Matt Yglesias notes that we spend vastly more money on Homeland Security to prevent another 9/11, which killed 3,000 people, than we do to reduce traffic fatalities which kill more than 10 times as many people every single year. And 1/3 of highway deaths involve speeding, which is eminently preventable.
Via Greater Greater Washington
Continue reading “Let’s prevent ten 9/11s”
Not only is our ideas about appropriate exercise wrong, so is appropriate diet
We shouldn’t be surprised. After all, the USDA’s dietary guidelines have long been backwards. …
Continue reading “Not only is our ideas about appropriate exercise wrong, so is appropriate diet”
Maryland Trails Summit – October 19, 2010
UPDATED: https://www.baltimorespokes.org/article.php?story=20100908132017413
Maryland Trails Summit – October 19, 2010
Mark your calendar!
Registration will Open Soon!
We are using the ideas, information and momentum from these regional brainstorming sessions to produce
the first ever Maryland Trails Summit scheduled for October 19, 2010.
If you do not see your name on the
Participants List,
and
you want to be involved, you can add your name to our mailing
list! Just click on the link below and tell us who you are.
I
Want to be Involved!
Background
So far, over 300 trail users and enthusiasts, planners,
conservation, transportation, park and recreation professionals,
friends groups and interested citizens have contributed their energy, expertise and ideas toward what we hope will become a shared vision for a Maryland Trails System.
These early planning sessions provided a rich opportunity to network, collect information and ideas, and start development of an online resource that will connect trail enthusiasts to each other and with our citizens and visitors.
Keep networking!
Here is full list of regional roundtable
participants
and their contact information.
If you have any questions or suggestions, e-mail:
MdTrailsSummit@dnr.state.md.us
Continue reading “Maryland Trails Summit – October 19, 2010”
How in Good Conscience Can St. Charles County, Missouri Ban Bicycles?
by Bryan Goebel
The government motto of St. Charles County, Missouri is “character, professionalism and conscience.” So how in good conscience can one of the country’s fastest-growing counties be seriously considering a ban on bicycles on some of its most popular routes?
The proposal from a local politician — via Jonathan Maus at Bike Portland — is being touted as a safety measure: shoulderless rural highways in St. Charles are too narrow for anything but cars. So rather than figure out a way to accommodate bicyclists and improve safety, Councilmember Joe Brazil wants an outright ban.
Maus found the above local TV news video on the story “scary and surreal”:
Have we really come to a point when we will simply give our roads over to the fastest vehicles? This same line of reasoning could be used to close all types of roads where there are fast-moving cars and no room for anything else.
I feel for the young woman who was hurt trying to avoid someone on a bike, but using that example as a reason to ban people riding bikes is absurd. How many deaths and injuries have occurred on those same roads between two people in cars? Rural roads are the main cause of traffic fatalities in America. We should do more to ban speeding than to ban people using a vehicle that is incapable of it…
Everyone frames this as “motorists” and “bicyclists” — but this is not about mode labels, this is about people and mobility. Our shared roads (being different from interstate highways and biking trails) are built to move people from one place to another. It’s an extremely slippery slope to even consider policy that would ban one type of user simply because they travel more slowly than another and are seen as an inconvenience to maintaining a certain speed.
Continue reading “How in Good Conscience Can St. Charles County, Missouri Ban Bicycles?”
Cycling Baltimore, Inner Harbor and Fort McHenry Park ride
Jacksonville Bicycle Travel Examiner – Donald Crowson
Baltimore, Maryland offers many things to do and places to cycle. Inner Harbor, Baltimore’s downtown attraction, with its boardwalk, Science Center, restaurants and shops and many other places of interest is centrally located near hotels and Baltimore’s new Cruise Terminal. From the Inner Harbor to Fort McHenry and back, this ride features a stop at Fort McHenry and Federal Hill Park. The New Baltimore Bicycle Map, produced by the city’s Department of Transportation, BikeBaltimore program, displays a wealth of information, like roads with bikes lanes, common routes used by cyclists, shared use trails and even future trails. A printed copy may be obtained by calling 410-396-6856.
The closest bike shop to the Inner Harbor is Light Street Cycles. Their daily rental fees are $25 ($15 add. day) for hybrids and $50 ($35 add. day) for road bikes. Their friendly and knowledgeable staff is eager to help fellow bicycle travelers.
This 6.2 mile ride starts at Light Street Cycles (See Google Map below). Heading south on Light Street the route then turns left on Fort Ave. Traveling through the Locust Point community on Fort Ave is enjoyable and calm. Fort Ave is not a major thoroughfare and thus has less traffic. A ride through Latrobe Park, and past the Locust Point Dog Park offers an exciting diversion to the strait trek to Fort McHenry Park.
If you are reading this before November 2010, you will find that Fort McHenry Park is temporarily closed to cyclists due to construction of their new Visitor Information Center. On foot or bike, Fort McHenry is filled with excitement and to experience the important history of the park its best to leg it. Along with being a pivotal battle site of the Revolutionary War, Fort McHenry has the rare double distinction of being a national monument and historic shrine. The feeling of patriotism and gratitude is very palatable there.
The return route zigzags its way through Locust Point to Key Hwy. Once on Key Hwy the route passes, the American Visionary Art Museum. Take a ride around the Museum for examples of interesting sculpture. Next to the American Visionary Art Museum is Federal Hill Park. Its a great place to take a breather (after one climbs its many steps and finds a close-by bench) and view the Inner Harbor and downtown Baltimore from a birds eye perspective.
After a few blocks ride back to Light Street Cycles stop next door at Cross Street Market for some lunch and/or a stroll through. As always, review the bicycle safety article, don that helmet and get cycling.
Continue reading “Cycling Baltimore, Inner Harbor and Fort McHenry Park ride”
The third place
Ellen Dunham-Jones Video: Converting Suburbia
By: Mark R. Brown
Ellen Dunham-Jones, author of “Retrofitting Suburbia” and professor of Architecture at Georgia Institute of Technology, talks about converting dying suburban malls and strip centers into vibrant, accessible places. There are quite a few struggling suburban-style shopping centers in Baltimore which could use this sort of treatment (Port Covington is one example).
It should not be this hard recovering damages when you are left crossed
Via Witkop Justice Observations
legal observations from a Rockville Maryland lawyer who has a criminal and civil trial practice
Hard work and perseverance nets injured cyclist good settlement
Recently a young woman who was a victim of a bicycle accident came to me. She was riding her bicycle southbound on 18th St between parked cars and traffic. It was rush hour and the traffic was moving forward slowly, stopping and starting. Ahead of her coming the opposite direction was the defendant car driver. He made a left and cut into her lane and struck her with the front of his vehicle in her left knee. At the time of the accident it was daytime and she was traveling probably 10 mph in a 25 mph zone. She was knocked to the ground and suffered a knee injury and significant bruising.
The driver of the car did not speak to her and seemed preoccupied with the damage to his sport utility vehicle. People around the scene helped the fallen bicyclist. I only had one witness who actually saw the accident and she was not cooperative with my investigation. An ambulance came and she was taken to the hospital. She suffered a non-fracture injury to her left knee and was put on crutches and released. She recovered and after approximately 1 1/2 years after the accident she is still having some knee problems.
She hired a lawyer for settlement purposes and the insurance company denied liability. The claimed that their driver was not at fault for the accident and further, that she was at fault for riding between parked cars and moving traffic.
After her first lawyer could not resolve the case, she came to me. I did not bother calling the insurance company. I did not ask them to reconsider their position. I merely filed suit in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.
Filing suit was the easy part. The defendant driver was a lawyer who actually had a high-ranking government position. My process server tried to serve him at home. The defendant lawyer lived in an expensive house and had servants. The servants would claim that the defendant was not home and service failed. I tried to have him served as his government office and his secretary would not accept service or let my process server see him. Finally I was able to serve him by certified mail through his mail room.
Of course the insurance company again denied liability. I went to the accident scene and took measurements and photographs. It was clear to me that the defendant was negligent in his driving. They took the deposition of my client. Prior to the deposition I spoke at length with my client and had her also go to the accident scene so the facts would be clear in her mind and she could speak with confidence. I talked with there as to what questions she could anticipate from the insurance company lawyer. At her deposition she was very credible and sympathetic.
I took the deposition of the defendant lawyer and he could not understand how this accident could possibly be his fault. He stated that he was angry at the bicyclist because she could’ve killed herself. He believed that the fact that she was silent after the accident was an indication that she was planning to sue him. Most importantly, he testified that when he looked to the right he only looked approximately 15 feet because after that his line of vision was cut off. He began moving his car and ran over the bicyclist. I was able to preserve the argument that he should not have moved at all because he could not look far enough up the road. His testimony looked fairly poor for him.
Through the assistance of the Washington area bicycle Association I was able to find a regulation which permits "lane splitting". There is a regulation which allows bicyclists to go between parked cars and traffic as long as it is done safely.
I provided this information to the insurance company lawyer and they finally accepted liability and made a very low offer. After a period of negotiation we were able to get the offer into a reasonable area. Even the court appointed mediator believed that the plaintiff secured a good settlement.
It took many hours of work which included visiting the accident scene, chasing down witnesses and getting their statements, preparing my client for her deposition, preparing for the deposition of the defendant, researching applicable law but the result was worth it: we turned the case around from zero to significant money for my client for the injury she suffered.
Continue reading “It should not be this hard recovering damages when you are left crossed”
TASERED CYCLIST SETTLES LAWSUIT
FROM: STEVE MAGAS, The Bike Lawyer
On August 19, 2008, bicyclist Anthony Patrick, from Huntington, West Virginia, was Tasered by Lawrence County, Ohio Deputy Charles Hammonds and Chesapeake Police Department Dennis Gibson. Patrick was riding his bicycle with another rider when Deputy Hammonds told Patrick to get off the road. Patrick told Hammonds he had as much right to be on the road as the deputy. A series of events unfolded thereafter which ended with Patrick be Tasered, arrested and charged with a series of “crimes” including “Riding a Bicycle on the Roadway,” resisting arrest, failing to obey a lawful order and other crimes.
Patrick retained a criminal lawyer and fought the criminal charges, filing a Motion to Dismiss. After a hearing at which Deputy Hammonds was the only witness, the court issued a written opinion holding that the Deputy’s order to stop was “unlawful” as Patrick had done nothing wrong. The court pointed out that cyclists have the right to use the roads and are permitted by law to ride side by side. While the court stated that cyclists should act courteously towards other traffic, cyclists riding two abreast do not legally have to move to a single file line or otherwise give way to motorized traffic and it was improper for Deputy Hammonds to order Patrick off the road. The Court also reaffirmed the landmark holding of Trotwood v. Selz, finding that a bicycle being operated at a reasonable speed for a bicycle is not “impeding traffic.” After the Court’s ruling in Patrick’s favor, the Prosecuting Attorney dismissed all charges against Patrick.
Steve Magas, The Bike Lawyer, represented Tony Patrick in a civil rights lawsuit filed against Deputy Hammonds, Officer Gibson, the Sheriff, the Police Chief and the City of Chesapeake in the United States District Court, Southern District of Ohio, Western Division. This case, Patrick v. Lawless, et al., included claims of excessive force, negligence, assault and battery, false arrest and false imprisonment, seeking compensatory and punitive damages. Defendants denied liability and discovery proceeded, including the taking of several key depositions, and it was learned that key evidence – including a videotape from the scene of the Tasering – had never been provided to Patrick’s criminal or civil lawyers.
All parties reported to the United States Federal District Courthouse in Cincinnati for a Settlement Conference with Judge Barrett on July 1, 2010. Following several hours of negotiations, a settlement was reached. While the settlement figure is confidential, Tony Patrick was very pleased with the outcome and feels justice was done.
Continue reading “TASERED CYCLIST SETTLES LAWSUIT”
Missed Opportunity
Anyway SHA (I think?) saw fit to follow the same road section which includes only this very narrow shoulder. It leaves one open to being accused of not being in it – like Curtis Leymesiter – without actually giving cyclists enough space to be safe.
[B’ Spokes: The above illustrates the problem of having a one size fits all statewide striping policy not to mention the lack of attention on improving the level of service for cyclists to a grade C or better. State law requires the best engineering standards for the needs of cyclists yet too many times we get road leftovers like above.]
Continue reading “Missed Opportunity”
Howard planners take to their bikes to test county roads
Part of a plan to make Columbia, county highways more pedestrian-friendly
By Larry Carson, The Baltimore Sun
Howard County traffic engineering chief Diane Schwarzman’s old one-speed bike rarely gets out of her Ellicott City garage, but lately she’s using a borrowed, more sophisticated two-wheeler to pedal along Columbia’s streets and pathways with a few professional colleagues.
"The street is the same," she said about the experience of riding a bicycle where she normally drives a car, "but you realize the characteristics of the paved surface." The officials said riding bikes themselves helps them plan for altering streets to make them safer for cyclists.
That’s becoming increasingly important as county planners see bicycles as a traffic-friendly part of the transportation mix for the redeveloped downtown Columbia, and as a part of County Executive Ken Ulman’s push for environmentally sound and healthy ways to get around. Now, every road the county works on is first examined for ways to add improvements for bicycle riders.
Continue reading “Howard planners take to their bikes to test county roads”