Maryland Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee October Meeting Minutes
B' Spokes: two things stand out to me in this report:1) "He [Jim] noted that many news articles in Prince George’s County complained about the lack of painted crosswalks across State highways. Jim notes that unmarked crosswalks have the same legal distinction as marked crosswalks and that police are empowered to enforce crosswalk regulations regardless of whether the crosswalks are marked or unmarked. He asked if whether an education campaign is needed to explain the duty to stop for pedestrians. "
My sub points:
A) SHA roads are over represented in pedestrian fatalities.
Ref: <a href="http://www.baltimorespokes.org/article.php?story=20121219112028588">http://www.baltimorespokes.org/article.php?story=20121219112028588</a>;
B) My own observations even when SHA does paint crosswalks they do not (always) use the best engineering standards as required by by state law. (Too many transverse markings (two thin parallel lines) over continental markings (thick bars striping the crossing area.))
Ref: <a href="http://www.baltimorespokes.org/article.php?story=20110514223328755">http://www.baltimorespokes.org/article.php?story=20110514223328755</a>;
2) "Greg said he attended the annual State Fair in Timonium and said that SHA had a booth there handing out materials including a card explaining the 3 foot passing law. This card originally drew objections from the bicycling community because it explained four exceptions to the 3 foot passing requirement. Bicyclists feared that readers would focus on the exceptions rather than the general requirement and still pass bicyclists too closely. In response the card was revised with the expectation that the original version would not be distributed or publicized. "
Yet three months after this we have MDOT giving the following advice (published to a large audience by a state agency):
"The 3-Foot Passing Law – Motorists are now required to give cyclists 3 feet of clearance when passing. The 3-foot law has an exemption for roads that are too narrow to allow 3 feet of clearance safely. In this case, drivers are allowed to pass cyclists with less than 3 feet."
Ref: <a href="http://www.baltimorespokes.org/article.php?story=20121215212451386">http://www.baltimorespokes.org/article.php?story=20121215212451386</a>;
And: <a href="http://www.baltimorespokes.org/article.php?story=20121216123520992">http://www.baltimorespokes.org/article.php?story=20121216123520992</a>;
Additionally this is two YEARS after the first poor summary
Ref: <a href="http://www.baltimorespokes.org/article.php?story=20101005122814769">http://www.baltimorespokes.org/article.php?story=20101005122814769</a>;
One year after we tried to correct this "Safety" card.
Ref: <a href="http://www.baltimorespokes.org/article.php?story=20111112163337508">http://www.baltimorespokes.org/article.php?story=20111112163337508</a>;
Oh and the link to this card we are trying to correct is STILL valid.
Ref: <a href="http://www.marylandroads.com/MHSO/BikeSafety_LawCard.pdf">http://www.marylandroads.com/MHSO/BikeSafety_LawCard.pdf</a>;
This is so wrong! Have they no delete file capability?
If you are inclined write:
secretary@mdot.state.md.us <secretary@mdot.state.md.us>;
with a CC to:
governor@gov.state.md.us <governor@gov.state.md.us>;
(Please try to be positive, MDOT has been very supportive of trying to push our 3' law (a good thing) just the verbiage MDOT has chosen has not been well vetted.) .
The meeting minutes:
<a href="http://www.mdot.maryland.gov/Office%20of%20Planning%20and%20Capital%20Programming/Bicycle/Documents/MBPAC_meeting_minutes_101212.pdf">http://www.mdot.maryland.gov/Office%20of%20Planning%20and%20Capital%20Programming/Bicycle/Documents/MBPAC_meeting_minutes_101212.pdf</a>;
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