Category: Biking Elsewhere

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Struck on the Street: Four Survivors

B’ Spokes: In the story linked below is why reducing pedestrian and cyclists crashes mater. They are not just fender benders but with people, they have a life long impact on the quality of life. We need to put an end to mean streets, we need to put an end to giving preference to just one "class" of people, as if that "class" of people are always in their cars and never ever walk or bike. That should not be the ideal of society, always having to use the car to get anywhere, especially just to cross a major road.
Both Baltimore and Maryland are wondering why they are losing population while totally ignoring Maryland’s high pedestrian fatality rate and Baltimore’s high pedestrian crash rate. There needs to be more of an effort towards people, not just cars.
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/04/nyregion/how-being-hit-by-a-vehicle-changed-times-colleagues-lives.html

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For entrepreneurs, cycling is the new golf

[B’ Spokes: If you want to attract talent then you need to encourage cycling. And just trails is not going to cut it, we need better education for drivers and better enforcement for bicyclists rights!]
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Via CNNMoney
…
"Unlike golf, cycling is also a great equalizer," said Andy Clarke, president of the League of American Bicyclists. "You’re the same as the person riding next to you. So it makes people more approachable. "
Entrepreneurs also gravitate toward cycling because it’s a better way to stay in shape, said Clarke. It’s also less time consuming and relatively less expensive.
…
"It’s a better cardio workout. You can get a great ride done in one to two hours as opposed to hours on a golf course," said Michael Marckx, CEO of eyewear company Spy Optic. "And you can actively network with more people."
…
https://money.cnn.com/2014/04/29/smallbusiness/cycling-golf-entrepreneurs/

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Pedestrian Hybrid Beacon Guide– Recommendations and Case Study

[B’ Spokes: Since 2002 the state has had a goal of reducing pedestrian fatalities and year after year no real change has been observed. It just amazes me how many pedestrian safety improvements that could be done here, most for cheap but are not. Maryland seems to have standardised on “essentially not visible” crosswalks and rather than follow the recommendation of marking all legs of the intersection with a high visibility crosswalk we are lucky to get two faded parallel lines that is either a crosswalk or your choice of stop lines if you are a driver. (Ref: An Overview and Recommendations of High-Visibility Crosswalk Marking Styles)

Other places I have been that are working toward reducing pedestrian fatalities have been installing hundreds of these pedestrian hybrid beacons. Does Maryland even have one?

Maybe there is no need for pedestrian improvements here?
image

Nope, that’s not it.

If you would like State Highways to do more for pedestrians please write: James T. Smith <secretary@mdot.state.md.us>

…
Pedestrian hybrid beacons (PHB) have been shown to significantly reduce pedestrian crashes. A Federal Highway
Administration (FHWA) study published in 20101 found that pedestrian hybrid beacons can
reduce pedestrian crashes by 69 percent and total crashes by 29 percent. Because PHBs remain
dark until activated, they can help increase driver attention to pedestrians crossing the roadway,
and can reduce rear-end collisions. The pedestrian hybrid beacon’s red signal indication removes
any judgment from the motorists and requires a complete stop. The PHB provides a clear message
that motorists must stop and allow pedestrians to cross the street. Motorist compliance with the
requirement to yield has been shown to exceed 90 percent at PHBs.

…

This
document will show how PHBs are being
used to reduce pedestrian crashes across
the country [but not in Maryland.]

…

https://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/ped_bike/tools_solve/fhwasa14014/fhwasa14014.pdf

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What Is Your State Doing to Improve Walking and Biking?

B’ Spokes:

I’m going to grab a chart from this post on Streets Blog.

image
In this chart Maryland looks really good. But since 2001 when we set the goal to reduce bicyclist and pedestrian fatalities but they have not moved since then. We had 101 pedestrian fatalities and 5 cyclist fatalities in 2001 and in 2011 (last year reported) there was 102 pedestrians and 5 cyclist fatalities. – No change!

There is evidence that if you improve the safety for cyclists then pedestrians benefit and vice versa. But I find enforcement of bicycling and pedestrian issues around the state rather dismal. Police cannot do an effective job enforcing our issues from inside a police cruiser! In fact I believe too much time behind the wheel induces a bias against bicyclists and pedestrians in that it is their obligation to stay out of the way of cars, always!

We need crosswalk stings and plain clothes police officers on bikes! At least twice a year (roughly when school lets out and again when school starts) with press releases informing motorists that the police are taking bicycle and pedestrian issues seriously. But what we got is notta with this as a result:
image

We need results!

Another big issue for me is the so called improvement in the Bicycle Level of Service (BLOS.) In 2001 we had 80% of state roads with a BLOS of a grade D or better.


The 2002 (date enacted) Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan set a goal for the State to achieve a level of D or better for at least 80
percent relevant State roadways. As of 2011, 79 percent of the roadways had reached this threshold.
Apendix B of the new bike master plan

So the 2002 Bike master plan was to essentially to make no improvements for cyclists on state roads for over 20 years. I will assert this is due in part to:


Jim Titus expressed concerns regarding the
Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission –Prince George’s County’s
designation of MD Route 564 as a bikeway was not recognized by the State Highway
Administration. Michael [Jackson Director of Bicycle and Pedestrian Access] stated that because MD Route 564 is a State highway SHA was
not bound to accept M-NCPPC-PG’s designation but recommended that Jim contact SHA staff about his concerns.
SHA not obligated to accommodate bicyclists per policy and wins an award from LAB for policy

So while true bike friendly places make use of resurfacing projects as a extremely economical way to accommodate cyclist but in Maryland it seems more of a way to take back what they gave us in the first place.

And another chart from this post on Streets Blog.

image

So Baltimore has no plan to reduce bicycle and pedestrian fatalities. But that alone might not be too bad as it’s more Baltimore’s “philosophy” not to kill you but just mess you up real bad. Baltimore represents the most bike/ped crashes, the most bike/ped serious injuries within the state! With just 11% of the state’s population we represent 32% of the states pedestrian crashes and 30% of the pedestrian serious injuries. For cyclists, Baltimore represents 24% of the states cyclist crashes and 22% of the cyclist serious injuries. Could we please make an effort to get that down to near 11%?