City of Baltimore Launches Automated Speed Monitoring Program


Baltimore, Maryland (September 28, 2009) Mayor Sheila Dixon was joined today by Baltimore City Department of Transportation Director Al Foxx, and Police Commissioner Fred Bealefeld along with Glenmount Elementary/Middle School students and staff to announce the launch of an automated speed monitoring program in an effort to decrease driver speeds in school zones throughout the city.

“In an effort to promote safe driving habits throughout our communities and particularly in our school zones, the City of Baltimore is launching this important initiative,” said Mayor Dixon. “This automated speed enforcement program is designed to reduce driver speeds and make our streets safer for school children, motorists and pedestrians.”

The city’s new speed enforcement initiative will start on October 1, 2009. During the initial 30-day warning phase, motorists who exceed the speed limit by at least 12 miles per hour while driving through city school zones will receive warning notices in the mail.

Once the warning phase is complete, commuters who drive aggressively will receive $40 citations. These citations are not reported to insurance companies and no license points will be assigned. Notification signs will be placed at all speed enforcement locations so that motorists will be aware that they are approaching a speed check zone. The goal of the program is to make the streets of Baltimore safer by changing aggressive driving behavior.

The city plans to retrofit a targeted 51 red light camera locations with the new automated speed enforcement technology. In addition, five mobile enforcement units which will be rotated throughout school zones across the city should be in operation by the spring of 2010.

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TOUR DU PORT - Baltimore's Cool Bicycling Tour for a Terrific Cause!!!


Our Mayor is to be the master of ceremonies, say a few words at 7:15, and open the Tour at 7:30. Many of us will be there, so you can start the ride with friends.

TOUR DU PORT Baltimore's Cool Bicycling Tour for a Terrific Cause!!!  
Awesome design TdP t-shirt (design is flyer) purchase deadline Sept 18th 
 Also-get a free One Less Car t-shirt with OLC membership
 
Tour du Port  - October 4th is Baltimore 's Premier Bicycle Event !   Thousands of riders starting at the Canton Waterfront Park  will kick off the 16th Annual Tour du Port. Routes 12 to a new 1/2 century 50 mile ride!  Scenic route travels through over twelve historic neighborhoods, waterfront areas and parks. This fully supported tour includes lunch, refreshments at rest stops, map and sag and a post-ride celebration with live music at Tour's end. This event is One Less Car's Annual Fundraiser! All fees go directly to advancing the programs and advocacy efforts of One Less Car, a non-profit dedicated to walking, bicycling and smart commuting. Click here to register or visit www.onelesscar.org  Please pass this on to friends and help us spread the word about Tour du Port!
 

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"Tour du Port is a superb way to intimately tour Baltimore.  It is one of the coolest bike events around - and it certainly supports a cause that we support -bicycle safety!      All proceeds fund smart commuting options and bicycle advocacy. What more could a bicyclist or commuter tired of congestion ask for from a bicycle event!" --- Baltimore Bicycle Club
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Keep Gym in School Program


[This is a nice start but still I would like to see the public demand that bike riding should be safe for kids, as a healthy and active life style cannot be contained just to school grounds and school hours.]

GLEN BURNIE, MD (September 29, 2009) –NFL Network teamed up with Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, Verizon FiOS TV and the Baltimore Ravens today to kick off the Keep Gym in School program in Anne Arundel County public schools and officially inaugurate newly-refurbished Physical Education facilities at Corkran Middle School in Glen Burnie.
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“The health of our children is among our highest priorities, and we all hold a responsibility to address issues like childhood obesity,” said Governor O’Malley. “We’re working hard to reverse the trend here in Maryland and welcome the support of NFL Network through its comprehensive Keep Gym in School program. We’re laying the groundwork now for a bright and healthy future.”

“The numbers can’t be ignored – childhood obesity rates have tripled since 1980. We have to make it a priority now to teach young people how to be healthy and fit. And one of the best places to reach them is in school,” said Jamie Dukes. “That’s why NFL Network is expanding the reach of ‘Keep Gym in School’ to help more kids have access to physical activity in school.”
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Bicycling & Hostels Oct 4th


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After Tour de Port ends, the nearby Hostel at 17 W. Mulberry Street will be holding a "Touring the Country on Two Wheels & A Few Bucks" . The program begins with the Toulsons' talk & slide show about their self-sufficent bicycle tour from Harper's Ferry to St. Augustine, FL. Then Jeffery Marks talks about, with slides, the tours he did this summer in the Pacific Northwest: North Cascades , Olympic, & southern tip Vancover Island BC. Also, Larry Black will be giving a presentation. Hear about all the bicycle options including recumbant tandems and how much fun it is to participate in an AdventureCycle Tour.

Refreshments will be provided. Last but not least, bicycle parking will be available, and the hostel is encouraging people to bike down. This cycling program is the perfect place to go after Tour de Port.
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Pedestrian Safety


Each year, approximately 900 pediatric pedestrians younger than 19 years are killed. In addition, 51000 children are injured as pedestrians, and 5300 of them are hospitalized because of their injuries.
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Driver Characteristics
Driver characteristics also contribute to child pedestrian injuries. Male drivers, drivers younger than 40 years, and those with a record of multiple driving infractions and suspended or revoked licenses are more likely to be involved in a collision with a child pedestrian.50,51 Two studies performed by the National Safe Kids campaign show that large numbers of drivers speed and fail to stop at stop signs in school zones
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Driver Education and Enforcement
Although pedestrian advocates recommend driver-education programs to remedy dangerous driving, there is little research regarding interventions aimed at improving driver knowledge, attitudes, or skills to avoid pedestrian crashes. Furthermore, a study that looked at state driver's license manuals showed that most of these publications had no information about common locations for pedestrian-vehicle conflicts, automobile movements that are most hazardous for pedestrians, safest ways to conduct turns, or requirements for yielding to pedestrians at stop signs and intersections.58 One 4-year program that combined a media campaign with strong police enforcement of crosswalk laws did not result in drivers becoming more willing to stop for pedestrians.59
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Walkability Checklists
The Partnership for a Walkable America (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Federal Highway Administration, Institute of Transportation Engineers, Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation) advises the use of a "walkability checklist," available on the Internet,85 to score the walkability of a community and identify the safest pedestrian routes for children. For each type of pedestrian problem, the checklist outlines specific strategies to help individuals and community groups who want to create safe walking routes for children. Formal evaluation of the ability of such checklists to decrease pediatric pedestrian injury is lacking.

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Highway to hell: control the car


Abuse of power and social control is a far greater threat than cars and cigarettes, argues Michael McFadden

I believe motorists should be treated just as fairly as smokers. Taxes should be roughly triple the cost of the basic litre of fuel and hospital campuses should be car-free with parking available a minimum of four blocks away to encourage healthy exercise and avoid physical threat to normal non-driving visitors and patients.

Children should be taught that if their parents love them they won’t insist on driving them around in pollutomobiles, leaving them off at school stinking of petrol fumes and all the lovely chemicals that make up that delightful “new car smell”. College scholarships can be offered to those students who remain “car-free” to graduation, and employers can restrict job openings to non-drivers only.

Surgeons should refuse operations to accident victims who refuse to sign a legal commitment to surrender their drivers’ licenses and significant speed bumps should be put at every intersection to discourage automotive commuting.

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