What Is Your State Doing to Improve Walking and Biking?

B' Spokes:

I'm going to grab a chart from this post on Streets Blog.

In this chart Maryland looks really good. But since 2001 when we set the goal to reduce bicyclist and pedestrian fatalities but they have not moved since then. We had 101 pedestrian fatalities and 5 cyclist fatalities in 2001 and in 2011 (last year reported) there was 102 pedestrians and 5 cyclist fatalities. - No change!

There is evidence that if you improve the safety for cyclists then pedestrians benefit and vice versa. But I find enforcement of bicycling and pedestrian issues around the state rather dismal. Police cannot do an effective job enforcing our issues from inside a police cruiser! In fact I believe too much time behind the wheel induces a bias against bicyclists and pedestrians in that it is their obligation to stay out of the way of cars, always!

We need crosswalk stings and plain clothes police officers on bikes! At least twice a year (roughly when school lets out and again when school starts) with press releases informing motorists that the police are taking bicycle and pedestrian issues seriously. But what we got is notta with this as a result:

We need results!

Another big issue for me is the so called improvement in the Bicycle Level of Service (BLOS.) In 2001 we had 80% of state roads with a BLOS of a grade D or better.

The 2002 (date enacted) Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan set a goal for the State to achieve a level of D or better for at least 80 percent relevant State roadways. As of 2011, 79 percent of the roadways had reached this threshold.
Apendix B of the new bike master plan

So the 2002 Bike master plan was to essentially to make no improvements for cyclists on state roads for over 20 years. I will assert this is due in part to:

Jim Titus expressed concerns regarding the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission –Prince George’s County’s designation of MD Route 564 as a bikeway was not recognized by the State Highway Administration. Michael [Jackson Director of Bicycle and Pedestrian Access] stated that because MD Route 564 is a State highway SHA was not bound to accept M-NCPPC-PG’s designation but recommended that Jim contact SHA staff about his concerns.
SHA not obligated to accommodate bicyclists per policy and wins an award from LAB for policy

So while true bike friendly places make use of resurfacing projects as a extremely economical way to accommodate cyclist but in Maryland it seems more of a way to take back what they gave us in the first place.

And another chart from this post on Streets Blog.

So Baltimore has no plan to reduce bicycle and pedestrian fatalities. But that alone might not be too bad as it's more Baltimore's "philosophy" not to kill you but just mess you up real bad. Baltimore represents the most bike/ped crashes, the most bike/ped serious injuries within the state! With just 11% of the state's population we represent 32% of the states pedestrian crashes and 30% of the pedestrian serious injuries. For cyclists, Baltimore represents 24% of the states cyclist crashes and 22% of the cyclist serious injuries. Could we please make an effort to get that down to near 11%?