From Florida’s gubernatorial campaign; AAA asks both candidates what they would do to boost highway safety.
Sink’s answer (in part) that she’d have FDOT study whether new road projects actually improved safety “over the ones they replaced.”
It’s time to get out of speed and capacity only issues and into improved safety for all road users. Sink also mentioned that she’d “seek to expand the percentage of federal safety funds that FDOT spends on bicycle and pedestrian safety programs.” It’s nice to see some candidates have some clue on what’s going on.
Continue reading “Thought for the day”
Earth to north county: Bikes aren’t going away
from Getting There by Michael Dresser
It never fails. If the Getting There Monday column deals with bicycles, it inevitably inspires emails lamenting the fact that bicyclists have the gall to actually use the roads. For some reason, it seems that about 99 percent of these messages emanate from northern Baltimore County, where the peculiar notion has taken hold that the roads are for the use of motor vehicles only.
There’s one little flaw with this premise: It’s not true. From the time Maryland roads were first paved, they have been open to bicycles, farm equipment, buggies and all manner of slow-moving vehicles (except for interstates and a limited number of other limited-access highways).
The variation I hear most on this theme is that bicyclists should not be permitted to use narrow roads without shoulders. Why? Because motorists have to slow down and are dreadfully inconvenienced.
Here’s one that came in today:
"Bicyclists should not be allowed to bike on a road that does not have a bike path or shoulder to the road. In Sparks, we have to be on the alert at all times for deer on the road, and there have been innumerable accidents when the deer and a car can’t both fit on the road. The deer don’t know any better – the bicyclists do. Bicyclists should be limited to bike paths."
I’m sure there isn’t a bicyclist in Maryland who wouldn’t love to have a wide, debris-free shoulder or parallel bike path along every country road in the state. But it’s not going to happen. The cost would be enormous. In many cases these are low-traffic roads where there is no need to add pavement just so a few impatient drivers never experience a delay. Sure, when a road is rebuilt, it makes sense to add a bicycle lane, but retrofitting the entire highway system is a non-starter.
The same correspondent wrote that bikes should be banned from the roads because they surprise her when she comes around a curve or over a hill. Sorry, but drivers are expected to cope with life’s little surprises — not that the presence of a bicycle in Baltimore County is exactly headline news. If a driver is startled by the sight of a bicyclist riding along the road in a legal manner, chances are the driver is going to fast for road conditions. It’s not the bicyclist’s fault that the driver is surprised.
Sharing the road with bicyclists is a basic driving skill and a legal duty for motorists. People who can’t cope with that reality shouldn’t be driving. Because bicycles aren’t going away. It’s a fantasy. You might as well propose banning rain on weekends.
One of the better things about this country is that it’s very difficult to take rights away from people. They have a way of fighting back.
So for all those people who harbor the fantasy that bicycles can be banned from their local roads, here’s a suggestion: Contact your local legislator and ask that person to introduce a bill curtailing the rights of bicyclists to use whichever class of roads you are tired of sharing.
If you find a politician foolish enough to put in such a bill, head down to Annapolis and sign up to testify at the hearing. It would be great theater, but you’d better get an early start because the capital city would be choked with bikes. Annapolis would be a sea of Spandex. The committee room would be overflowing with irate bicyclists reminding lawmakers thet they pay taxes too. You might even get a chance to meet Lance Armstrong.
Or those folks in the north county could just get a grip, slow down a little and pass bicyclists with care. It’s a beautiful part of Maryland, and folks on two wheels have a right to enjoy it too.
Continue reading “Earth to north county: Bikes aren’t going away”
Scofflaw motorists and the need for speed
Two speed camera’s were torched intentionally in Montgomery County.
https://gaithersburg.patch.com/articles/speed-camera-torched-near-qo-high-school
2009 Bike/ped fatalities by county
| County | Person Type | Total Killed | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Driver | Passenger | Motorcyclists | Pedestrian | Pedalcyclist | Other/Unknown | |||||||||
| Number | Percent | Number | Percent | Number | Percent | Number | Percent | Number | Percent | Number | Percent | Number | Percent | |
|
ALLEGANY (1) |
7 |
53.8 |
3 |
23.1 |
2 |
15.4 |
1 |
7.7 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
13 |
2.4 |
|
ANNE ARUNDEL (3) |
23 |
46 |
3 |
6 |
9 |
18 |
14 |
28 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
50 |
9.1 |
|
BALTIMORE (5) |
41 |
48.8 |
10 |
11.9 |
12 |
14.3 |
21 |
25 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
84 |
15.4 |
|
CALVERT (9) |
7 |
77.8 |
1 |
11.1 |
1 |
11.1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
9 |
1.6 |
|
CAROLINE (11) |
2 |
50 |
1 |
25 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
25 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
0.7 |
|
CARROLL (13) |
9 |
60 |
2 |
13.3 |
2 |
13.3 |
2 |
13.3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
15 |
2.7 |
|
CECIL (15) |
6 |
46.2 |
1 |
7.7 |
3 |
23.1 |
3 |
23.1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
13 |
2.4 |
|
CHARLES (17) |
8 |
53.3 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
26.7 |
3 |
20 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
15 |
2.7 |
|
DORCHESTER (19) |
3 |
33.3 |
4 |
44.4 |
1 |
11.1 |
1 |
11.1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
9 |
1.6 |
|
FREDERICK (21) |
13 |
56.5 |
3 |
13 |
5 |
21.7 |
2 |
8.7 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
23 |
4.2 |
|
GARRETT (23) |
6 |
75 |
2 |
25 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
8 |
1.5 |
|
HARFORD (25) |
15 |
57.7 |
7 |
26.9 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
15.4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
26 |
4.8 |
|
HOWARD (27) |
13 |
54.2 |
5 |
20.8 |
1 |
4.2 |
3 |
12.5 |
1 |
4.2 |
1 |
4.2 |
24 |
4.4 |
|
KENT (29) |
2 |
100 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0.4 |
|
MONTGOMERY (31) |
18 |
46.2 |
9 |
23.1 |
1 |
2.6 |
9 |
23.1 |
2 |
5.1 |
0 |
0 |
39 |
7.1 |
|
PRINCE GEORGE’S |
40 |
40.8 |
21 |
21.4 |
13 |
13.3 |
23 |
23.5 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
98 |
17.9 |
|
QUEEN ANNE’S (35) |
6 |
75 |
1 |
12.5 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
12.5 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
8 |
1.5 |
|
ST. MARY’S (37) |
11 |
68.8 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
12.5 |
1 |
6.3 |
2 |
12.5 |
0 |
0 |
16 |
2.9 |
|
SOMERSET (39) |
4 |
66.7 |
1 |
16.7 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
16.7 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
1.1 |
|
TALBOT (41) |
6 |
85.7 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
14.3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
7 |
1.3 |
|
WASHINGTON (43) |
10 |
66.7 |
2 |
13.3 |
3 |
20 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
15 |
2.7 |
|
WICOMICO (45) |
5 |
38.5 |
1 |
7.7 |
1 |
7.7 |
5 |
38.5 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
7.7 |
13 |
2.4 |
|
WORCESTER (47) |
4 |
33.3 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
33.3 |
2 |
16.7 |
2 |
16.7 |
0 |
0 |
12 |
2.2 |
|
BALTIMORE CITY (510) |
10 |
26.3 |
6 |
15.8 |
4 |
10.5 |
16 |
42.1 |
2 |
5.3 |
0 |
0 |
38 |
6.9 |
|
Total |
269 |
49.2 |
83 |
15.2 |
69 |
12.6 |
113 |
20.7 |
11 |
2 |
2 |
0.4 |
547 |
100 |
The Selfish Automobile
[B’ Spokes: Remember George Jetson’s car and how it folded into a suitcase? Let’s look at it in reverse and picture the space needed for a typical Single Occupancy Vehicle (SOV) of today unfolding at the the push of a button and expanding out like an inflatable raft in a department store. As it unfolds to the space it needs it does not stop at the size of a living room but keeps unfolding 9 more times till it’s the size of a typical house. That’s a lot of space just for one person, yet people seem to question why is there congestion when everyone “only” needs 2250sq.ft on the highway at the same time (rush hour) to move around “freely.” So I’ll highlight a bit from an article by Todd Litman:]
Space
Automobile travel is also space-intensive. The space requirements of different modes can be compared using time-area analysis, the product of space times time, measured in square-foot-minutes. Parking requirements depend on vehicle size. Travel space requirements depend on vehicle size and speed, since faster vehicles need more shy distance between them and other objects. For example, an automobile traveling at 30 miles-per-hour (mph) requires about 12.5 feet of lane width and 80 feet of lane length, or about 1,000 square feet in total, but at 60 mph this increases to 15 feet of lane width and 150 feet of length, about 2,250 square feet. The table below compares the time-area requirements of various modes for a 20-minute commute with 8 hours of vehicle parking. This indicates that driving requires about 15 times more space than bicycling, about 50 times more than public transport, and about 100 times more than walking.
Creating more bus, HOV and bike lanes is efficient and fair, because it allows users of these space-efficient modes (walking, cycling and public transit) to avoid delays caused by space intensive modes (single-occupant vehicles), and by making these modes more competitive it can attract travelers out of their cars which reduces traffic and parking congestion and parking problems. Yet, motorists often oppose such conversions. They only perceive congestion as a problem they face rather than a problem they cause, and they cannot imagine changing their own travel patterns to benefit others.
If motorists were generous and rational they would say things such as:
“Let’s create a transportation system that serves everybody.”
“Automobile travel does require a lot of road space, so it makes sense to favor more space efficient modes under congested conditions.”
“I support bike and bus lane development. Even if I do not use these facilities now, I benefit if other travelers shift to these modes, and I may want to use them sometime in the future.”
“I realize that the roads and parking facilities I use are costly to build and operate. It’s better that we pay for them directly through user fees rather than indirectly through subsidies that everybody must bear.”
[Read more for the link to the whole article.]
Continue reading “The Selfish Automobile”
Walk Friendly Communities encourages towns and cities to support safer walking environments
[B’ Spokes: I wounder if our new ranking of the 4th highest pedestrian fatality rate will encourage any towns in Maryland to apply?]
from Welcome to the Fast Lane: The Official Blog of the U.S. Secretary of Transportation by Ray LaHood
In an interview with Grist last week, I talked about livable communities. And one of the central features of livability is that you can get where you need or want to go without having to get into your car. For many reasons–the hassle of congested roadways, the need to reduce carbon emissions, the desire for better health–that’s what Americans have said they want.
Making a community safer for walking is one way to improve livability. And a new program called Walk Friendly Communities encourages towns and cities across the country to make safer walking environments a high priority.
The Walk Friendly Communities program will recognize communities that are working to improve a wide range of conditions related to walking, including safety, mobility, access, and comfort. It is sponsored by DOT’s Federal Highway Administration along with the Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center and FedEx.
As FHWA Administrator Victor Mendez said, “Walk Friendly Communities will show how cities and towns across the country are creatively improving walkability and demonstrating leadership in addressing pedestrian safety concerns.”
Walking is one way of improving health through increased physical activity. But increasing the opportunities for people to walk in your community also offers other benefits.
How can Walk Friendly Communities help? The program offers a comprehensive assessment tool to evaluate community walkability and pedestrian safety. Questions in the online survey cover a community’s efforts in engineering, education, encouragement, enforcement, evaluation, and planning. The program will accept applications until December 15, 2010.
For some towns and cities, the assessment will tell you what you already know–your efforts have resulted in a walk friendly community–and you will receive national recognition for that achievement.
But even if you don’t think your community is “walk-friendly” yet, completing this assessment can help you confirm the successes in your area and pinpoint elements that need greater attention before you can establish the safest walking community possible.
At DOT, we are committed to giving Americans more choices that foster active, livable communities. And this initiative will do just that by improving pedestrian safety in areas across the country and providing a safe means of walking in and around their neighborhood.
If your community wants to work toward the livability Americans say they want, please take advantage of this terrific new program.
Who’s doing it at the Sun
Andrea Siegel, a reporter at The Baltimore Sun, covers mostly crime and courts in Annapolis and Anne Arundel County, as well as legal issues. She wishes she was more physically fit, and, as she’s more fond of chocolate than exercise, fitness is a challenge. Her partner on a one-mile-plus daily walk is the family dog, a mixed breed named Moxie, and she exercises at the gym where the D.C. snipers once worked out.
Jerry Jackson has been a photo editor at The Baltimore Sun for 14 years and an avid cyclist for more than 30 years. Inspired by the movie "Breaking Away," he started racing as a teenager in Mississippi when leather "brain baskets" were still the norm. He regularly commutes to work by bike and still enters several mountain bike races a year for fun.
Patrick Maynard, who will be writing about running and walking, has been a producer for baltimoresun.com since 2008. In 2009, he tweeted on-course for the Sun from the Baltimore Marathon, finishing in just under 4 hours and almost managing to run the whole time. He sometimes walks to the Sun offices on Calvert Street.
Leeann Adams, a multimedia editor at The Baltimore Sun, also dabbles in content for the mobile website and iPhone app and covers the Ravens via video. She did a triathlon to celebrate her 40th birthday and continues to swim, bike and run — none of them quickly, though. Her biggest fitness challenge is to balance working, working out, spending time with her husband and being a mom to a 6-year-old boy.
Anica Butler, the Sun’s crime editor, is a former high school runner and recovering vegetarian who spent more of her early-adult years on a bar stool than working out. She is currently training (though poorly) for a half marathon and is trying to live a generally healthier lifestyle. She also hates the gym.
Continue reading “Who’s doing it at the Sun”
Ciclovia gives nondrivers the right of way
Mile-long stretch of Roland Ave. shut down for annual event
By John-John Williams IV, The Baltimore Sun
Getting There: Bad-behaving bicyclists are problem, too
By Michael Dresser, The Baltimore Sun
Bicyclists are accustomed to thinking of themselves as the good guys — and for the most part that’s true.
They don’t pollute the air, they don’t take up much road space and they’re getting off their backsides and exercising — something some of us slugs should do more often.
But after reading a recent column in which I defended a new law requiring motorists to give bicyclists a three-foot buffer while passing, …
That complaint rang true, and since then I’ve been noticing or recalling various incidents in which bicyclists were anything but good guys.
The incidents include:
•Bicyclists using a Canton waterfront footpath that is explicitly marked as being for pedestrians only.
•Bicyclists jumping on and off the sidewalks of Baltimore at will.
•Bikers zipping by hikers on trails with no warning of their intent to pass.
•People on bikes zipping through red lights with impunity, weaving in and out of traffic and going down one-way streets in the wrong direction.
…
*****************************************************************************
[B’ Spokes: While other modes of transportation get areas for their exclusive travel and cyclists have to share everything and are treated as trespassers even when riding lawfully. And we supposedly cause problems by traveling near motoring speeds on trails and (supposedly) traveling near pedestrian speeds on roads but still there is basic human decency we should show other human beings so please try to be more courteous. Of course this will have the same effect as AAA saying motorist should obey the speed limit and not use cell phones but there it is.]
Continue reading “Getting There: Bad-behaving bicyclists are problem, too”