Biker/pedestrian love park ave - w4m - 25 (Mt. Vernon)

[From Craigslist missed connections:]

You:
White male, late forties, brown hair, moustache
lumbering gait, resembles Carl from athf. Walking against traffic on Park ave by Madison
Me:
Girl that ran into you with bike at about 4pm yesterday, headed North on Park ave.
I was headed directly towards you, and I had to blink to make sure my eyes weren't decieving me. A vision in tapered sweat pants and matching sweater. I wasn't sure if you were going to notice me, especially after I said "excuse me" and then yelled "look out", but when you jumped directly in front of my bike, I knew it was meant to be.
I didn't know it at the time, but we must have both been struck by love. Perhaps it was the way you called me a *censored* in that Hampden-esque grunt, or the subsequent threats and challenges that ensued, but you really got my heart racing.
I didn't mean to seem uninterested, but after I fell off my bike due to you throwing your body in front of it, I got back on and biked away only because I thought you were running after me to beat the crap out of me. Forgive me, I didn't realize you were smitten until you mentioned the possibility of "teaching me a proper lesson". You ran after me for a good two blocks before giving up, at which point you yelled "you ain't even got no drawers on *censored*". I would like to clarify that I had running shorts on, and it may have appeared I was pant-less because my coat is long, but when we get married in Atlantic City (I'll wear white and you'll be appropriately three sheets to the wind on malt liqour) feel free to tell the story to our guests about how I wasn't wearing any pants when we met. I'd like to specifically take you up on your offer of a "fair and square race" on "yer legs". A healthy bit of competition in relationships is never a bad thing. Maybe we could race to the liqour store and the loser can buy a six pack of pabst. (I pegged you as a pabst drinker, personally I prefer Mickey's, but we could compromise. You seem like the reasonable type).
I bet you couldn't outrun me if I was blindfolded and had a cigarette (pal mals, baby, just for you) dangling from my mouth.
Please, dear sweet pedestrian, find me. You can teach me how to be an asshole, and I'll teach you how to walk on sidewalks, and in the right direction. I know our love will last.

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Mass Transit priority for high speed car access not bike/ped

From the Gazette about the Shady Grove Metro Station and bike path in Rockville:
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Johnston said the county\'s Department of Transportation felt there was a need to build the path based on \"worn pathways\" they had seen in the area and community suggestions.

\"We always want to make it easy for people to get to transit centers and this seemed like a very good investment in order to do that,\" he said.

The project had originally included a 200-foot spur that would provide a connection from the path to the Metro station, but Johnston said the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) asked that that part of the project not be built.

Angela Gates, a spokeswoman for WMATA, said in an e-mail message to The Gazette Tuesday morning that Metro decided against the spur for safety reasons.

\"Ultimately, Metro directed the county not to include the crossings because the north-south arterial section of the access road is high-volume with moderate, then accelerating speed,\" she wrote. \"It would be unsafe and inefficient to have a bike path crossing and speed humps across the arterial. Pedestrians and bicyclists can use the existing crossing of the east-west section of the access road.\"

Gates wrote that Metro would consider a bike path crossing of the access road \"if and when Shady Grove Metrorail station facilities are transformed into a transit-oriented development with a grid network of roadways.\" [Baltimore Spokes translation: We\'ll hang onto the old school of thought of not accommodating bike/peds as long as we can and not make it any easier for them.]
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What does Rush Limbaugh have to say about bicycling?

"Frankly, if the door opens into a bicycle rider I won't care. I think they ought to be off the streets and on the sidewalk. Don't misunderstand here, you bike riders, do not misunderstand this, but I mean if you're going to get in the street, get over there, get over as far right in the lane as you can. You ought to see Saturday morning where I live. It looks like a swarm of mosquitoes. It causes you to take an alternate route. And so now poor bike riders, some old codger opens the car door, bam! The bike rider does a head flip over the door. I haven't seen that. Now they want to fine you for not only opening the door, you don't close it soon enough, you get a $50 fine in Madison, Wisconsin. (laughing)"

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Clyde police won’t charge man who ran down cyclist

A recent collision that left a bicyclist with numerous broken bones, nearly 100 stitches in his face, permanently deaf in one ear, and leaking brain fluid through a fracture in his skull cannot understand why the driver who nearly killed him won’t be issued a citation.

Roger Hinson is a Clyde native, now living in Springfield, Mo. Dauring a recent visit with his mother in Clyde, the avid cyclist was struck by a truck driven by James Welch. While Welch’s driving history cites numerous infractions, this most recent incident will not be one of them.

Clyde Police Chief Derek Dendy, who investigated the collision, said Welch isn’t being cited “because that’s not something I would normally do ... unless (the at-fault driver) is impaired or there’s a problem with the accident. We do not issue citations. It’s just not how we do things here.”
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Publicity and Public interest story for b2wd

The following was sent to me so I thought I would give a chance for the lurkers to come out and share their story with the world and please don't be shy, all bike commuters are cool:

Fox 45 our Media Sponsor for Bike to Work Day is interested in doing a couple of spotlight news stories on cyclists in the region. Do any of you have commuters in your area that would make a good story?

We’re looking for someone who has been positively affected by commuting by bike.

Question: how has bike commuting or participating in B2WD changed their life?

Please email me a paragraph about the person and their contact information that I can forward on to FOX45 by Thursday 3-26-09 at Noon. (Note I'll need additional lead time.)
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In Va., Vision of Suburbia at a Crossroads

By Eric M. Weiss - Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 22, 2009; Page A01

Virginia is taking aim at one of the most enduring symbols of suburbia: the cul-de-sac.

The state has decided that all new subdivisions must have through streets linking them with neighboring subdivisions, schools and shopping areas. State officials say the new regulations will improve safety and accessibility and save money: No more single entrances and exits onto clogged secondary roads. Quicker responses by emergency vehicles. Lower road maintenance costs for governments.
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Death Rides On My Left - urban bicycle commuting

I am a bicycle commuter. I am not a certified safety instructor. This video represents real world conditions. Not some imaginary utopian world that bicyclist hope to create. The statistics are only approximate. Don't get bogged down in the numbers. The important message is riding in the road has risk. These are some of the most common risk you will face. Much of the advice is for motorist. Motorist do not yield to bicycles in the bike lane and they should be. Cyclist are as much at fault as motorist for the situations in which we find ourselves. If you trust motorist to do the right thing and drive safely you will be disapointed. Part of the reason I am so obsessed with safety in my videos is it is so F**king crazy on the road. I have had way to many close calls. I make these videos for my own safety awareness. I have discovered that filming helps me discover my own mistakes. Hopefully others can learn from my mistakes too.

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Spotlight Vol. 8, No. 4: From Tokyo to Brooklyn: Good Streets and What Defines Them

Wide, tree-lined sidewalks. A row of parked cars to buffer pedestrians from traffic. A physically separated bike lane. These are just a few of the qualities I and other urban design types tend look for when defining a 'good' street, meaning one pleasant and safe for walking and biking.

Imagine my surprise then, when I returned this past winter to Tokyo, land of my upbringing and pedestrian and transit mecca, and realized that the streets I walked every day as a kid looked nothing like the "complete streets" I had come to idealize.
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Yet, despite all these supposedly less-than-desirable conditions, people in Tokyo walk. A lot. My family was caught in pedestrian gridlock on the day after New Year's, in the shopping district of Harajuku. There were so many people trying to walk through a (admittedly narrow) space that we literally could not move for ten minutes.

In New York, I complain that the four blocks between my apartment and the subway have no street trees. But in Tokyo, I have no problem walking fifteen minutes basically IN the street to the train station, with nary a street tree in sight the entire way.

In New York, I rarely ride my bicycle because even on quieter side streets (forget about avenues), I'm in constant fear of being hit from behind by a speeding SUV or doored by one of the cars parked along the curb. In Tokyo, children ride their bikes to school, housewives to the grocery store, commuters to the train station, and nobody bothers with helmets.

So why the differences in environments? The first, and perhaps most obvious, reason for this is the well-known traffic engineering concept of "shared space." This idea states that having pedestrians, bicyclists and drivers share the space of the roadway with little separation results in improved safety for all because it forces various road users to constantly be aware of each other. Motorists drive slower and round corners cautiously because they expect pedestrians or bicyclists to pop up out of blind spots. Pedestrians and bicyclists have priority, but are aware that cars may be coming at any time, and move out of their way.
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We talk about built environment a lot, but rarely about driver behavior, and when we do, we talk about manipulating that behavior through the built environment. But there are other factors that influence how drivers behave.

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