Month: January 2011

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2011 General Assembly Kick Off and Bike Maryland Symposium

The 2011 Maryland General Assembly 428th Legislative Session – Kicks-Off Today

The Maryland General Assembly meets in Annapolis each year for 90 days to act on more than 2300 bills including the State’s annual budget. The 2011 Session begins January 12, 2011 and adjourns April 11, 2011. The General Assembly has 47 Senators and 141 Delegates elected from 47 districts.

Who Are Your Elected Officials? Would you like to know who represents you in the Maryland General Assembly and U.S. Congress? To find out, just enter your home address HERE. Information provided shows current elected officials and current Congressional & Legislative election district. Click Here To Contact Your Legislator.

Many of you have known someone or have heard about someone that lost their life or was seriously injured while bicycling. Bike Maryland’s mission is to encourage and promote bicycling, increase safety, improve conditions, and provide a voice for bicyclists in Maryland. We will need your support this year to get legislation passed that makes Maryland a safer place to ride. The most important thing you can do is to make a call to your legislator. An written letter or an email is also beneficial.  Five minutes of your time is needed to perform this task that can decrease your (or your friends or loved ones) chances of injury or death. You do not need to discuss the bill in depth. You will make a difference by saying, “Hello, my name is ___ and I live in your district. It is very important to me, as one of your constituents, that you support ___ bill.”  

Bill numbers and detailed description will be posted on the Bike Maryland website over the next few weeks.

Potential 2011 Legislative Priorities (policy changes pursued when possible): 

  1. Manslaughter by Vehicle or Vessel – Criminal Negligence
    This is the #1 bill to support. There is a big loophole in Maryland’s Law    .

    Drivers who cause fatalities, when sober, by flagrantly violating the rules of the road, and deviating from the standard of care used by any reasonable person, pay no more than $1000 in fines through traffic court. These cases are dealt with as though they are all situations of simple negligence. The standards for prosecution under the current statute -vehicle (negligent) manslaughter –are very high. Proof of gross negligence is required for this felony offense. Upon conviction, the person would face up to 10 years in a house of correction and/or $5000 fine.

    Manslaughter by Vehicle or Vessel – Criminal Negligence provides a misdemeanor option for those who cause fatalities by driving in a criminally negligent manner- when sober. It follows the Modern Penal Code used in the majority of other states. It is a misdemeanor —upon conviction, the person would be subject to imprisonment not to exceed 3 years and/or a fine not to exceed $5000.
    View the bill talking points here and the myths and facts here. 

    Contact your State Legislators and ask that they support this bill.
     

  2. View the Full List of Bike Maryland’s Potential 2011 Legislative Priorities HERE. 

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The WAR on Bikes

Wishing Gabrielle Giffords Many More Commutes by Bike
from Commute by Bike by Ted Johnson
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My thoughts were drawn, once again, to the rhetoric of the debate over cycling infrastructure, referred to as “The Bike Wars” or a “war on cars.” War? Really? With armies, weapons, and battles?
Anyone who commutes by bike knows two things: First, that there are a lot of crazy and unstable drivers out there, and second that with the wrong person behind the wheel, a car can be used as a weapon. When we, the participants in this debate, regurgitate this “war” framing, we need to consider the chances that a crazy motorist might take it seriously. The motorist who believes (because he’s been told so) that cyclists are literally the enemy; that cyclists are threatening his way of life, how is he likely to use his car?
Let’s downshift our rhetoric as well. It’s not a war. It’s a disagreement over transportation priorities; it’s motorists and cyclists struggling to reconcile their differences and coexist.
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Menasha mom biked to hospital to deliver baby

By Tom Held of the Journal Sentinel

Tess Weber, just 3 months old, already has been out cross-country skiing and snowshoeing with her parents, Paul and Susie.

That shouldn’t come as a surprise. She enjoyed a bike ride the day of her birth.

Susie Weber, an active 41-year-old, shared her story of biking to delivery – a one-mile ride from her home in Menasha to the Theda Clark Medical Center – in the January issue of Silent Sports Magazine.

“On the day my daughter was born, I stayed at home until my contractions were about three minutes apart and increasing in intensity. When it was time to go to the hospital, the last thing I wanted to do was get on a bike. But my husband had the bikes ready, my doctor was expecting to see my bike in the lot, and my own internal voice was telling me I couldn’t give up now.

“I somewhat reluctantly got on the bike and, to my surprise, enjoyed every minute of the ride, even when I was having a contraction. Despite all the dire warnings that I would crash my bike when the pain hit, I found that I could power through it. In fact, the contractions on the bike were the easiest to bear because I was distracted and doing something I love.”

While biking to birth would be an extreme example of maintaining fitness during pregnancy, Weber’s piece provides excellent advice for expectant women (and their partners).

Her pregnancy was high-risk due to her age and previous miscarriages, but she kayaked, skied, swam and biked from start to finish. She biked to her first appointment in March, and that day “set a goal of biking to every appointment,” including the delivery.

“I think it was better for me overall and I recovered quickly and was down to my pre-birth weight in three weeks,” said Weber, who is on maternity leave from her job as a pilot for United Airlines. “My doctor was a great person to work with.

“I think people treat pregnancy as a sickness; and you’re not sick. You just have to be reasonable, I think.”

Tess was born on Oct. 7 and weighed 7 pounds, 11 ounces and measured 19 1/2 inches. On Thursday morning, Weber proudly reported that Tess had rolled over, apparently starting her own fitness regimen.

Paul, Tess and Susie Weber. Photo courtesy of Susie Weber

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What if more Marylanders were safe drivers?

from Stop the Maryland Unsafe Driver by Driver
Life might be a little different if more of us drove safely. Thinking about it seems to put all the bad behaviors in perspective. What might it be like if more Marylanders were safe drivers? Wat if more people cared about themselves, their families, the other folks on the road, pedestrians, property, and the animals? We can only imagine…
There would be six-hundred or so fewer dead people every year. This means happier holidays, another year with mom, dad, grandmother, or grandpa, or even the newborn or a teenager. The emergency rooms, ambulance crews, and police officers would be taking time to save lives, fight fires, or catch bad guys. Those six hundred would die a natural death at an older age with a complete life behind them. What a concept. The end result of the driving behavior we choose is entirely up to us. Everyone driving has a decision to make.
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AAA Petition Delivered, AAA will not budge

On December 13, 2010, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy hand-delivered more than 51,000 signatures in a petition to AAA to support—not oppose—the continuation of established trail, walking and bicycling programs through the transportation trust fund. Now, we turn our focus on Congress, protecting and defending these active transportation programs on the federal stage. We will show our elected leaders the results of our AAA petition and remind them that it represents millions of Americans who want a balanced transportation future.

[Video]

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Stop the Child Murder

from A view from the cycle path – David Hembrow
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There is a lesson here for other countries. I’ll take Britain as an example.
It is difficult to campaign for better conditions for "cyclists" in Britain. Cyclists are a minority group, and not a very well liked minority at that. Cyclists can be considered to be an out-group. This is a large part of why it is that cycling initiatives come and go in Britain. There’s no real emphasis placed on results because too few people see it as important. When cyclists in Britain are hit by cars, they get very little sympathy from the public at large.
Campaigning for child safety is different. Very different. Children are not a minority group. Most families include children, all adults used to be children. Child safety is an issue which is important to everyone and difficult to ignore. All parents want their children to be safe.
It is clear that there is a problem with child safety on the roads in the UK. This is the underlying reason why it is that children are increasingly being driven to school. It is the reason why American style school buses are proposed for British kids, and even the reason why someone made the news for driving with his walking child on the school run. When British parents attack traffic wardens next to a school, they even do this in part out of concern for the safety of their own children. These are not solutions to the problem, but they are reactions to it. They demonstrate that parents are not remotely happy with the roads as they are.
Campaigners often talk about there being a pent-up demand for cycling in Britain. It’s true. There is. When I was a campaigner in the UK, many people would tell me that they were very keen to take up cycling, but for one reason or another.
However, the pent-up demand for conditions in which children are safe on the streets is very much greater. This is what any campaigner who wants to see mass cycling return to the UK ought to be campaigning about. Get those parents on your side and there will be a mass move to change infrastructure and improve conditions.
I can see the responses from a certain element of the cycling community in the UK. i.e. those who are concerned about being "forced" to use sub-standard shared-use paths next to the road. However, this is all part of the problem. Sub-standard facilities are of no use to anyone. Not only are they no good for confident adults to cycle on, but they will also never provide the level of subjective safety required for British parents to think their children are safe on a bike. I’ve seen many examples of what happens in Britain. Planners think that if they provide a couple of hundred metres of astonishingly bad quality shared use next to a school that they’ve actually done something. People afterwards ask why it is that such facilities are not used. The answer is very simple: they are not usable. The quality is much too low. Tokenism isn’t the answer.
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No Such Thing As Free Parking

First Nationwide Count of Parking Spaces Reveals High Environmental Cost
By ERIC BETZ
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The 250 million cars and trucks on America’s roads get a bad rap for being environmentally unfriendly. Climate scientists say that automobiles add an array of greenhouse gases and harmful particulates into the Earth’s atmosphere, yet little research has been done to estimate the impact parking spaces — where those automobiles spend 95 percent of their time — have on our planet.
"I think it’s a surprisingly unknown quantity," said Donald Shoup, a UCLA urban planning professor and author of the book "The High Cost of Free Parking." "[Parking] is the single biggest land use in any city. It’s kind of like dark matter in the universe, we know it’s there, but we don’t have any idea how much there is."
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"The environmental effects of parking are not just from encouraging the use of the automobile over public transit or walking and biking," the group stated in their paper, "but also from … activities related to building and maintaining the infrastructure."
"There’s actually a larger infrastructure for parking than for roadways," said Chester. "This speaks to the sort of hidden infrastructure components that are there to store our vehicles when they’re not moving."
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"Only in the last 5-10 years have we been giving some thought to whether there should be an abundance of free parking," said Chester. "Ninety-nine percent of automobile trips end in free parking and this has a major effect on people’s choice of what means of transportation to take."
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Baltimore Spokes – Our Cyclists Resolution

WABA put out a somewhat controversial Resolution to Ride Responsibly. Personally I think cyclists should set an example of a road user that everyone should try to emulate, be a cut above the rest if you would. So here is our Cyclist’s Pledge:

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As a cyclist I pledge not to ride over the speed limit putting other lives at risk.

As a cyclist I pledge not to kill anyone with my bicycle even if it was just an accident.

As a cyclist I pledge not to run red lights as long as my vehicle is accommodated as well as other vehicles on the road. (Sensors that detect bicycles and enough extra road width to be out of the way of the "cattle stampede.")

As a cyclist I pledge not to use my bicycle to scare, threaten or intimidate old men, young women, children or anyone else who is otherwise not bothering anyone and behaving in a lawful manor.

As a cyclist I pledge not to park my bike in a bike lane or other travel lane for vehicles.

As a cyclist I pledge not to contribute to congestion and when traffic is at a standstill I will use the space between cars (when safe to do so) to continue on my way.

As a cyclist I pledge never to contribute to gridlock.

As a cyclist I pledge not to contribute to the parking problem.

As a cyclist I pledge while riding I will not increase our demand on foreign oil, nor will I contribute to the rising cost of gas by increasing demand.

As a cyclist I pledge while eating steak or any other high calorie or carbohydrate rich foods I will tell others that I need this because I bike a lot. (Assuming the latter is true.)

As a cyclist I pledge while riding I will not contribute (with any significance) to global warming gases.

As a cyclist I pledge while riding I will not add toxic air pollutants to the air we all breathe.

As a cyclist I pledge I will try to keep myself reasonably fit and not become another statistic of the obesity epidemic.
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Now if only we can get other road users to make a similar pledge the roads and our world would truly be a safer and better place.
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