Month: August 2010

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Bicyclist Searches for Driver/Closure

by washcycle

I was recently sent this article about a cyclist in Frederick County who was injured in a hit and run accident. (tip)

Keith Krombel was on the final leg of a 250-mile bicycle ride with
his friends on May 30, 2009. The journey had taken them on a loop along
Md. 180 and Md. 17 into Brunswick
, across the Potomac River into Virginia and eventually came back
through Gettysburg, Pa., after they went to Hancock and Newville, Pa.

Krombel
was on Yellow Springs Road, five miles from the end of the ride, when a
vehicle struck him. He was just south of the Bethel Road intersection.

The force of the crash threw him into the air. Krombel landed on the side of the road, bicycle parts scattered around him.

The driver disappeared.

After more than a year, the Frederick
County Sheriff’s Office closed the case. No witnesses to the crash were
found, and after a year and a day of investigation without success, the
sheriff’s office can close the case.

Krombel has hired a lawyer
to help him look for leads with the idea of pursuing civil action, he
said. The $10,000 reward is for information leading to an arrest and
conviction.

Considering that cyclists can get hit, get a partial plate and a description of the driver without an arrest I can’t say I’m surprised that in a case like this – where the police have little to go on – that the driver got away with it. Hit and run deaths are on the increase according to AAA-Mid-Atlantic, and 60% of them are pedestrians.

Continue reading “Bicyclist Searches for Driver/Closure”

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Andy Clarke responded to Will Bicyclists And Pedestrians Squeeze Out Cars?

This is SO the wrong question. Zero-sum games are rarely constructive and rarely ask the right questions. The issue for urban transportation planners isn’t, or shouldn’t be, “which mode is going to win”. The questions should be more along the lines of what is the balance we need achieve among the different modes; what are people trying to do in urban areas that transportation facilitates or enables? Transportation – even riding a bike – is rarely an end in itself; in fact it almost always imposes costs that individuals and the community end up paying for somehow: in time, or pollution, or energy consumption, etc.
We should be asking how we minimize the need to travel in urban areas; and how we minimize the impact and cost of urban travel – in part so that essential traffic, like deliveries and emergency services and Presidential motorcades (kidding…), doesn’t get stuck in traffic made up largely of single-occupant vehicles driving a mile or two down the street at not much more than walking pace. Just look at the madness we create for ourselves with the school trip: 20%-30% of morning rush-hour traffic in many metro areas consists of perfectly able-bodied kids being ferried to school by parents with better things to do with their time who won’t let their kids walk or ride their bikes to school because there are so many harried parents rushing their kids to school and the roads and sidewalks around the school aren’t safe. And frankly, many of the kids could use the exercise.
Continue reading “Andy Clarke responded to Will Bicyclists And Pedestrians Squeeze Out Cars?”

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Crackdown on the CCT

UPDATE: Fox retracts Crackdown on the CCT Story https://www.baltimorespokes.org/article.php?story=20100804105937326
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If you ride this trail I recommend reading the whole article by Washcycle, which I will highlight one bit:
"He also names the worst thing as dogs walked on long extended leashes or off-leash. But yes, by all means, crack down on an rule that is hard to comply with [cyclists going over the speed limit], is not cited as a particular problem by an officer on the trail and was not a factor in the recent crashes that instigated the crackdown. Then let’s burn down the observatory so that this never happens again."
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Sidepath Means No More School Bus

by washcycle

When a new bike/ped sidepath was added along Travilah Road, some neighborhoods lost school bus service.

Montgomery County public school officials have told parents that their
children no longer will receive bus service because a new bike path
leading to the school provides an adequate walking route.

Because of the completion of a bike path along Travilah Road, the school
system is suspending bus service to students who live within a mile of
the school, leaving parents to wonder why the bus cannot make a last
stop for the safety of their children.

Residents who live along Natia Manor Drive, which creates a horse
shoe-shaped loop off Travilah Road, say the path is too far and too
dangerous for children to walk alone. They cite the 2004 hit-and-run
death of Solomon King,
a Thomas S. Wootton High School junior, who was struck at Travilah Road
and Noland Drive, about one mile east of the neighborhood and roughly
two miles from the school. No other fatal pedestrian collisions have
occurred along that stretch of Travilah Road, said Capt. Paul Starks, a
Montgomery police spokesman, but five vehicle collisions have occurred
there from 2004 to 2008.

The 8-foot-wide, shared-use path for pedestrians and cyclists was
completed in June of last year, said Bruce Johnston, a division chief
with the county Department of Transportation. The path, which runs
between Darnestown and Dufief Mill roads, cost $11 million and was built
in response to complaints that Travilah Road was narrow and had no
shoulder, he said.

Residents said they are concerned that the path is on the same level as
the busy street, with no barrier for children who might wander or
vehicles that might swerve. Lewis said he has seen motorists drive on
the path.

The school will add patrols to monitor children as they walk to school

While a mile seems like a long walk for a five year old (am I wrong parents?) I doubt this is unsafe, and I think it’s a good idea.

Continue reading “Sidepath Means No More School Bus”