Category: Biking in Baltimore

Last year my friend was dragged to death at the age of 29 by the back wheels of a commercial vehicle while crossing the street legally as a pedestrian in a pedestrian-friendly town. Two links:
https://www.thebostontraveler.com/graduate-student-killed-crossing-the-street/
https://chemiche.blogspot.com/2008/03/killer-truck-backwheels-where-poor-man.html
As you can imagine, we spent a great deal of time investigating the death, and the following are my conclusions.

Trucks have no idea what the back end of their vehicle is doing. They don’t know exactly where the back wheels go, they don’t know if they have struck someone with their back wheels, and they really can’t be held responsible for that. The issue has nothing to do with people valuing the life of a bicyclist or favoring cars.

Perhaps the conclusion is that, given how little control drivers have over their rear wheels, 18 wheeler container trucks have no business driving on most city streets near pedestrians. Businesses could use smaller delivery trucks or get their deliveries at night.

Realistically, they won’t stop using 18 wheelers at least not in the near future. It’s left up to everyone else to stay far far away from these behemoths.

"The study found that over the 10-year period following the repeal of the National Maximum Speed Law, about 12,500 deaths took place due to the increased speed limits across the U.S."

It amazes me how society feels that going fast is more important then death.
Continue reading “Road Fatalities and Injuries Up Since 55 MPH Speed Limit Repealed”

A 67-year-old bicyclist was killed Tuesday morning in Baltimore’s Charles North neighborhood after he became entangled in the rear wheels of a white box truck, said a city police spokesman.

Police, who said the truck driver left the scene and was probably unaware of the accident, are seeking the truck with unknown tags.

Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the truck was southbound on Maryland Avenue at 11:38 a.m. and was making a right turn onto West Lafayette Avenue when the biker, who was directly behind the truck, struck the truck’s right rear wheels and became entangled in the wheels.

Agent Donny Moses, another police spokesman, identified the bicyclist Wednesday as John R. Yates of the 2800 block of Maryland Ave. in Baltimore. Medics pronounced Yates dead at the scene. He suffered massive trauma to his abdomen area and to his left leg, according to Moses.

Anyone with information is asked to call the city police accident investigation unit at 410-396-2606.

Continue reading “Bicyclist killed by truck in Charles North; driver sought”

I ran across this interesting paper and I thought I would share. I have heard reports of how effective bike patrols are from IPMBA and other sources but I had no idea that Baltimore was one such experiment.

"Baltimore started experimenting with bicycle patrols in March 1972 because police cars had difficulty traveling through narrow alleys. Crime dropped 50% in six months of the four beats patrolled by bike from 8 AM to midnight (Bigart, 1972)."

I also found this of interest:

"Technology-dependent police officers became isolated from the communities they served.
…
A study by the Kansas City Police Department attempted to evaluate the effectiveness of randomized patrolling in marked police cars. They study found that increasing or decreasing the frequency of patrols had no significant impact on the level of crimes believed to be deterred by police patrols and the change in levels of patrolling was not noticed by citizens."
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We feel police are isolated from the communities they serve and is crime a problem. Gee I wounder what ever can we do to solve these issues?
Continue reading “The Rise, Fall and Rebirth of Bicycle Police”

Lafayette and Maryland Avenue near where you enter the Jones Falls Trail. Looked very bad when I went by.

There was a firetruck, police and patrol car, caution tape. I said out-loud, “Oh, please don’t let it be a cyclist.”

But it was. I saw a bike. And I saw a cyclist on the ground, face-down, still wearing a helmet. He (?) looked bad. (I certainly didn’t take any cell phone photos because I’m not deranged.) As we headed North, I heard an ambulance in the distance. Given that there was caution tape blocking the scene and that no one on the firetruck seemed to have moved the cyclist, I can only assume the worst, though I hope the worst is not true.

This is a difficult alert to pen as I have a great deal of respect for our Police Department and the fine officers that serve this City. But as outlined in our Bike Master Plan as adopted by City Council:

---

Training specific to bicycle safety and enforcement is not currently provided at the Baltimore
Police Academy and bicycle safety or enforcement issues are rarely mentioned at daily roll
call, the venue for new information or updated enforcement instructions. Currently, enforcing
laws related to bicycle operations and safety in traffic is not among the department’s
highest priorities…

Recommendation 1: Develop partnership with … Baltimore City Police Department, and the Mayor’s Bicycle Advisory
Committee to identify and address bicycle-vehicle safety measures through enforcement and new or
amended laws.
Measurable Outcome: Convene committee and implement recommendations by 2008.

Recommendation 2: Provide training for Baltimore police officers regarding bicycle safety laws and issues
faced by on-street bicyclists.
■ Assess existing bicycle training for police officers and address gaps.
■ Ensure understanding of bicycles as vehicles, how to determine fault in and document crashes, and
bicycle-motorized vehicle interaction.
■ Increase number of police on bicycle mounted patrol.
Measurable Outcome: Police Academy curriculum and
ongoing training will include bicycle law and safety
information by 2007.

Recommendation 3: Identify the most common conflicting
movements between bicycle and vehicle users and
determine enforcement mechanisms to mitigate these
conflicts.
■ Develop counter measures program including training
for officers, public service announcements, engineering,
etc.
Measurable Outcome: Counter measures program
developed and implemented by 2009.

---

Despite getting a name and contact info to get Recommendation 1 rolling we are not getting any return emails or return phone calls. We have been patient and trying to work within the system to no avail so we are sending out this alert. Our issues are quality of life issues, our issues are for the safety and well being of our children, our issues are supported by the Mayor, something needs to be done!
Continue reading “Paging Baltimore City Police, White Courtesy Phone Please”

[From our mail bag:]

I am writing to let you know that the bike rack in front of the circuit court house is COMPLETELY UNSAFE. My bike and I suspect others were stolen on August 3rd, 2009 while I was having breakfast a block away. I reported for jury duty and since I live in Charles Village I always pedal downtown. I choose to pedal most of the year as regular transportation even though I own a motorcycle and a work truck.

The racks around town, I understand, are park at your own risk. However, there is a tremendous false sense of security at that particular one. When the police showed up we looked in the trash can next to the rack and there was another cut heavy duty cable lock there. My lock, I suspect was taken with the thief. I actually chased him, but he was too far away to catch and on two wheels. I believe this person is targeting that rack because people think their property will be reasonably safe with a dozen or so law enforcement officers all around. Big mistake. Also, this thief or thieves have figured out that the theft won’t even be reported to police until at least lunch time.

I also wrote the mayor and I sincerely hope something is done to address this. People shouldn’t lose their days pay from work to serve jury duty and have their property stolen from a city owned bike rack in front of so many police officers and a circuit courthouse.

– RB
Continue reading “Circuit Court bike rack”

What will it take for the city to wake up? I have been biking to this campus for 4 years now and have been repeatedly assaulted. Now when it happens I don’t even call the cops. Its no use.
Continue reading “biking to Hopkins”

Whoo-hoo Seattle, the sun is out! Let’s discuss a few things before you fumble with swapping the unused ski rack for the unused bike rack on the Subaru.

So yes, you’ve noticed the sun is out, and hey!- maybe it would be cool to to some bike riding. Let’s keep in mind that the sun came out of all 600,000 of us, so for the most part, you’re not the only one who noticed. Please remember that when you walk into my shop on a bright, sunny Saturday morning. It will save you from looking like a complete *censored* that huffs "Why are there so many people here?"

Are we all on the same page now about it being sunny outside? Have we all figured out that we’re not the only clever people that feel sunny days are good for bike riding? Great. I want to kiss all of you on your forehead for sharing this moment with me. Put your vitamin D starved fingers in mine, and we’ll move on together to some pointers that will make life easier.

SOME POINTERS FOR THE PHONE:

– I don’t know what size of bike you need. The only thing that I can tell over the phone is that you sound fat. I don’t care how tall you are. I don’t care how long your inseam is. Don’t complain to me that you don’t want to come ALL THE WAY down to the bike shop to get fitted for a bike. I have two hundred bikes in my inventory. I will find one that fits you. Whether you come from the north or the south, my shop is downhill. Pretend you’re going to smell a fart, ball up, and roll your fat ass down here.

– Don’t get high and call me. Write it down, call me later. When I have four phone lines ringing, and a herdlet
of people waiting for help, I can’t deal with you sitting there "uuuuhhh"-ing and "uuummm"-ing while your brain tries to put together some cheeto-xbox-fixie conundrum. We didn’t get disconnected, I left you on hold to figure your shit out.

-I really do need to see your bike to know what is wrong with it. You’ve already figured out that when you car makes a noise, the mechanic needs to see it. When your TV goes blank, a technician needs to see it. I can tell you, if there is one thing I’ve learned from you *censored*ing squirrels, it’s that "doesn’t shift right" means your bike could need a slight cable adjustment, or you might just need to stop backing into it with the Subaru. Bring it in, I’ll let you know for sure.

– No, I don’t know how much a good bike costs. For some, spending $500 dollars is a kingly sum. For others, $500 won’t buy you one good wheel. You really need to have an idea of what you want, because every one of you raccoons "doesn’t want to spend too much".

Continue reading “A few things from the bike shop. (best of craigslist)”

Continue reading “Moonlight Madness Bikeride in pics”