Month: May 2011

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5 Great Bicycle Safety States: Oregon, Mass, New Hampshire, California & Maryland

Before you get excited we have another case of got the facts wrong.

  • Helmet Law: Ages 15 and under.
  • Cycling under the Influence Law: No.
  • LAB Rank: 11.
  • Bicycling: N/A.
  • Maryland doesn’t mess around when it comes to bicycle accidents, and places the default blame on the motorist. If a bicyclist is seriously hurt in a vehicle collision, the driver is fined $1,000 and given three points on his or her driving record.

Our DUI is applicable to any vehicle including a bike. No we do not have the default blame on the motorist (possibly too much blame in the other direction) and typical fines for motorists are $500 max limited by court rule to $280. The fine referenced can happen but only in rare and too often hard to prove situations.
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Monument to Monument 2011 Ride in Pictures

A 94 mile bike ride from Baltimore to Washington, DC.

Many thanks to Bob W. of the Baltimore Bicycling Club on putting on another great event! Not to mention taking the pictures and the rolling cometary on each one, you almost feel as if you were there. Thanks Bob for the mention and I miss you from time to time as well. I would like to point out what got me started on the route was that no one was willing to drive to DC to see the cherry blossoms, so I biked it.

Think about it, people are starting to go more places and do more things because of the bicycle and the car limits where you want to go because of traffic or parking.


Monument to Monument 2011

A great showing by a super diverse group of riders. After the morning roll-out we gained at least another 10 riders along the way.

Monument to Monument 2011

I was super glad Nate Evans braved this ride. He rode steady and strong all day in spite of suffering one of the very few mechanicals- a flat which he fixed before lunch. (along Race rd.)

More photos here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/27976837@N00/sets/72157626631332716/with/5680782790/

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Fells Point installs pedestrian crossing with delays now 6 times longer for peds then for cars.

This update is to point out the Baltimore Brew article. Our previous coverage is below the divide.

The point I think the Brew is making; is imagine going into the city’s planing offices and turning off all the elevator indicator lights so you would have no idea if the button you pushed worked or not, wouldn’t that be a great improvement to calling the elevators?

So why do these same people think a button that fails to meet 20th century standards and frustrates the heck out of people is appropriate for people crossing a busy road? Did you forget to press the button or is the button broken because people are banging the heck out of it as it does not do a darn thing when you press it? You don’t know do you? Good, now try and cross the street…. gotcha it wasn’t safe to cross and you almost got killed, ha ha ha.

It really feels like a sick joke when so called “traffic engineers” make these kind of :”improvements” by now requiring people to push a button that came straight from the 1936 film Flash Gordon:
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look closely at the rocket ship control panel, those are are crossing buttons used in Baltimore. 😉

“City Department of Transportation deputy director Jamie Kendrick acknowledged there’s been a change – “we repaired the pedestrian push buttons and vehicle detectors” — but says it’s for the better.

“Pedestrians again, as before, now have to push the button to get the walk indications,” Kendrick wrote, in an email to The Brew. ”

Yep, still using 1936 technology because we never got the memo we should think about upgrading. :s

Rebecca Smith, founder of the Downtown Baltimore Family Alliance writes a wonderful letter to Michael Dresser explaining the problem with the problem with the new pedestrian signals.
https://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/traffic/2011/04/fells_point_fights_pedestrian.html

The problem is much like what David Hembrow wrote about in The significance of signal timing that treats bicyclists and pedestrians as second class road users
https://www.baltimorespokes.org/article.php?story=20110417203902165

But here the pedestrian signal timing is such that you can’t cross when the signal is green for cars and you can’t cross when the signal red and then finally you have 4 seconds to get across the road, that is assuming you pressed that button.

Seriously, don’t walk in Baltimore, we have the highest count of pedestrians in traffic crashes then any other county.

42% of our traffic fatalities are pedestrians.

Like Rebecca we are wondering where is the City’s Complete Street Policy is in all this.
Continue reading “Fells Point installs pedestrian crossing with delays now 6 times longer for peds then for cars.”

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How Far Will People Walk?

from Planetizen – Urban Planning, Design and Development Network by Tim Halbur

Planners have embraced “1/4th of a mile” as the official distance that people are willing to walk to take transit. But why is that the measure, and is it accurate?

read more

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How Much Do You Walk? …And Other Questions From America Walks

from Streetsblog Capitol Hill by Tanya Snyder

Got five minutes to help strengthen and refine pedestrian advocacy? America Walks has put out a survey on walking habits, and they hope the answers will advance understanding of why people walk and what would motivate people to walk more. The survey explores, among other questions:

  • What motivates and sustains avid walkers? What deters others?
  • How did they start walking, and what are their routines?
  • What makes a neighborhood walkable or not?
  • What do walkers believe are the psychological and physical benefits?

America Walks is the only national organization dedicated exclusively to the rights of pedestrians. After 15 years of advocacy, it’s in the process of reinventing itself, partnering with organizations from AARP to the National Associations of Realtors to get more people “up off couch and walking out the door.”

The survey closes in early June. Click here to start.

Continue reading “How Much Do You Walk? …And Other Questions From America Walks”

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Chrysler Introduces New Midsized Sedan For In-Home Use

Company Says Car’s Tires Can Be Upgraded For Shag Carpeting
via the Onion

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“This is the perfect car for an active family,” said 36-year-old Anna Cavallo of Towson, MD, who test drove a Reside prototype for six months in her duplex townhouse. “I just pull right into my kids’ rooms in the morning, honk them awake, and drive them over to get breakfast in the kitchen.”
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Riding through red lights: The rate, characteristics and risk factors of non-compliant urban commuter cyclists

a b s t r a c t
This study determined the rate and associated factors of red light infringement among urban commuter cyclists. A cross-sectional observational study was conducted using a covert video camera to record cyclists at 10 sites across metropolitan Melbourne, Australia from October 2008 to April 2009. In total, 4225 cyclists faced a red light and 6.9% were non-compliant. The main predictive factor for infringement was direction of travel, cyclists turning left (traffic travels on the left-side in Australia) had 28.3 times the relative odds of infringement compared to cyclists who continued straight through the intersection. Presence of other road users had a deterrent effect with the odds of infringement lower when a vehicle travelling in the same direction was present (OR = 0.39, 95% CI 0.28–0.53) or when other cyclists were present (OR = 0.26, 95% CI 0.19–0.36). Findings suggest that some cyclists do not perceive turning left against a red signal to be unsafe and the opportunity to ride through the red light during low cross traffic times influences the likelihood of infringement.
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It’s Bike Month: Get Out There and Proselytize!

from Commute by Bike by Ted Johnson

…

3. Adapt Your Pitch For Each Potential Convert

For each person who wants to know more–if anyone does–the first part of your pitch should, It’s fun. Oddly, most people like fun.

But what comes next should vary from person to person, based on what you know about him or her.

It’s fun, and I get in a good workout.

It’s fun, and I’m saving the planet.

It’s fun, and I’m sticking it to the Saudis.

It’s fun, and I’m saving a bunch of money on gas.

It’s fun, and I don’t have to hunt for parking everyday.

The International Bike Fund has a page “60 Benefits of Bike Commuting” with many advantages that can be stuck on the end of, It’s fun, and…

(#61 is, It’s fun.)

2. Tell A Personal Story, But Don’t Be A Windbag

If you have a story of how your commute makes you feel, and why it’s worth the extra preparation and learning curve, tell it. But be alert for that glazed look in their eyes. Maybe practice your story until you can get it down to 30 seconds.

1. If Possible, Don’t Be Seen In Spandex This Month.

And if you do wear spandex, for Pete’s sake, don’t rave about the joy of cycling while wearing it.

…
Continue reading “It’s Bike Month: Get Out There and Proselytize!”

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National Stay Out of the Way of Cars Month

“NHTSA, AAA join together for National Bike Safety Month with new “Roll Model” campaign” reads the headline from Secretary LaHood’s blog.
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Ohhh, I have a brilliant idea, lets get the pro-motoring groups together to tell bicyclists that they need to ride to the right, out of the way of cars or you are not setting a good example. And remember dear cyclists you need to wear a helmet because we are going to incorrectly tell motorist where you “need” to ride and if you are not they just might act out and if you are riding right they might feel they do not have to adjust their position on the roadway, it’s a lose, lose situation for cyclists. And of course they are not going to consult with the League of American Bicyclists.

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And they have the gall to use a sign that has not been accepter by the standards committee and is not in the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD).
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Seriously, NHTSA and AAA you need to be the role model and involve the national experts on bicycling safety and stop making up rules that are a very poor summery of laws as well as safety advice.

Feel free to leave a comment on NHTSA, AAA join together for National Bike Safety Month
with new “Roll Model” campaign and ask if ever NHTSA and AAA are going to consult with the League of American Bicyclists?

So far no comments have appeared on LaHood’s blog but Facebook comments seem to be getting through: https://www.facebook.com/sec.lahood/posts/146321035437828?ref=notif&notif_t=like (I hope that link works.)