She Got Bike in need of men

My apologies for the attention getting headline but I wanted to call attention to the fact that She Got Bike is in desperate need for volunteers of any gender, in particular SAG drivers so if you can help out in any capacity on Sunday September 30 contact Susan Olson: susancolson"at"earthlink.net . Free lunch and t-shirt to all volunteers plus the satisfaction of helping with one of this area's premier bike events for women.

And if you would like to participate more info: <a href="http://www.baltimorespokes.org/article.php?story=20070814112317684">http://www.baltimorespokes.org/article.php?story=20070814112317684</a>;
(This event is cool and should not be missed.)
  • Currently 0.00/5
Rating: 0.00/5 (0 votes cast)

The bicycle thief

By Katharine Mieszkowski

Bike activists face an uphill climb against Transportation Secretary Mary Peters, who claims bike paths are not transportation and are stealing tax money from bridges and roads.

Imagine you're the federal official in the Bush administration charged with overseeing the nation's transportation infrastructure. A major bridge collapses on an interstate highway during rush hour, killing 13 people and injuring an additional 100. Whom to blame? How about the nation's bicyclists and pedestrians!
...
In an Aug. 15 appearance on PBS's &quot;NewsHour With Jim Lehrer,&quot; Peters spoke against a proposal to raise gas taxes to shore up the nation's aging infrastructure. The real problem, the secretary argued, is that only 60 percent of the current money raised by gas taxes goes to highways and bridges. She conveniently neglected to mention that about 30 percent of the money goes to public transit. She then went on to blast congressional earmarks, which dedicate 10 percent of the gas tax to some 6,000 other projects around the country. &quot;There are museums that are being built with that money, bike paths, trails, repairing lighthouses. Those are some of the kind of things that that money is being spent on, as opposed to our infrastructure,&quot; she said. The secretary added that projects like bike paths and trails &quot;are really not transportation.&quot;
...
It's hard to argue that walking paths and bike trails are robbing federal coffers when states can't even spend all the federal money they've received to repair bridges in the first place. In 2006, state departments of transportation sent back $1 billion in unspent bridge funds to the federal government, according to the Federal Highway Administration. &quot;The fact that there is a billion dollars of bridge repair money sloshing around in the system not being spent suggests that it's not the fault of bike trails,&quot; says Clarke.
...
Congressional Democrats agree. &quot;It's a red herring to point to bike paths and even imply that if we didn't build another bike path we'd have all the money we need to fix our highways and bridges,&quot; says Jim Berard, communications director for the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. &quot;You can't build very many bridges with the amount of money that you would save if you didn't build any bike paths.&quot;

So why is Peters suddenly taking on bikes and pedestrians? Her comments are especially odd since she sang the praises of bikes as transportation in a speech at the National Bike Summit in Washington, in March 2002. Has she simply forgotten the glory of two wheels? One theory: Peters is on a campaign to quash the idea of raising the gas tax, as she editorialized recently in the Washington Post. A key proponent of raising the gas tax to fund bridge restorations in the wake of the Minneapolis bridge collapse is Democratic Rep. Jim Oberstar of Minnesota, who has advocated for bike and pedestrian paths in his district. By putting a culture-war spin on the bridge collapse, Peters is hoping to run his gas tax proposal off the road.

Does Peters herself buy this theory? Does she really think that bike paths do not qualify as transportation infrastructure? Why does she say that things like bike paths steal money from bridge repairs when states have more than enough money to fix bridges? The secretary would not respond, but Jennifer Hing, a spokesperson for the Department of Transportation's Office of Public Affairs in the Office of the Secretary, would. She answered all the specific questions with one resoundingly uninformative e-mail: &quot;The federal government should set high standards for and invest in the ongoing safety, reliability and interconnection of the nation's transportation network. State and local communities should have the flexibility to then set local transportation priorities.&quot;
...

Continue Reading

  • Currently 0.00/5
Rating: 0.00/5 (0 votes cast)

Bike trail maps are looking up

Well actually you need to look up at the top of Baltimore Spokes web site to see our latest addition, Baltimore Bike Trails &amp; Routes. We have lots more to do on this but I think we are off to a good start and I don

Continue Reading

  • Currently 0.00/5
Rating: 0.00/5 (0 votes cast)

Druid Hill Park News


* James W. Rouse Volunteer Service Day - Saturday, September 15th 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
* Chimney Swifts at Dusk - Sunday, September 16th 7:00-8:00 pm Rain date Tuesday Sept. 18
* Tree Mulching - Saturday, September 21st 9:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
* Maps On Purpose - Monday evenings starting in October, 6:00 -8:00 p.m
* Ta

Continue Reading

  • Currently 0.00/5
Rating: 0.00/5 (0 votes cast)

Bike Lane Fun

Some people think bike lanes exist solely to allow faster traffic to pass slower traffic, well that seems to work well for this cyclist in the following video as he passes all those slow cars.

Continue Reading

  • Currently 0.00/5
Rating: 0.00/5 (0 votes cast)

Is Bicycling Safe?

If you follow the rules of the road and ride carefully, cycling is actually much safer than driving.
By Ryan McGreal
...
An article in View Magazine a couple of months ago advocated for better bicycle infrastructure by focusing on cycling dangers. Though well-intentioned, it reinforced many preconceptions without examining them for accuracy.

In fact, cycling is arguably safer than driving.

Comparing the Risks
Every activity carries risks, and are many possible ways to compare the relative risks of cycling and other activities. Looking at several can help to form a more complete picture.

Fatality by Distance Cycled
The most obvious comparison is the fatality risk per distanced traveled. In this straight-up analysis, cycling is more dangerous than driving. Every 1.6 million kilometres (one million kilometres) cycled produces 0.039 cyclist fatalities, compared to 0.016 fatalities for motorists. They're both very low, but the risk for cycling is more than double.

However, this is not the most useful way to compare risks.

Fatality by Time Spent Cycling
Failure Analysis Associates, Inc. performed a comparative analysis of fatality rates for a variety of activities per million hours spent performing a given activity. They concluded that the fatality rate for every million hours spent cycling is 0.26, compared to 0.47 per million driving hours (on-road motorcycling comes in at a whopping 8.80 deaths per million motorcycling hours).

That is, riding a motor vehicle has nearly twice the risk of fatality as riding a bike for a given duration.

Continue Reading

  • Currently 0.00/5
Rating: 0.00/5 (0 votes cast)

No Wheels Allowed

[There are some good comments in support of cycling at the end of this article.]

By KELLY MOORE/Staff Writer

NEW LLANO - The Town of New Llano will soon be off limits to skateboards, roller blades, roller skates and bicycles, unless on private property.

During Tuesday's Town Council meeting, Councilman Charles Balthrop introduced an ordinance that will prohibit the use of skateboards, roller blades, roller skates, bicycles, etc. anywhere in the corporate limits of the Town of New Llano with the exception of the individual's private property.
...

Continue Reading

  • Currently 0.00/5
Rating: 0.00/5 (0 votes cast)