Biking in Baltimore
B’ Spokes: This is why LAB ranks Maryland very high, we have policies that say this should not happen and we have personal in SHA that work to make sure this does not happen but …
Here we are months after reporting and still nothing. Do we really need to get the statewide advocacy group on this just to get a pot hole patched? Something isn’t right here.
Police say charges pending
By Timothy B. Wheeler, The Baltimore Sun
A Pikesville man was seriously injured Friday when he was struck by a sport utility vehicle while bicycling near his home, Baltimore County police said.
Melvin Pachino, 52, of the 2700 block of Waco Court, was riding west on Smith Avenue near Carla Road shortly after 11 a.m. when an eastbound Honda Pilot made a left turn and struck Pachino, according to Julia Hardgrove, a county police spokeswoman. The vehicle was driven by Shunji Watanabe of the 7600 block of Carla Road, she said.
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By Kaid Benfield
A new, peer-reviewed analysis performed by the staff of Jonathan Rose Companies, with assistance from the federal EPA, shows the power of a superior location in substantially reducing a household’s environmental footprint. In fact, it shows this is so whether the housing type is a single-family home, townhome, or multi-family building. In particular, a comparison based on national averages indicates that the energy consumption (and, thus, global warming emissions) of a typical household in a transit-oriented location is likely to be less than that of a household in a conventional suburban location (i.e., “sprawl”), even if the household in a conventional suburban location employs energy-efficient building technology and drives fuel-efficient vehicles.
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https://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/kbenfield/households_in_transit-oriented.html
By Jack Lambert, Digital Producer-Baltimore Business Journal
Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Dropkick Murphys and the Mighty Mighty Bosstones are coming to Baltimore this fall as part of an all-day concert in Southwest Baltimore.
The artists are part of “The Shindig” — being promoted by 24-7 Entertainment — on Sept. 14 at Carroll Park. General admission tickets to the day-long concert cost $48.50, while VIP tickets are priced at $125. Tickets go on sale to the general public May 17 at 10 a.m.
Gates will open to the park at noon for the concert, with musical acts scheduled to take the stage around 1 p.m.
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by Ben Ross, Greater Greater Washington
So many drivers don’t yield to pedestrians that catching them is "like shooting fish in a barrel," a surprised Montgomery County police officer remarked Wednesday. The police ticketed 72 violators in 2½ hours—one every two minutes—at a single crosswalk on Veirs Mill Road.
The operation, a first for the county, was advertised as a sting. But it was not very covert. The police announced in advance that their plainclothes officers would ticket between 11 am and 3 pm while wearing brightly-colored outfits.
Capt. Thomas Didone, head of the police traffic enforcement division, explained the reasoning behind the "sting" to the Patch. "Officers would typically attempt to enforce that kind of law by driving around a high-traffic area and looking for drivers not following the rules," he said. "That’s not very efficient."
Inefficiency is the least of the problems with this style of law enforcement. Police who drive all day don’t understand the reality of walking on the county’s roadways. When you get out of the squad car and join the thousands who cross Veirs Mill every day (it’s among the county’s busiest bus corridors), you suddenly learn that "it’s kind of scary."
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https://greatergreaterwashington.org/post/18824/pedestrian-sting-finds-frequent-driver-lawlessness/
[B’ Spokes: Pretty cute video.]
[B’ Spokes: This so need to go out whenever someone incorrectly asserts cyclists have to get out of the way.]
B’ Spokes: Congratulations to Montgomery County for getting some national press. Too bad Baltimore and Prince Georges County don’t get this at all, that’s how Maryland will stay in the top ten highest pedestrian fatality state, we need more than one county to get on board!
Read the article here: https://streetsblog.net/2013/05/10/maryland-cops-show-how-pedestrian-safety-enforcement-should-be-done/
