Month: June 2009

…
DAVID WILSON, the cycle club’s president, said there was clearly a safety issue that needed to be addressed by putting up signs, enforcing speed limits, widening part of the road, or even installing a few hundred feet of rumble strips to slow cars trying to get around vehicles making a left.
But he said that had the accidents not been at a Department of Transportation center, there would have been no chance of four miles of ridged curtain. The road’s accident rate was lower than the state average, Mr. Wilson added, there were virtually no reports of drivers falling asleep, and the strips seemed to violate the department’s regulations.
…
“What was a reasonably safe thoroughfare for bicyclists was essentially destroyed by the addition of the rumble strips,” went one of the dozens of complaints sent to the department. The writer said that a road where she had taught her son to ride a bike “now represents a significant danger to bicyclists and motorists.”
After the department issued a report supporting the project, the cycle club filed suit June 1 asking a state court to force it to pave over the strips.
Continue reading “Bike Club sues State over rumble strips”

More Americans rode bicycles for recreation and transportation in 2008 than in any year since the turn of this century, according to the National Sporting Goods Association and the Outdoor Foundation. According to the NSGA, 44.7 million people age 7 and older rode a bike more than 6 times last year, up from 40.1 million in 2007 and 35.6 million in 2006. The 11% increase is attributed to factors such as record high gas prices last summer, a growing green movement and increased funding for bicycle infrastructure. Overall, bike riding placed 6th in the NSGA’s participation list, behind exercise walking, swimming, exercising with equipment, bowling and camping, in that order.
Continue reading “More Americans rode bicycles for recreation and transportation in 2008”

From: Andy Clarke
See if this helps any:
A few bike lane studies:
Continue reading “Safety of Bicycle Facilities”

The mission of
Keep Kids Alive Drive 25® is to end all deaths and injuries caused by speeding
on all roadways. Our target is zero deaths, zero injuries. To
do less is to accept and tolerate deaths and injuries to loved ones;
daughters, sons, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles,
grandparents, and friends.

To accomplish our mission we work to educate and actively engage
citizens throughout the United States in a common commitment to
create safer streets in neighborhoods, and beyond, for the benefit
of all. This includes pedestrians, cyclists, children-at-play,
motorists and their passengers. We work with and through
neighborhood groups, law enforcement, public health agencies,
schools, city/county/state government, public works, businesses,
safety organizations, and any and all civic organizations committed
to creating safe roadways.

The campaign
goal is to unite neighborhoods and communities throughout the U.S.
with a consistent message about safe driving.
Keep Kids Alive Drive 25®
reminds each of us to check our speed and slow down as needed. Since
we as drivers cause the problem of speeding in residential
neighborhoods, and beyond, we must be actively engaged and committed
to being the solution as well.  Keep Kids
Alive Drive 25® is a friendly reminder to slow down in a fast-paced world,
as well as an invitation to take personal
responsibility for our driving behavior.

For
communities, it is imperative to send the message that, “Speeding
will not be tolerated in our town!”  Keep
Kids Alive Drive 25®
works to
support this message by educating and engaging drivers, pedestrians,
cyclists, residents, parents, schools, businesses, law enforcement,
public works, and many others in making safer streets a reality.
This is why we exist.

DID YOU KNOW?

• 
  41,059 people
  – daughters, sons, brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, friends –
  died on
  America’s roadways in 2007.
  That’s an average of over 112 deaths per day
  each and every day of the year. (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) – 2008)

• 4,327 pedestrians died while
  walking in neighborhoods or crossing streets in 2005. 500
  of these deaths were children under 14 years-old. (NHTSA 2008)

• 2,490,000 people were injured in
  motor vehicle incidents in 2007 (NHTSA 2008)

• The death rate on residential
  streets is over twice that of highways -measured per miles driven
  (NHTSA – 2005)

• Speeding
  Triples the Odds of Crashing (AAA
  Foundation for Traffic Safety – 2006)

• A
  pedestrian hit in a 30 mph speed zone is 3 times more
  likely to die than one hit in a 25 mph zone. (General
  Estimates Database of Police Reported Accidents – 1999)

Continue reading “KEEP KIDS ALIVE DRIVE 25”

POLICY STATEMENT
The Built Environment: Designing Communities to Promote Physical Activity in Children
Committee on Environmental Health
An estimated 32% of American children are overweight, and physical inactivity contributes to this high prevalence of overweight. This policy statement highlights how the built environment of a community affects children’s opportunities for physical activity. Neighborhoods and communities can provide opportunities for recreational physical activity with parks and open spaces, and policies must support this capacity. Children can engage in physical activity as a part of their daily lives, such as on their travel to school. Factors such as school location have played a significant role in the decreased rates of walking to school, and changes in policy may help to increase the number of children who are able to walk to school. Environment modification that addresses risks associated with automobile traffic is likely to be conducive to more walking and biking among children. Actions that reduce parental perception and fear of crime may promote outdoor physical activity. Policies that promote more active lifestyles among children and adolescents will enable them to achieve the recommended 60 minutes of daily physical activity. By working with community partners, pediatricians can participate in establishing communities designed for activity and health.
Continue reading “Doctors prescribe smarter growth”