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Mayor’s Bicycle Advisory Committee February 15th

from Bike Baltimore by Nate Evans

The Mayor’s Bicycle Advisory Committee meets Tuesday, February 15th at 6pm in the Planning Department’s Conference Room on the 8th Floor of 417 E. Fayette St.&nbsp[bring I.D.]; The meeting is open to the public and all interested cyclists are encouraged to attend.  Major Tony Brown from the Baltimore Police Department will join us to address concerns from area cyclists.  Please bring your bike inside & up the elevator to the 8th floor. (More bikes have disappeared from these racks lately.)

[B’ Spokes: Note that I am still waiting for some acknowledgment from Baltimore Police that bicyclists are NOT operators of a motorcycle and cannot be charged with violating laws pertaining to the operation of motorcycles (which exist in part to make it illegal to drive a motorcycle like a bicycle.) And to have Baltimore Police attempt to correct the inflammatory remark “There is no “right to the road” as a cyclist.” Everyone has rights and obligations on the road. (More detail Yates – discussion of the “facts” and why the police got it wrong
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Let’s turn sales tax into special interest funds

Today’s spring board comes from Greater Greater Washington’s article "Maryland transportation "lockbox" has a big hole" https://greatergreaterwashington.org/post/9163/maryland-transportation-lockbox-has-a-big-hole/
So my tangent piece: We all know about Sales Tax and how it helps pays for everything from education, police, fire and other emergency response systems as well garbage collection. And we all more or less agree that this is a necessity to help fund government. To abstract the concept GGW brings up, let’s say a bunch of big business got together and said "You know what, rather then pay sales tax, let’s pay a special interest fee that only we will benefit from. We could use the money to build an exclusive club houses for us and we could say that would help us do our jobs better and help Maryland economy."
That’s the problem in a nut shell with the Transportation Trust Fund, much of the fund comes from what should be in General Fund under regular conditions, calling these taxes "user fees" brings about a sense of self entitlement (roads should be for cars only and who cares what harm they do to "outsiders") and deprives other services provided by government much needed revenue. As more and more of our disposable income is being spent on cars, it should stand to reason that there is also a shift from taxes going into the General Fund now going into the Transportation Trust Fund.
The conclusion from GGW: "But ideas have consequences. The idea behind the lockbox amendment is that drivers pay for the roads they drive on. This idea is mistaken, but it’s widely held, and it’s an enormous obstacle to sensible transportation planning. The danger lurking in the lockbox is that this damaging misconception could be reinforced, making it even harder to correct failed transportation policies. "
If you are inspired, write your State reps and encourage sound transportation policies as well as sound fiscal policies and say no to the "lockbox" concept. https://mdelect.net/

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MD Motorist hits FL Cyclist

By Alexandra Seltzer
JUPITER — It could be at least a week before a decision is made on whether to charge the driver who struck and killed a Boca Raton firefighter, Jupiter police Sgt. Scott Pascarella said.
Myron Umbel, 66, hit John Wilson with his Chevy Trailblazer Monday morning while Umbel was turning east on Indiantown Road. Umbel lives part-time in Jupiter and is a permanent resident in Maryland, Pascarella said.
Wilson, 50, of Jupiter, was riding his bicycle in the crosswalk while trying to cross the intersection of Indiantown Road and Maplewood Drive when he was struck by Umbel’s vehicle.
Wilson was flown to St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach, and died shortly after arriving.
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Citizen activist gets accused of practicing engineering without a license

BY BRUCE SICELOFF – Staff Writer, New Observer
RALEIGH — David N. Cox says he was merely exercising his right to petition the government, but a state Department of Transportation official has raised allegations that Cox committed a misdemeanor: practicing engineering without a license.
Cox and his North Raleigh neighbors are lobbying city and state officials to add traffic signals at two intersections as part of a planned widening of Falls of Neuse Road.
After an engineering consultant hired by the city said that the signals were not needed, Cox and the North Raleigh Coalition of Homeowners’ Associations responded with a sophisticated analysis of their own.
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The eight-page document with maps, diagrams and traffic projections was offered to buttress their contention that signals will be needed at the Falls of Neuse at Coolmore Drive intersection and where the road meets Tabriz Point / Lake Villa Way.
It did not persuade Kevin Lacy, chief traffic engineer for the state DOT, to change his mind about the project. Instead, Lacy called on a state licensing agency, the N.C. Board of Examiners for Engineers and Surveyors, to investigate Cox.
Cox says Lacy is trying to squelch dissent.
"All we ever tried to do was express our view about this," said Cox, a computer scientist. "We never expected something like this. We think it’s wrong. We’re just trying to make our neighborhood safe."
Lacy said his complaint "was not an accusation" against Cox.
"I’m not trying to hush him up," Lacy said.
Cox has not been accused of claiming that he is an engineer. But Lacy says he filed the complaint because the report "appears to be engineering-level work" by someone who is not licensed as a professional engineer.
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Andrew L. Ritter, executive director of the engineers licensing board, said it will take three or four months to investigate Lacy’s allegation against Cox. He said there is a potential for violation if DOT and the public were misled by "engineering-quality work"- even if the authors did not claim to be engineers.
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Just too many tragedies caused by the automobile

I just ran across this story from June 26, 2010 about a 16 year old Olney boy seriously injured from being struck on his bike while trying to cross Route 108. And it seems no sooner did I learn of the extent of his injuries, I find out he has been back on his bike (at least once), going skiing and seems to be doing generally well from what little I have read so far. If you want to read about Tyler Junkin-Mills crash, recover or just stop in to say hi, visit https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/tylerjunkinmills

Then I read about another local boy

On a much, much more serious note, a local boy here – 17 years old – has died from injuries sustained in a car crash, after being in a coma with a brain injury for 3 1/2 weeks. We don’t know the family but it surely hits home for us. Of course it reminds us anew of how lucky we were, but my heart breaks for this boy’s family. Friends, please hold the family of Alex in the Light.

Just too many tragedies caused by the automobile, ya cars are convenient but at what price?.

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Baltimore County Council lifts limit on school zone speed cameras

By Steve Schuster

The County Council on Monday voted to lift the limit on how many speed cameras can be deployed in school zones across the county.

By a 5-2 vote at its Feb. 7 meeting in Towson, the council approved a proposal by 1st District Councilman Tom Quirk to lift the current cap of 15 cameras countywide.

The bill takes effect Feb. 20.

“This (speed camera program) makes our streets safer,” said Quirk, who represents Catonsville and Arbutus. “If you are obeying the law and driving within the speed limit, this bill does not even affect you.

“Let’s slow down traffic and protect our kids,” he said.

Quirk initially introduced the bill at a council work session on Jan. 3, saying data from county police show people are slowing down in the 15 school zones where the cameras are located.
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Biking in the Fast Lane

[B’ Spokes: It amazes me how much drivers complain about automated speed enforcement with a 12mph over the speed limit cushion as it seems to be motorists "right" to do 15mph over the speed limit. Yet a cyclists doing 6mph over the speed limit needs to be enforced and I wounder how many motorists have they ticketed for doing "just" 6mph over the speed limit? How many crackdowns on road safety have there been after motorists hit and run, especially after they caught the guy? I find such double standards extremely appalling.]
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By Michael Lee Pope
It may have been a first in the annals of law enforcement for the city, according to the Alexandria Police Department. Earlier this month, a city cop issued a speeding ticket to a bicyclist who was clocked going 31 in a 25. Alexandria Police Department spokeswoman Ashley Hildebrandt says the enforcement measure is part of a stepped-up effort to crack down on bicyclists flouting the laws on the streets of Old Town.
"We’ve been receiving a lot of complaints," said Hildebrandt. "So we’ve increased enforcement."
The unusual speeding ticket comes on the heels of another incident in which a bicyclist hit a pedestrian and tried to flee the scene. But a band of citizens chased the hit-and-run biker down and detained him until authorities showed up to arrest him. Hildebrandt says that police officials are hoping the new increased wintertime enforcement will pay off when more bicyclists hit the road this spring.
"We’re hoping the word will get out," she said. "Maybe we’ll see fewer violations."
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