Houston’s “Pedestrian Pete”
Meanwhile back in Baltimore:
Meanwhile back in Baltimore:
PAL: Safety on Our Streets
As more people go on Arlington's Car-Free Diet, there are more cyclists and walkers sharing the street with drivers. Whether you're on two feet, two wheels or four wheels, everyone needs to be a PAL to safely share the streets.
Being a PAL means being:
- Predictable - travel in a predictable way; don't make sudden unexpected moves
- Alert - pay attention to your surrounds and to others
- Lawful - obey traffic laws, whether in a car, on a bike, or on foot
Click to enlarge this street scene as a low resolution image (JPEG, 1 MB), or as a high resolution PDF (PDF, 4.6 MB, Adobe Reader required). It illustrates some useful safety and courtesy tips for walking, cycling and driving. Spanish version (PDF, 3.2 MB, Adobe Reader required).
Police chief: 'We've quadrupled the tickets issued for blocking bike lanes'
[B' Spokes: Filed under news you will not see in Maryland.]****************************************************************
By John Hendel - TBD on Foot
...
One enormously significant dimension to the bike policing issue and transportation in general is the sensitivity to space. With more and more people traveling in different ways, we need to make sure everyone can travel safety. Bikes, pedestrians, drivers, taxicabs, buses ... they're all out there. And increasingly we've placed significant value on public space like bike lanes and crosswalks, which exist to protect commuters.
"The bike lanes are a little bit tricky for both drivers and the bicyclist," Chief Lanier told WTOP and WJLA reporter Mark Segraves during the live chat. "We've quadrupled the number of tickets we've issued for people who block bike lanes."
...
Better laws and better enforcement attributed to drop in pedestrian injuries.
-> According to a Dec. 13th Northjersey.com article, "Male pedestrians in New Jersey are more likely to be struck and killed by a vehicle than females and while young pedestrians are involved in more of those accidents, they are less likely to die, according to a study of incidents over eight years. The 2011 Pedestrian Safety Tracking Report was conducted by the Voorhees Transportation Center at Rutgers University and submitted this month to the state Transportation Department. The study analyzed police data for the years 2003 through 2010. It looked at accidents in which a pedestrian died or was injured -- not reports that resulted only in property damage.""The report found there were 1,003 pedestrian fatalities due to being struck by vehicles, about 125 per year, across the state, 40,150 pedestrians were injured during the eight years. Most pedestrian deaths from crashes occurred on state highways, followed by county roads, then municipal roads. Among the state's largest cities, Paterson ranked third in average pedestrian-vehicle accidents per 100,000 people. The report also found that accidents resulting in injury declined between 2008 and 2010, the period during which vehicle miles traveled also dropped."
"Charles Brown, senior research specialist at Voorhees, attributes the drop to the state's crosswalk law that requires motorists to stop for pedestrians in a crosswalk, as well as infrastructure improvements, and a more educated public. Brown said police departments around the state have carried out stings in which they pull over motorists who drive through a crosswalk while a pedestrian is still in the street, and talk to them about the law. 'We target locations where there are high incidents,' he said..."
Source: <a href="http://bit.ly/rvaOAz">http://bit.ly/rvaOAz</a>;
from CenterLines, the e-newsletter of the National Center for Bicycling & Walking.
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[B" Spokes: Note filed under News you will not see in Maryland.]
City Council Votes to Increase Oversight of Bike Lane Removal
[B' Spokes: If you thought I was going to talk about Baltimore City, sorry we are still backwards. This is from New York City: (just a highlight)]****************************************************************************************************************************************************
by Ben Fried
...
Can’t argue there. Having a public process for bike lane installation is not anti-bike. What’s anti-bike is to imply that the recent expansion of bike lanes has somehow lacked sufficient public input, which is the message that comes across from the coverage of this bill .
It’s also strange that the City Council thinks it’s necessary to mandate notification for all bike lanes, but not for all changes to motor vehicle lanes. If the city wants to carve out some left-turn bays from a pedestrian median, for instance, there’s no law requiring a public hearing.
So yeah, it’s anti-bike to grandstand about the imaginary problem of community input on bike lanes when the council could be focusing on real transportation problems ...
...
Officials lament loss of girl hit by car despite safety project
[B' Spokes: Filed under news you will not see in Maryland. Note that Nevada ranks #19 with a pedestrian fatality rate of 1.32 per hundred thousand, Maryland ranks #4 with a pedestrian fatality rate of 1.98 per hundred thousand. Clark County (Las Vegas) rate: 1.47 in contrast with Baltimore: 2.51, Baltimore County: 2.66, Anne Arundell: 2.69, Prince George's: 2.76 ]***********************************************************************************************************
BY ADRIENNE PACKER - LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
With the number of pedestrian fatalities in Nevada nearly double the national average, traffic experts became more aggressive in their attempts to improve not only crosswalk markings but the contentious relationship between pedestrians and motorists.
Accidents involving pedestrians is a problem across the Southwest where straight, wide streets often invite motorists to exceed the speed limit and lose focus, said Erin Breen with University of Nevada, Las Vegas' Safe Partnership Community.
"We live in a world where the car is king," Breen said. "An engineer's job is to move traffic, but there has to be a balance somewhere."
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Mannequins help kick off pedestrian safety blitz
[B' Spokes: if Baltimore was the size of Chicago we would be putting up 61Mannequins (vs. Chicago's 32 ), yet pedestrian safety remains a low priority for Baltimore.I can't find the link at the moment but bicycling facilities have been shown to improve pedestrian safety. My speculation is anything to get motorists to think about something other then "just other cars" helps.]**********************************************************************************************************************************
By Jon Hilkevitch, Tribune reporter
Chicago officials appear willing to try whatever tricks it may take to eliminate pedestrian deaths — even as they push a bill in the state Legislature that would allow cameras across much of the city to catch speeders.
City officials kicked off an effort Tuesday to reduce vehicle-pedestrian crashes, which includes safety messages stenciled on sidewalks, stickers inside taxis urging passengers to report reckless cabdrivers and flags for people to carry to boost their visibility while crossing streets.
The combined education and police-enforcement effort, involving about 15 initiatives, began with placing 32 mannequins — representing pedestrians killed in 2010 crashes across the city — on Wacker Drive downtown from Michigan Avenue to Wells Street.
"You'll notice that some of it is sort of hard-hitting, some of it may even be a little bit shocking," Chicago Transportation Commissioner Gabe Klein said. He stood at Wacker and Wabash Avenue near mannequins wearing T-shirts reading, "One of 32 pedestrians killed last year in Chicago."
The city announced a goal to reduce pedestrian fatalities to zero by 2020. In addition to the 32 deaths last year, about 3,000 pedestrians were injured in vehicle-related accidents citywide, records show.
...
Swift justice for a cyclist in PA
From The SentinelA Walnut Bottom bicyclist was taken to Chambersburg Hospital after he collided with a truck in Southampton Township earlier this week.
State police at Carlisle said David E. Klopp, 33, was riding his bicycle south on Baltimore Road when a 2008 Dodge 1500 passed him just before the intersection with Koser Lane.
After passing Klopp, the driver of the truck, Roger E. Chestnut, 54, of Shippensburg, made an immediate right turn onto Koser Lane, police said.
Klopp was unable to stop his bicycle as the truck turned in front of him, and the bicycle hit a trailer being towed by the truck, police said.
Klopp suffered a minor injury and was taken to Chambersburg Hospital for treatment, police said. He was wearing a hospital. [Probably meant helmet.]
Chestnut was not injured and was charged with careless driving, police said.
How Delaware made statewide bike funding history with CMAQ
Again filed under "News you will not see in Maryland." Like DE used to be, Baltimore Metro has not spent a dime of CMAQ on bike projects. Maryland gets about $49 million of CMAQ a year or two years of CMAQ could pay for what we plan to spend over 6 years with no local match required. Info on TE and CMAQ: <a href="http://www.bikeleague.org/resources/reports/pdfs/rescissions_analsyis_te+cmaq_8.13.10.pdf">http://www.bikeleague.org/resources/reports/pdfs/rescissions_analsyis_te+cmaq_8.13.10.pdf</a>;
Our 6 year CTP: <a href="http://www.mdot.maryland.gov/Planning/CTP/CTP_Documents/Draft_CTP/8_BikePed.pdf">http://www.mdot.maryland.gov/Planning/CTP/CTP_Documents/Draft_CTP/8_BikePed.pdf</a>;
Read and understand this, no one else here does: <a href="http://www.rwjf.org/files/research/20091112mccannexecutivesummary.pdf">http://www.rwjf.org/files/research/20091112mccannexecutivesummary.pdf</a>;
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from Bikeleague.org Blog by Darren
...
By tapping into Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) improvement funds for bicycling projects – the first time ever in Delaware – Bike Delaware and its allies have opened the door for the future funding of bicycling projects that give people options to substitute their cars trips with enjoyable, healthy, non-polluting, non-traffic-clogging bike trips.
Every year Delaware spends about $12 million in federal CMAQ dollars. “But in the 20 year history of the CMAQ program, not one dime has ever been used for bicycling, greenways or trails in Delaware,” wrote Bike Delaware Executive Director James Wilson, “Until now. We have broken a 20 year drought and also set an immensely hopeful precedent for the future.”
...
Wrongful Death Verdict: Justice You Would Not Get in Maryland
It's sort of funny reading a law blog with a similar subject of our "News you will not see in Maryland" but brings up an interesting point. No doubt drunk drivers are a problem and probably more of a problem for bicyclists and pedestrians as we don't have steel cages to protect us from a encounter with a drunk driver. So the question is do you think Maryland needs a dram shop law?
"Dram shop laws establish the liability of establishments arising out of the sale of alcohol to visibly intoxicated persons or minors who subsequently cause death or injury to third-parties (those not having a relationship to the bar) as a result of alcohol-related car crashes and other accidents. "
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dram_shop">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dram_shop</a>;
Read Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog coverage of this issue: <a href="http://rss.justia.com/~r/MarylandInjuryLawyerBlogCom/~3/CWQTYYcG8-M/wrongful_death_verdict_justice.html">http://rss.justia.com/~r/MarylandInjuryLawyerBlogCom/~3/CWQTYYcG8-M/wrongful_death_verdict_justice.html</a>;