activity for residents of all ages and abilities has become one of the driving forces behind the Complete Streets movement, which has recently taken hold in New Haven and Statewide. Transportation reform in general is also seen by national experts, like the Convergence Partnership and the Living Cities Collaborative, as a cornerstone of more sustainable and equitable neighborhoods.
Despite strong policy recommendations from the Federal Government and many other groups across the country, complete streets can not be created overnight, because they involve much more than just crosswalks, adequate sidewalks, bike lanes or sharrows painted on the roads. More complex treatments such as traffic circles, pedestrian refuge medians, bollards and curb extensions (such as the ones in Manhattan shown below), which can enhance safety and actually make traffic flow more smoothly, are also needed to encourage walkability.
But most importantly, lower speed limits within compact urban centers like Downtown New Haven — backed up by well-designed roads that encourage drivers to actually obey those lower speed limits — are the key intervention needed to create streets suitable for all users. When vehicles travel at speeds above 20 miles per hour, the comfort level of pedestrians and cyclists drops dramatically, and injury risks increase exponentially. This tension was recently seen in New Haven on Whitney Avenue, where despite the requests of hundreds of local residents, the city was unable to even consider shifting road paint applications by a few inches, even though speeds on the neighborhood road regularly exceed 35 miles per hour.
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Cycling for a Few or for Everyone: The Importance of Social Justice in Cycling Policy
For those of you following the debate between Vehicular Cyclists (VC) and bikeway advocates there is a good point and counter point articles in the World Transport Policy & Practice newsletter. For me much of this debate is like the bike helmet debate, so while sure I recommend wearing a helmet it should not in anyway supersede information in regards to riding safely. The amount of bike crashes reported that are riding against traffic is appalling, better to ride where drivers are looking and prevent an accident then rely on a helmet for "safe crashing."
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Stop sharing Iowa FM roads
Some crazy nut case is trying to ban cyclists from Iowa’s Farm to Market roads so there is a counter petition up to ban motor vehicles from the Farm to Market roads.
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Stop risking your life or I’ll kill you
Asheville firefighter charged in roadside shooting
by Josh Boatwright
Police charged a city firefighter with attempted first-degree murder Sunday after witnesses said he fired a handgun at a bicyclist along Tunnel Road, barely missing his skull.
Charles Alexander Diez, 42, apparently fired at the Asheville man after arguing with him about riding his bike on the busy road with his 3-year-old child in a bike seat behind him, Asheville Police Capt. Tim Splain said.
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New York Bike Path System Expanded Dramatically
Just to note that the original article was a hoax by someone masquerading as the New York Times. We apologize for any false hope the article may have caused. You may now resume your car centric lives.
https://slackbastard.anarchobase.com/?p=1490
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Of Bikes, Bars and Beers
By Sean Patrick Farrell – New York Times
July is a month of cycling bliss. The weather is perfect for long rides and, for much of the month, the world’s best riders battle for the yellow jersey in the Tour de France.
July is also a big month for beer; good beer, to be exact. This month, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg officially proclaimed July to be Good Beer Month in New York City. Approved good beer bars will get a Good Beer Seal.
As a part of the month of good beer cheer, bar owners are encouraging patrons to Bike to the Bars, where they can enjoy artisanal beers, in moderation, of course.
“We’re not saying go to 10 bars and get drunk,” said Jimmy Carbone, owner of the bar Jimmy’s 43, in the East Village, and one of the masterminds behind the Good Beer Seal and the Bike to the Bars ideas.
Jimmy’s 43, and many of the other Brooklyn- and Manhattan-based Good Beer Sealed bars — seriously, no good beer in Queens, the Bronx or Staten Island? — serve local craft beers and harder-to-find European specialty brews, which are meant to be savored.
“Europeans get it,” Mr. Carbone said. “After a good bike ride or a run, people have a beer somewhere.”
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U.S. Withheld Data on Risks of Distracted Driving
In 2003, researchers at a federal agency proposed a long-term study of 10,000 drivers to assess the safety risk posed by cellphone use behind the wheel.
They sought the study based on evidence that such multitasking was a serious and growing threat on America’s roadways.
But such an ambitious study never happened. And the researchers’ agency, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, decided not to make public hundreds of pages of research and warnings about the use of phones by drivers — in part, officials say, because of concerns about angering Congress.
On Tuesday, the full body of research is being made public for the first time by two consumer advocacy groups, which filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit for the documents. The Center for Auto Safety and Public Citizen provided a copy to The New York Times, which is publishing the documents on its Web site.
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Student’s bike ride earns punishment
[Baltimore Spokes: Many (most) Maryland schools have similar policies.]
SARATOGA SPRINGS — While hundreds of area workers pedaled their way to work last Friday as participants in the national Bike to Work Day, one woman and her son were scolded for breaking the rules.
Janette Kaddo Marino and her son, Adam, 12, wanted to participate in the commuting event, so the two set off to Maple Avenue Middle School on bicycles May 15. The two pedaled the 7 miles from their east side home, riding along a path that extends north from North Broadway straight onto school property.
After they arrived, mother and son were approached first by school security and then school administrators, who informed Marino that students are not permitted to ride their bikes to school.
“Unbeknownst to us there is a policy,” she said, “but it wasn’t in any of the brochures given to us.”
School officials took her son’s bike and stored it in the boiler room. They told her she would have to return with a car to retrieve the bike later in the day.
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