What to do if you’re forced to evade a careless or aggressive driver
By Bob Mionske, Bicycle Law
A reader recently asked an interesting question. If a car causes a cyclist to crash, but doesn’t actually collide with the rider, is the driver still at fault?
In a recent incident, a husband-and-wife tandem team ran into an abutment after a driver violated their right-of-way. Police officers told them, incorrectly, that it was “not legally an accident because there was no collision between bike and car.” The officers refused to take contact information from a witness even though the driver admitted fault at the scene. They also informed the couple that it was their responsibility to control the bike. In another incident, a driver failed to yield before making a right turn and nearly struck a cyclist. The rider crashed, and wonders if his insurance company will pay.
Although neither vehicle touched the cyclists, the drivers operated in a way that caused a crash. In fact, the only reason there was no contact was because the cyclists took evasive action. Here’s how to avoid this kind of situation, and how to handle it if you do hit the pavement.
Ride Defensively
Be extra vigilant near intersections and driveways, where drivers are more likely to violate your right-of-way.
Play Detective
While you may be able to file a successful claim after a no-contact crash, you will find it harder if you don’t have evidence of the driver’s negligence. Witnesses can provide valuable proof, so make every effort to get contact information from any bystanders who saw what happened.
Record Your Ride
You may have seen the YouTube clip of the Colorado driver who harassed two cyclists by following them and honking. He was eventually ticketed, thanks in part to that video.
Research and assistance by Rick Bernardi, J.D.
https://www.bicyclelaw.com/road-rights/a.cfm/road-rights-the-no-contact-crash
ROAR for Autism
FAMILIES COME TOGETHER TO “ROAR” FOR AUTISM RESEARCH
Kennedy Krieger adds a new 5K run and family fun walk to its 9th annual ROAR for Autism event; bike ride and family festival also to return
BALTIMORE, MD—Kennedy Krieger Institute will mark Autism Awareness Month with its 9th annual ROAR for Autism event on Sunday, April 28, at Oregon Ridge Park in Cockeysville, MD. Families and friends will come together to bike, run, walk – and most importantly – break the silence surrounding autism with a united ROAR to raise awareness and funds for autism research. Back by popular demand is the 25-mile bike ride and family festival, and new this year is a partial road/partial cross country 5k run and a family fun walk.
Autism is a brain-based developmental disability affecting the ability of 1 in 88 children to communicate and form relationships with others. As one of nation’s leaders in autism research, Kennedy Krieger Institute strives to provide earlier diagnosis and develop successful treatments by discovering how autism affects the brain.
With activities for the entire family, ROAR for Autism is a fun-filled day with meaningful purpose. For the first time, the event will feature a 5k run for those who want to hit the pavement feet first. Participants can also take part in the 25-mile bike ride for cycling enthusiasts or a 1-mile family fun walk. After biking, running or walking, families will enjoy a festival featuring music, children’s entertainment, carnival games, refreshments and more!
Participants and teams may go online to register, join a fundraising team and build personal fundraising pages—all in support of autism research. Want to support ROAR for Autism, but can’t attend on April 28th? Just register to “Snore for ROAR” and raise awareness and funds while you sleep in.
Additionally, an iPad mini valued at $330 will be raffled off at the event. Tickets can be bought online or at the event for $5 each or three for $10.
For more information about ROAR for Autism, or to register, visit www.ROARforAutism.org or call 443-923-7300.
What:
ROAR for Autism 2013
25-mile Bike Ride, Partial Road/Partial Cross Country 5k Run, 1-mile Family Fun Walk & Family Fun Festival
Where:
Oregon Ridge Park
13401 Beaver Dam Road
Cockeysville, MD 21030
When:
Sunday, April 28, 2013
6:30 a.m. – 25-mile bike ride registration opens (7 a.m. start)
7:00 a.m. – 5k registration opens (8:30 a.m. start)
8:00 a.m. – All 25-mile bike riders must be on course
8:45 a.m. – 1-mile Family Fun Walk begins
9:00 a.m. – Family Fun Festival
Cost:
Advance Online Registration (by April 26)
Adults – $25.00
Children 12 and under – $10.00
Register by April 10 and receive a free t-shirt!
On-Site Registration (April 28)
Adults – $30.00
Children 12 and under – $15.00
Children 4 and under participate for free!
Snore for ROAR
Adult – $30
Children 12 and under – $15
Additional Visit www.ROARforAutism.org or call 443-923-7300.
Information: ROAR for Autism is on Facebook! www.facebook.com/ROARforAutism.
About Kennedy Krieger Institute
Internationally recognized for improving the lives of children and adolescents with disorders and injuries of the brain and spinal cord, the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, MD serves more than 19,000 individuals each year through inpatient and outpatient clinics, home and community services and school-based programs. Kennedy Krieger provides a wide range of services for children with developmental concerns mild to severe, and is home to a team of investigators who are contributing to the understanding of how disorders develop while pioneering new interventions and earlier diagnosis. For more information on Kennedy Krieger Institute, visit www.kennedykrieger.org.
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Florida starting to get the basics for pedestrian safety while Maryland does not
I ran across this:
* Specific tips for reducing pedestrian fatalities include:
* Always use the crosswalk
* Stop before turning right on red
* Look before crossing
* Yield to pedestrians
* Pay attention to the road, every time, every trip
https://www.dot.state.fl.us/safety/
While in Maryland we have this:
Maryland road safety head, Post’s Halsey blame pedestrians [listening to music] and even Michelle Obama for fatalities
https://greatergreaterwashington.org/post/8906/maryland-road-safety-head-posts-halsey-blame-pedestrians-and-even-michelle-obama-for-fatalities/
Traffic safety ALWAYS involves two sides and NEVER should be one sided. And it should address common KNOWN errors, not wild speculation.
Get Rich With… Bikes
By Mr Money Mustache
Hey there.. welcome to the first edition of the new “Get Rich With…” series. In these articles, we’ll analyze a bunch of ideas, both new and old, to see what kind of impact they can have on your life. (Hint: the impact will probably be a huge positive one, since these are all of my favorite moneymaking ideas). And this edition is about the good ol’ fashioned Bicycle.
The bike will probably turn out to be the best thing ever invented for humankind. It is taking us a while to realize this, but I think more people are coming around with each generation. You see, bikes were invented before they were truly needed, when the world was sparsely populated. When cars came along, they seemed like an improvement on bikes, bringing us great speed without any effort at all! Unfortunately, as a side effect they destroyed the whole fuckin’ world.. and made most of us dangerously obese too. With a new understanding of these side effects, the bike seems like an increasingly appealing alternative.
…
But another side effect is that bikes are good for your wealth. Let’s start with the bare minimum: any mileage you put on your bike instead of your car saves you about 50 cents per mile in gas, depreciation, and wear and maintenance. From this savings alone, doing a couple of bike errands per day (4 miles) in place of car errands will add up to $10,752 over ten years.
…
I’ve been a bike evangelist since childhood, but only recently did I discover the way to make your bike even MORE POWERFUL – with a BIKE TRAILER! In 2007 when my son was old enough to start riding around with me, I bought a trailer like this one* from the online bike store called Nashbar. This revolutionized my biking life, because suddenly my wife and I could get the little lad to most of the close parts of town with no car! When you leave the kid behind, these trailers can also carry a massive $150 load of groceries, or even a bunch of stuff from Home Depot like a few cans of paint and some light fixtures. I’ve put over 1000 miles on this trailer since I bought it, meaning it has saved over $500 in car costs alone.
The final issue to address is the “But I can’t ride a bike in my city/climate/physical condition/age” excuse that 99% of people over 12 in this country seem to cough up.
The answer is, in 99% of these cases: WRONG! Amsterdam is chilly and rainy, and this is how the bike scene looks there. In Hamilton, Canada, I rode year-round to get to McMaster University, through a dense downtown area in snow up to a foot deep. It was awesome. In Asia, the streets are packed with 90-year-old-ladies zooming along on cruisers with panniers full of chickens and such. If you are too heavy to look good on a bike right now, start biking and you soon will not be. JUST GET THE BIKE and you will see.
So, if you grow a big Money Mustache today and go out and get yourself a good city commuting bike – try one of these – then here’s what you will have in ten years:
– reduced mileage: $10,752
– less expensive cars: $30,000
– cheaper leisure: $7680
– increased income: $37,500
– reduced medical: $7500
Total: $93,432
…
https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/04/18/get-rich-with-bikes/
Improvement to Maryland Three-Foot Law Defeated in Committee
By Jim Titus, The WashCycle
The Environmental Matters Committee gave an unfavorable report yesterday to House Bill 445, which would have removed the “narrow highway” exception to Maryland’s three-foot safe passing statute. The Committee also rejected HB 160, which would have legalized riding bikes on sidewalks in localities with no local laws on the subject (Baltimore, Montgomery, Prince Georges, and Howard have local laws.)
As we’ve discussed before on the Washcycle, Maryland’s three-foot law has four confusing exceptions. One of those exceptions allows drivers to pass with less than three feet of clearance if the highway is too narrow for a driver to pass with three feet of clearance. No one knows precisely what that exception means: Bike Maryland thinks that this exception refers to virtually every two-lane road with a double yellow line, while I think that, regardless of what was in the mind of Delegate Malone when he inserted the provision, the rules of statutory construction mean that the exception only applies to narrow highways (e.g. country roads or one-lane bridges). But if the cycling advocates can’t agree on what it means, clearly the statute needs clarification. The best way to clarify the statute would have been to eliminate this exception, which this bill would have done.
Why did the bill fail? We don’t know yet, though some of the contributing factors are obvious. Cycling advocates have focused more on HB 339, the mandatory helmet bill. Two weeks ago, ten advocates showed up to a hearing at the Environmental Matters Committee, and passionately offered a wide array of arguments against the helmet bill. About 20 minutes later, Delegate Cardin presented the safe-passing bill to the same commitee, and only three of those advocates testified, along with Bike Maryland (which has taken no position on the helmet bill). None of the advocates were as passionate about the three-foot bill as they were in opposing the helmet bill.
The truck drivers opposed the safe-passing bill, and interpret the existing law the same way Bike Maryland construes it. They want to be able to pass cyclists more closely than three feet if the alternatives are to cross the double yellow line or wait. Trucks are wider than cars: It will often be possible for a car and a bike to share a lane with a three-foot clearance (if the cyclist hugs the edge). But a 9-foot truck can only pass with 1-foot of clearance, and the truckers want to be able to continue doing so. One representative added that they can’t really tell whether they are passing with 3′ feet or 2’6″ anyway. None of the cycling advocates made a strong case for why a safety buffer is more important than giving truckers what they want.
Another contributing factor was that Delegate Cardin also seemed to be preoccupied with other matters. His presentation starts at 1:25:00 in the video of the hearing. There was a subsequent colloquy with Delegate Vitale in which it became clear that the committee and Delegate Cardin had different versions of the bill (1:35:00). A few minutes later, (1:38:00) Delegate Cardin closed that colloquy by providing an explanation that seemed to more closely resemble last year’s bill than this year’s bill.
If these are the reasons the bill failed this year, I hope that Delegate Cardin and Bike Maryland will stick with this version of the bill and try again next year. It was a step in the right direction, and the fact that we did not convince the Committee this year had more to do with the fact that our minds were elsewhere than the merits of the bill.
With a little more preparation, we can make the case for removing the narrow-highway exception. The idea that trucks should be able to pass bikes with less clearance than cars, simply because trucks are wider, is absurd.
(Jim Titus is a cycling advocate from Prince George’s County. The opinions expressed here do not represent the views of any organization with which he is affiliated.)
https://www.thewashcycle.com/2013/02/amendment-to-maryland-three-foot-law-defeated-in-committee.html
Surgeons in Scotland debate the helmet issue – do they increase cyclists’ safety or not?
[B’ Spokes: Note that our helmet bill is still in committee with no vote yet.]
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By Simon_MacMichael, Road.cc
Neurosurgeon argues for wearing them… trauma specialist (who chairs CTC Scotland) opposes compulsion
…
Instead, after outlining other things that can be done to improve cycle safety such as addressing traffic speed and improving road layout, she says: “Most of the head injuries I have seen in cyclists are the result of low velocity crashes or simple falls due to ice or wet roads.
“There is no doubt in my mind that a well-fitting cycle helmet will reduce the incidence of scalp laceration and open fracture and will help to reduce the energy transfer to the brain.”
Apart from in sports, where she believes the type of potential injuries justifies governing bodies making helmets mandatory, Ms Myles isn’t calling for helmets to be made compulsory; she does point out though, that “in my department all neurosurgeons, neurologists neurointensivists and neuroanaesthetists wear cycling helmets when cycling – we can’t all be mad!”
Mr Oliver, however, maintains that “there is no justification for helmet laws or promotional campaigns that portray cycling as a particularly ‘dangerous’ activity, or that make unfounded claims about the effectiveness of helmets.
“By reducing cycle use even slightly, helmet laws or promotion campaigns are likely to cause a significant net disbenefit to public health, regardless of the effectiveness or otherwise of helmets,” he adds.
…
https://road.cc/content/news/77035-surgeons-scotland-debate-helmet-issue-do-they-increase-cyclists-safety-or-not
the ginger ninjas promo
[B’ Spokes: They are playing in DC on Mar 06, 2013. Ref: Los Ginger Ninjas and The New Woman: Annie “Londonderry” Kopchovsky And yes there are lots of bicycles in the video.]
the ginger ninjas promo from muno on Vimeo.
Wooing Suburban Drivers With Cheap Parking: A Losing Strategy for Cities
[B’ Spokes: This bares highlighting:]
During the era of interstate highway construction, and the resulting demographic shift from city to suburb, municipalities worked to provide auto access to their downtowns, hoping this access would support economic growth. However, mounting evidence shows that greater automobile access came at the expense of the very economic vibrancy cities sought and does not help reduce roadway congestion. Costs associated with accommodating cars, particularly for parking, are outweighed by the long-term economic costs.
Recent research shows cities that focus on auto access experience a decline in economic activity and lack of vibrancy, suggesting a policy of prioritizing cars often fails as an economic development tool for urban areas. Municipalities with excess parking do increase driving into and within the city, but the increase in income disparity between urban core and suburban areas shows how this policy may pose equity issues.
Read the full article: https://streetsblog.net/2013/02/26/wooing-suburban-drivers-with-cheap-parking-a-losing-strategy-for-cities/
What If Your Street Belonged to Kids on Saturdays?
I’m a firm believer that we could cut the numbers of public streets available to traveling cars in half (or at least cut the width of most streets in half) and we’d all be happier with the added space for gardens, shade trees, dinners outdoors and playing.
Here in the U.S., Park(ing) Day is a step in the right direction. But what if we went a step further?
In the U.K., a group called Playing Out encourages neighborhoods to organize limited after-school closings of neighborhood streets to allow children to play. New York City has a similar program called Play Streets.
Could a program like this work in your community?
Playing Out from Playing Out on Vimeo.
Via The Green Miles Via The Atlantic Cities