Category: Biking in Maryland

Continue reading “Tour de Maryland Preliminary Information Meeting”

By TIFFANY ARNOLD
Technology and online social networking has made the already low-tech hobby of bicycling that much easier.
Want a new route? People to ride with? What happens if your bike gets a flat?
Look no further than your computer’s keyboard or the keypad of your cell phone or GPS device.
“You can find that on our website,” said Mike Mittel, owner of Hub City Sports, a bike shop in downtown Hagerstown.
Local bike shops are catering to the needs of bikers by offering more than products for sale on their websites. They are seeking to offer tips and provide forums. Beyond retail sales, electronic gadgets and social-networking forums are making it easier for cyclists from out of town to find routes and connect with others who share the same passion.
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Continue reading “Technology makes bicycling more fun”

I have been following StopTheMUD.org for a while now and if the reporting bike accidents gets you down, sign up for this news feed, as there is a lot of crazy car accidents that happen. Anyway I love this quote in regards to the cell phone ban coming into law:
"Get beyond Democrat and Republican. Open your eyes when you drive. You can see for yourself that Marylanders are far from cautious and far from safe. Marylanders are not safe drivers. Safe drivers are in the minority. People on cellular telephones are mot safe drivers. Public safety is the issue.
There are many benefits to driving safely. Fewer accidents requiring police, medical, and aero support. Hospitals have fewer crash emergencies and perhaps the cost of health care could improve. Police could deal with crime instead of reckless fools. Our firefighters could fight fires instead of extricating the dead from a crash scene."
Continue reading “Stop the Maryland Unsafe Drive”

First I will highlight my issue:
Too many on-road bike accommodations are not being done because they are too cheep to compete with other projects in TIP and too expensive to be done without Federal Aid. We MUST follow Federal policy in funding on-road bike/ped projects.
You can do something about that by attending an upcoming workshop (schedule in the read more section) or on-line https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/imagine_2060
Continue reading “Imagine the Baltimore Region in 2060…”

from r by Driver
What needs to happen? Maryland drivers must decide to share the road in a safe manner with everyone else. I have years of experience bicycling on California’s back roads from the San Francisco Bay Area to Lake Tahoe to Mendocino County. There are far more bicyclists per mile there than in Maryland and I felt reasonable safe. One major reason for the difference is not the roads but the drivers who use Maryland’s back roads. The driving culture in Maryland blames everyone and everything but the proximate cause – the aggressive reckless driver.
Slowing and passing a bicyclist is a safe, easy, and polite maneuver. You look for on-coming traffic in the opposing lane, judge the traffic behind you, slow down and wait for a safe opportunity to pass with adequate clearance. Total precious driver time wasted insignificant to the number of lives saved.
The law requires an adequate clearance. I agree, that in a perfect world, such a law would not be required because everyone would have a modicum of common sense. That is unfortunately lacking in Maryland today. Most of our roads in Southern Maryland are of the two-lane country variety. Where are bicyclists supposed to enjoy their hobby if not our quiet6 bay-view country roads?
Until you have been on a bicycle and encountered a rude, reckless, thoughtless driver you do not have an adequate appreciation of the problem. The editorial staff of the Sun needs to get a group together and go bicycling.
I’d guess that one reason we have so many school buses in the country is because drivers have made use of our roads impossible for children. At first it befuddled me why Maryland kids didn’t get themselves to school and then I drove here. It is not safe on the road in front of my own home in a neighborhood with one road in and one road out. The straight away begins at my front door and the race out of the area begins. Drivers are OBLIVIOUS. Our culture of reckless abandon guarantees unsafe roads.
This is a problem solved at the grass roots level. Citizens of Maryland must DECIDE to drive safely. There are too many bad drivers to ticket. This does not however limit the need for enforcement and awareness building that expensive citations provide.
The answer is that all of the Maryland road killers need to slow down and enjoy the ride. Be safe, be happy, arrive alive.
Continue reading “Stop the Maryland Unsafe Drive responds to Three-foot rule will not make bicyclists safe”

[Baltimore Spokes: which I will highlight 3 of the 6 questions:]
3) Do you support the current growth policy which ties development to the movement of motor vehicles, or would you replace the "PAMR" and "LATR" tests with a growth policy that gives transit, pedestrian, and bicycle travel equal weight with automobiles?
4) Are minimum parking requirements, which make transit riders, pedestrians, and bicyclists pay for parking they don’t use and thereby subsidize drivers, wise policy in places with good transit service?
5) The Parks Department’s current policy is to clear snow only from roadways used by motor vehicles and not from roadways used exclusively by bicycles and pedestrians, even when the roadway used by bicycles and pedestrians carries far more people. Will you reverse this policy?
Continue reading “ACT Sends Questionnaire to Planning Board Chair Candidates”

SNOW HILL — A Berlin man pleaded guilty to manslaughter in connection with a June 2009 hit-and-run that left one bicyclist dead and another injured along the Route 50 bridge.
Daniel Matthew Bren, 35, struck a plea agreement in which he pleaded guilty to negligent manslaughter by automobile and leaving the scene of an accident. Several other charges, including driving under the influence, were dropped by prosecutors, who also sought restitution for funeral expenses.
>>[B’ Spokes: The legality of striking a plea bargain has always bothered me, maybe Mr. Bren is getting enough punishment for his past actions but removal of the DUI convection serves no purpose other then to lessen future charges if he drinks and drives again in the future.]
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Manslaughter carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in state prison. Leaving the scene is a one-year maximum sentence.
"You’re going to be incarcerated for a long time," the judge said. "I’m sure you’re aware of how serious this is."
Maryland State Police said Maxim Matuzov, 20, and Edward Joseph Zisk, 41, were riding bikes west on the Harry W. Kelley Memorial Bridge when they were struck from behind by Bren’s 2006 Chevrolet Silverado.
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Prosecutors said a taxi driver saw what happened, called police and followed Bren’s truck. According to the taxi driver’s account, one of the bicycles was trapped under the truck, making sparks. It soon became dislodged.
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Police said they pulled him over, they found him glassy eyed and disoriented behind the wheel. He had an open container of beer in the truck. Later, Bren was found to have a blood alcohol content of .25.
"Why were they in front of my truck?" Bren told troopers, according to prosecutors’ court testimony. "Why do people always have to be walking and riding bikes over there?"
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>>[B’ Spokes: With a statement like that, they should throw the book at him. It’s bad enough that he was drinking and driving but such a disregard to human life is unconscionable.]
Continue reading “Man pleads guilty in fatal hit-and-run”

[in response to Daniel O’Neal Vona’s Letter, "Md’s New Three-Foot Rule won’t make bicyclists safer".]
Md’s new three-foot rule is intended to make motorists aware that they are sharing the road with bicyclists. Tragically, it took the death of bicyclist Larry Bensky to persuade the legislature, after 5 years, to finally pass this safety legislation.
Since the folks in Northern Baltimore County have opposed safety improvements like road widening and eliminating blind spots; to retain the rural, scenic charater of their roads; everyone who uses these roads needs to be extra careful. It’s not just bicyclists. There are school buses picking up and dropping off children. Carriers are delivering mail to residences. Tractors and horse trailers are extra wide, sometimes causing opposing traffic to have to pull over. As a motorist, I find it easier and safer to have to slow down and wait until it’s safe to pass a bicyclist then to have to stop and pull off the road for a horse trailer or tractor. But they are all part of N. Baltimore County’s rural heritage and should be respected.
People need to put aside their "me first" culture and begin looking out and caring for our fellow citizens. That bicyclist could be your doctor, accountant, or pharmacist – and a child’s mom or dad. Treat him/her like you would like someone else to treat your loved ones. Bicycling is a wonderful way to exercise , lose weight, and enjoy those treasured rural areas that are protected from development by zoning laws and tax dollars used to purchase development rights.
Requiring motorists to have to wait until it’s safe to pass a bicyclist is not giving bicyclists special treatment. The overtaking vehicle always has the duty to use due care and wait until it’s safe to pass. Also, most bicyclists wear bright clothing, making them easily seen. Blinking lights are only needed at night or during poor visibility in rain or fog. However, the combination of "Share the Road" signs and paved pulloffs on uphills, where bicyclists go slower, would facilitate easier passing and enhance safety.
Jeffrey H. Marks

BY B.J. SMALL – Times Editor

“You see people coming out; taking time out of their day to watch some guys that have served their nation pass by on bikes,” Army Lt. Col. Greg Gadson says. “It’s just a huge pump-up; an adrenalin flow of patriotism. You feel so proud to be an American.”

Seventy injured veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will be in the field of 370 bicycle riders who will make the 110-mile journey from the nation’s Capitol to hallowed Civil War battlegrounds later this month.

The 10th “Face of America” ride will leave the National Mall on Saturday morning, April 24, and wind its way to Gettysburg the next afternoon.

The effort is awesome to those watching along the route, and inspiring to the veterans and supporters who ride shoulder-to-shoulder.
Continue reading “Memorable bicycle ride brings wounded warriors to Gettysburg”

Continue reading “Pics from the Ride on Annapolis”