Biking in Baltimore
This from Paul via Light St Cycles, pls help him out if you or a friend saw something::
Hey folks. i was hit by a car yesterday 9/21 at noon @ saratoga/st.paul. dude is trying to say i ran a red (not true….light was green for both of us and he turned left in front of me). i remember there being several cyclists on the scene and i’m looking for witnesses. hit me up if you can help. thanks. brokn wrist and 9 stitches to face but i’m not dead so hard to complain. thanks again.
Since we have quite a few bike lanes next to parking and zero enforcement for motorist to park against the curb and not next to the bike lane…. just be careful out there.
Youtube took the video down for disturbing content, it still can be viewed here:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=2429531182939
Baltmore’s air may be less polluted than it used to be years ago, but it still ranks as the smoggiest in the East, according to a report today by Environment Maryland .
…
https://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/features/green/2011/09/report_bmores_air_smoggiest_in.html
This is where we are:
This is what they are planning to do about it:
The highest count of pedestrian fatalities are in:
(Baltimore Metro Area is a major issue.)
Not even 1% of the road budget… And this is supposed to help with 22.7% of Maryland’s traffic fatalities that are bike/ped???
So your comments are needed to get that increased to 2.3% to be spent for bicycle and pedestrian safety improvements (10% of our traffic fatalities percentage.) Bike/ped crashes don’t happen because of the lack of trails but because of poor design of the roads. Don’t get me wrong, I like trails and trails can help some but how many have died crossing Ritchie Highway going from the B&A Trail to their homes? Trails are not complete unless there is an on-road component connecting them to the areas they serve. We cannot afford to neglect on-road accommodations any longer.
Remember the three big counties in the Baltimore metro area I mentioned earlier? This is what spending looks like for each of them:
| Baltimore County | $14,860,000 (mostly trails, $120,000 on-road) |
| Baltimore City | $18,100,000 (all trails) |
| Anne Arundel County | $0 |
This has never been done before but I for one am sick of the on-road portion of Baltimore County’s Bike Master Plan mostly just sitting there while they plan for faster car travel on mostly car centric roads. And there are thousand of locations throughout the metro area that need some improvement for the safety of bicyclists and/or pedestrians. Attention to this issue has to begins somewhere, so it begins here.
We have a right to have our projects main streamed just like other transportation projects so Baltimore Counties, Annapolis and Columbia Bike Master Plans should be in the long range plans.
So the ASK is this, write to:
Baltimore Regional Transportation Board
Offices @ McHenry Row
1500 Whetstone Way, Suite 1500
Baltimore, MD 21230
Fax: 410-732-8248
E-mail: comments@baltometro.org
Web: www.baltometro.org/bboard
All comments must be received by 4:30 p.m. on Friday, October 21, 2011.
— AND —
Your state delegate and representatives and ask that more be done for bicycle and pedestrian safety then just ticketing j-walkers. Mention something (and location) that you think will help; sidewalks free of obstacles; ped buttons that actually work; even basic sidewalks and ped signals are needed in too many locations; crosswalks that actually look like crosswalks rather then fickle stop bars; bike lanes; bikeable shoulders; sharrows; Bikes May use Full Lane signage; bike friendly storm grates; traffic calming; …
Other states are making a dent in their pedestrian fatality rate while Maryland’s ranking keeps going up and up (click the top picture and you will be taken to site where you can change the date and see for yourself.) Other states are building bike lanes and strongly enforcing pedestrian safety. Here… well… We have a law that says ” Ensure that there is an appropriate balance between funding for … projects with facilities for pedestrians and bicycle riders.” (full text after the “fold”) and less then 1% is a appropriate funding level for an area with a high pedestrian fatality rate, with projects that don’t really address pedestrian fatality rates or Maryland’s low bicycling modal share??
Be sure to include your name and address. And the target of 2.3% of the transportation budget, it’s more then just a fair request.
Plan It 2035 website
Continue reading “Alert: Demand more for bike/ped”
Yoga at Sunrise in the Inner Harbor
When: Fri., Sept. 23, 6:30 a.m.
https://www.urbanitebaltimore.com/baltimore/yoga-at-sunrise-in-the-inner-harbor/Event?oid=1462731
Baltimore Book Festival
When: Sept. 23-25, 12-7 p.m.
https://www.urbanitebaltimore.com/baltimore/baltimore-book-festival/Event?oid=1461096
The Farmer & the Chef
When: Mon., Sept. 26, 6 p.m.
https://www.urbanitebaltimore.com/baltimore/the-farmer-and-the-chef/Event?oid=1462710
By EMILY BADGER
…
In their California study, Garrick and Marshall eventually realized the safest cities had an element in common: They were all incorporated before 1930. Something about the way they were designed made them safer. The key wasn’t necessarily that large numbers of bikers produced safer cities, but that the design elements of cities that encouraged people to bike in places like Davis were the same ones that were yielding fewer traffic fatalities.
These cities were built the old way: along those monotonous grids. In general, they didn’t have fewer accidents overall, but they had far fewer deadly ones. Marshall and Garrick figured that cars (and cars with bikes) must be colliding at lower speeds on these types of street networks. At first glance such tightly interconnected communities might appear more dangerous, with cars traveling from all directions and constantly intersecting with each other. But what if such patterns actually force people to drive slower and pay more attention?
“A lot of people feel that they want to live in a cul-de-sac, they feel like it’s a safer place to be,” Marshall says. “The reality is yes, you’re safer – if you never leave your cul-de-sac. But if you actually move around town like a normal person, your town as a whole is much more dangerous.”
…
Continue reading “Debunking the Cul-de-Sac”
Urbanite’s coverage of Park(ing) Day in Baltimore plus 20 photos: https://www.urbanitebaltimore.com/baltimore/park-yourself-but-not-your-car/Content?oid=1462626
by Michelle Ernst
Fewer pedestrians and cyclists are dying on the Garden State’s roads,
…
Obviously there isn’t enough data to show causality between the decline in fatalities and New Jersey’s recently passed law requiring drivers to “stop and stay stopped” for pedestrians in crosswalks, or the ensuing crackdown on motorists who fail to yield . But the numbers certainly help allay concerns that the law would increase pedestrian fatalities by emboldening people to – horror! – cross the street.
*********************************************************************************************
B’ Spokes: What no crack down on j-walkers like what we do here. Maryland’s pedestrian fatality rate is climbing and yet government continues to blame the victims of overly car centric roadways and self centered drivers.
Now remember Maryland pedestrians you can’t j-walk and you can’t step into the crosswalk if the motorist cannot or will not stop. After all we are shooting for the #1 slot of having the highest pedestrian fatality rate in the nation. Go Maryland!
[/sarcasm]
Continue reading “Garden State Safer for Walkers in 2010”
This is just to document that some drivers think lawful bicycling is wrong and “some” assault should be allowed.
Video in the read more section
Continue reading “Fools Can’t Bike.”