Month: February 2011

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Cagers [video]

As I ride around by bicycle it seems too many people are trapped or caged in with the inability to communicate or even relate to those outside their cage. Even more frustrating are those people who directly or indirectly imply that it is not safe to leave your house without a steel cage protecting you as if our fellow man is equivalent to a man eating shark and our neighborhoods are shark infested waters.

Even bikes without motors feel the freedom of not being stuck in something that takes up an incredibly large and (mostly) unnecessary amount of space.

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‘Pedestrian-friendly’ car bonnet revealed

Impact absorption specialists Cellbond, a division of Encocam Ltd based in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, has collaborated with researchers at Anglia Ruskin University to develop and test a ‘pedestrian-friendly’ car bonnet design which could cut the number of fatalities and serious injuries caused by impact in car accidents.

Pedestrians account for 20% of all traffic fatalities in Europe and 14% in the United States – with the majority being caused by head impacts. Statistically 65% of pedestrians impacting or rolling on the bonnet of car that is going above 40mph are killed or suffer from serious injury.

In such a crash the pedestrian is initially impacted by the car and then by the ground, and most fatalities and head injuries occur when there is insufficient clearance between the bonnet and stiff underlying engine components.

Now a ‘pedestrian-friendly’ car bonnet has been designed by Cellbond’s Dr Mehrdad Asadi in research collaboration with Anglia Ruskin University’s Engineering Simulation Analysis and Tribology (EAST) Group. The ‘pedestrian-friendly’ car bonnet design makes use of an aluminium mechanical energy absorber. Its works via a sheet of metal that is etched into a grid format so that, upon impact, it collapses inwards – absorbing the impact energy with less resultant reaction forces which causes the impact injury.

Professor Hassan Shirvani, Director of Anglia Ruskin University’s EAST group, said:

"During an impact the pedestrian exerts a dynamic force on the car bonnet. If the kinetic energy of the impact is not absorbed the bonnet will exert equal amount of the force that impacts it, causing injury to the body. The majority of car test standards and protocols use the ‘Head Impact Criteria’ to measure the severity of such impact on human heads and restrict the criterion to certain numbers. The Cellbond car bonnet design has been tested and verified in a EuroNCAP certified test house. Test results show that this Cellbond design reduces the ‘Head Impact Criteria’ by 50-60%, hence the energy is absorbed in the collapsing structure."

The Cellbond car bonnet design is now being assessed by a number of leading motor manufacturers and research continues.
Continue reading “‘Pedestrian-friendly’ car bonnet revealed”

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Woman gets traffic tickets in Md. deaths

The Frederick County Sheriff’s Office says it has issued two traffic tickets to a woman who accidentally killed three fellow churchgoers with her car in Emmitsburg in August.
Cpl. Jennifer Bailey said Friday that 63-year-old Mary Camilleri, of Fayetteville, Pa., received citations for unsafe backing and negligent driving.
Bailey says Camilleri was trying to parallel park her Mercury Mountaineer SUV when she struck a group of people leaving St. Joseph’s Catholic Church Aug. 12.
Killed were 89-year-old Marian Derosa of Emmitsburg, her daughter Patricia Mauro-Cillo and son-in-law John Cillo.
Bailey says the investigation is now closed.
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[B’ Spokes: Just another case of "oopssy" and nothing more I guess.]
Continue reading “Woman gets traffic tickets in Md. deaths”

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Stop the Congressional Attack on our Rivers

Today, as the U.S. House of Representatives brought a budget bill to the floor to fund the federal government through the end of the year, Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) attempted a sneak attack on the future of clean water for the 17 million residents of the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

The amendment just offered by Rep. Bob Goodlatte of Virginia would prohibit the EPA from enforcing the Clean Water Act, specifically the federally-mandated pollution diet for the Chesapeake region that is just beginning to make a difference.

Act Now


The Goodlatte amendment may be up for a vote as early as tomorrow. Tell your member of Congress to VOTE AGAINST the Continuing Resolution and the Goodlatte amendment that does away with 30 years of work to protect the rivers and streams of the Chesapeake Bay.
Thank you for your time and effort!

Pete Johnson
Outreach Manager
Maryland LCV

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Pepito’s CLOWNdemonium Revue Comes To Baltimore 3/18


Pepitos_CLOWNdemonium_Revue_Comes_To_Baltimore_20010101

Clowndemonium descends on the Creative Alliance with an evening of puppets, music, and Medicine Show. The zany elegance of European clowning runs head-first into American vaudeville comedy at 8pm on Friday March 18th in the Patterson Theater.

Pepito the Clown gathers talent from Baltimore’s Canary Theater and San Francisco’s all women clown troupe Circus Finelli. The Clowndemonium Revue is a showcase of comedy featuring the melodic voices of country western legends Dorleen and Larva Lee Wiley, unexpected antics from Pepito the Clown and Paul the puppet, San Francisco Mayoral Candidate Blinky Winky, a samba spectacular by Carmelita, and the innovative healing powers of Dr. Fantastic.

“World class in the best classical tradition…” Z Smith (Pepito) is an actor who has

been performing and writing clown material for 10 years. She is a founding member of both Canary theatre and Circus Finelli. Canary Theater was founded in 2000 as a comedy show that traveled by bicycle and performed for free. It has morphed into a multifaceted company that produces music videos, crafts, puppets, and live physical theater. Circus

Finelli is San Francisco’s all-women clown troupe, specializing in cartoonish and irreverent circus comedy.

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Continue reading “Pepito’s CLOWNdemonium Revue Comes To Baltimore 3/18”

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Please publicly document your bicycling crash stories.

I am heartened and disheartened by the following story by Greater Greater Washington. WABA seems to be doing a great job in trying to get improvements in police reporting bicycle related crashes. Similarly, Baltimore’s Mayor’s Bicycling Advisory Committee seems to be making some progress as well but we really need documentation!

Let me stress we need your stories of being in a crash. Did the police say you were at fault or relive the driver of any fault for the crash? But after hearing the police’s explanation there is a lingering feeling that such judgment was in error? Please contact us! We work with the Maryland Highway Safety Office in providing guidance and summaries of bicycle related laws. We have worked with lawyers in providing resources they need to fight for cyclists rights in court. And above all, we want to see change for the better for bicyclists.

But above all we need documentation when it comes to bicyclists something is too frequently off by the police, placing an extra burden of proof on the part of bicyclists. Without documentation there is little hope for change.

I will also mention that my analysis of 2006 bicycle related crashes in Baltimore City only 10% of drivers in bicycle related crashes were found at fault, this is way out of proportion of surrounding counties and puts a huge burden on Baltimore cyclists. Let me explain; in places where there is an effort to educate the police about bicycling laws and at fault information is available I see near the same number of cyclists and drivers at fault (with a small number of unknown.) This makes sense because people are people no mater what their mode of transportation is. So the implication for Baltimore City is there is a large number of cyclists who do not have proper at fault information on the police report so if they wish to recover damages from the driver they must take the drivers insurance company to court. The insurance company has high paid lawyers who specialize in fighting these types of lawsuits and good luck to the cyclist finding a similar lawyer. However if a cyclist was one of the 10% who had a report with an at fault driver, it should/could be as easy as contacting the insurance company and getting a check.

In the following video you can see the DC Council member gets the issues but the Assistant Chief of Police is not really getting it. This is basically what we are up against, how do we make a case so the police see that reporting of bicycling crashes is not fair nor just.


Continue reading “Please publicly document your bicycling crash stories.”

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Mountain Biking Skills Park Community Meeting Wednesday February 23rd 6:30 – 8:30 pm

Howard County Cyclists;
Over a year ago BAHC and MORE (Mid-Atlantic Off-Road Enthusiasts) met with representatives from Howard County Rec & Parks and discussed the possibility of creating a Mountain Bike Skills Park/course at Rockburn Branch Park off Landing Road in Elkridge. After a great deal of hard work by Melanie Nystrom of MORE to gain final administrative and legal approval, MORE and RAP are ready to begin work on final design and construction schedule. A meeting is being held at Race Pace Bicycles on Oakland Mills Rd (off Snowden River) from 6:30- 8:30pm on Wednesday Feb 23rd – details below. The Skills Park is intended to provide a training venue with obstacles and challenges for beginner, intermediate and advance mountain bikers. Present at the meeting will be a consultant from the International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA) who will discuss trail and obstacle options and design ideas.

Please pass this to all Clubs and any mountain bikers you know. MORE and the County will be sharing the significant cost of building this facility and it is in our interest to ensure that cycling community inputs are provided to them. Whether you can attend or not please consider donating to MORE’s fund to defray the design and materials cost for the Skills Park. A Donate button is on the MORE Rockburn site:
https://www.more-mtb.org/index.php?page=RockburnSkillsArea

Much of the actual construction will be done by MORE volunteers, so when a schedule has firmed up I’ll be putting more word out on when and how to volunteer.

Jack

Jack Guarneri

President Bicycling Advocates of Howard County
Continue reading “Mountain Biking Skills Park Community Meeting Wednesday February 23rd 6:30 – 8:30 pm”

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Keep a lookout for a red Honda Element

From PT:

URGENT – PLEASE PASS AROUND:
Last night, Thurs., about 7:30ish, while my son and his friends were jogging around Lake Montebello, a car drove around in the bike/ped lane, circling 5 times at around 30 MPH with joggers and a cyclists in her way. Look for: older light-skinned woman w/ shoulder-length white hair driving red Honda Element w/o bumper stickers.

It sounds like this woman might be having mental problems and needs to be off the road. Look out for her, and if anyone knows her, she needs to be evaluated. This is a serious accident waiting to happen.

She was going too fast. It was also too dark for them to determine race or ethnicity. Still, not too many red Honda Elements driven by white-haired ladies in Baltimore. Someone will know her, and know that she needs to have her keys taken from her. Maybe this story will convince them to do it.

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Take action to Support HB 363- Help make Maryland roads safer!

Take Action! 

Drivers who kill cyclists often face little or no penalty for their actions in part due to a gap in current Maryland law. HB 363 “Manslaughter by Vehicle or Vessel – Criminal Negligence: provides a misdemeanor option for those who cause
fatalities by driving in a criminally negligent manner. If found guilty, motorists will be subject to imprisonment not to exceed 3 years and/or a fine not to exceed $5000.
 
Take action to support safer roads in Maryland. Urge the Maryland House Judiciary Committee to vote in favor of HB 363.

Take Action! 

[B’ Spokes: Just to note this alert came to us via League of American Bicyclists. I am seeing more bicycling advocacy groups working together rather then sticking to their specialty areas, this is really cool!]