Category: Biking in Maryland

Friends, have you noticed any changes to the roadways you use that make cycling more challenging?
It has come to our attention that SHA (roads that have an alternate number naming convention) has removed some shoulders or placed rumble strips within the bikeable space rendering it useless. Is this just a local problem or are other people experiencing this as well?
On the flip side, if SHA has re-striped a road to make it more bike friendly, let us know that too.
We are just trying to get a handle on how well current bike friendly policies withing SHA are doing, so any help you can provide.
Thanks.

By Bob Mionske
Nathan Krasnopoler was on his way home from the Farmer’s Market. At least that’s what his family is thinking, because the fresh produce he was carrying was scattered along the roadway when Jeannette Walke, 83, right-hooked him on February 26. Krasnopoler, a 20 year old engineering student at Johns Hopkins University, was pinned under Walke’s car and severely injured. He went into cardiac arrest on the way to the hospital, and has remained in a coma since the day of the collision. On April 9, Krasnopoler’s family announced that doctors do not expect him to recover.
Walke was charged with negligent driving and failure to yield. This was a mixed victory for cycling advocates. For six weeks, it appeared that she might not be charged at all, despite clear evidence of several violations of the law.
It wouldn’t have been the first time that a driver escaped charges in Maryland. In 2009, Jack Yates was killed under the rear wheels of the truck that right-hooked him. No charges were filed. In 2010, Natasha Pettigrew was run down by a driver who continued driving home, and later reported that she thought she had hit a dog, or a deer. No charges filed.
So when charges were filed against the driver who hit Nathan Krasnopoler, it was a small victory for justice—but what a small victory.
Failure to yield? That’s the best we can come up with to describe what happened? Failure to yield is what happens when a driver nearly causes a collision. It’s what happens in a minor fender bender. It does not describe what happened to Nathan Krasnopoler, and neither does that negligent driving charge.
…
One reason for this inability to distinguish between serious and minor violations is that the law reflects an unconscious assumption among legislators that the roads are for cars, and thus, that minor violations will only result in fender benders. To kill somebody in another car, it usually takes more extreme behavior, and that extreme behavior is punished under existing law.
…
Continue reading “Road Rights: Finding Middle Ground in Maryland”

College Park got $350-600,000 from speed cameras, but didn’t plan how to spend it and now has 2 months before it’s forfeit. Pedestrian signals in dangerous spots would be a good use. (Rethink College Park)
Found via https://greatergreaterwashington.org/post.cgi?id=10178

SUITLAND, Md. (WUSA) — Prince George’s County Police want to find the driver and car that struck a pedestrian Tuesday night at Silver Hill Road and Swann Road.
Police say at approximately 9:53 p.m., officers responded to a call for a pedestrian struck at the intersection of Silver Hill Road and Swann Road. They found a 30-year-old Hispanic male lying critically injured in the roadway.
According to police, officers sawa dark colored, four-door Honda Accord leaving the area and it possibly had front end damage.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Prince George’s County Police Department’s District III Station, Patrol Officer Eric Guerra, at (301) 72-4900.
You can also make an anonymous call to Crime Solvers at 1-866-411 TIPS (8477) or text "PGPD plus your message" to CRIMES (274637) on your cell phone.
Continue reading “Police Search For Car From Pedestrian Accident In Suitland”

Background: In the latest budget deal between the Republicans and Democrats, the two parties agreed to rescind (read: take back) $2.5 billion in unspent federal transportation funds. (Note, if Maryland spent it’s Federal money it would not be asked to give it back.)

I don’t know what Maryland will rescind this time but the last round it was $12 million from Transportation Enhancements (TE). That’s 3-4 years worth of bike/ped projects from the TE fund per Maryland’s six-year Consolidated Transportation Program (CTP).

The last conversation with MDOT was that Maryland does spend all its TE money which conflicts with the following report:

My main position is Maryland can do more, a lot more for bicyclists and pedestrians with TE and CMAQ (Congestion Management and Air Quality) funds then just give it back to the Feds. Read More for the League of American Bicyclists alert:
Continue reading “Say bye-bye to another $12M – another round of rescissions”

Photo: Gov. William Donald Schaefer, in a hat equipped with cans of soda, talks with bicyclists as part of the announcement of a 360-mile bicycle tour of the state. (Baltimore Sun)
Continue reading “A toast to William Donald Schaefer”

[B’ Spokes: This might be interesting.]
5/11/2011 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM
MHSO – SOC Training Room
Maryland Traffic Records Coordinating Committee Technical Council Meeting
Technical Council Meetings are 1:00pm–3:00pm on the second Wednesday of every month unless otherwise noted. The meetings will be held at the Maryland State Highway Administration’s Hanover Complex in the SOC Training Room located in the Office of Operations (or otherwise noted by the Traffic Records Coordinator by Outlook invite and the TRCC STKO Calendar), 7491 Connelley Drive Hanover, MD 21076.
Contact: Doug Mowbray
Phone: (410) 787 – 4068

Maryland traffic fatality rate is 2.5 times that of the Netherlands.
Continue reading “Traffic fatalities – Maryland vs Netherlands”

Click image for the source.

Note: this alert is now old, please do not act.

Bike Portland has some wonderful coverage on this topic, with this update from Kit Keller, the Executive Director of the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals:

“AASHTO officials seem to be oblivious to blossoming interest and innovation of local governments across the land that want walkable, bicycle-friendly communities. AASHTO’s recent pronouncement contributes to a growing sense of the irrelevance and irrationality of applying state mandates to local road conditions and needs. Hence the development of new tools like the NACTO Urban Bikeway Design Guide.”

Please take action

Update: Please consider bicyclists on ALL road projects

Jim Titus just told me that he is having a constructive dialogue with SHA about MD-564 and that the email from SHA to Jim that I quoted (provided to me by someone else) was SHA’s response to Jim’s question about whether the final decision was made by officials in Baltimore or Greenbelt. Jim added: “Although I objected to a particular re-routing of the through lane over what had been the shoulder, SHA has not slammed the door on the suggested mitigation, which would be to put sharrows along all of the conflict points between Lanham and Bowie. The problem now is that the road has a combination of a good shoulder most of the way, with occasional choke points that lack the striping and signs necessary to inform cyclists and drivers the appropriate route for bicycles using the full lane. MD-564 is a perfect example of why Maryland needs to adopt the use of R4-11 signs and start using sharrows.” The R4-11 signs say “Bicycles May Use Full Lane”. “The nearby Glenn Dale Citizens Association has also asked SHA to install sharrows and R4-11 signs in this area.”

Glenn Dale Citizens Association Letter to SHA

But theLeague of American Bicyclists Take Action is still very much appropriate.
Continue reading “Alert: AASHTO wants to weaken US DOT bicycle accommodation policy from the League of American Bicyclists”