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Mayor’s Bicycle Advisory Committee: this Tuesday, November 16th

Mayor’s Bicycle Advisory Committee: this Tuesday, November 16th, 6 pm in the Department of Planning’s Conference Room (417 E. Fayette St, 8th Floor). We’ll be meeting with Councilmember Mary Pat Clarke, who championed “the Bike Bills”, on how we can assist the city in future street projects.

Also at the meeting, we’ll need your help with

* Preparing for the informational hearing with the Baltimore Police Department
* Requesting areas of enforcement for vehicular traffic parking in bike lanes
* Making recommendations to the city for adhering to the Cyclists Bill of Rights
* Representing biking interests in the B’more Streets for People program

Many hands make light work! Come help your city and fellow cyclists make Baltimore more bikeable!
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Members hope to ‘rescue’ Seattle’s Cascade Bicycle Club

The twists and turns to the bike advocacy drama up in Seattle just keep on coming. After Cascade Bicycle Club — a non-profit bike event and advocacy group with 13,000 members — abruptly fired its longtime leader Chuck Ayers back in October, it set off of a messy feud between the Board of Directors and the group’s membership base.
The firing, said the Board, was a result of Cascade wanting to take a different, less aggressive and confrontational tone in its advocacy work. Much of that tone was set by Ayers’ right hand man, advocacy director David Hiller. Hiller is a confident advocate who understands the trench warfare it takes to make change against the status quo. His style is self-assured and sometimes rough around the edges; but it’s effective.
Members claim that the Board fired Ayers because he refused to fire Hiller. After the firing and a few tense days, Ayers got his job back on an interim basis. Ayers and Hiller are now back at work but there’s a new twist in the story.
A group of members have organized in the "Bike Club Rescue Squad." Their goal is to collect the 690 signatures from Cascade members required to recall the entire board. An article published today on Publicola by one of the Rescue Squad’s leaders states lays out the reason for their concerns:
– "If this board stays in power… Seattle cyclists will lose a strong and successful advocate at the time they need one most.
– No lobbyist can function when his own organization is undermining him in the press and has little stomach for the rough and tumble world of politics. No organization should expect its lobbyist to serve the same functions as its public relations director.
– The only way to rescue Cascade is to recall the entire board, rewrite the bylaws, and elect new board members who want Cascade to succeed."
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L.A. plans crackdown on harassment of bicyclists. Are new laws necessary? [Updated]

The council this week asked its attorneys to draw up an ordinance that would make it a civil violation to harass or assault bicyclists. The proposed law, which the council could consider in two months, would make it easier for  cyclists to sue those who allegedly harass them and recover a cash settlement. [Updated: In response to readers who asked for more information on the proposal, here are city documents on the issue.]

The bike rights campaign has been galvanized by the case of an L.A. doctor convicted a few weeks ago of purposely hitting bikers in Brentwood.

More people are turning to two wheels for commuting and recreation. Cyclists are asserting their rights as never before. In Los Angeles, advocates are pushing for more bike lanes and other road improvements, a cyclists’ bill of rights and more protection from police.

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Glen Burnie bicyclist critical after being hit by car

[B’ Spokes: I hope this tragedy will remind cyclists to treat intersections with more caution and care. ]
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via Baltimore Sun

A 21-year-old Glen Burnie man who rode his bicycle through a red light into busy Crain Highway traffic Friday night was in critical condition at Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore on Saturday.

Anne Arundel County police said Robert James Scherer rode a bicycle through a red light and into Crain Highway at about 10 p.m. Friday. He entered the intersection with Baltimore Annapolis Boulevard, Route 648, and was hit by a northbound 2009 Toyota Camry driven by Ruth Henrietta Mims, 79, of Linthicum.

Police said Scherer rode into Mims’ path, and she could not avoid the collision. She was not injured.
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MICA Cycling to Host BIKE FEST and Exclusive Baltimore Life Cycles Screening

Join us on November 20th for this kick-ass event.

On November 20th at 6pm, we are having a bike fest and movie screening
to raise money for MICA’s Bike Share program. In attendance – Bike
Maryland, MICA Cycling, MICA SOS, Mobtown Velo, Twenty20, Baltimore
Bike Works, Velociepede, Spoke Apparel, and many more. More
information and ticket reservations are here – https://micacycling.net/?p=205
The Bike Fest is free, the movie is 10 dollars. Cash only.
Bike Valet available for all attendees.

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Police Reports: Why They Are Often Wrong

from Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog
After a car accident, police do an investigation, talk to the witnesses, and file a police report. Although the police report is generally inadmissible at trial in Maryland, the facts contained in the report and the conclusion of the police officer as to who was at fault colors – sometimes permanently -how the insurance companies view the merits of accident claims.
In serious injury accident cases, often there are parties to the accident who are unable to talk to police because they are tending to their injuries. Obviously, this problem is even more pronounced in wrongful death accident cases.
I recently received a call from a potential client who forwarded to me the police report in this case that showed that she was undeniably the cause of the accident. The problem was that as a matter of physics and given the property damage, the accident could not have happened as the police report suggested. What did the woman who was listed at-fault tell the police after the accident? Nothing. She was airlifted to shock trauma. So the police officer listened to the driver that was there, accepted his story and then filed his police report listing the woman as the at-fault driver.
The big lesson here for accident lawyers is to take the police report’s findings with a grain of salt. If you have a serious injury case, do your own investigation of the accident as opposed to making a decision on the case by looking at the police report.
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Third Public Meeting Minutes – York Road Streetscape Project

"Bicycle traffic and safety was discussed. Mr. Ledebur recounted that floating bike lanes and sharrows along York Road are impractical as long as there is restricted parking/travel lanes along the corridor. It was also explained York Road is not considered a major bike corridor in the City’s Bicycle Master Plan, and that Old York Road is also a viable parallel alternative for bicycle traffic. The City has directed the Design Team to include “Share the Road” signage within the project corridor to increase awareness and safety of bicycle traffic."
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[B’ Spokes: This is all well and good but still I would like to see the City make use of the "Bikes May Use Full Lane" signs. IMHO share the road signs are more appropriate in rural areas and less appropriate in urban settings.]

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Ignition Interlock Summit helps states in the fight against drunk driving (but not in MD)

Bits from Welcome to the Fast Lane: The Official Blog of the U.S. Secretary of Transportation by Ray LaHood

This week, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Centers for Disease Control met with members of the Governors Highway Safety Association for a National Ignition Interlock Summit. This was a full-day work session to help state safety professionals figure out how to get a handle on drunk driving.

Drunk_driving

That’s why 13 states have passed mandatory ignition interlock laws for all drunk drivers–including first offenders.

And that’s why DOT is providing technical assistance and support to help states move toward increasing their interlock use and strengthening their laws and interlock programs.

Counter point: JOSEPH F. VALLARIO JR., chairman of the House Judiciary Comittee in Maryland and a defense attorney by profession, has made a career of making problems go away for drunk drivers — both in the courthouse and in the legislature.
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