Matthew Modine founder of the advocacy group "Bicycle for a Day" held a fundraising party for this project last night at Solar One, the City’s first solar-powered “Green Energy, Arts, and Education Center.” Modine plan’s to recycle New York City’s junk bikes and distribute them around the world so more people will be able to participate in "Bicycle for a Day." This project will debut in Iraq and Afghanistan. Modine was also joined by a whole host of cycling enthusiasts and promoters from the Consulate General of the Netherlands to Grammy Award winning beatbox artist Rahzel.
Continue reading “Street Films: Bicycle For A Day”
Can younger drivers be trained to identify hazards/risks in roadway traffic scenarios?
Younger drivers (18-21 years) are over-involved in crashes. Research suggests that one of the reasons for this over-involvement is their failure to scan areas of the roadway for information about potential risks in situations that are hazardous, but not obviously so. The primary objective of the present study is to develop and evaluate a training program that addresses this failure. It was hypothesised that PC-based hazard anticipation training would increase the likelihood that younger drivers would scan for potential hazards on the open road. In order to test this hypothesis, 12 trained and 12 untrained drivers’ eye movements were measured as they drove a vehicle on local residential, feeder and arterial roads. Overall, the trained drivers were significantly more likely to gaze at areas of the roadway that contained information relevant to the reduction of risks (64.4%) than were the untrained drivers (37.4%). Significant training effects were observed even in situations on the road that were quite different from those shown in training. These findings have clear implications for the type of training of teen drivers that is necessary in order to increase their anticipation of hazards.
Continue reading “Can younger drivers be trained to identify hazards/risks in roadway traffic scenarios?”
City Paper’s Critic’s Pick
By Max Robinson |
Posted 6/10/2009
There’s no better opportunity to get those bike wheels turning than at Tour Dem Parks, Hon!, a biking event dedicated to raising money for Baltimore’s park system. Riders chose from four different trails, ranging from the comfortable (a 12-mile tour through Gwynns Falls Valley) to the arduous (a 64-miler or “metric century”, if you prefer the biking vernacular). No matter which trail you choose, this is a great way to see some of Baltimore’s beauty and history. After completing their trek, all participants are rewarded with a snazzy and free 100 percent organic cotton T-shirt, barbecue, and live jazz in Carroll Park. The ride’s limited to a mere 1,000 participants, so be sure to get there early for the 7 a.m. registration, or register online.
Quantity time in car = quantity of you
-> "Every additional 30 minutes spent in a car each day translates into a 3 percent greater chance of being obese. People who live in neighborhoods with a mix of shops and businesses within easy walking distance are 7 percent less likely to be obese."
— Lawrence Frank, University of British Columbia
Continue reading “Quantity time in car = quantity of you”
UNIV. OF CALIF. DAVIS SURVEY: 40% BICYCLE TO CAMPUS
[Having just done a bike trip around the car centric university in Towson I thought this might be of interest to show the potential of bicycling.]
-> According to the June issue of ITS-Davis e-news, "The results of the third campus travel assessment are almost complete, and they show that a greater percentage of people biked and fewer drove alone to campus in 2008 than in 2007. While the changes were small — 3% increase in biking and 5% decrease in driving alone — they trend in the direction campus transportation planners would like to see…"
According to the accompanying graphic, in 2008 40.2% biked to campus, 24.3% drove alone, 19.9% took the bus, 7.5% carpooled, 5.6% walked, 1.4% telecommuted, 0.8% took the train, and 0.3% skated.
Continue reading “UNIV. OF CALIF. DAVIS SURVEY: 40% BICYCLE TO CAMPUS”
Pittsburgh’s Car-Free Friday kicks off with breakfast events
By Jon Schmitz, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Motorists are being urged to become bicyclists, transit riders or pedestrians for at least one day a week, starting Friday.
From 8 to 10 a.m., the Car-Free Friday project, an initiative of Bike Pittsburgh, will kick off with an event at Schenley Plaza in Oakland, featuring free breakfast. Also that morning, Downtown bicycle riders who show their helmets can partake of a free light breakfast at Fifth Avenue Place.
Those who attend either event will receive coupons for discounts at more than two dozen local businesses.
"Breaking away from the one-person one-car mode is in everybody’s interest. We urge people not only to participate on [Friday], but to be car-free every Friday, and more often if possible," said Lynn Manion, executive director of the Airport Corridor Transportation Association, one of three transportation management associations supporting the event.
Port Authority, which is co-sponsoring the event with Whole Foods Market and the Mullen advertising agency, said nearly two-thirds of its buses now have bicycle racks.
…
Continue reading “Pittsburgh’s Car-Free Friday kicks off with breakfast events”
BWC: The Auto Club That Doesn’t Want You To Drive
Better World Offers a 10% Discount to New Members Who Use Public Transportation! (And a 5% Discount Each Year They Renew!)
As if offering the nation’s only bicycle roadside assistance wasn’t weird enough, Better World Club continues to challenge the very definition of "auto club" by offering a 10% discount to new members who use public transportation.
Mass transit is a much greener option to single-occupant automobiles, so we want to encourage it’s use as much as possible.
Continue reading “BWC: The Auto Club That Doesn’t Want You To Drive”
FREE Complete Streets webinar – from FHWA and CSS 6/11 at 2 pm
TOMORROW (Thurs.) (6/11) from 2:00 – 3:30 there will
be a FREE Complete Streets webinar hosted by FHWA and CSS https://www.contextsensitivesolutions.org/
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CSS Webinar – Complete Streets and Context Sensitive |
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ContextSensitiveSolutions.org and the The Webinar will be presented by Gabe |
Continue reading “FREE Complete Streets webinar – from FHWA and CSS 6/11 at 2 pm”
Bike Baltimore E-Newsletter, June 2009
Bike Baltimore ,
Vol. 1, Issue 2
Thank you for subscribing to the BIKE BALTIMORE e-newsletter distributed by
the Baltimore
City , Department of
Transportation. Here you will find the latest information regarding the
city’s efforts to make Baltimore
a safer and more enjoyable place to bike.
This month, Baltimore ’s
bike-related improvements are all about bike racks and parking!
SUPPORT!
Please contact your congressional representatives and ask
them to support new projects for the Baltimore
area! The City of Baltimore has 4 active transportation projects that
will need federal funding – Herring Run Trail extension, Baltimore &
Annapolis Trail extension, Bike Station improvements and reconstructing the
Middle Branch Bridge for cyclists and pedestrians! A brief description of
these projects can be found at www.baltimorecity.gov/bike
The Bike Summit
on May 1st provided an array of ideas on improving biking in
Baltimore . Now comes
the fun part: Contributing to make this vision a reality! A summary
of the Bike Summit is available online soon.
To reach one of the Mayor’s Bicycle Advisory
Committee 2009 goals, DOT and the MBAC will host mapping parties later this summer. We’ll collect
information on good existing bike routes to be incorporated into a bike map for
the Baltimore
area. Details will follow online.
BIKE INFRASTRUCTURE
New Bike Parking – The Department of
Transportation’s Maintenance Division has installed over 60 bike racks
over the past month! The communities of Highlandtown, Belair-Edison,
Waverley , Remington and
Hamilton are some of the areas where the new
racks are installed. To request a bike racks, visit the online form here.
Four bike racks were installed at the
Federal Hill
Preparatory School on
William St .
The racks were full on their first full day of installation! A great sign
for Baltimore ’s
future!
Site at the school before the
racks
DOT crews installing the
racks
Bikes all locked up! (Note the training wheels & helmet)
BIKE EVENTS
Bike To Work Day, held May 15th, was a
big success! The downtown rally hosted 150 participants and featured
Mayor Sheila Dixon, DOT Director Al Foxx &
Maryland Dept. of the Environment Secretary
Shari Wilson.
Tour Dem Parks, Hon is this Sunday, June 14th!
Tour dem Parks is a major
fund raising event focused on supporting groups and organizations dedicated to
improving Baltimore ’s
park system. The event provides friends and families with an opportunity to
ride together and discover little-known treasures in the city. Registration
is available online here. The tour offers 4
different routes (12, 25, 36 and 64 miles) are available for varying
abilities. The Tour begins and ends at
Carroll Park
7:00
am Registration starts
8:00 am First riders can leave the park
11:00 am BBQ and music start
12 Noon All riders please try to be off the
streets
ARTSCAPE,
the nation’s largest FREE arts festival, is July
16th – 18th and features BIKE PARKING. The
University of
Maryland is sponsoring free bike parking
for a less-stressful option for to getting to and from Artscape. The bike
parking will be staffed with volunteers who will provide goodie bags to
cyclists. To volunteer for the event, please contact Kathy Hornig at Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts.
Following then President-elect Obama’s visit, this is the 2nd
major event in the city this year that offers bike parking.
Also at Artscape, Baltimore Bicycle Works will be offering Bicycle Frame
Builders Exhibit & Demonstration. Come meet some of Baltimore ‘s
premiere frame builders Tommy Nash, Tom Palermo and Chris Bishop at Baltimore
Bicycle Works to display their artisan hand-crafted. Demonstration at 3pm on
Saturday.
In time for Artscape,
the winners of the Station North Bike Rack
Competition will be installed. These unique racks can be found
along the 1700 & 1800 block of Charles
Street and the unit & 100 block of
West North Avenue .
Tour du Port,
Baltimore ‘s Premier Bicycle Event, takes
place October 4th. Join thousands of riders at the
Canton Waterfront
Park to kick off the 16th
Annual Tour du Port. Routes range from 12 to a new 1/2 century 50 mile ride!
The route travels through over twelve historic neighborhoods, waterfront areas
and parks. This fully supported tour includes lunch, refreshments at rest
stops, map and sag and a post-ride celebration at Tour’s end. This event is One
Less Car’s Annual Fundraiser! All fees go directly to advancing the programs
and advocacy efforts of One Less Car, a non-profit dedicated to walking,
bicycling and mass transit in Maryland .
Click here to register:
These events and more can be found on the Bike
Baltimore website at www.baltimorecity.gov/bike
It’s fun, practical and it does reduce VMT
Since I started doing most of my grocery-store and other short rides on my utility bike (mountain bike with a pair of wire baskets hanging off the rear rack), I’ve dropped my car mileage from 9000/year to less than 6000/year. Miles on my utility bike don’t account for the difference, but my change in attitude does. I just drive less.
-Jonathan Krall