Baltimore's Bikeability - Maryland Morning with Sheilah Kast


Segment Originally Aired May 13, 2009
Play now (11:36)
Biking your commute is better for you and for the environment, but just how easy is it to do in Baltimore? Our producers bring us along as they do their best to bike into work. Baltimore City's Bike Planner Nate Evans, and the president of one less car Greg Cantori also join us to talk about how bike-able Baltimore is.

Baltimore's biking scene continues to grow! You can bike around Baltimore on the upcoming Tour Du Port Bike ride on October 4th. The Harford Road Beautification Project might be putting bike lanes in their community, you can find out more at their community meeting on August 26th.

External Links:
Tour Du Port Ride
Harford Road Beautification project Meeting (PDF)
Biking Baltimore
One Less Car

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Cycle of Justice


It's not uncommon for bicycles to go missing on the University of Washington campus. Fancy $5,000 road bikes, busted $50 beaters—all of them end up in the hands of thieves, and usually at a faster clip during the summer months, when more people ride instead of drive and bike lifters have plentiful prey. Snipping through cable locks and snatching untended cycles, they make off with about 125 bikes annually, according to UW police.

What is incredibly uncommon is for one of these stolen bikes to be recovered—and even more uncommon is for such a bike to be recovered by a 25-year-old bioengineering grad student who has taken the law into her own hands, stalked her stolen property on Craigslist, jawboned authorities in two states into action, and even tried to set up a Wal-Mart parking-lot sting operation, all to recover a Redline Conquest Pro (a cyclo-cross bike) that she bought used last fall for $850. "I'm not one to give up easily," explained the student, Michelle McCully.

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Portland's Green Dividend


What if you could add $2.6 billion annually to your local economy? That's what Portland has effectively done by getting its citizens to drive just 4 fewer miles a day, according to a briefing paper by our colleague Joe Cortright called Portland's Green Dividend. What Joe found has big implications for urban leaders across the country. As a result of enacting a growth boundary, increased density, mixed land uses, and investments in public transportation, walking and biking, Portlanders are saving time and money on transportation that gets funneled back into the local economy. Critics have long characterized Portlanders as "depriving themselves in the name of saving the environment." Some have argued that "planning, policies and regulations that restrict use or access to resources impede growth and lower household income." But the new study found that assumption is simply not true. There is, in fact, a Green Dividend that accrues to cities willing to make certain choices about urban form and transportation.

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PPTC Back Roads Century, September 20, 2009


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Planning has already begun on the PPTC Century Ride in historic Berryville, VA. Nearly 100 volunteers are organizing to: mark routes, serve snacks, hand out t-shirts, copy cue sheets, and perform myriad other tasks to carry out a club signature event. The ride start will be at the Clark County High School, which graciously provides us space and facilities, and there will be four rest stops, including the Burwell-Morgan Mill. Stroll into history at this charming well shaded site. We also stop at the White Post Antique Restoration site where you might spot an antique treasure. The White House rest stop will be moved to the elementary school in 2009, for better accessibility.

Last year over 800 riders participated, and we hope to increase the numbers in 2009. There will be 25, 50, 66(metric century), and 100 mile(English century), routes through rolling countryside on lightly traveled roads. PPTC has done this ride for nine years and has received accolades for a great SAG support system. Bike repair vans will be available at rest stops, and we will have local emergency support on call at all times.

The Boy Scouts will again offer breakfast at the start and will be making sandwiches this year. There will be some surprises in snacks and lunches, with some local groups working with us. We will try to keep all the goodies of last year: the tomato sandwiches, potatoes, and energy bars, and add some new twists.

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Police determine bicyclist at fault in fatal accident


The Baltimore Sun picked up on our story (<a href="http://www.baltimorespokes.org/article.php?story=20090820231731405">http://www.baltimorespokes.org/article.php?story=20090820231731405</a>; ) and added some additional information:

&quot;This tanker truck was filled with fuel, making the back very, very heavy,&quot; Guglielmi said. &quot;It would have been impossible for him to realize he would have done this.&quot;

The spokesman also said Friday that surveillance video capturing the crash shows the cyclist was at fault, but Guglielmi declined to comment further until the report on the accident is complete. Results of the forensic testing should take three to six weeks, he said.

Steven D. Silverman, an attorney representing the Yates family, said they were awaiting public disclosure of the driver and the vehicle. Although the driver may not face criminal charges, he still could be found civilly liable for Yates' death, the lawyer said.

Based on the video, Silverman said the driver did not signal he was making the right turn and did so when the path was not clear.

&quot;Whether Mr. Yates was in the blind spot is something that needs to be determined,&quot; Silverman said. However, &quot;that doesn't absolve [the driver] of civil liability,&quot; he said

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Staten Island cyclist assaulted by motorist for being in bike lane


Some Staten Island motorists are, in fact, in favor of bike lanes--as long as they get to drive in them, too.

This morning at 9 AM, cyclist Gregory DeRespino incited road rage among his motorist peers for merely sitting at a stop light in the bike lane on Father Capodanno Boulevard, SI Advance reports. Apparently, DeRespino's presence prevented them from using the bike lane as a turn lane to make a right on red.

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The latest on John Yates


Please note this response to a BBC members inquiry about the investigation :

I am the commander of the Traffic Section within the Baltimore Police Department. I supervise the Crash Team and therefore the e-mail you authored to Mayor Sheila Dixon was forwarded to me for a response.

I was at the scene of this tragic crash and I know that this incident was investigated thoroughly from the very beginning as a very serious issue, as all fatal crashes are. We have obtained a video of this incident that shows the entire event.

There are only some aspects of this case that are public record. I will tell you that the video clearly shows the cyclist to be at fault. There is no &quot;right to the road&quot; as a cyclist. You have the same rights as a motor vehicle and also the same obligations. The cyclist was not operating within those parameters. The tanker truck that the cyclist struck was a large one. The cyclist struck it in the rear. There is no evidence to support that the driver was ever aware there was an impact. Do not believe what the media reports as entirely true regarding this or any event.

The investigators within the unit are very educated and experienced in all types of crashes and have attended several schools specific to the physics of a pedestrian crash and a cyclist fatal crash. With regard to the question of it being investigated as a hit and run accident, not only was it investigated as such but the truck was located by investigators within a few days of the incident.

Please feel free to contact my office if you have any further questions.

Lt. Leslie Bank
Traffic Commander
Baltimore Police Department
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