Category: Biking Elsewhere

Updated critique of traffic controls with proposals for change based on a trust in human nature rather than an obsession with controlling it. Includes clips from Newsnight report

Continue reading “Every corner is a crosswalk”

By Matt Wempe, [Bike] League State and Local Advocacy Coordinator

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Slower Speeds on Neighborhood Streets

Speeding and its negative impacts on community safety came up in multiple sessions at both events. Research shows that at 20 miles per hour, a person has a 95 percent chance of surviving a crash. As the speed increases, the chance for survival decreases. Many communities already have slower speed limits near schools for this reason.

In 2011, the Oregon State Legislature passed a law allowing transportation agencies greater control of speed limits on neighborhood greenways. Under certain conditions, a 20mph speed limit can be posted on these streets, five miles per hour less than the normal state-mandated limit.

The law was championed by the Portland Bureau of Transportation as a way to make its neighborhood greenway network safer, more enjoyable streets for walking and biking. PBOT released a map of streets that will receive the 20mph speed limit and has already started posting the new signs.

Removing the Incentive for DUI Hit and Runs

This is an issue that the media has been reporting on for years. Many states have harsher penalties for hit and run fatalities resulting from a drunk driver than a sober driver. This creates a legal incentive for a drunk (or even buzzed) driver to flee the scene of a collision. Victims cannot receive immediate aid, and no one can be held accountable.

Several states recently undertook efforts to close this legal loophole.

• In Colorado, the legislature approved a bill that treated both a drunk and sober hit and run as a Class 5 felony. Attendees at the Colorado Bike Summit gave a big boost as they met with legislators and spoke of the law’s importance. Bicycle Colorado also made this bill a legislative priority.
• Pennsylvania passed similar legislation in 2011, though political compromise created an imperfect solution. The Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia sought the change in response to a fatality, giving their members a positive way to respond to the tragedy.

These types of legislation are another tool for advocates to create safer streets. Talk to your neighbors tonight and ask them – do you want lower speeds on our street? Chances are they’ll say yes, and that you’ll have a new advocate (even if they don’t ride a bike). Expect to see these types of innovative approaches on the 2013 Bicycle Friendly States survey!

Elsewhere in cycling advocacy…

• Kudos to the Colorado State Patrol for ticketing a driver who followed two cyclists down a road, honking at them and impeding vehicle traffic. Meaningful enforcement like this is a necessary part of upholding laws that protect cyclists. The video has been uploaded to YouTube and the riders say they’ll be donating any money raised through the footage to Bicycle Colorado.
• The Georgia Department of Transportation has just adopted a statewide Complete Streets policy. It’s the first in the country to reference the NACTO Urban Bikeway Design Guide as a prominent reference for engineers. The policy was born when at the 2012 Ride to the Capitol, where a GDOT official wondered why advocates were chanting “Complete the Streets!”  Georgia Bikes! and and the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition pointed out it was because GDOT didn’t have a policy, and the rest is history.
• The Kansas Department of Transportation is asking communities about their transportation priorities.  This is a great opportunity to speak up for safe biking!  The state just opted out of the Recreational Trails program, but committed to spending $2 million for trails.  Head over to KanBikeWalk to learn more.

Continue reading “Safer Streets for Everyone”

By Joe Coscarelli, New York Magazine
New York City’s failure to prosecute, or even investigate, most drivers involved in the deaths of pedestrians and cyclists has become an increasingly visible issue thanks to advocacy from websites like StreetsBlog.org and Gothamist and heartbreaking injustices like the death of Brooklyn’s Clara Heyworth last year. Today, the New York Times follows up an article on the issue this summer with its most forceful report to date, beginning with the story of 21-year-old Roxana Buta, who was killed on Broadway in May by a turning dump truck whose driver could not be bothered to stop but was eventually tracked down and not charged nor ticketed. Her mother is now suing.
"She is quite insistent that this not get treated like ‘Hey, that’s life in the big city,’" said a lawyer for Buta’s family. They are not alone, as the cause has made its way to the City Council, which is looking to expand the twenty-person investigations unit and reassess insane rules like, "Departmental procedure also prohibits officers from writing even a ticket unless they personally witnessed the accident."
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https://nymag.com/daily/intel/2012/09/nyc-still-shrugging-at-pedestrian-killings.html

[B’ Spokes: Two things to highlight here, that are cool:]
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Arlington — Arlington police officers will soon start handing out information on the rules of the road to bicyclists around town as part of an educational initiative to make roads safer for cyclists and drivers, according to APD Traffic Officer Paul Conroy and Captain Richard Flynn.
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Local police departments are still adjusting to the Bicyclist Safety Bill signed into law in January 2009, which authorizes police to fine drivers for “dooring,” or opening vehicle doors in cyclists’ path; mandates bicycle-specific training for new police recruits; and allows police to stop and fine cyclists using the same procedure as for motorists, among other changes.
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[B’ Spokes: Did you catch that? We need a law to mandate bicycle-specific training for new police recruits, otherwise they just don’t know. Over the years I have collected stories of police officers incorrectly ticketing cyclists for pedestrian specific violations as well as motorcycle specific violations, not to mention having a poor understand what exactly is a cyclists right-of-way.
I’ll point out Article 9 of Maryland’s Declaration of Rights: "That no power of suspending Laws or the execution of Laws, unless by, or derived from the Legislature, ought to be exercised, or allowed."
Yet we allow the police to be as a mater of routine to be totally ignorant on a section of law that applies to a significant amount of the population.]
Continue reading “Arlington PD begins bikes initiative”

[B’ Spokes: I would love to see this kind of thing happening here.]
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by STEVE CASIMIRO
Cyclists have been harassed by drivers for years with little to no recourse, but thanks to technology and changing attitudes among law enforcement, justice increasingly is being served: The driver who hassled two road cyclists in Colorado this week by following them and honking his horn obsessively for three minutes has been charged with four misdemeanors by the Colorado State Patrol.
Seventy-five year old James Ernst, 75, of Erie, Colorado, was cited for improper use of his horn, two counts of harassment, and — this is the most delightfully schadenfreudenistic part — impeding traffic. Ernst was caught on video by Dirk Friel, a former pro roadie, developer of TrainingPeaks software, and coach, who used his iPhone to capture the incident.
“I’m happy they were able to find [Ernst], and maybe something like this won’t happen again with him,” Friel told Bicycle Retailer.
CSP Trooper Joshua Mills said, “Together with victims and witnesses, CSP worked with the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office in an effort to find and correctly charge the alleged driver. The Colorado State Patrol wishes to remind everyone to share the road with courtesy with everyone, regardless whether they are pedestrians, bikers, or other motor vehicles.”
Continue reading “Horn-Crazy Driver Busted for Harassing Cyclists”

by Angie Schmitt, Streets Blog

There’s a new report out from the Centers for Disease Control that finds nearly 40 percent of American adults had not walked for a ten-minute period in the previous seven days. Yikes.

Believe it or not, that’s an improvement over the 2005 results, when just over half of all Americans had found the time and energy for a ten-minute walk in the course of a regular week.

Could this somehow be tied to the fact that in this country we’ve developed a transportation system where $1.7 billion urban interchanges are a matter of course, but where Congress takes aim at a much less expensive national program to help children not get killed while walking to school?

Yes, according to Walk Arlington’s Commuter Page Blog:

Despite the encouraging news, experts conclude that far too many people are still not getting enough exercise to improve their health — less than half of U.S. adults get the recommended amount of physical activity of 2.5 hours a week. The CDC says that walkable, pedestrian-inclusive communities are key to encouraging Americans to travel by foot. The report encourages employers and state and local governments to support walkability — and fitness — by developing new sidewalks, paths, and other safe places that encourage people to walk for work, errands, and recreation.

This news comes on the heels of another CDC report containing alarming new data on U.S. obesity rates. There is not a state in the union where less than 20 percent of the population is clinically obese. The car-oriented South and Midwest regions of the country ranked worst.

Continue reading “Walking Rates in America Improve, Still Pitiful”

Continue reading “Maybe they need a relaxing hobby”

From the National Women’s Bicycling Summit … can a person with 9 kids give up her car? Sure. Watch the inspiring video:

Continue reading “Motorist would treat cyclists with a lot more respect if this were true”