Category: Biking Elsewhere

By Stephen Messenger, Tree Hugger
When early automobiles first arrived on the scene in the late 19th century, few people could have imagined that they would one day take over the world. In fact, some towns found the noise and exhaust from these novelty ‘horseless carriages’ so off-putting that early cars were actually outlawed in some places.
In time, of course, restrictions were lifted and the car soon became ubiquitous across the country — but there is still one place in the United States that has yet to change its mind. Meet Mackinac Island, where cars have been banned since 1898.
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https://www.treehugger.com/culture/one-city-in-america-where-cars-have-been-banned-1898.html

"DOT encourages transportation agencies to go beyond the minimum requirements, and proactively provide convenient, safe, and context-sensitive facilities that foster increased use by bicyclists and pedestrians of all ages and abilities, and utilize universal design characteristics when appropriate."
–USDOT Bicycle and Pedestrian Facility Design Flexibility Memorandum
https://1.usa.gov/1fXLjTi
AND NOW, FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT…
"During his two terms (1995-97 and 2001-03) as Mayor of Bogatá [Columbia], Anatas Mockus sought ‘change without violence’ using theatrical measures to educate and engage citizens in civic reforms… Famously, [he] hired 420 mimes to make fun of traffic violators; this entertaining public ridicule reduced traffic fatalities by >50%…"
–From a slideshow of examples from the McKinsey report How to Make a Great City https://bit.ly/17p97xt
[See the full 6 case study slideshow: https://bit.ly/17p97xt]
[See also photo at: https://hvrd.me/18TmofG]
from CenterLines, the e-newsletter of the National Center for Bicycling & Walking.

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[B’ Spokes: Kinda funny it’s almost universally acknowledge that drivers do not stop for pedestrians in crosswalks but so few pedestrian crosswalk stings.]

Via Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center (PBIC)

Click here to view resource

As policymakers continue to encourage active transportation in the United States, there is increasing importance by all road users to understand right-of-way laws. Also, engineers and planners should implement engineers and planners the most effective crosswalk marking patterns. One possible traffic control measure has been used to delineate a crossing location. The effect of various crosswalk marking patterns should also be understood, in terms of which ones are most effective at causing motorists to yield the right-of-way to pedestrians. The purpose of this paper is to examine the past and current research on crosswalk marking design and to come to conclusions about the best types of marking patterns under various traffic and roadway conditions.

General crosswalk information is given in the paper, such as guidelines supplied by the Uniform Vehicle Code and the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, which provides a background of current recommendations in the United States for crosswalk design and installation. This paper also includes a brief description of the decades-long debate about whether uncontrolled crosswalks are safest for pedestrians when they are marked or unmarked. The paper then examines the current research about effective marking patterns. Different patterns’ effects on pedestrian collisions and their relative visibility are discussed, as well as best practices from across the country and abroad.

We conclude that, because high-visibility markings are more easily detected by motorists and have been shown to lead to a reduction in pedestrian-vehicle collisions when compared to transverse line crosswalks, transportation agencies should install high-visibility markings at uncontrolled crossing locations whenever a determination is made to provide marked crosswalks. Installing the most visible crosswalk marking styles is important to increase the likelihood that approaching motorists will see marked crosswalks in time to become aware of the possibility of pedestrians crossing the street ahead. At crossing locations controlled by traffic signals or stop signs, the key recommendation is to mark all legs of the intersection with a crosswalk in order to indicate to pedestrians and motorists the preferred locations for pedestrians to cross. More broadly, policymakers in the United States need to come to a consensus on right-of-way laws for crosswalks. If all states are consistent in how they enforce crossing areas, pedestrian and motorist compliance with the rules of the road should also be more consistent, and improve.

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transverse crosswalks were “essentially not visible”

[B’ Spokes: Has anyone else notice that MDOT and a lot of local DOTs like using essentially invisible crosswalks and they like have a crosswalk on just one side of a intersection (the other leg with no crosswalk). Any wonder that Maryland is ranked with the 7th highest pedestrian fatality rate?]

BICYCLE ACCOUNT
GUIDELINES
Measuring, tracking and reporting progress
to inspire better biking in your community by the League of American Bicyclists

[B’ Spokes: I thought it might be helpful to pull this out of the report as if Maryland likes to brag it ranked in the top ten bike friendly states then they should be doing all of this,]

1.Bicycle traffic data

Bicycle traffic data	Data Source
Required Data
x Bicycle mode share*	x American Community Survey (United States)
x Bicycle counts from (pref. 3 – 5 locations)	x National Household Travel Survey (United States)
x Average bicycle trip distance travelled per day	x Statistics Canada (Canada)
Desired Data
x Cyclist age, gender, trip purpose, income, profession and home location	x National Household Travel Survey (United States)
x Historic development of bicycle trip distance and mode share	x Regional Trip Diary Surveys

2. Infrastructure

Infrastructure	Data Source
Required Data
x Length of bicycle network, in terms of off street facilities (paved and un-paved), and on street facilities (bicycle lanes, cycle tracks, bicycle boulevards)	x Public Works Department
x Public bicycle parking*	x Planning / Bicycle Planning Department
x Brief description of planned or current bicycle projects
Desired Data
x Resident poll/survey identifying:	x On-line surveys
o Location of the most needed bicycle facility	x Telephone surveys
o Location of the most needed bicycle parking
o Best existing bicycle facility
o Best end–of-trip facilities / bike parking
In order to create interest in the result, generating “worst” and “best” lists for bicycle infrastructure is especially useful for readers.

3. Cycling Quality

Infrastructure	Data Source
Required Data
x Bicycle-motorist collision data*	x NHTSA/NCSA (United States)
x Bicycle fatality and injuries*	x Road safety agencies
x Collision locations
Desired Data
Residents’ perception of cycling quality, with parameters such as:	x On-line surveys
x Perception of amount of off-street facilities*	x Telephone surveys
x Perception of amount of on-street facilities*
x Perceived safety when cycling*
x Overall quality of the city to cycle in*
x Quality and availability of bicycle parking*
x Quality of maintenance of on and off-street bicycle facilities*
x Quality of community leadership, dedication, and responsiveness to bicycling community
x Feasibility of combining bicycling and transit trips*
x What could get residents to cycle more / primary deterrents
x Importance of cycling conditions based on gender, age, occupation, and location of home/work/school

https://www.bikeleague.org/sites/lab.huang.radicaldesigns.org/files/Bicycle_Account_Guidelines.pdf

Via Irreverent observations from an urban cyclist
A gun shot a man in Washington, D.C early this morning. The victim suffered serious injuries, but is expected to survive. Police found the man injured at the scene, but there were no witnesses. The man was not wearing a bullet-proof vest. It is also unclear if the man was drunk or distractedly walking. There is no crosswalk in that section of road. Distracted walking is increasingly common and studies show that it is responsible for more and more pedestrian injuries. Many state legislatures are considering laws to ban distracted walking.
The investigation caused police to shut down the street and traffic was detoured. This deeply inconvenienced a lot of people, many of whom became late for work by upwards of a few minutes. The man was shot in a blind spot on the road, where the road bends and sight lines are bad. The road also narrows at that point.
The gun did not remain at the scene and police are considering launching a full investigation. So far, police have not released the man’s identity nor any information about the type of gun that shot him. It is unclear if the gun lost control or accidentally discharged. The police have also not determined whether charges will be brought. Anyone with information should call the TIPS line, police said.
UPDATE: The traffic was really, really bad. The road was closed for more than two hours.
UPDATE UPDATE: The police have re-opened the street and traffic is once again flowing normally.
https://talesfromthesharrows.blogspot.com/2013/08/if-crime-reporting-were-like-crash.html

B’ Spokes: My own thoughts on this topic start off with an imaginary experiment where they put traffic lights at an intersection of an indoor mall. In that situation you can certainly imagine a lot of noncompliance with a red light. It’s the same for us, it just takes a bit longer to make a good understandable case. Here’s Lloyd Alter attempt at it:
https://www.treehugger.com/bikes/war-cyclists-gets-cranked-notch-toronto.html

B’ Spokes: A bit of an insight on why "but cyclists don’t pay road taxes" comes up or what they call "free rider problem". I found it interesting.
https://www.bbc.com/future/story/20130212-why-you-really-hate-cyclists
Continue reading “The psychology of why cyclists enrage car drivers”

By Matt Swider, Tech Radar
Volvo is introducing the world’s first cyclist detection system with full auto-brake, the company announced today, adding to its already five-star-rated safety features.
This is good news for cyclists who share the road with cars, especially in Europe. About 50 percent of all cyclists killed in European traffic have collided with a car, according to accident data cited by Volvo.
The Swedish manufacturer said that its new system can prevent collisions when a car and bike are headed in the same direction.
An instant warning and full braking power is applied to the Volvo car if the cyclist suddenly swerves out in front of the car and a collision is imminent.
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https://www.techradar.com/news/car-tech/volvo-debuts-world-s-first-cyclist-detection-system-with-full-auto-brake-1141471