A pedestrian hit by a car at 40 mph has a 95% chance of being killed, at 30 mph this becomes 50% and at 20 mph it becomes 5%.
Dr. Stephen J. Watkins, National Health Service, Stockport, UK
Speed contributes to causing accidents and it also increases their severity.
A pedestrian hit by a car at 40 mph has a 95% chance of being killed, at 30 mph this becomes 50% and at 20 mph it becomes 5%.
Most child pedestrian road deaths would be averted if people drove at 20mph in side streets. As few places are more than a mile from a main road, few journeys involve more than two miles on side roads (a mile at each end). The difference between driving two miles at 20mph and at 40mph is 3 minutes.
We are killing our children to save less than three minutes on our journeys.
In residential side roads 20 is plenty.
To enforce this policy we need
• A 20mph speed limit in residential side streets
• A recognition that motorists are solely responsible for the injuries that occur in accidents in residential side streets to the extent that they exceed those that might have been expected at 20mph. The concept of contributory negligence by pedestrians should apply only to injuries that would have been likely to have occurred anyway at 20mph. Any excess over that should be the motorist’s fault.
• Ideally we need to reshape streets so that they are used primarily for community use and the vehicle is a guest.
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Ghost Bike for John R. Yates
Most of you know about the bicyclist that died this week at the corner of Lafayette and Maryland. A memorial Ghost Bike will be place at that intersection this Sunday, 8/9, a bit after 6:00 PM. For info on the memorial, go to www.ghostbikes.org
All are welcome. The ghost bike is currently at Velocipede… but all involved consider this a gesture from the bicycling community and the larger Baltimore community, not from a single group.
John Yates biking Druid Hill Park in 2004
Sun photo by Elizabeth Malby / June 21, 2004
Jack [John] Yates of Charles Village is shown in this 2004 photo taking advantage of a sunny day to cycle in Druid Hill Park.
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Portland’s Bicycle Brilliance
And I’ll think to myself: What does Portland know that Vancouver hasn’t yet quite learned?
Why is it that, while a city like Portland has bridges backlogged with bike traffic-jams, Vancouver remains choked in car traffic, and I, nearly alone on my bike route to work? A mere 2,700 cyclists trickle into Vancouver’s downtown every day, while over 9,000 daily cross over Portland’s bridges.
[Interesting stuff about Portland’s bike history.]
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AMTRAK BICYCLE SERVICE SURVEY
Currently, there is limited opportunity for bicycle transportation on Amtrak’s Capitol Limited route, which parallels the Great Allegheny Passage and C&O Canal Towpath between Washington, DC and Pittsburgh, PA. This brief survey attempts to determine how much consumer interest there is for Amtrak to expand upon its bicycle service on the Capitol Limited route. We appreciate your time in completing the survey.
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McCain, Coburn say U.S. spends too much on bike paths, other non-highway projects
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He pointed out that in the same GAO study, it was found the the government spent less on bike and pedestrian projects in the past 18 years than the $7 billion Congress approved last week to keep the highway trust fund alive through August.
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C & WHOA!! Duzer’s Blog or Duzer does Maryland
Features the Maryland dance, first flat in Maryland after crossing the whole US, C&O Mud, C&O no cars “Life is good” and more adventure then most of us would want.
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Terrible Crash, another perspective
Last year my friend was dragged to death at the age of 29 by the back wheels of a commercial vehicle while crossing the street legally as a pedestrian in a pedestrian-friendly town. Two links:
https://www.thebostontraveler.com/graduate-student-killed-crossing-the-street/
https://chemiche.blogspot.com/2008/03/killer-truck-backwheels-where-poor-man.html
As you can imagine, we spent a great deal of time investigating the death, and the following are my conclusions.
Trucks have no idea what the back end of their vehicle is doing. They don’t know exactly where the back wheels go, they don’t know if they have struck someone with their back wheels, and they really can’t be held responsible for that. The issue has nothing to do with people valuing the life of a bicyclist or favoring cars.
Perhaps the conclusion is that, given how little control drivers have over their rear wheels, 18 wheeler container trucks have no business driving on most city streets near pedestrians. Businesses could use smaller delivery trucks or get their deliveries at night.
Realistically, they won’t stop using 18 wheelers at least not in the near future. It’s left up to everyone else to stay far far away from these behemoths.
Road Fatalities and Injuries Up Since 55 MPH Speed Limit Repealed
"The study found that over the 10-year period following the repeal of the National Maximum Speed Law, about 12,500 deaths took place due to the increased speed limits across the U.S."
It amazes me how society feels that going fast is more important then death.
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Bicyclist killed by truck in Charles North; driver sought
A 67-year-old bicyclist was killed Tuesday morning in Baltimore’s Charles North neighborhood after he became entangled in the rear wheels of a white box truck, said a city police spokesman.
Police, who said the truck driver left the scene and was probably unaware of the accident, are seeking the truck with unknown tags.
Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the truck was southbound on Maryland Avenue at 11:38 a.m. and was making a right turn onto West Lafayette Avenue when the biker, who was directly behind the truck, struck the truck’s right rear wheels and became entangled in the wheels.
Agent Donny Moses, another police spokesman, identified the bicyclist Wednesday as John R. Yates of the 2800 block of Maryland Ave. in Baltimore. Medics pronounced Yates dead at the scene. He suffered massive trauma to his abdomen area and to his left leg, according to Moses.
Anyone with information is asked to call the city police accident investigation unit at 410-396-2606.
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