To help understand the issue in the linked article I will give the following analogy: Let’s us say you own a restaurant where the air quality is a problem due to smokers. Well the solution should be obvious… put in more tables for smokers and hire more staff to service smokers to get them in and out of the restaurant a lot faster and make the non-smokers wait as they don’t cause any problems hanging around.
Sounds absurd right? But this is exactly the kind of thinking that drives the bulk of our transportation dollars. See the the link after the fold.
Continue reading “How Flawed Formulas Lead Down the Road to Sprawl”
Response to Rescission of Unobligated Balances
On the positive side Transportation Enhancements and Recreational Trail funding wasn’t hit as hard as they could have been. And these two funding sources are what the State uses for bike/ped programs so not too bad on that account. (Everyone has to make some sacrifices.)
But Congestion Management and Air Quality a funding source that could be used for bike/ped but currently is not, had $4,235,975.00 rescinded. That’s more then years worth of trails. Ouch!
Keep in mind rescissions come about because States are slow to utilize all their funding. Or more to the point, because of MD’s draconian policies of not allowing the full range of bicycle accommodations to qualify for these funds and by requiring the highest match in the nation an obscene amount of money (at least for bike/ped but way to small to accommodate more cars) has been left to rot.
Continue reading “Response to Rescission of Unobligated Balances”
Hit and Run
By Bob Mionske
Like many New Yorkers, Bobby Bowen had re-discovered the joy of cycling in the city. As Bobby had explained riding everywhere made him feel happy and helped him stay fit and feel alive. It’s a feeling we all know. The simple act of traveling somewhere is transformed into a moving celebration of life.
For Bowen, that celebration came crashing to a sudden and tragic end on August 26. Sometime around 11 p.m., as he was riding to a friend’s house, a truck hauling a flatbed trailer struck Bowen, injuring him so badly that doctors couldn’t even perform surgery. Still, Bowen hung on, clinging to life throughout the weekend. Despite his valiant struggle to live, his fight ended just before midnight on August 30.
An accomplished jazz bassist and music professor at Hofstra University, Bowen left behind a devastated family, and stunned friends, students and colleagues.
The driver never even stopped, and although there were cameras at the scene of the crash, there was nothing conclusive in the footage that would allow the police to identify the truck.
I wish I could say that a driver hitting another human being and leaving the scene is an aberration. I wish I could say that drivers are careful and conscientious, and that when there’s an accident and somebody is injured, they always stop and render assistance. I wish I could say those things, but I can’t, because they’re not true. When apologists for negligent drivers assure us that we don’t need penalties for vehicular homicide, because the remorse that drivers feel is punishment enough, I wonder what planet these apologists live on. Certainly not this one, where drivers can apparently hit, injure and perhaps even kill another human being, and keep on driving, as if they had just driven over nothing more consequential than a stick in the road. If you think that’s too harsh an indictment, consider just two of the many incidents of hit and run we have seen in the news:
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On September 20, 2010, Natasha Pettigrew , a law student at the University of Miami, and the Green Party candidate for the US Senate seat currently held by Senator Barbara Mikulski of Maryland, was training for a triathlon on an early Sunday morning. At 5:30 a.m., she was struck and critically injured by an SUV; the driver was reported to have momentarily slowed after impact, but did not stop, reportedly driving nearly three miles with a flat tire and sparks flying from under her SUV. Pettigrew was rushed to the hospital, and while police were investigating the scene, the driver called police, reporting that she had thought she had hit a dog, or a deer, but after arriving at home, had found a bicycle lodged under her vehicle. The next day, Pettigrew succumbed to her injuries. The driver was not charged.
In most crashes, I think there is no question that the driver is absolutely aware that there has been a collision, even if the driver is unsure of exactly what has happened. We all know how berserk drivers can get when a cyclist slaps the side of their car to let the driver know that the cyclist is about to be crushed. There is simply no way that a driver can be completely unaware that there has been an impact to the vehicle when the driver hits a cyclist with enough force to kill. It might be true that the driver didn’t see the cyclist, and thus, didn’t know that it was a cyclist that had been hit, but a person on a bike is big; and a bike contains lots of hard metal that will make noise. Even if you mistakenly run over a small animal, like ground hog, or something larger, like a dog, it’s an event. Hitting a person is a far bigger, louder collision, one that can cause serious damage to the car, too.
Applying Ockham’s razor—the theory that the simplest explanation is usually the correct one—the explanation is that these drivers did feel the impact, but kept on driving. And again applying Ockham’s razor, the reason is that the driver didn’t want to face the consequences of hitting another human being.
And that’s understandable. After all, the consequences are serious, and in that split second after the sickening thud that we all know that they feel, the driver must decide what to do. Some drivers stop and render assistance. Some panic and keep driving.
And I think the reality is that all too often, hit and run drivers do know what happened, but in that split moment after impact, they panic, because they are driving drunk, or without a license, and they realize the seriousness of the consequences if they stop. After all, if the driver hasn’t done anything wrong, there’s no reason to flee, and risk the felony charges that apply. I think that what we are often witnessing is the driver making a split-second calculation, weighing the risks of facing a DUI with homicide charge, against the risks involved in fleeing the scene, and as long as the risks of stopping are greater than the risks of fleeing, some drivers will choose the lesser risk and flee.
Did the driver who hit and killed Natasha Pettigrew know the awful truth of what happened when she felt the impact? Did she see the unfolding horror of Pettigrew disappearing under her SUV too late to react and save her? Did she give in to a moment of panic, only to be confronted later with the grim reality of Pettigrew’s bike wedged firmly under her SUV?
Or did she truly believe that she had only hit a dog or a deer, and continue driving home ? All we know at this point is that after hitting Pettigrew, the driver of the SUV went home and contacted police. But even if we take what the driver had to say at face value—that she didn’t see a cyclist who was directly in front of her and equipped with lights, on a lighted road, and that she thought that her flat tire and the shower of sparks coming from under her vehicle were caused by a collision with a dog, or perhaps a deer—we should be asking some very serious questions about whether this driver exhibits the basic level of competence that should be expected of motor vehicle operators.
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Continue reading “Hit and Run”
Big honking SUVs vs. environmentalists
We all should be familiar with Natasha Pettigrew the Green Party candidate for US Senate killed by a driver of a Cadillac Escalade, which is not exactly known for being environmentally friendly. But Natasha isn’t the only high profile person killed while riding a bicycle by an SUV in PG County with questionable ruling not to charge the motorist. Yoram Kaufman, a leading scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center whose research has led to greater understanding of global warming was also killed while riding his bike by an SUV. In Yoram’s case the driver was doing 55mph in a 25mph but Yoram might have done a "Suicide Swerve" (yes we have a name for this to point out the ridiculousness of the charge.) Despite the fact that if the driver was doing the speed limit Yoram would probably be alive today even if he did a "Suicide Swerve" the driver was not charged.
How many good people have to die before we take drivers to task that people are not just road kill?
Take action here: https://www.baltimorespokes.org/article.php?story=20100927212802234
and here: https://environment.change.org/petitions/view/no_more_senseless_bicycle_deaths_2
Continue reading “Big honking SUVs vs. environmentalists”
Average Bicycle Accident Verdict
by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.
Jury Verdict Research conducted a study of its database of verdicts and found that the average jury award in a bicycle accident case is $279,970. Underscoring how high jury verdicts distort the average verdict, the overall median money awarded in bike accident cases is $50,000. Moreover, Plaintiff’s only prevail in 41% of the cases that go to trial.
I think the relatively low success rate of bicycle accident cases at trial is a general bias against bikes that may be even stronger than the bias against motorcycles. Many jurors, who typically drive cars, simply think bicycles shouldn’t be on the road.
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Continue reading “Average Bicycle Accident Verdict”
New bicycle buffer law to take effect
Green Party candidate’s death underscores county’s high pedestrian fatality rate
by Liz Skalski | Staff Writer | Gazette
A new state bicycle safety law is poised to take effect less than two weeks after a recent deadly crash in the county involving a bicyclist and a sport utility vehicle.
The new law, which goes into effect Friday, requires at least a 3-foot buffer between vehicles and bicycles and that motorists yield right-of-way to bicyclists.
Prince George’s County — with its high population, dense living spaces and few sidewalks along major roads — tops the state in pedestrian deaths and fatal motor vehicle crashes, according to the State Highway Administration. More than 100 pedestrians and drivers have died each year since 2002.
"The new law is very specific and does give a specific buffer so the motorist and the rider can share the road safely," said Peter Moe, bicycle safety coordinator for the Maryland Highway Safety Office at the State Highway Administration.
Moe said bicycle safety "is a two-way street."
"When bicycles act like and are treated like vehicles, they do OK," Moe said. "It comes down to the mutual responsibility — mutual respect goes a long way."
The penalty for motorists who cause a crash that involves a bicycle, pedestrian or motorcycle face up to a $1,000 fine, the suspension of their driver’s license and three points on their driver’s license if there’s a crash where there’s a violation of right of way and serious injury, Moe said.
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Jim Titus, 55, of Glenn Dale, a board member for the Washington Area Bicyclist Association and the Prince George’s County representative for the Maryland Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee, said while Pettigrew’s crash may be a wakeup call for bicycle and pedestrian safety in the county, it isn’t necessary "the perfect example of what is wrong."
"What this is symptomatic of is drivers, particularly in larger vehicles, not looking very closely for smaller things — bicyclists, pedestrians, turtles, dogs. Drivers need to look for small things," Titus said. "It really should be a wakeup call, but the reason isn’t the precise — you don’t draw too tight of a nexus until we understand why it happened."
Titus said there is a "mutual misunderstanding" and "a lack of education of safety procedures" between motorists and bicyclists.
"The normal person needs to know what the cyclist is going to do; the cyclist needs to know what the driver is going to do," Titus said. "It behooves cyclists to be very careful, to pay very careful attention to the traffic because the traffic may not be."
Pettigrew’s mother, Kenniss Henry of Cheverly, said she has heard that the county has a mixed record when it comes to charging people involved in pedestrian and biking accidents.
"A loss of life is a loss of life," Henry said. "We seriously need to look at how we balance these scales."
Continue reading “New bicycle buffer law to take effect”
Petition: No More Senseless Bicycle Deaths!
Last week, 30-year-old Natasha Pettigrew—a U.S. Senate candidate for the Maryland Green Party—was on her bike training for a triathlon just before dawn, when she was struck and killed by an SUV driver who left the scene thinking she had hit a deer.
At a vigil, Pettigrew’s mother, Kenniss Henry, said she intends to fight to make the roads safer to bicyclists. This week, Henry is making good on her promise. She announced that she would run her daughter’s “race to the finish line” and replace Pettigrew as the Green Party’s candidate for Senate, promoting her daughter’s platform and advocating for safer roads.
In cities and suburbs across America, the roads are dangerous for those in and out of cars. In 2008, federal statistics show that car wrecks killed 26,791 driver and passsengers, 4,414 pedestrians, and 718 cyclists in 2008.
And if the roads are unsafe, how in the world will we get more people to get out of their car and use their bikes—for their own health and the planet’s?
Honor Pettigrew’s death and her mother’s memorial campaign pledge and tell the state of Maryland to a) commit to building bike lanes on more roads and b) pass the Manslaughter by Motor Vehicle Act, which would implement appropriate sanctions for reckless drivers who cause fatalities in a criminally negligent manner. You can read more about it on the web site of One Less Car.
In the words of Pettigrew: “Maryland is a large community of several million people and we can all make a difference together….When we help those within our communities we allow for stronger, more cohesive communities. As we develop stronger, more cohesive communities, we can appreciate the strengths that each of us brings to the community table. The possibilities are endless.”
avoiding car-centered language: a directive
by Jarrett Walker
In 1996, the City Administrator of West Palm Beach, Florida, Michael J. Wright, issued a directive to his staff on how to avoid biased language in the descriptions of transportation investments and policies. It’s four pages, sharply written, and may well be the smartest bureaucratic directive you’ll ever read. Here it is in PDF. (Thanks to Peter Bilton at the Vorhees Transportation Center at Rutgers for pointing it out.)
It pulls no punches:
Much of the current transportation language was developed in the 1950’s and 1960’s. This was the golden age of automobiles and accommodating them was a major priority in society. Times have changed, especially in urban areas where creating a balanced, equitable, and sustainable transportation system is the new priority. The transportation language has not evolved at the same pace as the changing priorities; much of it still carries a pro-automobile bias. Continued use of biased language is not in keeping with the goal of addressing transportation issues in an objective way in the City.
Biased words, as identifed in the directive, include improvement, upgrade, enhancement, deterioration. The problem with these words is that they imply an idea of good or bad that may not be universally shared. So for example:
Upgrade is a term that is currently used to describe what happens when a local street is reconstructed as a collector, or when a two-lane street is expanded to four lanes. Upgrade implies a change for the better. Though this may be the case for one constituent, others may disagree. Again, using upgrade in this way indicates that the City has a bias that favors one group over other groups. Objective language includes expansion, reconstruction, widened, or changed.
And in the spirit of my last post:
Traffic is often used synonymously with motor vehicle traffic. However, there are several types of traffic in the City: pedestrian traffic, cycle traffic, and train traffic. To be objective, if you mean motor vehicle traffic, then say motor vehicle traffic. If you mean all the types of traffic, then say traffic.
The directive even nails the widespread misleading use of the word accident.
Accidents are events during which something harmful or unlucky happens unexpectedly or by chance. Accident implies no fault. It is well known that the vast majority of [vehicular traffic] accidents are preventable and that fault can be assigned. The use of accident also reduces the degree of responsibility and severity associated with the situation and invokes a inherent degree of sympathy for the person responsible. Objective language includes collision and crash.
(Yes, crash sounds emotive while accident sounds cool, so it’s easy to assume that accident is more objective or factual. But sometimes the facts are emotive, and only an emotive word will accurately describe them. The directive even notices that avoiding the emotive word can constitute an emotional bias in the other direction: “Sheila was in a car accident!” “Oh no, I hope she’s OK!” “Well, she killed three cyclists, so she’s pretty upset!” “How terrible! I’ll send her some flowers.”)
If you have seen either (a) a better explanation of these principles or (b) a coherent refutation of them by a transportation authority, please post a link. I’m aware of Todd Litman’s comments on this (here, page 5) and I know it’s come up in other academic literature. Still, the West Palm Beach document is important because it’s a directive. Many people in transport bureaucracies are not comfortable with academic thought — especially about linguistics, which is usually outside their training. But they are very accustomed to directives; they may find that the commanding tone of the West Palm Beach directive makes it easier for them to think about and react to.
Read this document, discuss it, and forward it! Yes, I know you’ve thought about this before, and maybe even written about it. But remember: language evolves only through relentless repeitition! Today, repetition is a matter of quoting, forwarding and linking. So quote, forward, and link!
Continue reading “avoiding car-centered language: a directive”
State Solicits Citizen Input on Bottlenecks, Thomas Johnson Bridge
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Two meetings on consecutive nights, Sept. 28 and 29, were held for the purpose of gathering citizen input during the project’s detailed study phase.
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A handful of options have been selected by the project team and were presented in detail through boards and animations in workshops at the meetings. Similar information can be viewed online by clicking https://apps.roads.maryland.gov/WebProjectLifeCycle/ProjectInformation.asp?projectno=SM3511118
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Other speakers asked for assurance that supposed jobs from the project would benefit local people, expressed worry that a new bridge and intersection would draw even more traffic and offered praise or disdain for the plan to incorporate a bicycle/pedestrian path into the majority of options.
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Comments and concerns can be emailed to Project Manager Jeremy Becky jbeck@sha.state.md.us. The public record will remain open until Nov. 1.
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Continue reading “State Solicits Citizen Input on Bottlenecks, Thomas Johnson Bridge”
Mother to replace Green Party nominee for Senate Kenniss Henry steps in after daughter Natasha Pettigrew was killed in accident
By Julie Bykowicz, The Baltimore Sun
The Maryland Green Party has nominated Kenniss Henry to replace her daughter, Natasha Pettigrew, on the ballot for U.S. Senate, the party announced Wednesday. Pettigrew died this month after a sport utility vehicle struck her while she was cycling in Prince George’s County.
Henry’s name was submitted Monday to the Maryland State Board of Elections for the seat long held by Democratic Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski. The party’s coordinating council voted unanimously Sunday night to nominate Henry.
"Natasha’s supporters will still have an opportunity to make their voice heard by casting a vote as her mother carries her message forward to the election," Karen Jennings, co-chairwoman of the Maryland Green Party, said in a statement. "Even in her death, Natasha’s voice and passion will carry on."
Henry said she is honored to run her "daughter’s race to the finish line." She said in a statement she would continue her daughter’s theme of campaigning "for the people."
Pettigrew, a 30-year-old law student at the University of Miami, was training for a half-triathlon when she was killed. In honor of her daughter, the Green Party said, Henry seeks to bring attention to bicycle safety and the need for bicycle lanes on all Maryland roadways.
The Maryland State Police are investigating the Sept. 19 accident. Police said the driver of the Cadillac Escalade that struck her before dawn on Route 202 drove off, thinking she’d hit an animal. The woman called the police when she arrived home and found a bicycle lodged under her vehicle.
Continue reading “Mother to replace Green Party nominee for Senate Kenniss Henry steps in after daughter Natasha Pettigrew was killed in accident”