American Bicyclist Update January 04, 2010

Be in the Know. Read bikeleague.org/blog

The League’s blog is the best way to stay on top of all the latest bikeBike League Blog news: advocacy, industry, education and current events! The easiest way to follow the blog is to subscribe to our blog’s rss feed. You can also follow our blog through NetworkedBlogs on Facebook.


National News

Advocacy Advance Helps you Find Federal Funding

As part of the continuing partnership between the League of American Bicyclists and the Alliance for Bicycling & Walking, the Advocacy Advance Team has created a series of reports to help Alliance member organizations access Federal funding for bicycle and pedestrian projects including: Section 402 – Highway Safety Grants, Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP), and Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Plan (CMAQ). For a brief description of each report, a request for more of your stories, and links
to other Advocacy Advance resources, visit our blog or the Advocacy Advance section of bikeleague.org.

NHTSA Comments

Recently the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and
Federal Transit Administration (FTA) published Federal Register notices requesting public comment on several issues important to bicycling. Comments are due today but late entries might be considered. Review the League’s comments here.

Other News

Bumper Issue of
Active Living Research Published

No fewer than
20 papers on Active Living topics are now available in a special issue of
Preventive Medicine – thanks to the Active Living Research program at San Diego
State University. This incredible body of work includes another epic paper by
John Pucher, Susan Handy and Jennifer Dill titled “Infrastructure, Programs and Policies to Increase Bicycling:  An International Review,” as well as numerous studies of youth
health issues and strategies for promoting more active lifestyles.


The
League of American Bicyclists promotes bicycling for fun, fitness and
transportation, and works through advocacy and education for a bicycle-friendly
America.
The League represents the interests of America’s 57 million bicyclists,
including its 300,000 members and affiliates.
For
more information or to support the League, visit www.bikeleague.org.

Per SHA this is bicycle safety???

Update to update: They lied the site is still up. After three months you would thing they could have gotten this fixed

Bicycle Safety Things to Know:

Did You Know?

* Children hit by cars can be killed, even when cars are moving slowly.
* Death can occur if your head is struck by a vehicle traveling as slow as 15 miles per hour.
* Children 1-2 years old are most often hurt by a backing vehicle.
* Children 3-4 years old are most often hit while crossing a street near home.
* Falls from tricycles or other play vehicles can cause serious head and brain injuries.
* Boys are much more likely than girls to be injured or killed in traffic.
* 75% of all biking related injuries requiring hospital treatment happen to children.
* 75% of biking related deaths involve injuries to the head.
* Brain injuries are preventable.

Continue reading “Per SHA this is bicycle safety???”

Future Harvest

Find your local sources for steaks, ground beef, leg of lamb, sausage, bacon, eggs, smoked hams, roasting chickens, handmade cheeses, goats-milk fudge, cheese-stuffed pasta, Thanksgiving turkeys, Christmas geese, and more-all fresh from the pasture! This directory lists grass-based farms in Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia that sell their products directly to consumers
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Baltimore City Parking Authority – Alternative Transportation

Yes, it’s true.
The Parking Authority of Baltimore City wants you to leave your car at home.

Living in Baltimore City provides you with lots of alternatives to using your car for either your daily commute to work, or for running errands. According to the EPA website, leaving your car home just two days a week can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 1,600 pounds per year. In Baltimore City, you can walk, bicycle, use public transportation, take a cab, rent a car or join a Car Sharing program (coming soon!) to make Baltimore cleaner and greener. Make 2008 the year you reduce your carbon footprint!
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Hagerstown considers becoming Hub-and-Spokes City

[Note a lot of negative comments on the Herald’s site.]
plan to make its streets more welcoming for bicycle riders.
The plan includes designated bike lanes, as well as roads that bicyclists and motorists would share.
A network of bike-friendly routes would help people who ride for recreation or transportation, a draft of the plan says.
The whole network could take years, as the city does a little at a time around road projects.
The city is asking for public input on the proposed plan. A public hearing will be held Thursday at 7 p.m. at City Hall.

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A Cure for Nature Deficit Disorder-Technology? (or the bicycle?)

Riding my bicycle down the Baltimore & Annapolis Trail, I passed a small family group. Mom was on her cell and Dad engrossed with his blackberry. Just another example of societies disconnectedness to the natural world, I thought. Reading Louv’s Last Child in the Woods (https://richardlouv.com/) has had a deep impact on me and I can not resolve this. What was once taken for granted, days of childhood play and exploration over local hill and dale, has been replaced by endless hours in front of a screen.

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Court to Cops: Stop Tasing People into Compliance

While not a follow up to Cyclist tased while leaving an airport by bike the decision may be of interest:
By David Hambling – Wired
The use of Tasers has become increasingly controversial over the last year, following high-profile cases such as the Tasering of a 10-year-old girl who had refused to take a shower and video of a 72-year-old great-grandmother who was Tasered following a driving offense. Now a federal appeals court in San Francisco has set down new rules for when police officers are allowed to use Tasers. In particular, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Tasers can’t be used simply to force a non-violent person to bend to an officer’s will. The court’s reason was that Taser’s X26 stun gun inflicts more pain than other “non-lethal” options
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Facebook Page Encourages Violence Against Cyclists

If you’re on Facebook, click here to see the “There’s a Perfectly Good Cycle Path Right Next to the Road…” page set up to advocate intentional violence against cyclists. Probably set up as a joke, it now has over 31,000 fans. There are only four posts, all in November 2009, so my hunch is it’s not an active page, but the number of fans it has is alarming. [Ah but comments on those 4 posts are very active.]

Scroll to the bottom left of the page and click “Report Page” and let Facebook know you think it’s inappropriate content.
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Just trying to cross the street

I can’t stop thinking about the Johns Hopkins University student who was killed in that fatal hit and run accident on Friday.

The news hits close to home because while I was in college, just up the street from JHU, a friend of mine was hit by a car by Loyola. The driver kept going. Fortunately, my friend survived the accident but her life was changed.

Now, I often drive past JHU or Loyola en route to work. I can attest to the fact that it’s certainly an odyssey to cross St. Paul Street or Charles Street or University Parkway at times. As a driver, I’m extra vigilant in that area because I know students are making their way to class, runners are out for a jog, parents are strolling their kids through the neighborhood and there are people just trying to make it home after a long day.

I often think of my classmate Melissa who shared her story in class one day. I have the image of her walking with a cane to class in my head. Even though she was the victim of a hit and run, she had no animosity toward the driver. The only thing Melissa said is that she wishes the person who hit her would have stopped just to show they cared, and that they valued someone else’s life. As police search for the driver who struck Miriam Frankl, her friends are probably wishing for the same thing.

If there’s any good that comes from tragedy, you hope people take a little more time when driving. You hope drivers are more aware. You hope drivers will be courteous to pedestrians, and that pedestrians will be courteous to drivers. You hope no one else is hit while just trying to cross the street.

A response The worst part of this incident is that the police have a suspect, they just won’t arrest him. Not surprisingly, the guy has multiple DWIs…:

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