Month: October 2016

BY TOM BABIN, Shifter
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That’s an understatement. Not only had Edmonton sat idly by while cities all over the continent built accommodations for bikes, it was getting worse. Painted lanes were being scrubbed, and the best bike route across the river was worsened by bridge modifications. If the mayor sounded like he was throwing up his hands, what hope did anybody else have?
So how it is that, just a few weeks later, this sprawling northern city, famous for long winters and hockey, is on pace to build a forward-thinking and ambitious network of separated downtown bike lanes? Credit the power of frustration, and some creative thinking.
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It also has lessons for other cities struggling to get the bike-lane ball rolling. Nobert credits the idea to creative thinking outside of the usual confines of city hall. “We created a situation that seemed impossible or difficult to say no to,” he said. “I credit (a group of city councillors) with showing the leadership and take the political risk, but I believe that the creativity came from without.”
There’s something else unique about the project. Rather than a long public consultation process, in which a litany of public meetings allow people to air their theoretical grievances ahead of time, this project is being built as a pilot project that will be tweaked once in place. The idea is to get the lanes installed in the real world, and then adjust them based on public feedback, rather than the other way around.
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For Nobert, however, perhaps the most important thing that he learned from the experience is the power of people.
“Citizens need to get engaged,” he said. “Trust that centrally-located residents want to bike and walk places (they do), and use that fact to your advantage. Guerilla is great. Use injury collision data as leverage. Build social media networks, build real relationships. Meet with everyone.
“Citizen groups can make change.”

How one city went from scrubbing bike lanes to building an entire network in weeks

[B’ Spokes: My take away is let your elected representatives know that you bike and expect more than just platitudes. I would also like to give a shout out to BikeMore, they are doing a wonderful job, the more we support them the better job they can do. And I also want to point out Bike HoCo – Bicycling Advocates of Howard County, they too are doing a exceptional job.
BikeMore: https://www.bikemore.net/
Bike HoCo: https://www.facebook.com/BikeHoCo/
(If you can donate some money or time but above all keep on riding.)]

by Caron Whitaker, LAB
The Surveys
The League did two surveys. One was of League members and advocates. Over 4000 advocates representing all 50 states responded to this survey. The other survey was done in conjunction with the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals (APBP). This survey went out to APBP members, including planners, engineers and professional advocates, as well as to Executive Directors and Policy Directors at League organization members. 195 people from 38 states responded. This second survey included detailed questions about specific funding sources and policies.
Here are the lessons learned from the APBP/League Leaders survey.
ON PROGRESS
Practitioners are positive bunch. Overall they report more positive change in their communities than advocates, and are more adamant about it (i.e., more likely to see “a lot” of progress vs. some progress experienced by advocates.)
* Progress on infrastructure is strongest. Close to 90 percent of respondents saw progress on basic infrastructure: sidewalks, trails and on street bike infrastructure; and 80 percent saw progress on connecting bike networks and bike share.
* Progress is slower on driving related issues. Survey respondents gave their lowest ratings to issues of reducing speed limits and in stopping distracted driving. These issues were top concerns for both advocates and practitioners.
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https://bikeleague.org/content/policy-priorities-bikeped-professionals

By Patrick Cain, Global News
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In Toronto, pedestrian collisions where the pedestrian was coded as inattentive have fallen since 2005, figures released by the city to Global News show. A report by the city’s medical officer of health showed that only 13 per cent of pedestrians hit in the city were inattentive for any reason.
“The difficulty is, with cars, what they represent, based on their speed, their size, their weight,” Brown says. “If you are handing a weapon, you handle it with care. You can’t have distractions, you can’t have multitasking — you’ve got to have one hundred per cent of your cognitive ability.”
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Reality check: Distracted walking isn’t a big problem. (Distracted driving is.)

By RANDY LOBASSO, Metro
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A lot can go wrong during that process. Especially during the community feedback portion. Oftentimes, those in favor of bike lanes get backlash over wanting something we allegedly don’t pay for. Therefore, the thinking goes, if cyclists want new lanes, they should be taxed and forced to submit to a city licensing program before we even think about installing safety precautions on city streets…
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American taxpayers as a whole paid $1 trillion more to sustain the road network than people who drive paid in gasoline taxes, tolls and other user fees.” And in 2012, $69 billion in highway spending came from Americans’ general tax revenue.
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https://touch.metro.us//philadelphia/bikers-already-pay-their-their-fair-share-for-safer-streets/zsJpji—tuopMAO62Jm4c/

By RAVI MANGLA, Salon
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“chauffeurs assert with some bitterness that their ‘joy riding’ would harm nobody if there were not so much jay walking” (April 7, 1909).
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https://www.salon.com/2015/08/20/the_secret_history_of_jaywalking_the_disturbing_reason_it_was_outlawed_and_why_we_should_lift_the_ban/

Via Transportation for America
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“Transportation works as a network and fails as a network,” she said. “So why do people think we can fix the network project by project by project? I’m most interested in what is the best suite of projects.” She went on to describe why data matters, but only if you measure the right things. “You should be asking people what matters to them and measure that. If you don’t, you are telling your customers that what matters to them is unimportant. …Data is only useful if it helps you tell a story or make better decisions.”
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Going deep with regional leaders on using performance measurement

By Emil Seidel, Edgy Labs
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“The problem with this approach to self-driving cars is that it repeats the same mistake of the 20th century: seeing the problem of passenger transportation and the problem of car traffic as the same thing, and failing to recognize that older modes can do things that newer modes can’t.”
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https://edgylabs.com/2016/10/05/self-driving-cars-dont-solve-capacity-problem/

By Todd Litman, Planetizen
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A recent CDC report, “Vital Signs: Motor Vehicle Injury Prevention — United States and 19 Comparison Countries,” and Economist Magazine analysis, “America’s Road-safety Record is the Worst in the Rich World,” indicate that, despite huge investments in traffic safety programs and safety engineering, the United States has, by far, the highest per capita traffic fatality rate among peer countries.
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https://www.planetizen.com/node/88561/rethinking-traffic-safety