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Proposals seek to encourage more cyclists and to make Baltimore streets safer for them

Boson Au commutes from his Charles Village home to his downtown office by bicycle. He rides his bike to the grocery store and, with a group of cycling friends, to bars on weekends.

Traveling by bike allows Au a more immediate and intimate experience of Baltimore than driving a car. "It makes the city seem smaller and closer," said the 32-year-old Web developer. "I’m seeing the streets. I’m feeling the bumps. It’s made me more involved in the city."

But Baltimore’s congested and pothole-ridden streets pose many hazards to cyclists. Au has been hit by cars twice – once while waiting at a stop light in Mount Vernon and once while riding in Harbor East during his lunch break – although he was not seriously hurt in either accident.

"I’m one of the lucky ones," he said, showing a mangled red rim – a memento from one of his crashes – that hangs from the ceiling at Velocipede, the Station North bike shop, where he is a collective member.

A passel of laws proposed recently by City Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke is aimed at encouraging more people to travel by bike while making streets safer for riders.
Continue reading “Proposals seek to encourage more cyclists and to make Baltimore streets safer for them”

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US 40 Considered a Leading Danger Zone for Injuries and Deaths

According to the Baltimore Sun, since January 2003 at least 29 Maryland pedestrian fatalities have occurred in the 52-mile section of US 40 where it merges into Interstate 70 in Western Howard County. At least 8 of the pedestrian deaths occurred in Baltimore City, and except for 2 fatalities, the other pedestrian deaths occurred in West Baltimore. 21 pedestrian fatalities occurred in Baltimore County, Howard County, and Harford County, with the 3-4 fatalities that took place in the Maryland cities of Rosedale, Ellicott City, and Aberdeen occurring within a few hundred feet of each other.
Maryland State Highway Administration spokesperson Dave Buck says US 40, a main arterial highway, was constructed before pedestrian safety was considered a priority. A recent report by Surface Transportation Policy Project and Transportation for America recently pointed to highway design as one of the main causes of pedestrian deaths.
The report noted that 56% of pedestrian fatalities occur on roads that weren’t designed with pedestrian safety in mind. The report says arterial roads usually have multiple lanes, high speed limits, and few (if any) crossing signals or crosswalks.
Other arterial loads linked to Baltimore pedestrian accidents include Ritchie Highway, US 1, Reierstown Road, Liberty Road, and Mountain Road. With so many pedestrians continuing to die and get hurt in US traffic crashes each year—4,378 US pedestrian fatalities, 69,000 pedestrian injuries, and 116 Maryland pedestrian deaths in 2008—local, state, and federal entities must make sure that roads are properly designed to limit the number of pedestrian injuries and deaths.
Continue reading “US 40 Considered a Leading Danger Zone for Injuries and Deaths”

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Maryland College Student Dies in Fatal Hit-and-Run Pedestrian Accident

Another late-October traffic fatality took the life of a University of Maryland junior who was apparently the victim of a hit-and-run pedestrian accident. Having represented victims of pedestrian injury accidents, I can understand the pain and grief of such a loss, not only to the family but to the friends and schoolmates of this young woman. When it comes to car and truck accidents, the occupants in the vehicles have a much better survival rate than the persons on foot.

According to news reports, the Baltimore Police were investigating this particular hit-and-run accident, which claimed the life of Miriam Frankl just before 3:30pm on a Friday afternoon in October. Reportedly, police investigators had apparently questioned the owner of the white Ford F-250 truck that fatally injured Frankl while making an illegal left turn onto E. University Parkway from St. Paul St that day. Frankl died the following morning the University of Maryland Shock Trauma unit.
Continue reading “Maryland College Student Dies in Fatal Hit-and-Run Pedestrian Accident”

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Can’t see the trees for the forest

In this report funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation touches on lots of issues relevant to Baltimore area. It compares us to Sacramento, California.

A lot of the states bike/ped issues boils down if you look at the State as a whole you see a lot of cool stuff but if you look at counties with high bike/ped crash rates a completely different picture emerges and this report is one of the clearest picture by an independent third party to date.
Continue reading “Can’t see the trees for the forest”

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Active Transportation Making the Link from Transportation to Physical Activity and Obesity

During the past four decades, the obesity rate for children ages 6 to 11 has more than
quadrupled (from 4.2% to 17%), and it has more than tripled for adolescents ages 12 to 19
(from 4.6% to 17.6%).1, 2 Regular physical activity can reduce the risk for obesity and help
people lead longer, healthier lives. Yet studies show that less than half of U.S. children and
adolescents meet the recommended guidelines of at least 60 minutes of daily moderateto-
vigorous physical activity.3–5 The same studies indicate that less than 10 percent of adults
in the U.S. get the recommended 30 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity
per day.6–8

Walking and bicycling for daily transportation are important sources of physical
activity, but they have declined dramatically over the past few decades. Between 1977
and 1995,a the number of all walking trips decreased by 32 percent, and there was a similar
decrease in trips made by adults walking to work.9 Adults walk for only 21.2 percent of
trips that are one mile or less, and children walk for only 35.9 percent of trips to school
that distance.10 Reversing the decline in rates of walking and biking for transportation,
especially for short trips, presents a major opportunity for improving health among
children, adolescents and adults.

Transportation investments can either support or impede walking and bicycling in
neighborhoods and near schools, depending on how they are implemented. Evidence
is accumulating about how infrastructure improvements, programs that aim to manage
neighborhood road traffic, and efforts to make streets and sidewalks safer for active travel
influence travel patterns among both children and adults. This research brief presents
an overview of findings demonstrating the potential impact of infrastructure investments
and other transportation programs on walking and bicycling for transportation, and on
related health outcomes. It focuses on public transit, greenways and trails, school-related
infrastructure and programs, pedestrian and bicycle facilities, and efforts to manage
car traffic.

Continue reading “Active Transportation Making the Link from Transportation to Physical Activity and Obesity”

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We want even more cars on the road

Another Urban Places and Spaces blog article where I really have to wounder if Dr Gridlock wants to see even more gridlock.:

I like Dr. Gridlock, but

Robert Thomson is the commuting-mobility columnist for the Washington Post. Most of his writings are quite good, but he persists in neglecting to put much attention on the fact that driving is subsidized to the tune of many dollars per gallon–the reality is that taxes, tolls, and fees typically pay no more than 50% of the cost of roads, the rest comes from general funds.

————
Recognize that we are hardest on those that we love. I am hard on Dr. Gridlock because I like what he does and I have high and ever increasing expectations for the quality of his work. I am hard on the Post generally, and of course, on DC and DC Government specifically. That’s the role of a critic…
————

His "colleague" Neal Peirce, who writes a column that is distributed by the Washington Post Writers Syndicate, but whose column is never published in the Post proper, wrote about this in 2003. See "GAS TAX HIKES: NEEDED BUT POLITICALLY PERILOUS" (5/11/03).

Dr. Gridlock persists in making the point that transit is subsidized, while neglecting in fairness to mention, ever, that roads are subsidized, for example, at the start of his column feature on the Metro budget, he writes:

Every ride we take on Metro is subsidized by many people who never use the transit system and many more who will never see it. Those people are sending Metro riders a holiday gift that should amount to $300 million for the next year. It will take the form of a federal subsidy with matching funds from the local jurisdictions that support Metro.

Where’s the "fairness" and "balance" here?

Every gallon of gas gets a subsidy of close to $5 for road use and military protection of oil supplies, plus other spending on the health and environmental impacts.

Continue reading “We want even more cars on the road”

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Walk this way to obesity

Excerpt from the Urban Places and Spaces blog article:
…
The Prince Georges Gazette reports, in "Proposal to lessen walking distance to schools could become costly: Senator says students are required to walk too far," that any distance more than 1/4 of a mile is too far to walk to school, according to State Senator Anthony Muse, who has introduced legislation to change school bus transportation requirements in the county. From the article:
….
Public health statistics for Prince George’s County:
Physical Activity and Obesity
Percent of adults age 18 and over who engage in regular moderate physical activity =45%
Percent of youth age 6-19 who engage in regular moderate physical activity = 56%
Percent of youth age 2-19 who are overweight = 31%
Percent of adults age 18 and over who are overweight, BMI 25-29.9 = 39%
Percent of adults age 18 and over who are obese, BMI > 30 = 23%
…
Continue reading “Walk this way to obesity”

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Climate Change is Coming to Town

https://www.csrplus.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/santa_bike.jpg
(Photo from the Cooperative Social Responsibility blog.)

Via the Internet, Richard modified it slightly to include walking and transit.

Climate Change is Coming to Town

(To the tune of Santa Claus is Coming to Town)

You better watch out, you better not drive.
You better walk, bike and ride transit I’m telling you why.
Climate change is coming to town.

We’re making it hot, we’re raising the seas.
Gonna feel life at a hundred degrees.
Climate change is coming to town.

If people keep on driving.
The poles will soon be lakes.
The air will stink like petrol fumes.
Walk, bike, and ride transit for goodness sake.

We’re making a list, we’re checking it twice.
We’re gonna find out who drives and who bikes!
Climate change is coming to town.
Continue reading “Climate Change is Coming to Town”