Month: September 2009

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Sykesville physician killed in Route 32 crash

[OK not bike related but we do need some serious attention on making our roads safer. I feel too many don’t bike because the roads feel dangerous even when you are in a car, so what hope do you have when you are on a bike?]

A 49-year-old Sykesville physician who had supported a group pushing for safety improvements on Route 32 in Howard County died in a three-vehicle accident on that road Thursday evening, according to police. Dr. Brian Edgar Emery, an ear, nose and throat specialist who lived in the 12000 block of Forest Creek Court, was pronounced dead at the scene after the Acura he was driving was struck from behind by a northbound Chevrolet Express van about 5:30 p.m. as Emery waited to make a left turn onto Amberwoods Way, police said. The crash sent the Acura into the southbound lanes, where it hit a Dodge pickup, according to police. The driver of the van, Thomas Donald Cory, 55, of the 1500 block of Henryton Road in Marriottsville, was not injured. The driver of the pickup, Robert Lewis Wyscarver, 40, of the 9300 block of Millbrook Road in Ellicott City, was taken to Howard County General Hospital with minor injuries, according to police. Police were investigating the crash. Emery had supported the group Make Route 32 Safe, which sought safety measures on Route 32 after a woman and her 13-year-old son were killed in a crash in Jun
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Gwynns Falls trail & Edmonson Avenue

FYI:
Two cyclists were assaulted with rocks underneath the Edmonson Avenue overpass on the Gwynns Falls trail yesterday (9/13) around 16:45. There were two boys about 8 years old on the overpass dropping them on unsuspecting riders below. They missed one cyclists but the other was hit in the shoulder by a plum-sized rock that left her bleeding.

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Family defies no-bike policy at Maple Avenue Middle School

…
Marino and his mother, Janette Kaddo Marino, left for school by bicycle on Wednesday morning, as they often do in good weather, despite a phone call placed to students’ homes by school officials, asking parents not to allow students to walk or ride bikes to school.
After a cold reception on Wednesday, local transportation advocates are rallying around the family, and plan to accompany the pair to school today in a bid to bolster calls for a policy change.
…
“The policy, when originally put in place, was put in place because of the location of the building,” White said. “The rights of individuals to ride their bikes on Route 9 is their decision.”
Route 9 is designated by the New York State Department of Transportation as a bike route.
…
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Baltimore Book Festival

Mark your calendar for the 14th annual Baltimore Book Festival on September 25-27, 2009. This year’s authors include Buzz Aldrin, Gwen Ifill, Ralph Nader, Chris Gardner, Amiri Baraka, Ingrid Hoffmann, Farai Chideya, Maureen McCormick, Dale DeGroff, Lourdes Castro, Adam Ried, Mordicai Gerstein and James Warhola.

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Ride your bike and park in our new bike parking zone – 600 block of Charles Street, east side of the street.
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NEW FOR 09! If you live or work downtown – the festival is opening at noon on Friday. Spend your lunch hour with us: browsing for books, enjoying author presentations and sampling the menus of our tasty food vendors. JUST ANNOUNCED for lunchtime Friday – GMA’s workplace guru Tory Johnson will be sharing invaluable career advice from her new book, Fired to Hired.
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Safe Campus, Unsafe Streets

An excellent op-ed from a senior at Yale University about traffic safety issues on the Ivy League campus.
Timothy Ellison’s article focuses in part on the elimination of right turns on red (RTORs), a concept many other pedestrian-rich cities throughout the United States have adopted. Eliminating RTORs was a key recommendation in this year’s Nelson/Nygaard gap analysis study of Downtown New Haven.
Among the comments that follow Ellison’s op-ed:
– Yale students are constantly telling anyone who will listen how threatened they feel by reckless drivers, and yet nothing is ever done. Yale and New Haven, this is a life and death issue. Please take it more seriously!
– But I also agree that drivers in the city have gotten increasingly willing to drive through red lights, and when on a bike I am also aware of how crazy traffic and drivers have gotten. So its a complex problem. Traffic calming and more pedestrian friendly routes are for sure needed.
– On several occasions I’ve witnessed that a police officer ignoring red light violations, in particular when drivers ignore do-not-turn signs. Of course, drivers have every incentive to violate traffic laws when they don’t have to fear the consequences.
– The situation on the streets around the campus, which were designed in the 1950s for high-volume auto traffic and never converted back into pedestrian-friendly streets, is completely unacceptable. Numerous students and Yale affiliates are injured or killed every year. Yale already pays tens of millions a year for security – they’ve done a great job increasing the feeling of security on campus late at night, and in terms of street crime, the campus is now the safest urban university in the United States. Next, Yale needs to immediately 1) step up the traffic enforcement, 2) following the model of Cambridge, MA or any number of other cities, step up and commit to financing the reconstruction of safe crosswalks throughout the campus, as they have in the past in areas where students have been killed, and 3) publish and implement a bicycle and pedestrian master plan that makes the campus accessible for everyone, not just drivers.
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Bryant Rams Toronto Cyclist Sheppard – Security Camera views "Accident"

I did not report this early on as it sounded like the cyclist could have been a bit on the crazy side but as stated on the video link “I am concerned that this footage has been available from very early on, but has been obfuscated thru editing decisions. This has contributed to confusion and possibly unwarranted slander towards Mr. Sheppard [the cyclists], and unfairly protects Bryant [the motorist] from being depicted in a negative manner.”

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FSU Police officers teach motorists ‘three feet’ law

For about two hours on Tuesday, Maj. Jim Russell of the FSU Police Department pedaled the streets in an effort to educate motorists.
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Florida state law requires motorists to allow three feet between their vehicle and a cyclist, but the FSU PD wanted to know the extent to which local drivers follow the law — or even know about it.

Wearing a helmet, T-shirt and khaki shorts and with a backpack slung behind him, Russell rode a mountain bike along the 300 block of Stadium Drive near the FSU College of Medicine.

He was conducting a bit of an experiment. While Russell rode, two officers in marked cars were positioned to make stops of motorists who failed to stay three feet away from Russell and another officer tracked the number of vehicles that passed.

Only four vehicles were stopped out of 104. Those stopped were given a warning and educated about the law. Most of the four did not know the law, and the majority of drivers gave more space.

"Nobody scared me or gave me a heart attack," Russell said. "And most people gave more room. It was nice because when we pulled people over, we were able to get their reaction and educate them."

Local cyclist Karen Loewen estimates that 5 percent of the drivers she encounters don’t allow room on the road.

"It’s more like 5 percent of them are doing it out of spite rather than out of ignorance," Loewen said. "My impression is that people know they’re not supposed to be that close, but they don’t think we should be on the road."

The vice president of Capital City Cyclists, Loewen also believes cyclists need to be educated about how to ride on the street.

Educating drivers about the law is at the heart of Joe Mizereck’s business called threefeetplease.com. Last October, Mizereck began selling bright yellow shirts with "It’s the law" and "Three Feet Please" written on the front and back.

"I’m pleased those guys at FSU are (educating the public)," Mizereck said. "Of the 15 states that have this law, this is the first time I’ve heard of an agency trying to figure out how to enforce the law. It was a smart move."
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Ghost Bike Removal and Reappearance

Just over a week ago, our Mayor’s office [D.C.] had a ghost bike removed from public space without alerting the family of the cyclist that was killed. This got some decent press attention here, and is helping us make additional improvements to the intersection where the crash occurred. The family is understandably quite upset at this callous treatment and despite repeated attempts to contact his office about the removal he has still not responded. The bike was removed at the request of a local business owner after about a year of being locked up in the same place. Apparently, the business owner that thought it was unsightly even though the family and friends of the cyclist did a good job of maintaining it. It had become an important symbol to the bike community and reminded us all to be careful. Early this morning, in response to the removal of the ghost bike, 22 new ghost bikes appeared at the same intersection. It was quite a sight to see.
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