[B’ Spokes: This is very good so I recommend reading the whole thing.]
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Banning the practice won’t make pedestrians safer.
By Tom Vanderbilt, Slate
Looking at any number of big-city dailies over the last few weeks, one might reasonably surmise that we are in the middle of a new public-health epidemic with an old name: jaywalking.
A columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, commenting on a report on the city’s most dangerous intersections, wrote: "[I]s it any surprise that three of the top four are near Sixth and Market streets, the home of the lackadaisical jaywalker? Seriously, how often have you seen someone there walk out into traffic against the light, confidently assuming that the car will stop?" In Boston, meanwhile, the Globe sounded exasperated about how "throngs of iPod-wearing, cellphone-texting walkers blew through the red ‘Don’t walk’ signs, barely acknowledging the flustered drivers who slammed on the brakes and banged on their dashboards in futility." In New York, the Post bemoaned "jaywalking’s steep toll," calling it a "foolish practice" that "needs to stop."
These accounts—which are typically combined with grim statistics on pedestrian deaths and injuries, but no deeper analysis—could well leave casual readers with the impression that jaywalking is the single greatest risk to the urban pedestrian, that pedestrians wantonly solicit injuries and death with their depraved behavior, and that properly corralling pedestrians could solve all our traffic safety problems.
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"A study out of Florida revealed that pedestrians are at fault 80 percent of the time." Such lines suggest the answer is simple: Let’s crack down on dangerous walkers! But the truth is more complicated, and fault is a word rarely used by traffic safety professionals. Florida is, first of all, a generally terrible place to be a pedestrian: One survey of pedestrian danger found that half of the nation’s 10 most dangerous places for pedestrians were in the Sunshine State. Are the people of Florida overwhelmingly predisposed to careless pedestrianism? Of course not. The real problem is that Florida doesn’t offer many ways for pedestrians to safely navigate its streets.
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Facts like these tend to trickle into, and corrupt, crash-reporting statistics. As the Surface Transportation Policy Project points out, "a cursory glance at state and national statistics reveals a substantial number of pedestrian fatalities occur outside a crosswalk. Yet a closer look at national data shows that 59 percent of pedestrian deaths for which location information was recorded happened in places where pedestrians had no convenient access to a crosswalk. While jaywalking is often cited as a cause of pedestrian accidents, less than 20 percent of fatalities occurred where a pedestrian was crossing outside an easily available crosswalk." And police, who largely tend to be in vehicles, often misinterpret such subtleties or exhibit a pronounced pro-driver bias. And so it’s not uncommon to hear statements like he "came out of nowhere," when in fact the pedestrian was crossing legally. In many cases, the pedestrian is no longer around to offer a rebuttal.
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So what can be done? The answer is not jaywalking crackdowns [This is what we do in the Balto Metro area]. These tend to be hard to enforce, lower the public opinion of the police, reinforce the idea of car dominance on city streets, and, most importantly, do not provide an effective bang for the buck. Indeed, the Netherlands, which has essentially legalized jaywalking, has an enviable pedestrian safety record.
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Continue reading “In Defense of Jaywalking”
Baltimore County Bike Plan Envisions Miles of Connecting Trails
By Penny Riordan, Patch
The long-term plan for Baltimore County calls for 665 miles of improvements and additions to western roads and paths to make them more friendly to pedestrians and bicycles.
The improvements are part of the Western Baltimore County Pedestrian and Bicycle Access Plan, which is the second of three stages of a comprehensive plan. The eastern portion was completed in 2006. The western plan includes the southwestern portion of Baltimore County, through Owings Mills, Reisterstown, Hunt Valley and Timonium.
It includes some insightful statistics on traveling in the region:
Drivers in Baltimore County travel 22.3 million miles a daily, which generates 12.7 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions.
According to a study by the Baltimore Metropolitan Council conducted in 2007-2008, more than 85 percent of all trips in the Baltimore region are made by car. Bicycling accounts for fewer than 1 percent of trips.
Yet when county planers look at the geography, 90 percent of the county lives in the urban part of the county, where one can easily draw a one-mile walkable radius from every school and bus stop in that area.
A 36-member committee developed the plan. The group held workshops in April, where residents shared what type of bicycle and pedestrian improvements they wanted to see in their neighborhoods. They worked on the plan for six months.
Councilman Tom Quirk, who has focused on biking and walking since taking office, said the overall support and feedback he received from the community was positive.
“A lot of young professionals moving to the area are looking for these types of things,” he said.
In total, residents identified 460 miles of roads that could be made more bicycle- friendly, 155 miles of shared-use path improvements and 50 miles of pedestrian improvements.
Shared-use paths are trails that are available for biking and pedestrians. They often link one community to another, such as the Trolley Trail No. 9 between Catonsville and Ellicott City.
After a final round of community input meetings, the plan will be presented to the Baltimore County Planning Board and ultimately voted on by the Baltimore County Council.
The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday night at the Benjamin Banneker Museum in Oella from 6 to 8 p.m.
One of the key recommendations of the plan is to make improvements to access, safety and surfaces of shared-used paths as well as linking them to other nearby trails.
The major improvements for southwest Baltimore County include:
creating a Patapsco River Path from the Baltimore city line through the edge of Southwest Baltimore County that could link UMBC to the city,
Extending the Short Line trail into Baltimore city
Trails that connect UMBC to both downtown Arbutus and Catonsville
The plan also calls for walking improvements to roads, including adding more crosswalks, pedestrian traffic signals and constructing more sidewalks.
In the Catonsville and Arbutus area, many roads are targeted for additional sidwalks. High priority areas include Edmondson Avenue, North Rolling Road between Frederick Road and Baltimore National Pike, Paradise Avenue, Sulphur Spring Road, Maiden Choice Lane between Garden Ridge Road and Charlestown and South Rolling Road.
Existing roads that are targeted for bicycle improvements such as striping, signs or lanes include most main roads in the area such as Rolling Road, Hollins Ferry Road, Frederick Road and Sulphur Spring Road.
Improvements around UMBC and CCBC that link the colleges to both Catonsville and Arbutus are considered part of the targeted area of the plan.
Despite the sheer size of the plan, local elected officials and committee members said they believe some of the goals can be implemented without too much cost. At this point, no dollar figure is attached to the document, as the final version hasn’t been approved.
Quirk said he thinks the goals of the plan are doable.
“I’m going to be working hard to find the money and take it one project at a time,” he said.
He is focusing first on getting a multi-use lane on Edmondson Avenue that ends at the Baltimore city line.
Catonsville resident Ray Bahr, an avid cyclist who sat on the committee, said the plan represents a shift away from steering a majority of county money toward roads.
“If we can get policy away from being focused solely on the car and focus more on a more complete street, we can really change some things,” he said.
The county plans come at a time when Catonsville Rail to Trails has been working more on maintaining and expanding the network of Catonsville trails. Most recently, land for the Short Line Trail was transferred to the county.
Continue reading “Baltimore County Bike Plan Envisions Miles of Connecting Trails”
Harford County to develop bicycle and pedestrian master plan
By Tracy Urena, Harford County News Examiner
Harford County Executive David R. Craig and the Department of Planning & Zoning have announced that the County will be undertaking the development of a Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan.
The Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan is an important part of helping to make Harford County a truly multimodal community; one that promotes and supports increased bicycle and pedestrian activity. It is also an important step in helping Harford County become a healthier community.
The development of the plan is anticipated to take about a year, and to help the department with this effort the County Executive has appointed a Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Group. The group consists of representatives from various government agencies and departments as well as bicycle and pedestrian advocates.
The advisory group will meet periodically throughout 2012, and the public will be able to follow the process and the work of the advisory group on the department’s webpage at www.harfordcountymd.gov/planningzoning. This website will also provide a direct link to the department’s online networking site where citizens will be able to provide their input. Public workshops will be conducted as part of the planning process.
Continue reading “Harford County to develop bicycle and pedestrian master plan”
A NEW FOUR-LANE SUPERHIGHWAY TO BE BUILT ONLY FOR BIKES
via Bicycle Law
TreeHugger.com: A New Four-Lane Superhighway To Be Built Only For Bikes
by A.K. Streeter
If you want to find an unassuming place where bicycling is a way of life and nobody makes a big deal about it, head south. The south of Sweden, that is, where the small university town of Lund has a big bicycle habit. They just don’t advertise it.
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The proposed bicycle superhighway would, in addition to four lanes (2 in each direction) have exits but no intersections, two types of wind protection (low bushes as well as solid fencing) periodic bicycle service stations, and would take eight years to complete.
Total cost of the superhighway is estimated to be about 50 million Swedish crowns (US$ 7.1 million).
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Continue reading “A NEW FOUR-LANE SUPERHIGHWAY TO BE BUILT ONLY FOR BIKES”
County Executive John R. Leopold Seeks Public Input to County Pedestrian/Bicycle Master Plan Update
Annapolis, Maryland (January 17, 2012) – County Executive John R. Leopold announced today the scheduling of three listening sessions in order to hear the public’s input regarding pedestrian and bicycle facilities in the County’s suburban and urbanized areas.
"Walking and bicycling are alternate modes of travel that should be encouraged and supported within our infrastructure," said Mr. Leopold. "This study focuses primarily on accommodating day-to-day transportation activities, such as walking and biking to work, school, libraries and retail shops."
The listening sessions will be held from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the following locations:
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Annapolis High School Cafeteria Arundel Mills Mall Community Room
2700 Riva Road, Annapolis 7000 Arundel Mills Circle, Hanover
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Severna Park Middle School Cafeteria
450 Jumpers Hole Road, Severna Park
The Office of Planning and Zoning is working with a consultant on the study which aims to identify deficiencies in the current network of sidewalks, trails, on-road travel lanes, crosswalks, etc. and develop a systematic way to prioritize improvements as funds become available or as development occurs. The study is largely (80%) funded through a Federal transportation planning grant and it is expected to take about eighteen months to complete.
"The PBMP will help identify low cost improvements that may be executed in the short-term as well as helping to establish a realistic approach to long term planning,” said Larry Tom, Director of the Office of Planning and Zoning.
The County Executive will also appoint a Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) to work with the Office of Planning and Zoning (OPZ) and project consultant to provide ongoing citizen and community perspective. Members of the public who wish to apply for an appointment to the Citizens Advisory Committee should contact the Office of Planning and Zoning, Transportation Division at 410-222-7440. CAC application forms will also be available at the listening sessions. For special accommodations please call 410-222-7440.
Continue reading “County Executive John R. Leopold Seeks Public Input to County Pedestrian/Bicycle Master Plan Update”
Some city workers to be paid not to park
B’ Spokes: Interesting move by Austin, especially after the Feds just agreed to increase the parking benefit so people would not have to pay to park their cars for work. Maybe Baltimore should try paying it’s workers not to drive to work downtown.
https://www.statesman.com/news/some-city-workers-to-be-paid-not-to-2115199.html
Police: Suspect Steals Artifacts, Crashes Into Cyclist During Getaway
Reporting Meghan McCorkell, CBS
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WJZ)—Now a bizarre twist to the Annapolis case that nearly turned deadly after $68,000 in historic Civil War memorabilia was stolen.
Meghan McCorkell has more on how cops busted the suspect.
The man accused of stealing that memorabilia is now charged in a hit and run crash that nearly killed a bicyclist.
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https://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2012/01/20/police-suspect-steals-artifacts-crashes-into-cyclist-during-getaway/
Save the Date Symposium 2012
O’Malley’s spending plan includes money to combat gun trafficking
by C. Benjamin Ford, Staff Writer, Gazette
Gov. Martin O’Malley’s proposed budget for fiscal 2013 takes aim at gun trafficking, among other public safety initiatives.
The spending plan released this week includes $20.8 million in competitive grants local law enforcement grants to target domestic violence, substance abuse and gun trafficking.
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“When we have a neighborhood with a propensity for gun violence, we can use the grant so we saturate those areas proactively with bicycle patrols, undercover officers,” Lewis said.
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Continue reading “O’Malley’s spending plan includes money to combat gun trafficking”
Cycles and cents: One city sets out to prove that bikes are good for business
By BY MARK HERTSGAARD, Grist
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Perhaps most innovative has been the city’s effort to establish bike-friendly shopping districts — the first in the country, officials say — engaging local merchants by showing them how, contrary to common belief, biking can actually bring more customers and vitality to shopping districts.
“The math is pretty simple,” says April Economides, the principal of Green Octopus Consulting and the leader of the city’s outreach to local businesses. “You can park 12 bikes in the amount of space it takes to park one car. And someone who shifts from owning a car to a bicycle tends to have more discretionary income, because, for a commuter, the typical cost of a bicycle is $300 a year, compared to $7,000 a year for a car.”
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Continue reading “Cycles and cents: One city sets out to prove that bikes are good for business”