I tuned in time to hear Carol Silldorff of Bike Maryland explaining the advantages to biking to work "You get to eat more." Which was met with a lot of affirmation.
"How far is doable ride to work?" So Carol starts off with stating 20 miles, wonderful way to get attention to the fact that if you are fit, average distances by car are doable by bike. She did go on to qualify the more average distances and more realistic starting goals like biking to the store which is typically only 2 or 3 miles and everyone should be able to do that.

Fern Shen of Baltimore Brew highlight was fielding some question from a [old?] grumpy motorist complaining something about some cyclist while not riding in his way was able to pass him up in his car. In a wonderful upbeat voice she explains her ride over to the studios in a lawful manner and concluded "We are on the same side buddy."

Nate Evans the City’s Bike/ped Planner road his bike over to the studios from work, cool! He wasn’t really given a question where he could shine and some questions came really close to "Why aren’t you doing more?" Which is really unfair as it is our job as citizens to empower Nate to do more.

Bike Maryland https://bikemd.org
Baltimore Brew https://www.baltimorebrew.com/
Baltimore Bike Planning https://baltimorecity.gov/Government/AgenciesDepartments/Transportation/Planning/BikeBaltimore.aspx

Rules of the road change and evolve — so should motorists
By Michael Dresser, The Baltimore Sun

Driving is one of the most important things most of us do in our professional and personal lives, so why would we expect to learn it while we’re in high school and then just stop?

Doctors, nurses and other medical caregivers are expected to continue education over the course of their careers. In some fields, such as tax accounting, professionals have to update their knowledge every year or be left hopelessly behind. Even reporters can’t help but pick up a few scraps of new information as we go about our work, even though we usually get to weasel out of tests.

So when we get on the road, with other people’s lives in our hands, shouldn’t we have the expectation of lifelong learning?

Generally, we don’t. A lot of my email from drivers — particularly when it comes to interactions with bicyclists — seems to reflect the state of thinking back in the 1950s through the 1980s. The last time some people really thought about driving, it seems, is when they got their licenses.

Yet the evidence is everywhere that there are motorists who haven’t kept up — if they ever really learned how to drive.

Think of how much has changed in recent decades. The state of the law, as well as public opinion, has changed dramatically when it comes to drunken driving — an offense that was once considered more comic than reprehensible. Cellphones and texting devices are now ubiquitous in the front seats of motorists who never heard the term "distracted driving" back in driver’s ed. Roundabouts are no longer a European thing.

And bicyclists aren’t just school kids pedaling in the safety of a leafy subdivision. They’re everywhere, and their numbers are growing.

Both before and after last week’s column about how motorists should approach bike lanes, comments have come in suggesting that Baltimore city government has abdicated a responsibility to inform drivers about how to obey the law.

Sorry. Not the case. Regulating drivers and seeing to it that they know the rules are state responsibilities under Maryland law. With the state of the city’s budget, it’s unrealistic to expect the city to carry water for the state. It can barely carry its own.

On the state level, the agency responsible for driver education is the Motor Vehicle Administration, though the State Highway Administration and Maryland State Police play secondary roles in getting the word out about safe driving practices.

None of these agencies is exactly swimming in money to re-educate drivers. Nor is it clear that many drivers want continuing education. Any of us could pay to take a refresher course from a private instructor. But how many of us have done so? (My hand is down, too.) Few of us are begging our lawmakers to require midlife requalification of drivers.

So every once in a while, if it seems there’s a need, this column will pass along some tips for those who want to know more about one of the riskiest things most of us do. It’s more a stopgap than a solution, but maybe it’ll help a little.

Our guest instructor for this column is Barry Childress of the bicyclists’ group Baltimore Spokes. Childress is an experienced operator of both two-wheel and four-wheel vehicles. He’s going to address a question, posed by some readers, about whether bicyclists are required to stay in bike lanes to the right of the main travel lanes. And to do so, he’s going straight to Maryland’s traffic code:

§ 21-1205. Riding on roadways or on highway.

(a) Riding to right side of roadway: Each person operating a bicycle or a motor scooter at a speed less than the speed of traffic at the time and place and under the conditions then existing on a roadway shall ride as near to the right side of the roadway as practicable and safe, except when:

(1) Making or attempting to make a left turn;

(2) Operating on a one-way street;

(3) Passing a stopped or slower moving vehicle;

(4) Avoiding pedestrians or road hazards;

(5) The right lane is a right turn only lane; or

(6) Operating in a lane that is too narrow for a bicycle or motor scooter and another vehicle to travel safely side by side within the lane.

That’s a pretty good list of exceptions to what many think is a rigid law. If you’re sitting on a bicycle seat, all these exceptions make a lot of sense. From the front seat of a car, they might not be so obvious. Certainly my mailbag shows there are plenty of drivers out there who view a bicyclist who has left the bike lane as a dangerous fugitive.

But here’s the actual text of the rule:

§ 21-1205.(a) … Each person operating a bicycle … on a roadway shall ride as near to the right side of the roadway as practicable and safe.

Practicable and safe. That gives the bicyclist a lot of room for judgment. And it calls for flexibility from drivers.

"Both bicyclists and motorists need to understand there are times when a bicyclist needs to operate exactly like motor vehicle, especially where right turns are authorized. Bicyclists staying to the right does not always work to the advantage of everyone," Childress said.

Echoing last week’s column, he added this: "By far the major error on the motorist side is the thinking that they can pass and then turn directly in front of a bicyclist. This goes double for turning into driveways."

That’s enough for now. Class dismissed. There will be no pop quiz.

But if you can think of any brilliant ways to help drivers — and bicyclists, for that matter — to stay current on the evolving rules of the road without insulting them, drop me a line. There ain’t none of us what couldn’t stand learning something new.

Continue reading “Drivers need to get up to speed”

B’ Spokes: If the announcement was along the lines "Let’s watch out for each other" or even better "Bus driver, it’s your lawful duty to yield to pedestrians." or "Driver take your time and don’t turn till it’s safe." that might be cool but "Pedestrians, bus is turning. Pedestrians, bus is turning," that’s just wrong.

Trying to put responsibility on the pedestrian to yield to a turning bus is outrageous! See previous coverage: https://www.baltimorespokes.org/article.php?story=20110322122507481

With apologies to IBTimes but I am going to introduce a lot of satire into their piece:

********************************************************************************************

Some pedestrians in Maryland are being harassed by buses turning at the street corner — automatically by the bus itself.

The harassment system – already being used in some cities – is being tested on 10 buses operated by the Maryland Transit Administration. MTA’s main bus service area is in Baltimore.

Sensors on the bus detect when the steering wheel turns which is already too late to serve as a warning but works fine just to harass and intimidate pedestrians. A pair of external speakers are used to announce pedestrians that the turn is already underway so run for your lives. There’s also an internal speaker with the same message for the driver.

"Pedestrians, bus is turning. Pedestrians, bus is turning," a loud voice from a pair of speakers outside the bus states.

MTA spokesman Terry Owens says the MTA’s engineers are always on the lookout for ways to boost the ability for bus drivers to drive aggressively and not yield to anything as that just slows down service.

"We are interested in embracing anything that’s going to help put the blame on someone else then on our drivers," he said. "One accident involving a pedestrian where we were at fault is one accident too many. If there is technology that’s available to help teach pedestrians to get the heck out of the way of a bus then we will consider it seriously."

The tests, which were announced last week, will last two months. Systems from two companies – ProTran 1 and Clever Devices – are being considered to roll out the technology on more buses if the test is successful.

Owens says that system installation will cost between $1500 and $2500 per bus, although it’s too soon to tell what the final price will be.

"We want to hear from our operators and certainly from the street, so much so there is no contact info in this press release, if you get my drift." he said.

[B’ Spokes: Again, the above is satire – Witty language used to convey scorn.]

Continue reading “Maryland Tests ‘Talking’ Buses to Warn Distracted Pedestrians Lawfully Crossing in a Crosswalks”