Category: Biking in Baltimore

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Riders of Silence…a reminder

[Note I strongly support this ride but I do not have the time necessary to lead it. Please if someone can pick up the ball and run with it.]

We need your participation. Our web site and web master are waiting for you to register your ride so that others, including the media, can see the impact this ride is making.

Your ride does NOT have to have thousands of participants. Don’t put that pressure on yourself. It doesn’t even have to have hundreds, or tens. Three, four, or five riders together, memorializing past cyclists and hoping for future change, is all we’d like to see.

Sure, the more the better. But you and your friends riding in your town on May 20, at 7 PM, for a short, slow, and silent 8 mile ride constitutes a location we want to see listed on the web site.

WE NEED MORE LOCATIONS. And new ones, especially. Please come out and show your solidarity, your passion against cyclists getting killed.

The ride is world wide, on the same day, at the same time. The best part, it’s free. There is no other event that covers the earth like The Ride Of Silence (though Nike is trying to steal the idea).

Please. If you’re for active people, you want to show your colors this day.

Thank you.

Let the silence roar.

Chris Phelan, Founder
The Ride Of Silence
One day. One time. World wide.

www.rideofsilence.org

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Car Sharing RFP Issued

On Friday, May 1, 2009, the Parking Authority of Baltimore City issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for a car sharing organization to provide its services to Baltimore, Maryland city-wide.

The RFP can be downloaded from the Parking Authority main page, listed at the bottom of this email or from our car sharing page: https://www.baltimorecity.gov/government/parking/car_sharing.php, where you can still tell your friends to "sign up" as interested in car sharing. We are using the collected email addresses to keep everyone updated on the progress of car sharing in Baltimore. We are using the physical addresses to map and analyze the best locations for car sharing vehicles throughout the entire city.

The deadline for proposals is June 12, 2009 at 3:00 PM.

Thanks for your continued interest and support for car sharing in Baltimore City. Over 550 of you have told us you want car sharing in Baltimore. We’ll keep you updated on the response to the RFP and the results!

Tiffany James
Special Assistant & Public Relations Manager
Parking Authority of Baltimore City

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10 Reasons not to ride against traffic

[Just a reminder since wrong way riding does play a significant roll in our bike crashes.]

1. It’s against the law

2. Riding against traffic reduces the reaction time of cyclist & driver since you’re approaching each other instead of going in the same direction.

3. Potential impact is greater: Bike going 20 mph and car going 40 mph
collision riding with traffic = 20 mph impact
collision riding against traffic = 60 mph impact

4. Coming over the crest of a hill, if riding against traffic you’ll come head on to an oncoming car, whereas when riding with traffic, the upcoming car on your path of direction will see you going up the hill.

5. Drivers making RIGHT turns will only look to their LEFT. Since they have to merge with that traffic and are not expecting vehicles to be coming head on from their right side

6. Drivers pulling out and making left turns will only look to their left, thus pulling out in front of you.

7. Riding on the right, a car can slow behind you and wait until it’s safe to pass. Riding on the left, you’re coming right at the cars, leaving them the choice of a head-on with oncoming traffic or a head-on with you.

8. Primary tenets of safe riding are to be visible and predictable. Riding on the left puts you where drivers aren’t looking for you, and you’re demonstrating a complete ignorance of traffic laws; so you get a FAIL on both counts.

9. It’s probably much more likely you’ll get doored driving against traffic as well. Most people are looking in their sideview mirror or behind them for a passing car before opening the door, since they aren’t expecting anything coming from the front.

10. The reason you ride with traffic is because when on a bicycle, you ARE traffic. you are subject to most all of the other laws that govern vehicles, so you must be in proper position to obey the laws AND be protected by them. Riding on the left, all traffic signs and lights for your direction are on the OTHER side of the road.
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Mapping Municipal Improvements suggestions

For a new project I’m working on (using google maps, earth, and mapping features) I [this bloger] need input from Baltimore area residents who know of areas, places, and things around them that could use improvement by the public works/DOT/ other city agencies.

I [this bloger] want to focus on more trivial, but not necessarily less important features of city life. Poorly-lit areas, poorly maintained public transit stops, knocked over signs, fading bike lanes, overflowing parking lots, etc.

Basically, anything that makes Baltimore harder for you to live and work in as a pedestrian, cyclist, student, or safe driver is fair game. Fill in some basic information on the issue : Location (or general location), reason for report, and how you think it could be improved.

I will be personally visiting and documenting highlighted areas, and profile them in a way that makes it easier for people to contact city government about it.
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Baltimore: Biking, Bakeries and Breakfast by J the travel authority

Baltimore’s mayor is seriously into health & fitness: both her personal fitness and that of the citizens of her city. So twice a week — Wednesdays & Fridays — she invites anyone to pedal behind her. I biked with the mayor recently on a Friday afternoon along with almost two dozen people — many of them regular city cyclists plus city employees — and was amazed at her pace: around 18 mph. I rode alongside her deputy press secretary on our 22 mile trek through the city’s many greenspaces.

We tackled the lovely Gwynss Falls bike trail and, where our journey crossed into traffic, there was no need to worry: the regular riders, including the mayor’s photographer and a very serious and exceedingly helpful and empathetic cyclist, Mark, stopped traffic in both directions so we could continue on our way. And the mayor’s black Suburban with her security details followed us when we rode in the streets. The whole experience was a delight, especially riding through some dense woodlands and spacious grassy plots.
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