Month: January 2013

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Hit-And-Run Deaths Increase, But Culprits Hard To Capture

Pedestrian and cyclist fatalities are increasing nationwide, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and Los Angeles and New York City have the highest rates of those deaths.
In Los Angeles, where the car is the major mode of transportation, hit and runs involving pedestrians occur almost daily. But these crimes can be the most difficult for law enforcement to investigate and solve.
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https://www.npr.org/2013/01/03/168545915/hit-and-run-deaths-increase-but-culprits-hard-to-capture

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Suburban sprawl could destroy up to 34 million acres of forests, says new study

Scientists at the US Forest Service and partners at universities, non-profits and other agencies predict that urban and developed land areas in the US will increase 41 percent by 2060. Forested areas will be most impacted by this expansion, with losses ranging from 16 to 34 million acres in the lower 48 states. The agency highlighted the results of a new study in a press release issued last month.
The researchers also concluded that, over the long-term, climate change could have significant effects on water availability, making the US potentially more vulnerable to water shortages, especially in the Southwest and Great Plains. Population growth in more arid regions will require more drinking water. Recent trends in agricultural irrigation and land­scaping techniques also will boost water demands.
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https://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/kbenfield/suburban_sprawl_could_destroy.html

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Governor O’Malley announces funding for Bicycle Safety Education in City of Baltimore

[Another a bit old piece of news]
August 7, 2012

Baltimore Department of Transportation Joins Forces with Bike Maryland to Spread Awareness of Bicycling Safety

Baltimore, MD – Supporting safe bicycle access throughout the state, Governor Martin O’Malley today announces $44,500 as funding support for the City of Baltimore’s Bicycle Safety Education Program. The Department of Transportation will partner with Bike Maryland’s “Bike Minded Program” to communicate safety awareness throughout the city.

“Whether for tourism, recreation, exercise or commuting, our message is that Maryland roadways welcome bicyclists,” said Governor Martin O’Malley. “Our State is evolving to include bicycling as a more environmentally beneficial and healthy way of commuting, and to continue those efforts we need bicyclists and drivers to know and follow the basic rules of the road for everyone’s safety.”

The project includes updating, publishing and distributing “Bike Baltimore” maps, which will be available in English and Spanish, hosting workshops on bicycle safety, and organizing outreach by law enforcement. These efforts will not only communicate safety rules to cyclists, but will also alert motorists to the need to drive with caution and share the road. The City of Baltimore will contribute the remaining funding for the $96,800 project.

“Year after year, Baltimore is becoming a more bike friendly city,” said Baltimore Mayor Rawlings-Blake. “We are grateful for Governor O’Malley’s continued support of our efforts to increase bicycle use and safety, which supports our goal of making Baltimore a more attractive city for families.”

Over the past two years, Baltimore has seen a 40 percent increase in the number of bike commuters. The opening of five new bike shops in the past four years also signals the growth in bicycling popularity. With Charm City Bikeshare scheduled to launch in September 2012 and the Jones Falls Trail opening in 2013, Baltimore can expect even more cyclists on local roads.

The Bicycle Safety Education Program enhancements are funded through the Transportation Enhancement Program (TEP), which funds non-traditional, community-based transportation-related projects. This year Maryland awarded six TEP projects totaling more than $4.1 million. The Governor determines which projects qualify for funding based on need and potential benefit to the public. The Maryland Department of Transportation’s State Highway Administration oversees the federal program, which has awarded more than $206 million for 270 projects in Maryland since the TEP program began in 1991.
Continue reading “Governor O’Malley announces funding for Bicycle Safety Education in City of Baltimore”

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Public Transit is Boring. Why Not Make It Fun?

From Deron Lovaas’s Blog

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Unfortunately, it’s generally hard to describe taking transit as "fun." As a co-worker says, a big reason to ride it is that traffic is even less enjoyable. But why shouldn’t transit riders get a kick out of the experience?
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Nordahl says auto designers "get" this, since their job is to "guarantee cars remain cool, chic and fun for the masses." I see this in my new car, which looks gorgeous on the outside while inside I get seat-warmers, satellite radio, GPS, a hookup for my iPod, settings for fuel-sipping "ecodrive" or a boost of speed for passing, and other features that make it fun to drive.

Transit should be such fun, so we feel attached to it emotionally as well as rationally. Now, to be clear as Nordahl is at the outset, you can’t have "fun" without "funding." Transit needs, and deserves, more investment from municipalities, states and the feds. While money is necessary, however, it’s not sufficient for transit to compete. And Nordahl points out that design can help with funding since "public transit alternatives that truly excite the public…tug our heartstrings while loosening our pursestrings."
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The bottom line? It’s high time we made public transportation as fun as driving.

https://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/dlovaas/transit_is_boring.html

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The Best of Baltimore Spokes for 2012

I found this rundown enlightening, cyclists seem to have a sense of humor as well as wanting to create a better world to live in. There were some stories that were rather old still making the list which I mostly threw out unless they were still relevant or cute. So Baltimore Spokes top 10 for 2012:

  1. Cycling [the meme]
  2. What we need are “Ghost Cars”
  3. Brakes – sometimes they can work TOO well
  4. What roads would look like if they were bike lanes
  5. But, but, jaywalking isn’t illegal
  6. Average Bicycle Accident Verdict
  7. Surprising Aspects of Pedestrian Laws
  8. After a two year loan to the United States, Michelangelo’s David is being returned to Italy
  9. What Cyclists Need to Know about Trucks
  10. Cars Designed to Intimidate Us
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The Next Generation DOT

[B’ Spokes: An overview of topics (with some highlights)]
by Charles Marohn, Streets Blog
We’ve been looking at the instincts of today’s transportation agencies. While on an individual level it is clear that these organizations are filled with people who are professional, competent and want to do the right thing, the institutional inertia is carrying them in wayward directions.
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It is to those people that I offer my thoughts on the principles and understandings that a Next Generation DOT should embody when making that inevitable course correction.
1. Transportation spending is not economic development.
2. Transportation spending is not job creation.
3. We need to budget based on what we have, not what we want to do.
4. The most unsafe condition we can build is a STROAD. Our primary design goal must be to eliminate them.
A STROAD is a street/road hybrid. It is all too often the default design of our highway system. A STROAD combines elements of a street — intersections, turning traffic, dramatic speed differentials, parking, pedestrians — with the high speed geometries of a road. Professionally, we all understand that this is the most dangerous type of environment we could construct.
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[B’ Spokes: I’ll note this concept even goes as far as trying to put freeway (where bikes and peds are prohibited) design elements in the urban environment where bikes and peds are frequently encountered. The most notorious is the right turn channel where motorists don’t even have to stop.]
5. We must build differently within a city than we build outside of it.
6. We need to improve travel time by eliminating access points outside of cities.
7. We must stop using traffic projections to give a veneer of expertise to something we have proven incapable of doing: predicting the future.
8. We need to build transit, but only through a value capture funding approach.
9. We must remain humble in the face of adversity.
https://dc.streetsblog.org/2013/01/04/the-next-generation-dot/