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Every city deserves a ciclovia of its own

Michael Dresser, Baltimore Sun

Greg Cantori wants to get into the Colombian import business and bring his product to the streets of Baltimore.
...
What he'd like to import is a concept called ciclovia - a weekly festival on the streets of Bogota. He and his colleagues have been meeting with city officials, urging them to bring the idea to Baltimore under the Americanized name "Sunday Streets." Cantori told the Maryland Bicycle Symposium meeting in Annapolis last week that the initial response has been encouraging.
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"Imagine Artscape every Sunday, spread out over 20 miles," Cantori said. "It becomes an extension of the park system."
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Gilmore said Cantori and city officials are scheduled to make a presentation to Mayor Sheila Dixon on the proposed Sunday Streets program next month.

Let's hope the mayor is in a receptive mood. This city could stand to slow down and have a little fun on Sundays.

If Baltimore acts quickly , it could become the first major U.S. city to make a ciclovia a regular event. It would be a welcome change to become known for a Colombian import that didn't contribute to the body count.

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Chicago Mayor defending cyclist

Chicago bicyclists, Mayor Daley knows your pain.

The mayor introduced an ordinance Wednesday that would slap fines ranging from $150 to $500 on motorists who turn left or right in front of someone on a bicycle; pass with less than three feet of space between car and bike; and open a vehicle door into the path of a cyclist.

Daley, an avid rider, said he personally has been involved in unhappy encounters with motorists, providing them with "a few choice words" and "salutes" that he said were delivered "in the Chicago way."

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Condoning speeding may imperil others

Letters to the Editor (Sun)

Michael Dresser's article "Up to speed" (Feb. 3) exposes the great variation in speed enforcement among Maryland jurisdictions.

In counties such as Montgomery County, police often write speeding tickets that cite speeds of one to nine miles over the posted limit when drivers were going far faster.

Why give them a mere slap on the wrist?

Cpl. Jimmy Robinson, a police spokesman, explained: "We are very proud of the caliber of the citizens" of Montgomery County. He deems it unfair to penalize such drivers with a three-point citation and a fine of hundreds of dollars.

Fair to the speeding drivers? How about to the other citizens of Montgomery County, whose lives are jeopardized by speeders? Is this policy fair to them?

Speeding is a major cause of crashes, especially fatal crashes. Speed increases the likelihood of a crash because a driver has less time to react.

In a crash, higher speed increases the severity of injuries and the chance of fatalities.

I hope counties that make a practice of trivializing speed infractions will begin to consider the rights of other road-users, who deserve protection.

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40mph residential speed limit strictly enforced

The constitutional right to drive like an a55 irregardless of the potential harm to others as long as you have insurance has hit home, the street where you live.

The right to exceed the speed limit, if there is such a right, might make some sense on interstate highways and expressways but it has no place on public streets used by cyclists and walkers, yet police districts are saying that they will not ticket anyone that is going less then 15mph over the speed limit no mater where, expressway or residential street.

This 15mph speed difference when applied to a 25mph residential road turns the likelihood of a pedestrian or cyclists surviving a crash with a motor vehicle from favorable outcome to a very likely unfavorable outcome. This apparently is acceptable because it is "just an accident" when someone purposefully depresses the accelerator and drives too fast for conditions or the posted speed limit.

After our presentation at the Bicycle Symposium (<a href="http://www.baltimorespokes.org/article.php?story=20080205223929495">http://www.baltimorespokes.org/article.php?story=20080205223929495</a>; ) we are getting feedback from people who are inquiring about speed limit enforcement in their neighborhood and getting very disappointing answers.

Maryland is in the top ten highest ratio of bicycle and pedestrian traffic fatalities, in Baltimore City 39% of traffic fatalities involve a cyclists or pedestrian. Studies have shown when you enforce traffic laws, crime also goes down. Addressing two major issues with one simple action? Nah, too simple, not sexy enough, we need to reinvent the wheel. Sorry but no, enforcing the law, works, period.
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Smoke-Free Pub Crawl

Cyclists,

Why not join our friends from MdPIRG and the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health for a Smoke-Free Pub Crawl?

On February 1st, Baltimore City and the rest of Maryland will finally go smoke-free.

So, all you beer connoisseurs who enjoy clean indoor air, [that's us] join the Maryland Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) and JHSPH students Friday, February 1st. Start at Dizzy Issie

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2007 NYC Street Memorial Ride & Walk

On Sunday, January 6th, over two hundred people gathered to remember New Yorkers who were killed while biking and walking. The Street Memorial Project lead the 3rd Annual Memorial Ride &amp; Pedestrian Memorial Walk to honor those killed. In 2007, 23 bicyclists and over 100 pedestrians died on NYC streets.

To Contrast that with Baltimore City with a population 1/13 of that of NYC we had 16 (NYC 8) pedestrians killed and one (NYC 2) cyclists killed.
(Numbers in parenthesis are what NYC would be for the same size population as Baltimore (fractions rounded up.))
Also note that bicycle and pedestrian traffic fatalities compose 39% of Baltimore's traffic fatalities.

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