This NBC article (found via Stop The Maryland Unsafe Driver) highlights speed camera violations in just a couple of locations. Unlike those who point out just cyclists violations as if cyclists are something other then human, we like to point out people are people and traffic enforcement is a joke across the board. Yes we would like to see ALL road users pay closer attention to safety and the rules of the road, as it is only when the rules of cooperation are clear can the roads be made safer and this goal can never be accomplished by focusing on just one group (or mode of transportation.)
Continue reading “I’ll take your scofflaw cyclists and raise you 57,000 scofflaw motorists”
Anne Arundel cyclist killed in hit and run
The Washcycle has an excellent article on this crash which I’ll highlight just a bit:
“Certain stretches of roads should really be just for vehicles,” [police spokesman Justin] Mulcahy said.
Dave Humphreys, executive director of Annapolis Regional Transportation Management Association, deals with transportation issues all over the county. With the heavy amount of traffic on Ritchie and Crain highways, he said the accidents involving Hernandez and Garcia were “sadly not unexpected.”
“Those are very, very unfriendly bike roads,” he said. “I wouldn’t ride my bike up there.”
Mulcahy seems to be blaming these cyclists for the crashes, instead of traffic engineers for failing to build complete streets. If the roads are only safe for driving, and some people can’t drive – then those people are just going to get hurt.
Continue reading “Anne Arundel cyclist killed in hit and run”
Petition: Connect the MA & PA Trail
The Petition
I urge the elected officials of Harford County and Bel Air to secure the land rights to allow for the connection of the Ma and Pa trail segments between Williams St. in Bel Air and Melrose Lane in Forest Hill using the most cost effective means possible."
Sign petition
https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/mapatrailconnect/
Velocipede Summer As-Is Sale/Fundraiser!
Sunday, August 7 · 10:00am – 4:00pm
Priced from $5 and up!
As-Is! (You need to carry the bike home. no you cannot leave it here for a future pick up date)
Hey everyone,
As you might have noticed from recent visits to our workspace we’ve been steadily running out of room for our projects. So, on August 1st, we will be having an As-Is sale of various bikes in various conditions. Come pick up a fixer-upper for cheap!
We will have up to 50 bicycles in various stages of repair to sell, and proceeds from this sale goes towards our operation costs. See you there!
[Presumed unlawful] Cyclists a menace in Poolesville [for not riding in non-existent bike lanes]
B’ Spokes: This uneducated opinion piece in the Gazette should never have been printed IMHO.
Quoting from https://www.gazette.net/article/20110720/OPINION/707209871/1014/cyclists-a-menace-in-poolesville&template=gazette
"giving the middle fingers to drivers that try to alert them when driving up behind them because they are too far out in the road and not using the tax-paid bike lanes."
1) In Maryland’s Drivers’ Handbook: https://www.mva.maryland.gov/resources/dl-002a.pdf
"As you approach a bicyclist, slow down. Avoid honking your horn. Bicyclists can usually hear an approaching vehicle and loud noises can startle bicyclists, causing a crash."
— And —
Expect Bicyclists on the Road
Expect to find a bicyclist on all types of roads (except interstate highways and toll facilities), at all intersections and roundabouts, in all types of weather, and at all times of the day and night. Bicyclists may ride out in the travel lane for their own safety due to narrow roads, or to avoid obstacles or pavement hazards. On roads without shoulders, or with cars parked along the right side, often the safest place for a bicyclist to ride is in the center of the lane. In Maryland, a bicyclist may use the full lane even while traveling substantially below the speed of traffic if the lane is too narrow for a car to safely pass a bicycle within the lane
2) We are not restricted to roads with bike lanes. If there is no bike lane .. well read above.
Quoting again: "They need to pay road taxes, have an ID tag on their bike, so that we can contact the police and report them when they break the road rules."
1) Road tax ??? They must mean the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 that created a tax on motoring for interstates (not local roads.) Ummm.. cyclists are not allowed on the interstates and we pay into the system that pays for local roads, just like motorists.
2) Moving violations can only be enforced when witnessed by a trained police officer, there are exceptions for the most grievous of cases but those are not mentioned here so no demonstrable need for bike IDs.
3) Related; But cars pay for roads… https://www.baltimorespokes.org/article.php?story=20100301134330599
Western Maryland Rail Trail extension may bypass all tunnels
from TheWashCycle by washcycle
NPS is preparing an Environmental Assessment (EA) regarding the proposed extension of the Western Maryland Rail Trail from Pearre Station, Washington County, MD to the Paw Paw Tunnel area of the park, near Paw Paw, West Virginia. As part of that they’ve released four preliminary alternatives for the trail. These alternatives vary primarily in the distance the trail will be extended.
Alternative 4 (see below) builds the trail all the way to the Paw Paw Tunnel Access/Campground Parking Area. So really it is a matter of how much then can afford to do. Alternative 4 is the best option though.
The bad news is about the tunnels. It was already decided that the trail would bypass the Indigo Tunnel to preserve bat habitat. Now, they’re considering bypassing both the Stickpile Tunnel and the Kessler Tunnel for the same reason.
Bypass options to avoid use of the tunnels and install bat gates are being considered because the tunnels provide habitat (called hibernacula) for many species of bat. Additionally, White Nose Syndrome (WNS) has killed more than a million bats in the Northeast United States. Human activities in the tunnels could cause stress to bats and increase the risk to spread WNS. WNS is a relatively new condition and the NPS in consultation with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and United States Fish and Wildlife Service, will examine the potential effects of different options as it relates to the use of tunnels for the extension of the WMRT.
I’m no biologist so I can’t tell you how legitimate a threat this is, but it would be a bummer to lose the tunnels as part of the trail. It would, of course, also be a bummer to kill all the bats. Even with closed tunnels, it would still create an interesting alternative to the C&O Canal Towpath and allow for some amazing views of the Potomac River on the 6 new crossings. But I vote for trails open if possible.
There are further options about parking locations and about crossover trail design from the WMRT to the C&O Canal towpath. I don’t care too much about the former, but on the later I’d like to see the more direct options chosen as opposed to switchbacks. That’s Option 1 on the east side of Indigo Tunnel and Option 3 on the west side (which has the most gradual slope and more paving, but probably does the most damage since it includes a retaining wall).
The comment period runs to August 15th, so if you have opinions, let them be known now. The whole process is to be complete by the end of the year.
One last tidbit
A separate study is being performed by the Maryland State Highway Administration involving widening the US-51 Bridge and creating a bike lane/path between the NPS Paw Paw Tunnel Access and the town of Paw Paw, WV. This project would provide for better pedestrian and bicycle connectivity between the C&O Canal NHP and the town of Paw Paw, WV. The study team will consider this improvement in the planning process for the WMRT Extension.
Continue reading “Western Maryland Rail Trail extension may bypass all tunnels”
How modern traffic signs are born: ‘Bikes may use full lane’
From TBD On Foot
…
Maryland’s state policy on the "Bikes May Use Full Lane" sign is still very much evolving. Earlier this summer came what appears to now be mistaken news that Maryland had rejected the sign, as this May 2011 letter from Maryland’s statewide studies team shows (PDF). The team leader states that Maryland will not adopt the R4-11 sign and points to the reasoning that New York used: the sign "could mislead inexperienced bicyciists [sic] into occupying inappropriate, and unsafe, positions within a roadway." Instead, the official preference would be for Shared Lane markings or the yellow "Share the Road" signs. A strong reaction from the Washington Area Bicycle Association — in which a purported 625 e-mails were sent to Maryland officials advocating for the sign — have reopened the question. The last word was that Maryland officials did plan to "develop appropriate guidelines" for the traffic sign.
So much emotion over the road! It’s a fun look into what’s really a serious (if painstakingly long-term) process that continues the traditions I first described arising in the 1920s. This "Bikes May Use Full Lane" example is especially relevant to D.C. area bikers given the intensity that surrounds the different types of riders out there. We saw some of that earlier this month when WABA’s Shane Farthing suggested new legislation allowing cyclists to fight back against angry, aggressive drivers more easily. There’s a lot of vehicles out there sharing these roads, from cars to bikes to Segways, and the need for new, clear traffic signs is always evolving.
…
Continue reading “How modern traffic signs are born: ‘Bikes may use full lane’”
600 cyclists pulled over since start of crackdown
B’ Spokes: Blaming the victim seems to becoming "all the rage" of late. This story from Philly seems to be no exception, out of 803 traffic stops by police 600 were cyclists. Why?
"[Motorists] don’t need education. If they ran a red light, they know what they did," he said.
If that is not the most ridiculous statement ever? Do motorists know they are supposed to stop for pedestrians in an unmarked crosswalk? No they do not, they call that j-walking and blame the victim. Do motorist know that they have to come to a full stop behind the stop bar before making a right on red? No they do not yet the onus still seems to be on the pedestrian not to leave the curb so suddenly that the motorist cannot stop. And how many motorist know that it is illegal to go faster then the posted speed limit? Nah, it’s fine driving 40 mph in a 25 mph school zone completely flipping the odds of survival of a pedestrian struck by a motorist from very likely to survive (at 25mph) to very likely to die (at 40 mph.)
The story here: https://articles.philly.com/2011-07-18/news/29786981_1_bike-patrols-bike-messenger-equal-rights
Sharing the Road: Residents React to Recent Pedestrian and Cyclist Collisions
[B’ Spokes: I’ll note that the description of driver and vehicle is close enough to a driver that ran me off the road and later at the light said "Get the f!@# off the road. Next time I will run you over." We need to throw the book at people who treat life in such cavalier manner.]
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Seven people were killed or injured in the county in the past two weeks
By By [Glen Burnie] Patch Staff
Three people died and four more were hospitalized after being hit by cars in the last two weeks.
While the number of fatal and life-threatening crashes has not increased this year over previous years, according to Anne Arundel County Police Department spokesman Justin Mulcahy, the incidents, some involving pedestrians and others involving cyclists, have put county residents on the alert.
Police still are looking for the woman who they believe was driving a small, dark-colored SUV July 14 when she hit Baltimore resident Alex Hernandez, 25, in Brooklyn Park and fled the scene. Hernandez later died of his injuries.
Sue Dzeidec of Edgewater has been cycling since 1987 on south county roads. She said she thinks one reason there are so many biking accidents this year is that there are more people biking.
"I think it is a combination of things,” said Dzeidec, who said she rides each weekend out of Davidsonville Park and makes a 40-mile trek to Galesville with three other riders. She said it is the responsibility of both cyclists and motorists to share the road and look out for one another.
“There are certainly drivers who are inconsiderate, but I see kids with those trucks that have the big mirrors, and they make it a game—’how close can you get.’ That said, there are some really courteous drivers who will stop and let you go through. Unfortunately, there’s a lot less of them," she said. "I also think that bikers in the big groups, who won’t move over, and on those curvy south county roads, there aren’t many places to pass, and they are going 25 to 30 miles per hour—I think that probably irritates anyone in a car and they take it out on other bikers."
It’s not only rural parts of the county that can be dangerous for cyclists.
Carma Clark said she hasn’t biked in years for fear of drivers in downtown Annapolis.
“They don’t slow down for you or even seem to know you’re there sometimes,” she said this week at an open house on the city’s master plan for biking paths and trails.
William Small, a member of the bike plan’s steering committee, said more people would use bicycles as transportation if they felt safer.
“I would love to do it more myself, but I’ve been run off the road. I don’t feel like taking my life into my own hands just to ride my bike through the city.”
To address that concern, planners are urging city officials to re-launch the Coexist Program, a campaign to increase the awareness of cyclists and educate drivers on the rules of the road.
Another Annapolis cyclist, Patrick Miller, said he generally feels safe riding his bike. But he says it is up to cyclists to make sure they are visible to drivers.
“Cars are generally courteous and give me an appropriate amount of space,” said Miller, who commutes to work daily on his bicycle. The Epping Forest resident travels to Compass Marketing in Eastport. “Still, especially in the winter months, I do my best to look like a Christmas tree, adorning my bike and body with many blinking lights and reflective gear.”
Miller’s suggestions for keeping cyclists safe are first to increase road markings, like bike lanes and sharrows (shared lane markers) to remind motorists to share the roads, especially on crowded streets that cyclists are forced to use due to a lack of alternate routes.
“We cyclists are smaller than other vehicles and must do our best to be visible,” Miller said. “I see this as a purely practical matter.”
Others say it’s the bikers—especially young ones—who need to be more careful.
“Part of it might be the fact kids now have no respect or fear,” said Chris Reed, a Severn area resident. “I drive through a certain neighborhood daily and they will just walk or ride their bikes right in front of my car and just look at you.”
Kristin and Chris Kosmides recently took their two young boys to Quiet Waters Park in Annapolis. The children were still getting comfortable with their new "big boy" bikes and the couple thought the park was the perfect place to ride—away from busy streets.
"They usually only ride in the park or in our driveway or maybe on our neighborhood streets," Kristin Kosmides said. "As drivers, we always try to be aware of cyclists on the road."
Chris Kosmides said he is a regular bicyclist and being hit by a vehicle is "something you’re always concerned about."
"I’ve noticed drivers have become more aggressive over the years," he said.
The Towson couple said they’ve seen an increase of bicyclists and runners on the roads during rush hour and many not taking proper precautions.
In 2009, 630 bicyclists were killed and an additional 51,000 were injured in motor vehicle traffic crashes, across the country in 2009, according to AAA. Bicyclist deaths accounted for 2 percent of all motor vehicle traffic fatalities, and made up 2 percent of all the people injured in traffic crashes during the year.
The auto club offers safety tips for cyclists and tips for motorists to share the road.
But particularly in the summer, bicycles aren’t the only things for drivers to watch out for. More people are on foot during warm months and drivers are increasingly distracted.
“I think both parties are to blame,” said Jennifer Petrin, a teacher at Old Mill High School. “In the car, people eat, talk on the phone, text—driving is no longer their focus.”
Anyone with information on the July 14 fatal hit-and-run in Brooklyn Park is asked to contact the Anne Arundel County Police Department at 410-222-8610 or the Traffic Safety Section at 410-222-8573.
Continue reading “Sharing the Road: Residents React to Recent Pedestrian and Cyclist Collisions”
