Category: Biking in Maryland

[My 2 cents… its just a shame as a culture we have replaced after school outdoor time with rush hour so everyone who is not driving stay in side and lock your doors as it is a higher priority to service those who are driving that "need" to get home and watch TV.]
Written by Scott Broom -9NEWS NOW & wusa9.com
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WUSA) — The death of a cyclist on a rural road outside Baltimore last week has created emotional momentum for a new law requiring that motorists give a minimum three feet of clearance when passing bicycles on Maryland roads.
Cyclist rallied at the State House in Annapolis today, filling a mall outside the capitol with bicycles, in the hours before Maryland’s 2010 General Assembly draws to a close at midnight.
Supporters of the law predicted they would win a vote for the law in the final hours.
42-year-old Larry Bensky was killed on April 6th on a rural road in Northern Baltimore County. They cyclist was the father of two young daughters.
Bensky’s widow Tami attended the rally.
"Bikers are mothers and fathers and sons and daughters and you have to just consider them when your driving, [we as a culture just need to slow down.]" she said with tears in her eyes.
If passed, Maryland would join 20 other states with some version of a 3-foot rule. However, Virginia’s legislature recently rejected the idea.
Continue reading “Cyclists Rally For "3-Foot Rule" In Wake Of Death “

[Baltimore Spokes: This is just sad that I get to hear about this from Delaware cyclists. Way to go MDOT on involving MD key stakeholders, not!]

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Continue reading “MD SHA Revised Guidelines for Rumble Strips: Comments needed!”

By By CHRIS GORDON – NBC
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On the last day of the legislative session, a large group of cyclists rode into Annapolis in a show of support for a safety bill one week after fellow cyclist Larry Bensky was killed on the road. His wife Tamara went to tell lawmakers his story.
"Last Tuesday when he was riding his bike on an open road on a beautiful afternoon, with no oncoming traffic, someone hit him from behind at a rate of speed at which killed him instantly," she said.
For five years, cyclists have been trying to get a law passed requiring motorists to give them 3 feet of passing distance.
"You know if that law was in place and that driver knew that that law was in place and followed it, my husband would be here," Bensky said.
Continue reading “Some Ride on Annapolis coverage “

[Maybe they should crack down on pedestrians lawfully crossing the road as impeding traffic???]
By Harryc
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Thanks to everybody who got out yesterday and even to those who could not due to work constraints, and there were many. I often become complacent and morose about the state of affairs in America, a runaway car culture, increasing disregard for our fellow citizens, a culture that I sometimes see only as an ever growing obese mass of self centered, unenlightened, angry drivers. Tomorrow I felt much better, thanks.
As I was returning to the State House after enjoying a fine and pleasant, well deserved lunch, I was cut off by a guy in a giant SUV who after cutting me off braked hard for some people crossing the street by foot, thankfully. So I rode up next to him as we headed up the street together and politely said "you stopped for them but not for me, why?" His response was this, really. "Can you go 180 mph on that thing?" I said no, of course not. "Well then there is no need for me to watch out for you" Really, that’s what he said, still can’t figure out his logic, something about my presence would in no way impede his progress because he could accelerate faster. I asked him if he knew how much his truck weighed, he said "I know exactly how much it weighs". I asked if he thought his very heavy truck was any match for my 190 lb body and twenty pound bike? Not sure what he said next, perhaps it was too confusing a question, but very politely I wished him a good day, really I did, and I headed back to the State House.
Continue reading “I don’t get it.”

A Harford County man now faces up to five years in prison after he recorded a bizarre traffic stop last month in Harford County.
Anthony Graber was riding his motorcycle with a camera attached to his helmet recording his ride.
It happened near the Riverside exit of I-95. A Maryland State trooper in an unmarked car pulled over Graber for speeding. The trooper is seen in a YouTube video that Graber posted, jumping out of the car and tells Graber "Get off the motorcycle, get off the motorcycle! Get off the motor cycle, State Police."
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Continue reading “Kill a cyclist and get zip jail time, put a video up of an out of control cop and you could get 5 years”

[It seems for every step forward we get a step backwards. In the last couple of years SHA has been paying extra attention on getting us decent shoulders where they were not usable before and where we have had decent shoulders they have been adding rumble strips and too often making things a lot worse for cyclists. I’ll quote “Maryland SHA Bicycle and Pedestrian Design Guidelines” and ask: has anyone ever seen this in Maryland?

Where appropriate, periodic gaps should be provided in
the rumble strips to accommodate left turning/merging
movements and to enable bicyclists to avoid debris in the
shoulder or to pass other bicyclists. Initial research
indicates that a minimum opening of 12-feet should be
considered to allow bicyclist to cross over without riding
on the rumble strip. To allow for frequent opportunities
for bicyclists to leave the shoulder area, the gap should be
provided at regular intervals (such as every 40-80 feet),

Now given the following State Law:

§ 2-602. Public policy.

The General Assembly finds that it is in the public interest for the State to include enhanced transportation facilities for pedestrians and bicycle riders as an essential component of the State’s transportation system, and declares that it is the policy of the State that:

(1) Access to and use of transportation facilities by pedestrians and bicycle riders shall be considered and best engineering practices regarding the needs of bicycle riders and pedestrians shall be employed in all phases of transportation planning, including highway design, construction, reconstruction, and repair as well as expansion and improvement of other transportation facilities;

(2) The modal administrations in the Department shall ensure that the State maintains an integrated transportation system by working cooperatively to remove barriers, including restrictions on bicycle access to mass transit, that impede the free movement of individuals from one mode of transportation to another; and

(3) As to any new transportation project or improvement to an existing transportation facility, the Department shall work to ensure that transportation options for pedestrians and bicycle riders will be enhanced and that pedestrian and bicycle access to transportation facilities will not be negatively impacted by the project or improvement.

It seems to me something is not quite right.]

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by Frank Warnock

Bike Delaware met with Maryland’s State Highway Administration back on March 9, 2009 to shed light on serious design flaws with the implementation of rumble strips along popular bicycle routes. Route 273, very popular with area cyclists and a main feature among WCBC event rides, was implemented in such a way as to force cyclists to avoid the shoulder entirely, or risk loss of vehicle control while attempting to leave the shoulder for turn situations or to avoid debris or parked cars.

In a recent discussion with Maryland’s Director of Bicycle and Pedestrian Access, the following was learned from SHA:

“We’re still working on the guidelines. It’s been a long process in part because of concerns raised by the bicycling community. We want to make sure we get it as right as possible for all road users. I don’t think we want to send [a] draft as it stands at the moment, so I guess someone should email back and explain that we’re still working on it”.

Of particular concern was this happening in spite of Rt.273’s designation as a MD bike route. Despite its high speed limit, it remains a favorite among Delaware and Cecil County cyclists, often serving as an “out and back” ride for those less inclined to ride non-shouldered roads.
Continue reading “Delaware cyclists still waiting for answers on MD 273 rumble strips”

The important bit first:
What is really important here is as a bike community we try to identify this reckless driver. So if you see a black 2000ish VW Jetta with a roof rack with Maryland tags beginning with 9FF (per Fox TV the numbers are 955) please call 911 and reference case number 045-591.
The story from Washcycle:
From the Bike Washington listserv
I unfortunately had the awful experience of being hit by a car on my commute home this evening. The details are as follows: Around 5:50 PM I was riding along First St. NW with other commuters. We crossed over Florida Ave and a car came in behind me, horn continuously on, and accelerated into my rear wheel knocking me to the ground. The driver then got out of the car and yelled some obscenity at me. He got back into his car and left the scene.
I ended up with a few bruises and bumps but luckily no serious injury, but my rear wheel was destroyed along with my saddle, still not sure about the frame. Although there were seven plus witnesses, we were only able to get a partial license plate. We did get a great description of the car. The police arrived on the scene and took all the witness statements, etc and the incident will be filed as a hit and run.
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Continue reading “Cyclist Hit, Intentionally”

This is a ride from Baltimore to Annapolis to memorialize Larry Bensky, who as you all know was killed this past Tuesday while riding on Butler Rd. We’re doing this on Monday as it is the last day of the current legislative session and a great and somber opportunity to get bill 461 passed into law. House bill 461 requires motorists to give cyclists three feet when passing. Some say that it can’t be enforced but they’re missing the point. The point is to draw attention to the rights of cyclists and to move one inch, or three feet, towards a better, more civil society. So join us. https://www.mapmyride.com/route/us/md/baltimore/212126506240695109
The ride leader is Harry Campbell…details at https://www.baltobikeclub.org/listview.php
You can park at several places if you wish and ride down to Annapolis (Marley Station Mall, the Ranger Station etc)
https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=113742351986045
Continue reading “Ride on Annapolis / Larry Bensky Memorial Ride”

By —Andrew Beaujon
Last Sept. 10, Legba Carrefour left the house at 5 a.m. in a borrowed truck filled with 22 junk bikes he and friends had spray-painted white. He strewed them all over Dupont Circle, where 12 days earlier, a “ghost bike” memorial to Alice Swanson, a cyclist killed at 20th and R streets on July 8, 2008, had been removed by the city. By 11 a.m., 16 bikes remained; a week later there were two piles of tangled frames and forks that looked less like a memorial and more like a memento mori. Carrefour was nowhere to be found. “I was going to do more with them,” says Carrefour, “but the G-20 hit in Pittsburgh.” The self-described “D.C. native, cyclist, and anarchist” says he was busy with protests there when the ghost bikes turned into ghost rubbish, but he notes that his bike project “was not supposed to be permanent.…to a certain extent the idea was to have the city come down to rip them off.” Carrefour says his project was as much a public space protest (“I’m European by birth….Like, in Vienna [Austria] where I’m from, people vandalize 1,000-year-old statues on a regular basis”) as a memorial to Swanson, whom he never met. Carrefour says he plans more protests involving bicycles, though “the thing with the bikes,” he says, “depends on me getting a job.”
Continue reading “Best Guerrilla Activist Legba Carrefour”

Continue reading “Introducing the new Frederick Bicycle Coalition”