Category: Biking in Baltimore

Update: Nate says call 311 or https://baltimore.customerservicerequest.org/web_intake_balt/Home.mvc/Index

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You can get a brief overview of the issue here: https://www.seeclickfix.com/issues/27125?utm_source=activity_notice&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=pois

What you don’t see:

I year ago: I wrote the SHA Bike/ped coordinator.and they did not respond.
7 months ago: was told to fill out a form and it was never forwarded to the correct agency, so again no response, no action.
4 months ago: The State Director of Bicycle and Pedestrian Access. forward the conversation to Nate Evens, saying it was a city issue, again no response and no action.

So if I can, please write Nate and ask for some Share the Road Signs on Pennington Ave.
nate.evans@baltimorecity.gov

Thanks.

In the article I am reacting to Michael Dresser wonders why Baltimore cyclists run red lights that are not designed to detect them, at intersections that are not designed to comfortably accommodate both cyclists and motor vehicles. With the implied question why are cyclists more comfortable with traffic spaced out so it can easily pass a cyclist and not so comfortable in densely packed queued traffic where passing a cyclist is impossible?

Gee, of course this must be because bicyclists "act as if no laws apply to them" just as Raquel Nelson acted as if no laws applied to her when crossing a street in Georgia with no accommodations for her to cross. Let’s blame and prosecute non-motorists for not fitting in designs just for motorists convenience. In Baltimore let’s drastically cut the bike budget because people are driving less and let’s take road safety funds and use that to help build a Grand Prix track . After all that Michael wants me to brow beat fellow cyclists?

With no organizers, with no central call to action, cyclists (as well as pedestrians) across the nation are engaged in mass civil disobedience protesting car centric designs, protesting having to stop for no cross traffic what so ever by lights that are purposely designed not to detect a cyclist even though options of better detectors and even simple adjustment have been around for the last 20 years or so.

We are not the ones acting as if no laws apply to us, it is the road engineers that treat public space as if we are still in the 1960s, thinking cars come first and those "other" things sometimes referred to as "people" come last if at all.

But Michael does have a point, we can learn to be comfortable in traffic as well as riding safer and thus be more readily to obey traffic laws. Are you going to get this education in school? No. How about that extensive driver training all new drivers must go through? No, not there either. Even if you go through traffic law enforcement training our police officers have to go through, you are still not going to get the proper education on what constitutes riding safe in traffic. Yet somehow the general population of bike riders is supposed to figure this out on their own, so let’s blame that on the cyclists. 🙁

Now let’s bring in a little bit of public education that is currently being discussed; the R4-11 (Bicyclists May Use Full Lane) sign. Can you imagine this going up around every light that cyclists are running? Let’s encourage cyclists to become part of traffic and let’s tell motorists that cyclists belong in the lane rather then trying to sneak along the outskirts of traffic. I think this might help but do you see any R4-11 signs around?

We need better accommodations and better education. If you see cyclists running lights where bike lanes are present or on roads with the R4-11 frequently displayed get back to me and I’ll give them grief, till then then the ball is in the governments court to do something other then just accommodating cars and education just for driving cars.
Continue reading “Bicyclists should be aware … that they are engaged in a protest of mass civil disobedience for change”

I found this touching. https://www.facebook.com/notes/nathan-krasnopoler/letter-to-nathan-from-his-mother-susan-cohen-at-his-funeral/205888822797495

[B’ Spokes: Michael Dresser dresses down those who think the lawsuit against the driver who killed Nathan is outrageous. While I am going to quote a bit but I still encourage you to click the Baltimore Sun link to show support for responsible writing and if you want read the rest of the article, it is very good ]
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Civil settlement isn’t perfect, but it’s the best justice we can offer
By Michael Dresser

…
It didn’t take long for people to jump to the conclusion that the Krasnopoler family had benefited from a windfall that would let them move to Easy Street at the expense of their dead relative. Many people, it seems, have bought into the notion that all tort claims are scams perpetrated by greedy shysters — a proposition that’s easy to accept if one has never been the victim of another’s negligence.

What’s been lost here is the fact that without a civil penalty, the only sanction the defendant would have faced for a deadly negligence while driving would have been a $220 fine, plus points on her driving record.

There was nothing about this case that suggested criminal prosecution was warranted. We don’t put people in jail for making simple driving errors, even when they have fatal consequences.

But it’s a good thing that families have civil remedies to turn to when the traffic courts can dole out little more than a slap on the wrist. A monetary judgment is an imperfect form of justice, but it’s all we have in such cases. Whatever the Krasnopolers collected, it came at a terrible cost. I don’t begrudge them a penny.
…
https://www.baltimoresun.com/features/commuting/bs-md-dresser-getting-there-0815-20110814,0,6809815.story

Jeremy Guthrie is a pitcher for Major League Baseball’s Baltimore Orioles. An avid urban cyclist, Jeremy is a mainstay on Baltimore’s busy streets. On July 27th, the Orioles played the Blue Jays in Toronto, providing Jeremy an opportunity to cycle through T.O.’s streets. Spacing caught up with him at the Rogers Centre and discussed his thoughts on cycling, the city, and what inspires him to bike everywhere.
…

Continue reading “Jeremy Guthrie on bicycling”

[B’ Spokes: To highlight something note worthy in WBAL article.]

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A memorial fund has been established in Krasnopoler’s name that will benefit the student chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery.

To donate click here, select “other” and then enter Nathan Krasnopoler Memorial Fund next to “designation.” Checks can also be written to the JHU Whiting School of Engineering.
Continue reading “A memorial fund has been established in Nathan Krasnopoler’s name”

About Nathan Krasnopoler

https://www.wbal.com/absolutenm​/articlefiles/78265-Father%20o​f%20hopkins%20student%20interv​iew.mp3

[B’ Spokes: I thought I share a Facebook wall post from my daughter to encourage all of you to take your kids biking.]
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1. How we met? …Bumped into eachother at a concert? 😛 what a silly question.
2. Your name on my phone? Dad.
3. Have I ever liked you? I love you!
4. What I like about you? You’re caring, fun, funny, and loving. You’re great to talk to and you inspire me to follow my dreams.
5. What I dislike about you? Its an obvious one but- I don’t get to see you enough.
6. Favorite memory if us? Way too many to chose a favorite. Bike to work day, 36 mi bike to anappolis, my first long (20mi) bike ride [when she was 8] on the trail that I can’t remember the name of [NCR], you buying me Oreos when I was sick, picking me up from school on the back of your bike, and the list goes on. 🙂
7. First impression? N/a
8. How close are we? So close it’s like we’re family. 😉
9. On a scale from 1-10, how cool would I rate you? 10,000,000,000!

[B’ Spokes kind of a sad commentary about our traffic laws when a civil suite is needed to get an unfit driver off the road.]
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by Michael Dresser – Baltimore Sun

Nathan Krasnopoler, the Johns Hopkins University student who was struck and critically injured by a car while riding his bicycle along University Parkway in February, died Wednesday morning at Gilchrist Center in Howard County, his family announced.

Meanwhile, a lawyer for the family said the 83-year-old driver who struck Krasnopoler has agreed to forfeit her license.

Krasnopoler, a 20-year-old sophomore, never regained consciousness after suffering brain injuries when he collided Feb. 26 with a car that turned into his path. According to the family, he died peacefully with his family by his side almost a week after after entering hospice care Aug. 4.

A Baltimore woman, Jeannette Marie Walke of Baltimore pleaded guilty May 11 to negligent driving and failure to yield right of way to a bicyclist in a designated lane. She paid a fine of $220, about half the amount she could have been penalized has a police officer not made a mistake in writing the citations, without appearing in court.

The case provoked intense interest among Baltimore-area bicyclist after a Baltimore police spokesman initially indicated that no charges would be filed. The Baltimore State’s Attorney’s Office decided after an investigation that charges were warranted.

Andrew Slutkin, a lawyer for the Krasnopoler family, said a $10 million lawsuit filed against Walke was settled several weeks ago.

Slutkin said the monetary amount of the settlement is confidential but added that "there was a significant recovery from the driver that recognized how special Nathan was." In an unusual twist, the attorney said the settlement comes from the defendant’s own assets as well as her insurance company’s. He said that was the first time he has seen that happen in 20 years of practice.

As part of the settlement, Slutkin said, Walke agreed at the insistence of the Krasnopoler family to permanently give up her driver’s license.

"They would not consider any settlement that allowed her to continue driving," he said. "She’s off the road permanently, which is a good thing."

Continue reading “Bicyclist struck near Hopkins in Feb. dies”

Nathan passed away peacefully this morning. He was at the Gilchrist Hospice in Columbia, MD. His family was with him.

Continue reading “Nathan passed away today.”