Category: Biking Elsewhere

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‘Helmet of Justice’ uses seven cameras to make a black box for bicyclists

B’ Spokes: Hit and runs make up ~20% of cyclists fatalities nation wide and in Maryland it seems too little is done to bring these people to justice. Even if you can identify the vehicle you can have an up hill battle if you can’t ID the driver. Maybe this device will help, a bit pricey but I do like the thought processes behind it.
https://mobile.theverge.com/2013/2/25/4029248/helmet-of-justice-uses-cameras-as-a-black-box-for-bicyclists

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Life or Death: America’s Crosswalks

[There’s some pics around Baltimore in the article]
Via Comeback City
There are some good crosswalks out there, but there are heck of a lot more that are pretty mediocre. Many have the striped paint worn away and are in dismal shape. Others are in okay condition, but just not prominent enough to forcefully convey to oncoming drivers that road space is for pedestrians too! The sad state of crosswalks extends to the heart of cities, even areas that garner walkscore.com ‘s prestigious “walkers paradise” rating. Next time you are on a walk, notice the street crossings. Are they prominent? Are they in good condition? Do they slow car traffic?
In health circles, advocates preach that walking is good for your health. That is not true if you get mowed over by a car, truck, or SUV. Walking can be deadly. In 2009, 4092 pedestrians were killed and 59,000 injured in the US according to walkinginfo.org According to the New York Daily News, “about 19% of the 770 pedestrian fatalities from 2005 to 2009 (in New York)- roughly 150 deaths-were people crossing at an intersection with the walk signal in their favor.” Over the five year period, 335 deaths occurred at intersections controlled by traffic signals. To me, this means crosswalks are not doing a good enough job, and there is room for innovation and upgrades.
In the 2010 Pedestrian Traffic Fatalities by State, prepared for the Governors Highway Safety Association, the study makes no meaningful analysis regarding the quality or type of crosswalks in pedestrian safety, nor does it dive into vehicle speeds or road design in areas where pedestrians frequent. It does offer impotent conclusions like “pedestrian fatalities are affected by the amount of walking” and “no single countermeasure can make a substantial impact.” Pedestrian infrastructure deserves an out of the cubicle analysis.
Jeff Speck, author of Walkable City, argues walkability is the single factor to attracting and retaining business and entrepreneurial talent. Surely, playing frogger from one side of the street to the other is not part of the recipe for Speck’s walkable prosperity. Kaid Benfield has a persuasive post about poor walking conditions across America where he points out, that in 1973, sixty percent of American kids walked to school and by 2006, kids walking to school had dropped to 13 percent. Should walking to school in America be an unusual thing? I don’t think so.
I write this post, because crosswalk (and street) design does not consume enough of the discussion about safety, walking for health, or economic revitalization. It should. Pedestrian planners are often not the ones with the big influence at DOTs or MPOs and their influence is not heard enough. A notable exception may now be Los Angeles. LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is championing the investment of 53 “Continental Crosswalks” starting implementation near transit lines and schools. These crosswalks will have a vehicle stop line, have wider stripes, and be more prominent than LA’s other 5250 crossings. LA has recognized the challenge and is beginning to overhaul its pedestrian infrastructure.
If your town, suburb, or city needs better crosswalks, let people know. It may save someone’s life. I’ll conclude with a slideshow of good and not so good crosswalks.
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https://comebackcity.us/2013/02/08/americas-inadequate-crosswalks/

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Bicycling Means Business: How Cycling Enriches People and Cities

by Tanya Snyder, Streets Blog
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Business Is Booming, Thanks to Bikes
As Janette Sadik-Khan told the Women’s Bike Forum, businesses on Eighth and Ninth Avenues in New York saw a 50 percent increase in sales receipts after protected bike lanes were installed on the corridor. On San Francisco’s Valencia Street, two-thirds of the merchants said bike lanes had been good for business. If a business has a bike-share station out front, bike-share users are more likely to patronize it.
Chuck Marohn of Strong Towns told the story of a Memphis neighborhood where people, without authorization, spent $500 on paint and made their own bike lanes. Six months later, commercial rents on the strip had doubled, and all the storefronts – half of which had been vacant – were full.
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One Mile of Wider Asphalt = 600 Miles of Bike Lanes
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https://dc.streetsblog.org/2013/03/08/bicycling-means-business-how-cycling-enriches-people-and-cities/

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Foods That Heal

To mend muscles and fix fractures more quickly, look no further than your local market.
By Kelly Bastone, Bicycling
WHEN AN INJURY SIDELINES A CYCLIST, the natural reaction is to cut back on calories until it’s time to ride—and burn energy—again. But the healing process demands fuel, too. "It’s like fixing a house," says sports dietitian Cynthia Sass, RD, CSSD. "A crack in the foundation requires raw materials to patch things back together, and in the body those raw materials come from what we eat."
Proteins, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants help heal wounds, relax stressed tendons and mend fractured bones more quickly. So in addition to your doc’s advice to elevate and ice, choose the right combinations of foods to speed recovery and get back on your bike. Here’s where to aim your cart at the Stop & Shop.
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https://www.bicycling.com/training-nutrition/nutrition-weight-loss/foods-heal?cm_mmc=Facebook-_-Bicycling-_-Content-Slideshow-_-foods-heal

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No Respect – Pedestrian Crossing [could be anywhere]

[B’ Spokes: Things like this happen all over yet there still is the persistence that distracted pedestrians are the problem. I will further assert if this is a typical pedestrian experience (which I think it is) it is no wounder more and more pedestrians are choosing to cross mid-block. We need to enforce traffic laws on BOTH pedestrians and motorists.]

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Designing Communities for Longevity: The Blue Zones Project

by Angie Schmitt, Streets Blog
Is your neighborhood designed to make people healthy or sick? With the right characteristics, the place where you live could add years to your life.
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The team boiled down their research to nine principles for longevity and health. The number one principle? “Move Naturally.”
“The world’s longest-lived people don’t pump iron, run marathons or join gyms,” the researchers wrote. “Instead, they live in environments that constantly nudge them into moving without thinking about it.”
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https://dc.streetsblog.org/2013/02/08/designing-communities-for-longevity-the-blue-zones-project/
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[B’ Spokes: Note that Maryland ranks 33 in terms of longevity (below average.) Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_life_expectancy ]