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Kids’ solutions to air pollution

By Ann Posegate

When it comes to inspiring solutions to air pollution, we adults could learn a thing or two from kids.

Clean Air Partners, a regional nonprofit partnership that advocates and educates for cleaner air in the D.C.-Baltimore area, recently announced the winners of its annual student poster contest. According to Rebecca Davis, education program manager for the partnership, “the purpose of the poster contest was to educate students about the solution to air pollution and climate change by integrating science and art,” in addition to celebrating the 40th anniversary of Earth Day.

Through their artwork, students displayed their understanding of the human-atmosphere interaction and highlighted individual actions that all of us can take in our daily lives to reduce air pollution in the region.

Over 300 posters were submitted, but two stood out the most…

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Poster by Katie Moser.

Katie Moser, a sixth-grader in Anne Arundel County in Maryland, made the winning poster for the grades 4-6 category. Her poster, “Earth Day Every Day,” features bicycle-riding as a solution to vehicle exhaust that causes smog, and planting trees and plants as a solution to acid rain. She explains that acid rain comes from chemicals that travel through the water cycle and rain down during precipitation.

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Poster by Kaili Bryer.

Kaili Bryer, a seventh-grader in St. Mary’s County in Maryland, created the winning poster for the grades 7-8 category. Kaili’s solutions come from the “Kaili Bryer Solutions” factory. She describes how windmills and “photovoltaic technology” (aka solar panels) create power and light for buildings. She also advocates riding bikes to reduce car emissions (notice the bicycles parked in the parking lot).

Congratulations to Katie, Kaili and all the student artists for completing the On the Air curriculum and doing your share to help clean the air.

Continue reading “Kids’ solutions to air pollution”

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Action Alert: Accidents Involving Pedestrians Rise In Balt. Co.

[B’ Spokes: This article makes my blood boil, too many pedestrians and cyclists are "at fault" because the road was designed only for cars and dangerous for everyone else. Part two what’s the point of having laws to protect cyclists rights to the road if police never learn them or even bother to read the law as they pertain to cyclists? After the fold is the email address of Baltimore County Police.]

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By Suzanne Collins

BALTIMORE COUNTY, Md. (WJZ) …
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Pedestrian accidents, especially fatal ones, are way up in Baltimore County.

They involve bicyclists, joggers, and people on foot.

From 2006 through 2008 an average of 15 people were killed [per year.] Last year that rose to 19.

In the first four months of this year already eight have died. If that rate continues, there could be 24 deaths before year’s end.

"What we’re finding is, of those accidents involving a pedestrian, that generally the pedestrian is at fault," said James Johnson, Chief Baltimore Co. Police.

The police report shows the truck driver in Tuesday’s crash may not be at fault.

Police say the bicyclist wasn’t wearing a helmet [as the law allows,] and they believe he was riding in the middle of the car lane [***as the law recommends.***] They also say the driver probably had a blind spot when he came over the hill [as if the hill makes the cyclists at fault.]

A group promoting bicycling says its riders observe traffic rules, but drivers need to know of a new law.

"Drivers need to know to give cyclists three feet when passing, which is a safe passing distance," said Carol Silldorff, One Car Less.

And if it’s a narrow road, Silldorff still says drivers should be accountable.

"You wait, just like if you were passing a child," she said.

Because of the rising number of fatals, county police have been out giving warnings to pedestrians who violate traffic laws. They will kick off an education campaign soon.

"Certainly both the pedestrian and the motor vehicle operator have responsibility here. Obviously a pedestrian has responsibility to obey traffic laws not cross in areas that are dangerous," said Johnson.

In two bike fatalities so far this year and several serious injuries, they were riding outside the beltway mostly on rural roads without sidewalks.

The county also is working to engineer its roadways to accommodate both forms of transportation.
Continue reading “Action Alert: Accidents Involving Pedestrians Rise In Balt. Co.”

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5 down and 132 to go with manslaughter charges

[B’ Spokes: Let’s hope this is a sign that unsafe drivers who kill people will be strongly discouraged by the state. In 2008 there were 138 Alcohol-impaired driving crashes that resulted in at least one death and that is just the tip of the iceberg of all the reckless and negligent driving out there. ]
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By Sharahn D. Boykin
SALISBURY — A Dover man criminally charged in a fatal crash that killed two people reflects the growing number of drivers charged with vehicular homicide in Wicomico County, according to the State’s Attorney’s Office.
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Stephens is one of about five drivers charged with vehicular manslaughter within the last 18 months, according to the State’s Attorney’s Office.
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Continue reading “5 down and 132 to go with manslaughter charges”

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MTA Tests Cameras to Deter Illegal Use of Bus Lanes

by Matthew Schuerman
NEW YORK, NY April 27, 2010 —New York City Transit will try out mobile video cameras in a move that may eventually lead to ticketing more drivers who illegally use bus-only lanes. Over the next 10 months the agency will test the cameras by mounting them on the front of two buses on the Bx12 line in the Bronx.
The Bx12 is the city’s first Select Bus Service route, a special limited-stop route that uses various innovations to reduce travel time by 20 percent. Steve Plochochi, a transit official, says drivers who use bus lanes slow down buses, "because as cars and taxis move in and out of the lane, that interrupts our flow of traffic."
State law doesn’t allow buses to use mobile cameras to crack down on drivers. A bill was introduced to change that. In the meantime, the pilot project won’t use the information to ticket drivers.
Instead, the trial period will test software to distinguish between cars traveling in the bus lane, which is illegal, and those merely making a quick stop or a right turn, which is legal.
Continue reading “MTA Tests Cameras to Deter Illegal Use of Bus Lanes”