Baltimore Bicycle Tour
Alexandra Lopez de Haro, Baltimore Culture & Events Examiner
Baltimore’s Premier Bicycle Tour kicks off on Columbus Day( 9th of October). This initiative led by a group of enthusiasts such as Caroll Silldorf (Executive Director of Bike Maryland. www.bikemd.org) is set out to encourage Baltimore citizens to use their bike as their main source of transportation in the city and make other people aware of the importance of non automobile individuals on the road.
Caroll Silldorf, originally from Illinois was only 3 months when she first was on a bicycle. "I think it was the fresh air that I took in while my parents would ride the bike, that made me love this activity." She has been a rider for more than 30 years and she has been working with BikeMaryland for the last 13. She started as CEO three years ago. Perhaps this power rider has found the job of her life. She has a Masters from the University of Delaware in Public Administration and Management of Environmental studies. "This job is almost personal".
Her fortitude is evident in her hand shake, arms and her stern yet friendly approach to the cause. When the Examiner asked her what was the main goal of Bike Maryland, she responded "to encourage everyone to use the bicycle and to make this activity a legitimate transport system".
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Read the rest here: https://www.examiner.com/culture-events-in-baltimore/baltimore-bicycle-tour
America’s roads are so bad you need a German car to drive on them
“Yes, let’s spend even more money on avoiding fixing the problems instead of actually fixing them.” – Our Failing Infrastructure by glynch
Fix bridges or accommodate bike/ped in the Federal Transportation bill?
The League of American Bicyclists makes this excellent point:
"Safety: Thirteen people died when the Minneapolis bridge collapsed in 2007: since then, close to 20,000 pedestrians and 2,800 cyclists have died on our nation’s highways, largely as a result of poor highway design and an historic lack of safe non-motorized infrastructure – exactly what the enhancement program was created to fix. No bridges have collapsed since 2007."
B’ Spokes: Of course the real issues is it’s not bike/ped spending that’s keeping bridges from being fixed, it’s over stressing capacity building that is returning less and less value on the dollar.
Continue reading “Fix bridges or accommodate bike/ped in the Federal Transportation bill?”
AAA sees ‘troubling’ trend in hit-and-run accidents
By Ashley Halsey III – Washington Post
Three local pedestrians have been killed by hit-and-run drivers this month, bringing to at least 17 the number of hit-and-run accidents involving people walking or riding bicycles in the region this year, according to statistics compiled by the American Automobile Association.
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The AAA said that in 13 of the 17 hit-and-run accidents, the victim died. About 11 percent of crashes nationwide involve a hit-and-run driver, according to data compiled by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration reported an increase of 20 percent between 2000 and 2005 in the number of fatal hit-and-run accidents involving pedestrians.
In the Washington region, the Street Smart campaign says pedestrians and bicyclists accounted for about a quarter of all traffic fatalities between 2006 and 2010.
“The trend is troubling because it involves drivers who often willingly or knowingly flee the scene without rendering aid to the victim, making it a crime scene,” said John B. Townsend II of AAA. “That’s cold-blooded, inhumane and unconscionable.”
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Continue reading “AAA sees ‘troubling’ trend in hit-and-run accidents”
The important difference between a road and a street [video]
[B’ Spokes: Our roads are consuming more and more resources with less and less return on our investment. ]
Bike Swap – October 2nd – in Frederick
Update: Live music by the Bar Cons
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Do you have bike gear you want to get rid of? Are you looking for a deal on bike parts? Then come buy or sell at the Frederick Bicycle Coalition Bike Swap on October 2nd, 2011. The swap will be held at Dublin Roasters Coffee, 1780 North Market Street in Frederick, MD.
The swap is free to attend. Vendor spots are $10 for an 8′ x 8′ spot. All proceeds benefit the Frederick Bicycle Coalition. If you have bikes, parts, or clothing you need to buy or sell, this is the place to be.
Here are the details:
Date: Sunday, October 2nd (rain date: Sunday, October 9th)
Time: 9-1 (sellers can begin setting up at 8AM)
Cost: Free for buyers.
Location: Dublin Roasters Coffee. 1780 North Market Street – Frederick, MD – 21701.
Continue reading “Bike Swap – October 2nd – in Frederick”
Fact: Places With High Numbers of Cyclists Are Safer for Pedestrians
[B’ Spokes: Or read this why we support bicycling with Maryland’s high pedestrian fatality rate. It will help!]
by Ben Fried
The United States has fallen far behind countries with high cycling rates, like the Netherlands, when it comes to overall street safety and preventing pedestrian deaths. Graphic: Streetsblog; Data: PPS
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Well, how about Tokyo? A frenetic global metropolis with more than 13 million residents. With all those people rushing to get where they need to go, Tokyo still boasts a pedestrian fatality rate nearly half that of New York [which is lower then Baltimore]. And check this out: In Tokyo, 16 percent of all trips include cycling. That’s an order of magnitude higher than the current cycling rate in NYC.
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The top cycling countries have also attracted international attention for achieving dramatic reductions in pedestrian fatalities. Sweden, with its Vision Zero initiative, cut pedestrian deaths in half in five years. Germany and the Netherlands are also leaving the United States behind when it comes to street safety. Between 1975 and 2001, American pedestrian deaths declined 27 percent while Dutch pedestrian deaths fell 73 percent and German pedestrian deaths fell 82 percent, according to a 2003 paper in the American Journal of Public Health by Rutgers professor John Pucher [PDF].
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More car-free zones, pedestrian refuges, clearly marked crosswalks, and extensive, high-quality bike networks. Hmmm… Seen any changes like that around NYC recently? Imagine how much more progress we could make if our daily papers actually cared about street safety.
Continue reading “Fact: Places With High Numbers of Cyclists Are Safer for Pedestrians”
Cyclovia in Roland Parks canceled
Sun’s article about the cancellation: https://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/traffic/2011/09/cyclovia_in_roland_parks_cance.html
The following comment bares repeating in this blog (as she says "I just don’t get it" much more tactfully then I ever could.)
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The $5,000, according to those who have worked the event in years past, is charged by the city in order to pay the many police officers that patrol the road during the closure. We went last year and have never seen such a strong police presence for such a low key event. We observed approximately 6 or 7 officers at one end of Roland Ave. riding in circles together on their motorcycles. Cyclovia is a lot of fun. It will be missed.
Posted by: Magan
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That’s Baltimore for ya, lose money and trees for a Grand Prix for other people, but tries to make money off something for the citizens of Baltimore or they just can’t have it. Baltimore enjoy being the smoggiest in East, there is a reason for that and it’s something having another Grand Prix will NOT fix. (Ref: https://www.baltimorespokes.org/article.php?story=2011092216245193 )
2010 Bike Commuting Data released
Here is Baltimore’s data compared to the top 70 largest cities averages. Even though we slipped a bit in 2010, still an awesome job considering where we came from.
| BFC Status | Geography | 2010 Estimated Population | 2010 Rank by Bike | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2000 | 2000 to 2010 | 2005 to 2010 | 2009 to 2010 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 70 city average | n/a | n/a | 1.02% | 1.02% | 0.93% | 0.79% | 0.72% | 0.75% | 0.63% | 63% | 36% | 1% | |
| Bronze | Baltimore, MD | 620,583 | 35 | 0.7% | 1.0% | 0.6% | 0.3% | 0.2% | 0.4% | 0.3% | 111% | 74% | -30% |
Data from the League of American Bicyclists
Continue reading “2010 Bike Commuting Data released”