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In contrast to what’s happening in Maryland

Via Slow Twitch

Today on a ride in Tucson Arizona my Jamis-Hagens Berman pro cycling team was intentionally assaulted by a man in a car. He came by our our group screaming obscenities like "Fucking cyclists get of the road" etc. He then came to the front of the group, got extremely close and THEN rammed the front left rider causing him and Tyler Wren to crash (the rider who made contact with the car is Todd Herriott of Sports Performance in Seattle). The driver then sped off from the scene, not even putting on his brake lights for a second. Luckily neither Todd or Tyler were seriously injured but they did get banged up, got some road rash, and Todd destroyed the saddle on his brand new Jamis Xenith SL.

Our director, Sebastian Alexandre, was up the road and after a quick phone call was able to intercept the car and our photographer, John Segesta, was able to get a photo of the car’s plates. I called 911 and the Tucson Police arrived about 15-20 minutes later. The police took statements from every rider, got descriptions of the man, and sent detectives to his house. At the mans house detectives found the car had been washed just after the accident but still had a prominent scratch on the passenger side door. The man admitted to yelling at our group but not to hitting Todd, even accidentally.

In short, the guy is spending today in jail and is being charged by the Tucson City Prosecutor with class 3 felony Aggravated Assault (the same as if he had used a bat or gun). Apparently Tucson did not like the idea of their reputation for being a great cycling town tarnished when they saw the report of this incident on Cyclingnews.com. The gentleman in the car is looking at up to 15 years in prison and a serious criminal record.

Hopefully he will not be able to plead down his charges and this will be a serious wake up call to drivers that pull this shit. He must have been insane thinking that he could hit someone in front of 15+ witnesses and get away with it.

https://forum.slowtwitch.com/forum/Slowtwitch_Forums_C1/Triathlon_Forum_F1/Dirt_bag_picked_the_wrong_cyclists_P4440220/

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Driver in fatal accident receives fine [$140???]

By Joe Aiello, Capital Gazette
The driver in an accident that killed a 24-year-old Bowie woman in 2011, pleaded guilty to negligent driving and received a probation before judgement and a $140 fine.
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At the time of the accident there were no negligent homicide laws that Goad could have been charged with so the most serious charges filed against her were negligent driving.
John Erzen, communications director for the State’s Attorney’s Office said, “Our charging decisions are based on the evidence we have.”
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https://www.capitalgazette.com/bowie_bladenews/news/driver-in-fatal-accident-receives-fine/article_41f75466-f15f-5ef4-9c2c-deceb3bb13ec.html
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[B’ Spokes:
§ 2-210. Manslaughter by vehicle or vessel — Criminal negligence
(a) "Vehicle" defined. — In this section, "vehicle" includes a motor vehicle, streetcar, locomotive, engine, and train.
(b) Prohibited. — A person may not cause the death of another as the result of the person’s driving, operating, or controlling a vehicle or vessel in a criminally negligent manner.
(c) Criminal negligence. — For purposes of this section, a person acts in a criminally negligent manner with respect to a result or a circumstance when:
. (1) the person should be aware, but fails to perceive, that the person’s conduct creates a substantial and unjustifiable risk that such a result will occur; and
. (2) the failure to perceive constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of care that would be exercised by a reasonable person.
(d) Exception. — It is not a violation of this section for a person to cause the death of another as the result of the person’s driving, operating, or controlling a vehicle or vessel in a negligent manner.
(e) Violation. — A violation of this section is criminally negligent manslaughter by vehicle or vessel.
(f) Penalty. — A person who violates this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction is subject to imprisonment not exceeding 3 years or a fine not exceeding $ 5,000 or both.
Let’s see if I get this right, failing to drive in your lane + driving on the shoulder is NOT a conduct that creates a substantial and unjustifiable risk to cyclists??? And that is NOT a gross deviation from the standard of care that would be exercised by a reasonable person???
And the State legislature want’s to require us to wear a helmet while drivers get a $140 fine for killing a cyclist with a helmet??? This is not right!]

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Walk Appeal

By Steve Mouzon, Better! Cities & Towns
Walk Appeal promises to be a major new tool for understanding and building walkable places, and it explains several things that were heretofore either contradictory or mysterious. It begins with the assertion that the quarter-mile radius (or 5-minute walk,) which has been held up for a century as the distance Americans will walk before driving, is actually a myth.
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https://bettercities.net/news-opinion/blogs/steve-mouzon/18645/walk-appeal
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[B’ Spokes: Shows wonderful examples where people are willing to walk up to 2 miles and all the way down to 25 feet. I will also note that the same people that assume the quarter-mile walking radius also design bus stops with a one mile walk to get across the street.]

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Maryland in the national news

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Incomplete Intersections – Injuries and fatalities at intersections are often a result of intersection design that ignores the needs of all users. This is especially true for those who must walk along and across wide, fast-moving arterial roads without walking-friendly facilities, such as frequent crosswalks and pedestrian medians. Recent pedestrian injuries at a large intersection in Rockville, Maryland prompted online conversations about the most dangerous intersections in the country. Among the intersections nominated as the nation’s worst by readers of Streetsblog include those in Florida, Nebraska, and Missouri, which have over 30 (!) lanes of traffic, confusing signage, and few to no safe facilities for those on foot. Just reaching the opposite side of these intersections can be confusing and lengthy journeys and often do not provide easy access to bordering shops, schools, or employment centers. People on foot, frustrated by these difficult intersections, then try to take the most direct route (rather than walking over a mile in some cases to the closest crosswalk), often resulting in dangerous collisions.
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https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/2013/02/20/complete-streets-news-february-2013/

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External Airbags Designed to Save Cyclists, Pedestrians

BY ALEXANDER GEORGE, Wired

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In the Netherlands, where bicycles are ubiquitous, approximately 200 cyclists (and 70 pedestrians) are killed each year after being struck by a car. If a car is going faster than 25 mph – the average speed of an accident in the Netherlands – a collision with a bicyclist is usually fatal, and helmets don’t help much during an impact of 12 mph or greater.

TNO looked at every detail of a cycle crash, specifically at the impact points at a vehicle’s front end, concluding that automatic braking and external airbags positions at the bottom of the windshield would reduce the severity of crashes dramatically.
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The 2013 V40 already has this feature, but the technology won’t be making its way across the Atlantic.
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https://www.wired.com/autopia/2013/02/external-airbags/
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[B’ Spokes: Too many times American "safety" philosophy impresses me as so self-centered as if they were saying "We need to prevent people from committing suicide when driving but if they want to commit murder that’s OK."]

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New data from Virginia Tech Transportation Institute provides insight into cell phone use and driving distraction

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Risk Estimates
A snapshot of risk estimates from these studies includes the following:
For light vehicles or cars
* Dialing a cell phone made the risk of crash or near-crash event 2.8 times as high as non-distracted driving;
* Talking or listening to a cell phone made the risk of crash or near-crash event 1.3 times as high as non-distracted driving; and
* Reaching for an object such as an electronic device made the risk of crash or near-crash event 1.4 times as high as non-distracted driving.
For heavy vehicles or trucks
* Dialing a cell phone made the risk of crash or near-crash event 5.9 times as high as non-distracted driving;
* Talking or listening to a cell phone made the risk of crash or near-crash event 1.0 times as high as non-distracted driving;
* Use of, or reach for, an electronic device made the risk of crash or near-crash event 6.7 times as high as non-distracted driving; and
* Text messaging made the risk of crash or near-crash event 23.2 times as high as non-distracted driving.
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https://www.vtnews.vt.edu/articles/2009/07/2009-571.html

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Separated Bike Lanes, Slower Vehicle Speeds Greatly Reduce Bicycle Injuries

Via: Science Daily
Feb. 20, 2013 — Using your bicycle to commute to work has numerous health and environmental benefits. Yet, the largest Canadian study on cycling injuries led by Ryerson University suggests cyclists are at risk of injury due to the lack of cycling infrastructure in large urban centres.
"Previous studies have focused on the measures such as helmets that reduce harm after a crash occurs," says Anne Harris, lead author of the study, who is an avid cyclist herself and an assistant professor with Ryerson’s School of Occupational and Public Health. "Our study is one of the first to take a comprehensive look at how route infrastructure, particularly at intersections and major roadways, might influence the risk of cyclist injury in Canada."
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https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130220131744.htm