MBAC to the Police about the Krasnopoler case update


Thank you for meeting with Councilwoman Clarke and the members of the Mayor's Bicycle Advisory Committee on Thursday. I appreciate your efforts to keep us informed about the developments in this tragic case. As I understand it, the investigation continues and only after it is complete will information be passed to the State's Attorney and MVA for a determination as to whether charges and/or license action are warranted. For now the appropriate response to questions is, "The investigation process is continuing, and we have no comment at this time."

I trust you have shared this guidance with your staff. Much of the uproar among the cycling community stems from statements made to the media by Detectives Kevin Brown and Donny Moses, saying that no charges would be filed against the driver and implying that the fault for the collision lay with the cyclist. Obviously these statements were made well in advance of the investigation's completion.

The detectives' statements are not the only reason cyclists are apprehensive about the results of the investigation. In an analysis of MDOT-compiled statistics, Baltimore City stands out from the rest of the state with respect to the percentages of crashes in which fault is assigned to either the cyclist, the motorist, or unknown. For example, in MontgomeryCounty the percentages are 43% (cyclist fault), 55% (motorist fault), and 1% (unknown). The percentages for the state (not including Baltimore City) are 58%, 38%, and 3%. For Baltimore City the numbers are 43% cyclist fault, 9% motorist fault, and 48% unknown. Clearly, these numbers are out of the norm. In fact, over 80% of unknown-cause bicycle crashes are in Baltimore City. It could be that Baltimore City motorists are much better drivers than those in the state at large, but I don't think so. Baltimore cyclists fear that the anomaly results from the BPD being either reluctant to assign blame to drivers, or not up to speed on bicycle law. This is something we hope the future roll-call training videos will improve.

I am heartened to hear that Nathan's condition continues to improve. We all hope for a full and speedy recovery. The cycling community of Baltimore also hopes that this unfortunate incident will provide an opportunity to improve relations and communications with the BPD.

Greg Hinchliffe, Chairman
Mayor's Bicycle Advisory Committee

by B' Spokes

Like most people I live a hectic life and who has the time for much exercise? Thanks to xtracycle now I do. By using my bike for daily activities I can get things done and get an hour plus work out in 15 minutes extra of my time, not a bad deal and beats taking the extra time going to the gym. In case you are still having trouble being motivated; the National Center of Disease Control says that inactivity is the #2 killer in the United States just behind smoking. ( http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/bb_nutrition/ ) Get out there and start living life! I can carry home a full shopping cart of groceries, car pool two kids or just get lost in the great outdoors camping for a week. Well I got go, another outing this weekend.
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