[Email letter from the state police in response to emails, etc sent from various sources.]
Date: Thursday, October 8, 2009, 4:19 PM
To Whom It May Concern:
This is in response to a number of e-mails and citizen inquiries following the death of Curtis A. Leymeister, who was killed while operating a bicycle on Clarks Landing Road on October 5, 2009. I would like to provide the following information to clarify many misconceptions about this tragedy.
First and foremost, please let me convey my deepest sympathies to the entire Leymeister family regarding this tragic loss. As the commander of the Leonardtown Barrack, I spent nearly four hours on the scene of this collision personally notifying the family of the loss of Curtis and making sure all the evidence was being collected to complete a thorough and objective investigation. The Maryland State Police has a long standing history of conducting strict traffic enforcement with the highest hopes of reducing the number of fatal and serious motor vehicle collisions that occur throughout Maryland . The members of my command take this responsibility very seriously and are certainly personally affected whenever they are on the scene of a fatal collision.
The initial investigation would reveal that Mr. Leymeister was struck while he was traveling westbound on Clarks Landing Road, east of Scotch Neck Road, Hollywood, St. Mary’s County, MD. Clarks Landing Road is a single lane road with a posted 40 mph speed limit. On the westbound portion of Clarks Landing Road where the collision occurred, there is an improved shoulder that is 3 feet 4 inches wide at the point of impact. Mr. Leymeister’s bicycle was 4 feet 8 inches left of the white edge line in a lane of travel that is 9 feet 7 inches wide. This places Mr. Leymeister’s bicycle a full 8 feet from the right edge of the pavement when he was struck. It would therefore be inappropriate for a bicycle to commute/travel that far into a designated lane of travel and certainly be classified as one of the primary causes of this collision.
Department of Maryland State Police policy calls for a “Detailed Crash Investigation Report” to be completed following most fatal collisions. This report will encompass many of the items you have mentioned to include detailed diagrams of the scene, photographs, driver statements, toxicology reports, cell phone records of the vehicle operator and a detailed account of any contributing factors to this accident. Unfortunately a press release cannot contain answers to all of the questions that have been posed. Once the entire investigative packet has been completed, it is reviewed and approved by the Maryland State Police Department Reconstruction Coordinator. Subsequently, the case will be presented to the St. Mary’s County States Attorney to determine if charges should be filed.
In regards to the bicycle being struck 4 feet 8 inches left of the edge line, the Maryland Vehicle Law Annotated Code states the following: Title 21-1205(a) Riding on roadways or highway, each person riding a bicycle or a motor scooter at a speed less than the speed of traffic at the time and place and under the conditions then existing on a roadway shall ride as near to the right side of the roadway as practicable and safe. Except when making a left turn, operating on a one-way street, passing a stopped or slower moving vehicle, avoiding pedestrians or road hazards, the right turn lane is a right turn only lane or operating in a lane that is too narrow for a bicycle or motor scooter and another vehicle to travel safely side by side within the lane. At this point in the investigation, there is no apparent reason why Mr. Leymeister would be that far left of the white edge line.
Mr. Leymeister was not wearing a helmet at the time of this accident. Could the helmet have lessoned his injury to the point he would not succumbed to his injuries? The autopsy report may shed some light on this question. It should also be noted that Mr. Leymeister was not wearing any reflective clothing at the time of this collision.
This tragic incident further illustrates the need to educate the public on traffic safety. The Maryland State Police extends their support to those in the bicycling community and continues to be involved in discussions that target the concerns of everyone.
I hope this letter clears up any confusion on the unfortunate events that led to this tragic accident. The Maryland State Police are committed to all citizens of the State of Maryland in keeping our roadways safe for all of us.
Sincerely,
Lieutenant Michael Thompson
Commander, Barrack "T" Leonardtown
23200 Leonard Hall Drive
Leonardtown , MD 20650
Continue reading “Another Maryland Bicyclist Fatality”
Cyclist pepper-sprayed for not wearing helmet
A Nelson police officer is to stand trial on assault charges after pepper-spraying a cyclist not wearing a helmet and then ramming him into a bank with his patrol car.
Justices of the peace Donald Horn and Mary Harley yesterday committed Senior Constable Garry Dunn to trial after a two-day depositions hearing in Nelson District Court. Dunn, who faces two charges of assault, has been stood down from duty on full pay.
Nelson chef Shaun Robert Taylor told the court Dunn used excessive force against him for not wearing a helmet on February 10 this year.
Continue reading “Cyclist pepper-sprayed for not wearing helmet”
Constructing Fear of Cycling – by Dave Horton
…
The transformation of streets for people into roads for cars, perhaps inevitably, produced death and injury. By 1936 concerns about the alarming rise in cyclist casualties had led to the idea of a cycling proficiency scheme, eventually adopted nationally in 1948 (CTC 2005). To stem the carnage, cyclists must be trained to deal with the new, dangerous conditions. But things could have been otherwise. A 1947 book by J. S. Dean, former Chairman of the Pedestrians’ Association, is instructive here. In his ‘study of the road deaths problem’, Murder Most Foul, Dean’s basic tenet is that, ‘as roads are only “dangerous” by virtue of being filled with heavy fast moving motor vehicles, by far the greatest burden of responsibility for avoiding crashes, deaths and injury on the roads should lie with the motorist’ (Peel n.d., 3).
Yet road safety education concentrates not on the drivers of vehicles, but on those who they have the capacity to kill. Dean saw how placing responsibility for road danger on those outside of motorised vehicles might lead, by stealth, to placing of culpability on those groups, and Murder Most Foul is a tirade against the placing of responsibility for road accidents on children.
The dominant assumptions on which UK road safety was originally based have remained in place. Today, rather than producing strategies to tame the sources of danger on the road, road safety education tries instead to instil in ‘the vulnerable’, primarily school children, a fear of motorised traffic, and then to teach them tactics to escape from road dangers as best they can. The title of the UK Government’s highway code for young road users is Arrive Alive (Department for Transport 2000a). The message such a title sends to children is not how much fun and freedom can be derived from sustainable modes of mobility such as cycling and walking; rather, it tells children that the world outside is a dangerous place, full of potential accidents, and they had better make sure they ‘arrive alive’.
Continue reading “Constructing Fear of Cycling – by Dave Horton”
The power of a purple bike and a little girl
…
"I just wanted to ride to school, ride to Baskin-Robbins, ride to Wal-Mart," Elli said.
…
When Elli was 7, she wanted to ride her bike to school. But the Giammonas live off Mullan Road. Each day, 12,000 cars go by their home, and go by fast. Her parents, Luann and John, weren’t keen on their daughter biking with speeding sedans.
But Elli rode on sidewalks back when the family lived in Austin, Texas, and she wanted to know why there wasn’t a sidewalk on Mullan. Sidewalks, her mother explained, are expensive.
"Can you buy one?"
"Mmm. No. I don’t think so. But here’s an idea."
The idea was a brief lesson in lobbying one’s government. Luann taught Elli the meaning of the word "petition" and told her how one works. Soon, an idea took shape.
Elli took writing utensil to notebook paper:
"Petition. We want a sidewalk on Mullan Road. With a rale."
She and her sister Kate, now 6, knocked on doors, as did her brother Nick, now 12, with a friend. Together, they gathered more than 75 signatures, and few people turned them down. It wasn’t what Elli had expected.
…
Continue reading “The power of a purple bike and a little girl”
APBP on AASHTO
…
In contrast, the AASHTO Guide revision process involves multiple levels of development and review. The National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) process has created the draft fourth edition of the Guide directed by research and a diverse panel of experts. Soon AASHTO subcommittees will begin their reviews, followed by state DOT reviews and votes for or against adoption. Jennifer Toole reviewed the draft of the new guide chapter-by-chapter noting issues not addressed in previous editions as well as key changes.
A decision on the two-year-old draft revision of the MUTCD is scheduled for later this year. It will either be adopted or released as a supplemental NPA (notice of proposed amendments). Michael Moule noted that the experimentation process for new devices or new uses of existing devices is important because it helps generate the data needed to support wider use.
Session participants, and now you, are encouraged to engage with the process of developing design guidelines:
• As the draft AASHTO Guide is sent for state DOT review, discuss it with your state traffic engineer and Bicycle-Pedestrian Coordinator. Encourage them to vote for it as it has been proposed through the NCHRP process.
• Monitor NACTO (National Association of City Transportation Officials) leadership and response to the draft AASHTO Guide.
• Get informed about STEP research projects for funding innovations.
• Watch for the Notice of Proposed Rule Making regarding the MUTCD by the end of this year. If the manual is not adopted, and the draft is released as a supplemental NPA, advocate for interim approvals for individual devices.
• Register for the APBP October 21 webinar, "MUTCD: Bicycle and Pedestrian Signs, Markings and Experiments".
https://www.apbp.org/events/event_details.asp?id=72783
• Advocate for the federal government to fund research on new traffic control devices and innovations.
Best regards,
APBP Staff in NYC
Metro Needs You!
We Need Metro More Than
Ever
Dear smart growth supporters,
Last year, transit ridership
in the Washington region surged. Metro had a record-breaking
year with thousands of new riders, saving 255 million gallons of
gasoline and cutting our region’s carbon emissions by 2 million
tons, according to a report released by Environment America. As
our region grows, Metro will continue to be one of the most
important solutions for reducing our carbon footprint.
The Metro system is also the
lifeblood of our economy. Yet, Metro hasn’t received the
operating and maintenance funds it critically needs or the
resources to add enough new rail cars and buses to keep up with
growing ridership.
 |
Metro is convenient, offering a way to avoid
frustrating and often unpredictable traffic, and saving us time
and money compared to the increasing cost of owning,
maintaining, and fueling our cars. Our roads couldn’t
function without Metro’s help. Metro has sparked billions
of dollars in transit-oriented development and helped revitalize
DC, Arlington, Alexandria, Bethesda and Silver Spring.
Metro Needs Sustained
Investment
Join the Coalition for
Smarter Growth and the Transit First coalition in a campaign to
ensure Metro has the investment it needs in three key areas:
1) Funding for annual operating and maintenance expenses
($160 million shortfall next year);
2) Funding for
replacement of track, switches, electrical power systems, and
station platforms;
3) Funding for new buses and rail cars to
keep up with growing transit ridership.
Total replacement (2) and capacity needs (3) between 2011 and
2020 is $11.4 billion. A bill currently in Congress would
address some of this need. Part of a 10-year proposal to match
$1.5 billion in federal funds to $1.5 billion in state and local
funds, this year’s bill would allocate $150 million in
2010. But we will need additional commitments each year from
local, state, and federal governments for not just the $3
billion, but the full $11.4 billion in needs.
For comparison, the region has spent about $4.6 billion on
the Beltway (Wilson Bridge, Springfield Interchange and HOT
Lanes) and $3 billion on the Intercounty Connector in recent
years, and Maryland DOT is now proposing $4 billion to widen
I-270 to Frederick. Clearly, we have to make choices — we
believe that investing in Metro should be a top priority,
because of the many benefits it offers.
Transit Ridership
Surges & Offers Range of Benefits, New Report Shows
We co-released a report with
Environment America about the increase in transit ridership
across the country in 2008. This comprehensive
report (pdf) is the first to quantify the increase in
transit ridership and decrease in vehicle miles traveled as
people shifted to transit to escape high gas prices. Read our press
release for more information.
The report also quantifies
the savings in oil consumed and reduction in greenhouse gas
emissions. Our dependency on imported oil and driving impacts
both our wallets and our national security. Transit increases
our energy independence and will ensure we have travel options
as gas prices remain high over the coming years and decades. The
DC region should be a national and world leader in sustainable
transportation and land use, and should make funding our transit
systems our top priority.
Sincerely,
Rebecca Perring
Coalition For Smarter
Growth
action@smartergrowth.net
HALOWEEN ALLEYCAT RACE
Finally, a HALLOWEEN ALLEYCAT!
BLACK CAT ALLEYCAT
October 31, 2009
Continue reading “HALOWEEN ALLEYCAT RACE”
Bicycle access across the Hatem Bridge anyone?
From the MBPAC meeting minuets:
Jeff also recalled a meeting with Harford County transit officials, Kevin and himself on getting transit service extended across the Hatem Bridge to Perryville but at this point this request is unlikely to be granted. Jeff also mentioned a telephone conference call conversation with, Judy Grillo, Michael Jackson and his immediate supervisor, Don Halligan, regarding improvements in SHA’s delivery of services to bicyclists and pedestrians. Greg stated that the East Coast Greenway would be sending a letter to Maryland Transportation Authority Acting Chair, Beverley Swaim-Staley seeking the lifting of the prohibition of bicycle access across the Hatem Bridge.
Continue reading “Bicycle access across the Hatem Bridge anyone?”
MBPAC suport of upcomming legislation
From the MBPAC meeting minuets:
2010 Legislative Session
Patrick Sheehan moved and Greg seconded a motion that MBPAC support the following bills introduced in the 2009 legislative session but not enacted into law in the event these bills are reintroduced in 2010. They were HB 97, Manslaughter by Vehicle, SB 428, Three Foot Bicycle Safety and HB 152, Arrest for Leaving Accident Scene Involving Injury. Marci, Janet, Michael Mason, Ann and Cari abstained and no one opposed it.
Another motion was to support HB 1197, which would remove the requirement that bicyclists must use shoulders when available. The motion passed with no objections but abstentions were recorded from Marci, Janet Michael Mason, Ann, Cari and Vincent Browne.
Continue reading “MBPAC suport of upcomming legislation”
City Council Hearing – Bike Safety Task Force
The Baltimore City Council will conduct a hearing on the
Equal Rights for Bikes Task Force
Friday, October
23rd at 12:30 pm.
Du Burns
Council Chamber, 4th floor, City Hall
While this Task Force is a good idea, the Department of
Transportation (DOT) and Mayor’s Bicycle Advisory Committee (MBAC) are
already fully engaged in many of its goals. DOT has since submitted a
list of other laws that would help improve cycling in
Baltimore : Complete Streets, mandatory
bike parking, Cyclists’ Bill of Rights among others
Please attend this important hearing to make
Baltimore a better place
to bike!
Sponsors: Mary Pat Clarke, Nicholas C. D’Adamo, James B. Kraft, Bill Henry, Agnes Welch, Belinda K. Conaway
Feel free to forward!!!!