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#28193 From: "JohnB" <john@...>
Date: Fri Nov 13, 2009 1:15 am
Subject: Re: Dangerous by Design
johnbrooking4
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I don't know the direct answer to your question (a written critique), but if we
knew more about the context you are going to be speaking in, and your role in
the discussion, we might be able to give you some advice.

I found it especially ironic that the big yellow title page still retains the
subtitle about "pedestrian deaths" while showing a bicyclist, possibly a
helmet-less youth.

- JohnB

--- In chainguard@yahoogroups.com, Tymothy Tucker <tym_tucker@...> wrote:
>
> http://t4america.org/docs/dangerousbydesign/dangerous_by_design.pdf
>  
> Has anyone written a critique of this? I searched the yahoo group buy came up
empty. I need to comment on a local board and would like to bolster my opinion
with that of the respected listmembers.
>  
> I know there is a lot of pedestrian content here, and CG does not have a dog
in that fight, but based on a quick scan it seems to present cycling's issues as
identical to pedestrians and appers to be fatally flawed with the
typical position that facilities are the answer and there just isn't enough
money being spent.
>  
> Thanks,
> Tym Tucker
> Arlington, TX
>

#28192 From: "trafficcivilityadvocate" <keribird@...>
Date: Thu Nov 12, 2009 11:49 pm
Subject: Re: [CG] Dangerous by Design
trafficcivil...
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Most of the bike stats here are a reflection of ped issues because most
bicyclists are acting like rolling pedestrians.

As you might imagine, this is quite the buzz here since We're Number One!

KC
NOT trying to cross the street
in Orlando



--- In chainguard@yahoogroups.com, Bob Bayn <bob.bayn@...> wrote:
>
> Tym tucker wrote about that document, in part:
> "I know there is a lot of pedestrian content here, and CG does not have a dog
in that fight..."
>
> I don't know why you think that.  The League of American Bicyclists certainly
seems to think that ped issues are cyclist issues, and vice versa.
>
> Bob LCI#685
> Cache Valley, Utah
>

#28191 From: "opeapea" <akohekohe@...>
Date: Thu Nov 12, 2009 11:33 pm
Subject: [CG] Re: National Center for Bicycling and Walking review of Environmental Health paper
akohekohe
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John Forester wrote:

"My advice was to stay out of the outer lane, use the inner lane until
approaching the exit that you intend to take (just as if the outer lane were a
lane with a large proportion of right-turning traffic (left-turning in
England)). No problem at all, and one can cross an English provincial city
without making one stop."

Thanks for the advice John.  Makes sense.

Aloha, - John W.

#28190 From: Bob Bayn <bob.bayn@...>
Date: Thu Nov 12, 2009 10:18 pm
Subject: RE: [CG] Dangerous by Design
bob.bayn@...
Send Email Send Email
 
Tym tucker wrote about that document, in part:
"I know there is a lot of pedestrian content here, and CG does not have a dog in
that fight..."

I don't know why you think that.  The League of American Bicyclists certainly
seems to think that ped issues are cyclist issues, and vice versa.

Bob LCI#685
Cache Valley, Utah

#28189 From: Tymothy Tucker <tym_tucker@...>
Date: Thu Nov 12, 2009 8:41 pm
Subject: Dangerous by Design
tym_tucker
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Send Email Send Email
 
http://t4america.org/docs/dangerousbydesign/dangerous_by_design.pdf
 
Has anyone written a critique of this? I searched the yahoo group buy came up
empty. I need to comment on a local board and would like to bolster my opinion
with that of the respected listmembers.
 
I know there is a lot of pedestrian content here, and CG does not have a dog in
that fight, but based on a quick scan it seems to present cycling's issues as
identical to pedestrians and appers to be fatally flawed with the
typical position that facilities are the answer and there just isn't enough
money being spent.
 
Thanks,
Tym Tucker
Arlington, TX

#28188 From: John Forester <forester@...>
Date: Thu Nov 12, 2009 6:13 pm
Subject: Re: [CG] Re: National Center for Bicycling and Walking review of Environmental Health paper
biketransengr
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Send Email Send Email
 
I have had more experience than most American cyclists in cycling through multi-lane roundabouts. I encountered them in Massachusetts decades ago, I regularly used such in Berkeley (one lane only) and Long Beach, California, and many in England (even the seven linked magic roundabouts in Swindon), with no trouble. My advice was to stay out of the outer lane, use the inner lane until approaching the exit that you intend to take (just as if the outer lane were a lane with a large proportion of right-turning traffic (left-turning in England)). No problem at all, and one can cross an English provincial city without making one stop.

opeapea wrote:
 

Well, the study could be worse - they do conclude that "Results to date suggest that sidewalks and multi-use trails pose the highest risk." Many, many of the "cars are evil crowd" think anything is better than mixing it up with the cars so it is nice to see multi-use trails and sidewalks being found the worse facilities in a literature review paper. I am interested in taking a look at some of the literature mentioned on multi-lane roundabouts. There is only one on the whole island where I live and it doesn't get very much traffic, but I'm not sure how well I would do trying to navigate some of the higher speed ones with a lot of traffic I've seen in the UK. Does anyone on the list have experience riding on this type of facility?

- John W.


-- John Forester, MS, PE
Bicycle Transportation Engineer
7585 Church St. Lemon Grove CA 91945-2306
619-644-5481 forester@...
www.johnforester.com

#28187 From: "trafficcivilityadvocate" <keribird@...>
Date: Thu Nov 12, 2009 1:17 pm
Subject: Re: Severity of Bicycling Injuries Increasing in Denver with mature bicycle infrastructure
trafficcivil...
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Send Email Send Email
 
Along these lines... ISTM, if you add uninformed novice cyclists to flawed
facilities (like bike lanes or side paths) that give them a false sense of
security, this would be the expected outcome.

And if you add desire to get cyclists off the road to any kind of injury data,
the conclusion will be "we need more facilities." No matter how much you have to
twist the logic.






--- In chainguard@yahoogroups.com, Peter Rosenfeld <jprosenfeld@...> wrote:
>
>
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/11/medicos-find-bike-injuries-are-increasin\
g-in-severity.php
>
> From the article:
> "If our data is a microcosm of what is going on nationally, we may be on
> the cusp of an injury epidemic," Dr. Kashuk remarked, noting that this
> small study was carried out in Denver, which has one of the most
> well-developed bicycle path networks in the USA. "If we are seeing an
> increase in injuries in a metropolitan area that has fairly mature bike
> infrastructure from the standpoint of bike pathways, there's reason for
> concern about what's happening in metropolitan areas that don't have
> that level of maturity."
>
> I wonder if anyone has considered the possibility that the infrastructure is
increasing the severity of the collisions?
>

#28186 From: John Forester <forester@...>
Date: Thu Nov 12, 2009 4:15 pm
Subject: Discussion of Surface Transportation Bill
biketransengr
Offline Offline
Send Email Send Email
 
Ron Utt of the Heritage Foundation has presented his short view of the
Surface Transportation Bill developed by Oberstar. It is at the URL
given here:

http://www.heritage.org/Research/SmartGrowth/wm2693.cfm

I do not think that this is outside the purview of chainguard, because
it describes what quite possibly will be the environment in which
vehicular cyclists will have to live and operate. As I see it, there is
likely to be considerable patriotic fervor for attempting to convert
typical American cities into Amsterdams, with, naturally, the full
panoply of bikeways to "make bicycle transportation possible." I have
written to Oberstar's staff, and received no hope. He is adamant about
the bikeway part of his plan. So, consider the future.

--
John Forester, MS, PE
Bicycle Transportation Engineer
7585 Church St. Lemon Grove CA 91945-2306
619-644-5481    forester@...
www.johnforester.com

#28185 From: John Forester <forester@...>
Date: Thu Nov 12, 2009 3:23 pm
Subject: Re: [CG] Severity of Bicycling Injuries Increasing in Denver with mature bicycle infrastructure
biketransengr
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Send Email Send Email
 
I have seen maps of the Denver bike path situation. These are built alongside the several small rivers that run through Denver.

Kalle wrote:
 



--- In chainguard@yahoogroups.com, Eli Damon <public@...> wrote:
>
> I am no fan of bikes paths. However, from what I have heard, collisions
> on separated bike paths, while more common, tend to be less severe.

That depends on what you mean by a 'separated bikepath'. If I understand correctly, bikepaths in US are built only at special locations with minimal intersections. Then there might be a trade-off between exrtemely rare but severe crashes with high speed motor traffic and the typical everyday MUP mayhem.

BUT, if you try to build an extensive transportational system of bikepaths, you will be installing them at normal locations with normal intersection densities, as has been done at many European countries. The evidence (for example Jensen Copenhagen paper, the London fatality study) strongly suggests that Euro style sidapath systems increase the number of severe and fatal crashes.

Kalle Mustonen
Helsinki
Finland


-- John Forester, MS, PE
Bicycle Transportation Engineer
7585 Church St. Lemon Grove CA 91945-2306
619-644-5481 forester@...
www.johnforester.com

#28184 From: "frkrygow" <frkrygow@...>
Date: Thu Nov 12, 2009 3:50 pm
Subject: Re: [CG] Severity of Bicycling Injuries Increasing in Denver with mature bicycle infrastructure
frkrygow
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Send Email Send Email
 
--- In chainguard@yahoogroups.com, Eli Damon <public@...> wrote:
>
> I am no fan of bikes paths. However, from what I have heard, collisions
> on separated bike paths, while more common, tend to be less severe. The
> article does not give any hint of a cause. My questions are (1) What
> types of crashes tends to result in severe head trauma?

A couple points:  The press release of that study talked more about chest and
abdominal injuries than head injuries.

Yes, it mentioned head injuries and helmets, because (apparently) it's mandatory
to continue the false linkage of cycling with head injury.  But I'll note that
the press release, at least, did not use the words "severe head trauma." 
Instead, it said that "33 percent of 329 bicycle injury victims had a
significant head injury."

The difference between "significant" and "severe" may be important.  It's common
for the hand-wringing crowd to call every scratch above the neck a "significant
head injury."  This is precisely what Thompson, Rivara et. al. did in their 1989
study that (ludicrously) claimed 85% benefit for bike helmet use.  Cut ears and
scratched chins were recorded as "head injuries," and such minor wounds
dominated the data.

Let's remember that, contrary to today's received wisdom, bicycling is not and
never has been an unusual source of serious (i.e. consequential) head injury. 
Fewer than 1% of American head injury fatalities occur on bikes, and the
per-hour rate for cyclists has been found to be little different than for
motorists, and significantly better than for pedestrians.

- Frank Krygowski

#28183 From: "opeapea" <akohekohe@...>
Date: Thu Nov 12, 2009 1:08 pm
Subject: Re: National Center for Bicycling and Walking review of Environmental Health paper
akohekohe
Offline Offline
Send Email Send Email
 
Well, the study could be worse - they do conclude that "Results to date suggest
that sidewalks and multi-use trails pose the highest risk."  Many, many of the
"cars are evil crowd" think anything is better than mixing it up with the cars
so it is nice to see multi-use trails and sidewalks being found the worse
facilities in a literature review paper.  I am interested in taking a look at
some of the literature mentioned on multi-lane roundabouts.  There is only one
on the whole island where I live and it doesn't get very much traffic, but I'm
not sure how well I would do trying to navigate some of the higher speed ones
with a lot of traffic I've seen in the UK.  Does anyone on the list have
experience riding on this type of facility?

- John W.

#28182 From: Peter Rosenfeld <jprosenfeld@...>
Date: Thu Nov 12, 2009 1:38 pm
Subject: Re: [CG] [Fwd: University Ped. and Bicycle Transportation Education Workshop at the TRB Annual Meeting]
jprosenfeld
Offline Offline
Send Email Send Email
 

What would be the point of attending?

I live 2.5 hours by train from DC.


From: Bob Shanteau <RMShant@...>
To: Chainguard <chainguard@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wed, November 11, 2009 4:27:56 PM
Subject: [CG] [Fwd: University Ped. and Bicycle Transportation Education Workshop at the TRB Annual Meeting]

 

Does anybody live close enough to DC to attend this workshop? Note that
registration for the TRB Meeting is not required to attend the workshop.

Bob Shanteau

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: University Ped. and Bicycle Transportation Education
Workshop at the TRB Annual Meeting
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:22:53 -0500 (EST)
From: Jennifer Dill jdill@... <>
To: rmshant@gmail. com

The Transportation Research Board (TRB) Pedestrian and Bicycle
Committees are hosting a workshop on University Pedestrian and Bicycle
Transportation Education at the TRB Annual Meeting. The workshop will
be held on Sunday, January 10, 2010, from 9 a.m. to noon at the Marriott
Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, DC. We hope that you can attend.
More details are provided below.

TITLE: University Pedestrian and Bicycle Transportation Education
DATE AND TIME: Sunday, January 10, 2010, 9 a.m. to noon
LOCATION: Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, 2660 Woodley Road NW, Washington, DC
Registration for the TRB Meeting is not required to attend this workshop.

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION:
This workshop will provide information about existing university
pedestrian and bicycle transportation courses. It will explore
challenges and opportunities for improving non-motorized transportation
education and foster discussion about how professors, researchers,
students, advocates, and other professionals can contribute to better
pedestrian and bicycle education opportunities at the national and local
levels. Workshop participants will have an opportunity to provide input
and discuss key topics in small breakout groups.

WORKSHOP LEADERS:
Rebecca Sanders, University of California-Berkeley
Laura Sandt, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
Robert Schneider, University of California-Berkeley
Lynn Weigand, Portland State University

WORKSHOP OBJECTIVES:
*Understand how many university pedestrian and bicycle education courses
are currently being offered in the United States and abroad
*Understand the range of topics currently being covered in a sample of
pedestrian and bicycle education courses
*Understand the range of institutional arrangements that have been made
to offer pedestrian and bicycle education within university planning and
engineering programs
*Understand the challenges related to establishing new pedestrian and
bicycle courses within existing university structures
*Learn about what other pedestrian and bicycle course instructors
throughout the country are struggling with-from specific topics to
institutional barriers
*Learn about opportunities for integrating expertise from pedestrian and
bicycle practitioners into courses
*Help define the core competencies, central topics, or essential body of
knowledge necessary for bicycle and pedestrian practitioners

For further information please contact Bob Schneider,
rschneider@berkeley .edu



#28181 From: Bob Bayn <bob.bayn@...>
Date: Thu Nov 12, 2009 3:34 pm
Subject: RE: [CG] National Center for Bicycling and Walking review of Environmental Health paper
bob.bayn@...
Send Email Send Email
 
Linkedin shows lots of Josh Levins, but it's probably this one:

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/josh-levin/13/ab0/758

Josh Levin

Bicycle and Pedestrian Planner at The National Center for Bicycling and Walking

Greater New York City Area



Bob Bayn        (435)797-2396      Security Team coordinator
   Stop by the "Security Bunker" in SER 301 to see our network
   visualizers showing the continual attacks by outsiders.
Office of Information Technology   at  Utah State University
________________________________________
From: chainguard@yahoogroups.com [chainguard@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Bob
Shanteau [RMShant@...]
Sent: Wednesday, November 11, 2009 5:55 PM
To: Chainguard
Subject: [CG] National Center for Bicycling and Walking review of Environmental
Health paper

Josh Levin writes a glowing review of this flawed paper for Centerlines,
the biweekly newsletter of NCBW.

Anybody know who Josh Levin is?

Bob Shanteau

***
<http://www.bikewalk.org/cl/2009/nov/1111b.html#a4>
THE IMPACT OF TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE ON BIKE CRASHES, INJURIES
By Josh Levin

Each year more and more evidence is gathered that shows the correlation
between increased bicycle safety as a result of increased access to
bicycle facilities. This literature review is no different in its
conclusion. What is revealing about this paper, titled The impact of
transportation infrastructure on bicycling crashes and injuries: a
review of the literature, is how extensive the review is. The literature
review looks at twenty-three papers that examine bicycle facilities at
intersections and along straightaways in Europe and North America. The
conclusion states what we in the bicycle community already know, more
bicycle facilities means less crashes and injuries.

While the conclusion is obvious, further examination of the data
revealed that not all bicycle facilities are equal in providing safety.
Obvious claims were made that clearly marked bike lanes and facilities
were safer than mixing bicyclists with on road traffic or off road
pedestrians. Yet separated cycle tracks that route cyclists around the
roundabout were proven to be far safer than a bike lane with traffic.
The reason being is due to errors associated with drivers searching for
automobiles but failing to “see” bicyclists. While the conclusion was
only applied to literature reviews of roundabouts from Europe, this can
be easily translated to busy American roads that have an excess of speed
and signage. Such road designs and conditions are death traps for
bicyclists.

To offset these dangers transportation planners must enlist a multitude
of tools. Even though bicycle lanes, paths, and tracks are key
components to safety so too are basics such as proper placement of
bicycle facilities. The claim that minor roads are safer than major
roads is not a groundbreaking revelation by any means. But creating a
bicycle boulevard trail system on minor roads like Portland, Oregon did
is more cost effective and less contentious than paving bike lanes on
every major road. Either way there is no single solution to providing
safety to bicyclists. In the end coordinated bicycle facilities and
policies will need to be in place to reduce crashes and injures.

The impact of transportation infrastructure on bicycling crashes and
injuries: a review of the literature
Environmental Health
Published October 21, 2009
<http://tinyurl.com/yk9r9gz>
***


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#28180 From: "Kalle" <kalle.mustonen@...>
Date: Thu Nov 12, 2009 12:19 pm
Subject: BBC: Police chiefs ditch cycle manual
kalle.mustonen
Offline Offline
Send Email Send Email
 
#28179 From: Peter Rosenfeld <jprosenfeld@...>
Date: Thu Nov 12, 2009 12:31 pm
Subject: Re: [CG] Severity of Bicycling Injuries Increasing in Denver with mature bicycle infrastructure
jprosenfeld
Offline Offline
Send Email Send Email
 
Yes, I was wondering about intersection collisions. On sidepaths, bicyclists tend to enter roadways from sidepaths  similar to "sidewalk run outs", where the bicyclist enters the roadway at speed (from my observation of bicycling behavior on sidepaths, not from actually seeing collisions). It's conceivable that these could cause more severe injuries than, say,  the typical right hook where the bicyclist is traveling relatively slowly when the collision occurs.

An increase in the number of bicyclists may increase the overall number of injuries but, by itself, should not increase the PERCENT of severe injuries. If the demographics of the bicycling population is changing, perhaps. Say if a higher percentage of young men are riding. Doubtful.


From: Kalle <kalle.mustonen@...>
To: chainguard@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thu, November 12, 2009 1:04:46 AM
Subject: Re: [CG] Severity of Bicycling Injuries Increasing in Denver with mature bicycle infrastructure

 



--- In chainguard@yahoogro ups.com, Eli Damon <public@...> wrote:
>
> I am no fan of bikes paths. However, from what I have heard, collisions
> on separated bike paths, while more common, tend to be less severe.

That depends on what you mean by a 'separated bikepath'. If I understand correctly, bikepaths in US are built only at special locations with minimal intersections. Then there might be a trade-off between exrtemely rare but severe crashes with high speed motor traffic and the typical everyday MUP mayhem.

BUT, if you try to build an extensive transportational system of bikepaths, you will be installing them at normal locations with normal intersection densities, as has been done at many European countries. The evidence (for example Jensen Copenhagen paper, the London fatality study) strongly suggests that Euro style sidapath systems increase the number of severe and fatal crashes.

Kalle Mustonen
Helsinki
Finland



#28178 From: "Kalle" <kalle.mustonen@...>
Date: Thu Nov 12, 2009 6:04 am
Subject: Re: [CG] Severity of Bicycling Injuries Increasing in Denver with mature bicycle infrastructure
kalle.mustonen
Offline Offline
Send Email Send Email
 
--- In chainguard@yahoogroups.com, Eli Damon <public@...> wrote:
>
> I am no fan of bikes paths. However, from what I have heard, collisions
> on separated bike paths, while more common, tend to be less severe.

That depends on what you mean by a 'separated bikepath'. If I understand
correctly, bikepaths in US are built only at special locations with minimal
intersections. Then there might be a trade-off between exrtemely rare but severe
crashes with high speed motor traffic and the typical everyday MUP mayhem.

BUT, if you try to build an extensive transportational system of bikepaths, you
will be installing them at normal locations with normal intersection densities,
as has been  done at many European countries. The evidence (for example Jensen
Copenhagen paper, the London fatality study) strongly suggests that Euro style
sidapath systems increase the number of severe and fatal crashes.

Kalle Mustonen
Helsinki
Finland

#28177 From: Eli Damon <public@...>
Date: Thu Nov 12, 2009 3:53 am
Subject: Re: [CG] Severity of Bicycling Injuries Increasing in Denver with mature bicycle infrastructure
eli_damon
Offline Offline
Send Email Send Email
 
On Wed, 2009-11-11 at 12:21 -0800, Peter Rosenfeld wrote:

> I wonder if anyone has considered the possibility that the
> infrastructure is increasing the severity of the collisions?

I am no fan of bikes paths. However, from what I have heard, collisions
on separated bike paths, while more common, tend to be less severe. The
article does not give any hint of a cause. My questions are (1) What
types of crashes tends to result in severe head trauma? (2) Which of
these types, if any, have become more prevalent in Denver? (3) What
factors might be contributing to this? (4) How does the collision rate
compared to the amount of cycling activity. For all we know, it could be
caused primarily by an increase in cycling activity. The collisions per
cycling mile could even have decreased. Eli

#28176 From: Bob Shanteau <RMShant@...>
Date: Thu Nov 12, 2009 12:55 am
Subject: National Center for Bicycling and Walking review of Environmental Health paper
bshanteau
Offline Offline
Send Email Send Email
 
Josh Levin writes a glowing review of this flawed paper for Centerlines,
the biweekly newsletter of NCBW.

Anybody know who Josh Levin is?

Bob Shanteau

***
<http://www.bikewalk.org/cl/2009/nov/1111b.html#a4>
THE IMPACT OF TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE ON BIKE CRASHES, INJURIES
By Josh Levin

Each year more and more evidence is gathered that shows the correlation
between increased bicycle safety as a result of increased access to
bicycle facilities. This literature review is no different in its
conclusion. What is revealing about this paper, titled The impact of
transportation infrastructure on bicycling crashes and injuries: a
review of the literature, is how extensive the review is. The literature
review looks at twenty-three papers that examine bicycle facilities at
intersections and along straightaways in Europe and North America. The
conclusion states what we in the bicycle community already know, more
bicycle facilities means less crashes and injuries.

While the conclusion is obvious, further examination of the data
revealed that not all bicycle facilities are equal in providing safety.
Obvious claims were made that clearly marked bike lanes and facilities
were safer than mixing bicyclists with on road traffic or off road
pedestrians. Yet separated cycle tracks that route cyclists around the
roundabout were proven to be far safer than a bike lane with traffic.
The reason being is due to errors associated with drivers searching for
automobiles but failing to “see” bicyclists. While the conclusion was
only applied to literature reviews of roundabouts from Europe, this can
be easily translated to busy American roads that have an excess of speed
and signage. Such road designs and conditions are death traps for
bicyclists.

To offset these dangers transportation planners must enlist a multitude
of tools. Even though bicycle lanes, paths, and tracks are key
components to safety so too are basics such as proper placement of
bicycle facilities. The claim that minor roads are safer than major
roads is not a groundbreaking revelation by any means. But creating a
bicycle boulevard trail system on minor roads like Portland, Oregon did
is more cost effective and less contentious than paving bike lanes on
every major road. Either way there is no single solution to providing
safety to bicyclists. In the end coordinated bicycle facilities and
policies will need to be in place to reduce crashes and injures.

The impact of transportation infrastructure on bicycling crashes and
injuries: a review of the literature
Environmental Health
Published October 21, 2009
<http://tinyurl.com/yk9r9gz>
***

#28175 From: Peter Rosenfeld <jprosenfeld@...>
Date: Wed Nov 11, 2009 8:21 pm
Subject: Severity of Bicycling Injuries Increasing in Denver with mature bicycle infrastructure
jprosenfeld
Offline Offline
Send Email Send Email
 
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/11/medicos-find-bike-injuries-are-increasing-in-severity.php

From the article:
"If our data is a microcosm of what is going on nationally, we may be on the cusp of an injury epidemic," Dr. Kashuk remarked, noting that this small study was carried out in Denver, which has one of the most well-developed bicycle path networks in the USA. "If we are seeing an increase in injuries in a metropolitan area that has fairly mature bike infrastructure from the standpoint of bike pathways, there's reason for concern about what's happening in metropolitan areas that don't have that level of maturity."

I wonder if anyone has considered the possibility that the infrastructure is increasing the severity of the collisions?


#28174 From: Bob Shanteau <RMShant@...>
Date: Wed Nov 11, 2009 9:27 pm
Subject: [Fwd: University Ped. and Bicycle Transportation Education Workshop at the TRB Annual Meeting]
bshanteau
Offline Offline
Send Email Send Email
 
Does anybody live close enough to DC to attend this workshop? Note that
registration for the TRB Meeting is not required to attend the workshop.

Bob Shanteau


-------- Original Message --------
Subject:     University Ped. and Bicycle Transportation Education
Workshop at the TRB Annual Meeting
Date:     Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:22:53 -0500 (EST)
From:     Jennifer Dill jdill@... <>
To:     rmshant@...

The Transportation Research Board (TRB) Pedestrian and Bicycle
Committees are hosting a workshop on University Pedestrian and Bicycle
Transportation Education at the TRB Annual Meeting.  The workshop will
be held on Sunday, January 10, 2010, from 9 a.m. to noon at the Marriott
Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, DC.  We hope that you can attend.
More details are provided below.

TITLE: University Pedestrian and Bicycle Transportation Education
DATE AND TIME: Sunday, January 10, 2010, 9 a.m. to noon
LOCATION:  Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, 2660 Woodley Road NW, Washington, DC
Registration for the TRB Meeting is not required to attend this workshop.

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION:
This workshop will provide information about existing university
pedestrian and bicycle transportation courses.  It will explore
challenges and opportunities for improving non-motorized transportation
education and foster discussion about how professors, researchers,
students, advocates, and other professionals can contribute to better
pedestrian and bicycle education opportunities at the national and local
levels.  Workshop participants will have an opportunity to provide input
and discuss key topics in small breakout groups.

WORKSHOP LEADERS:
Rebecca Sanders, University of California-Berkeley
Laura Sandt, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
Robert Schneider, University of California-Berkeley
Lynn Weigand, Portland State University

WORKSHOP OBJECTIVES:
*Understand how many university pedestrian and bicycle education courses
are currently being offered in the United States and abroad
*Understand the range of topics currently being covered in a sample of
pedestrian and bicycle education courses
*Understand the range of institutional arrangements that have been made
to offer pedestrian and bicycle education within university planning and
engineering programs
*Understand the challenges related to establishing new pedestrian and
bicycle courses within existing university structures
*Learn about what other pedestrian and bicycle course instructors
throughout the country are struggling with-from specific topics to
institutional barriers
*Learn about opportunities for integrating expertise from pedestrian and
bicycle practitioners into courses
*Help define the core competencies, central topics, or essential body of
knowledge necessary for bicycle and pedestrian practitioners

For further information please contact Bob Schneider,
rschneider@...

#28173 From: Ed Wagner <e.j.wagner.jr@...>
Date: Wed Nov 11, 2009 3:28 am
Subject: Cyclists rights
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This came from Carl Scully, former "Roads Minister" in Australia, in a
piece titled "Cyclists do not have the same rights as motorists on
roads."  He seems genuinely puzzled as to why cyclists don't want to use
those nice separated facilities the government has so graciously
provided.  The article oozes paternalism as he speaks of cyclists almost
as petulant children.

The idea of vehicular cycling is so foreign to this man, it may as well
be in a dead language.  He cannot understand and he will make no effort
to understand.  And even worse, he was one of the people setting policy.

Ed W

============

LINK
<http://www.theage.com.au/drive/motor-news/cyclists-do-not-have-the-same-rights-\
as-motorists-on-roads-20091111-i8st.html>

"...I made it quite clear that I believed riding a bike on a road was
profoundly unsafe and that where I could I would shift them to off road
cycle ways.

I am still surprised as to how someone willingly gets on a bike and
takes a huge risk with cars, trucks and buses, often travelling well
over 80 km/h.

Motorists get fined for not wearing a seat belt and not strapping their
children in properly, for good reason. It is unsafe to be in a vehicle
without being belted in properly.

That leaves cyclists very vulnerable. No one would suggest it is safe
for pedestrians to be on the roadway, so why should it be any different
if a pedestrian gets on a bike?

...In rejecting the "we have a right to be on the road" mentality of
cyclists and their lobby groups, I also took a measured and balanced
policy position on how best to separate bicycles and vehicles from our
roads over time."

=============

#28172 From: Serge Issakov <serge.issakov@...>
Date: Tue Nov 10, 2009 10:03 pm
Subject: The Eli Damon saga
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LCI Eli Damon has documented his troubles with the law for controlling
his lane in Massachusetts on his Facebook page.
With his permission, I'm posting it here.

Serge

-------------------------
my legal troubles

  Monday, October 5, 2009 at 10:54am
Story #1:

On Saturday, August 22th at approximately 11:00AM, I was traveling West
on Route 9 in Hadley Massachusetts, approaching North/South Maple
Street. This is a four-lane, divided highway. I was in the outer,
westbound lane, in approximately the middle of the lane, excluding the
right-turn diverge area. From my extensive cycling experience and
training from the League of American Bicyclists (I am a certified
cycling instructor), I know that this position was necessary for
traveling safely and effectively on this road. As I passed a parking
lot on the right, a police officer, later identified as Patrolman
Mitchell Kuc, in a patrol car in the parking lot shouted through the
loudspeaker "Get out of the middle of the road!" Note that he did not
address me specifically, nor was I, in fact, in the middle of the road
so I assume that he wanted me to get off the road entirely. I could not
think of any reasonable response to to this so I continued on my way,
proceeding straight across North/South Maple Street. Officer Kuc
followed me in the patrol car and activated the siren. I pulled over
and stopped.

Officer Kuc claimed that it was illegal to ride a bicycle on a State
highway. I brought his attention to a State statute (Massachusetts
General Laws: Chapter 85: Section 11B) which contradicted his
accusation. He asked me if I had ID, which I did not have. He asked me
for my name and Social Security Number which I gave. He went back to his
car and returned with a statute book and pointed to a requirement to
move to the right to facilitate overtaking by other vehicles and accused
me of obstructing traffic and causing a hazard. I tried to explain that
the statute did not require me to move to the right to an extent that
would put me in unreasonable danger or in violation of the rules of the
road and that other vehicles had been passing me freely. I had, in fact,
been complying with this requirement by traveling in the outer (i.e.
right, travel) lane as opposed to the inner (i.e. left, passing) lane.
Officer Kuc then threatened to arrest me for disturbing the peace if I
continued on my way.

At some point in the conversation, Officer Kuc reported the situation
over his radio. At no point in the conversation did he state what he
believed to be a proper lane position under the circumstances.

I waited in the Home Depot parking lot and called a friend for advice.
Eventually I noticed that the patrol car was not present. I could not
think of anything to do except continue on my way. Fortunately, I did
not encounter him again on that trip. Note that a police officer is not
allowed to arbitrarily detain someone. If he believed that I had been
violating a traffic regulation, he could properly have written me a
ticket but he should have allowed me to continue on my way. But since he
had threatened to arrest me if I continued on my way, he was clearly
detaining me arbitrarily. This was also a problem in the other incidents
that I recount below.

I did encounter him again in the same place at about 10:30AM on
Saturday, September 12th. He pulled me over just past the Home Depot
driveway. He was accompanied by another officer in another car and he
spoke to me in a harsh, angry tone. He confiscated my bicycle and made
me walk to police station to retrieve it. Note that this also is not a
legitimate action for a police officer to take. I constitutes an
unreasonable search which forbidden by the Constitution. When he
returned my bicycle to me at the police station at about 11:00AM, he
admitted that I might have been acting lawfully but said, "I don't care
about the law." He said that regardless of whether my behavior was
lawful, he did not like it and he thought it was stupid. He told me he
would arrest me the next time and that if I rode in the middle of the
lane on any road in any town, he would find out about it and punish me.
Of course, this last part is absurd.

It was then very clear that, with the constant, looming threat of arrest,
I was not safe in Hadley. I am avoiding
traveling on Route 9 in Hadley while I await a resolution to this problem
but this is greatly inconvenient and humiliating. I have contacted
MassBike (i.e. the Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition) and an ACLU lawyer
for help but nothing has happened yet.

Story #2

While I was waiting for help in resolving my problem with Officer Kuc, I
had another, even more serious encounter. However, before I recount it,
I would like to recount another incident that occurred on Monday,
October 13th of last year. I posted the following story to the MassBike
Pioneer Valley chapter email list on the night of the incident.

----------------
The saga continues. . . .

When we last left our hero, (i.e. me) a West Springfield police
officer had promised to mail him (me) a ticket for riding a bicycle on
Route 147. I never received that ticket so I assume that the officer
had been bluffing to cover for his ignorance of the statute.

Today, I was on my way to Agawam once more when I was pulled over by
another West Springfield police officer. This was on the exit ramp
from Route 5 South that connects to Route 147. The officer told me
that he was writing me a $200 ticket for riding a bicycle on Route 5.
He started to write the ticket but then changed his mind and left me
with a verbal warning to stay off of Route 5. His change of mind might
have been influenced by my calm yet forceful legal argument. But that
is not the end of the story.

On my way back through West Springfield, I was pulled over again. This
was Route 5 North somewhere near the Riverdale Shops. There were two
officers, each in their own car. One told me later that someone had
called the station after seeing me and that they were responding to
this call. To their credit they were very calm and polite throughout
the incident. Anyway, we had a tense but civil discussion about the
Massachusetts general laws and the finer points of traffic safety.
After about thirty minutes, they radioed the station to have someone
check the statute and received an (incorrect) confirmation that it is
illegal to ride a bicycle on a State highway.

At that point, one of the officers gave me an ultimatum. He said that
I could either walk to Holyoke or I could continue riding and get
arrested. He kept asking me for my choice and, not liking either option,
I kept telling him that I hadn't decided. This went on for about
fifteen minutes, when the they got another radio call from the
station. Someone had actually looked up the statute and found that it
did not prohibit riding a bicycle on a State highway. There was some
more discussion over the radio about the details of the statute and
another officer (I was told he was a captain!) arrived in another car.

They finally decided that they could write me a $20 ticket for not
having reflectors on my pedals or ankles. I checked later and found
that I did have pedal reflectors, which I wasn't aware of at the time.
However, the captain had argued that even if I had had pedal
reflectors, I would still be violating the statute since my cargo
concealed one of them. (This can't be right, can it? If it is then
panniers are illegal.)

So they wrote me a ticket but what then? They could not allow me to
ride a bike that they had just declared unfit. They might have
demanded that I walk and arrest me if I attempted to ride. However,
the captain thought it was too risky so he had one of the other
officers drive me, with my bike loaded in the trunk, to Hadley, which
had been my destination. This was about an hour after I had first been
pulled over.

So I spent an hour arguing with the police and got a bogus $20 ticket,
which I might not be able contest since I will be in Virginia/DC.
However, I did get a ride to Hadley and, most important, I got them to
thoroughly study the statute and admit that there is no law that
forbids riding a bicycle on a State highway. For this reason, I
consider my adventure to be a success for bicycle advocacy.

Eli
----------------

Now for the recent incident, which occured while traveling North on
Route 5 in West Springfield Massachusetts on Monday, October 28th at
approximately 7:30PM. Similar to the incident that occurred last year, I
was returning from the Big E (basically a state fair) in Agawam
Massachusetts when I was pulled over by a pair of police officers, each
in a separate patrol car, one of them later identified as Joseph Reed.

Similar to Officer Kuc, Officer Reed claimed that it was illegal to ride
a bicycle on a State highway and that I was obstructing traffic and
causing a hazard. He was very angry and I did not try to lecture him but
I did assert my right to the road. He asked a number of questions, which
I answered calmly and concisely. However, my answered seemed to make him
increasingly more angry and agitated and he repeated told me to shut up
while I was attempting to answer his questions. He put his face right up
close to my face and yelled at me for more than a full minute, during
which he asked me more questions that I attempted not to answer so as to
avoid angering him further. Much of what he said was quite insulting. He
clearly did not like that I rode a bicycle, that I lived in Amherst (a
town with politically progressive reputation), and that I knew something
about the law. Eventually, he asked me what the problem would be with
riding on the shoulder. I answered that it would be very dangerous. The
other officer, who had been silent until then, said, questioningly, "But
riding in the travel lane would not be dangerous?" I answered, "Yes."
Officer Reed handcuffed me and placed me under arrest, stating
disorderly conduct as the charge, and had me sit in the back seat of his
patrol car. I should point out that my behavior during this incident in
no way constituted a physical so handcuffs should not have been
necessary.

While riding in the patrol car, Officer Reed told me that I should stay
in Amherst. I asked whether he meant that did not have a right to travel
wherever I wanted. He responded dismissively.

We arrived at the police station and he led through a series of
corridors. One of the officers from the incident last year recognized me
and spoke to me, saying "I thought we told you to stay off of Route 5."
Apparently she completely misremembered the resolution of the incident.
I tried to remind her of this resolution when Officer Reed grabbed me by
my bicycle helmet and yanked me away. My possessions were inventoried
and confiscated. I was read my Miranda right and fingerprinted. I was
offered the opportunity to make a phone call. I called my mom and
summarize to her what had happened. Then I was locked in a cell.

After a while, I was removed from the cell and brought to table on which
were my possessions. A court clerk was waiting there to accept a payment
of bail. I paid him and he told me to be at the court house the next
morning to be arraigned. Officer Reed was also there. While I was
collecting my possessions, Officer Reed badgered me about taking too
long, which flustered me and made it more difficult to do so. Then
Officer Reed led me to the lobby of police station and presented me with
my bicycle and form to sign for its release. He badgered me about taking
too long to sign the form. My parents had come to meet me and I left
with them. Except for Officer Reed, everyone at the police station had
treated me calmly and politely but did not question Officer Reed's
behavior.

The next morning, I went to the Hampden County courthouse in Springfield
and, after waiting in the courtroom for about three hours, I was
arraigned on a charge of disorderly conduct. After being arraigned, I
was given an appointment for a pre-trial conference on November 10th and
a copy of Officer Reed's report on the incident. It claimed that,
while I was talking to the two police officers next to Route 5, I had
stepped into the road. This is false and, in fact,
impossible since both my bicycle and Officer Reed had been between me
and road. The report also also claimed that other drivers had been
honking their horns and "swerving" around me. It is true that other
drivers had been honking their horns, which any cyclist will attest
constitutes a threat. I am not certain whether the word "swerving" is
appropriate. What Officer Reed described as "swerving" could have been
legal and orderly overtaking. I cannot say either way. Obviously,
Officer Reed had taken no action with regard to the threatening and
allegedly erratic behavior of the other drivers. In fact, he had told me
while we were standing next to Route 5 that he had had to brake hard to
avoid colliding with a van that had been immediately ahead of him. This
implies that he had been encroaching on the van driver's rear right of
way (i.e. tailgating), which is illegal and dangerous, constituting a
violation of the rules of the road.

I have hired a lawyer to help me fight the disorderly conduct charge.
However, another encounter with the police before the case is resolved
will likely result in my bail being revoked, which means that I would
be held in jail until the case is resolved. Furthermore, even after
the case is resolved, the issue will remain unresolved. I will remain
unable to travel freely since an incessant threat of police
interference will be looming over me. Additionally, my recent
experiences with the police give me the impression that the general
problem is getting worse. Until my problem is fully resolved (the
specific problem with the Hadley and West Springfield police, not the
general problem), I will not be able to travel unescorted along
several important routes in the area. This severely limits my ability
to travel to many destinations.

----------------

response to Erich's question:

Erich: There are many reasons not to ride on shoulders in general. It
is part of the concept called "vehicular cycling", which I practice,
teach as a certified instructor, and advocate that everyone learn and
practice.

It is important to use the design features of the roads to guide you
along the correct path so that you do not end up repeatedly crossing
paths with or merging into high-speed traffic. This is especially
important on large, fast, and complicated roads, such as the ones in
question. Despite the popular myth, rear end collisions are quite rare
and are more likely to be caused by motorists drifting onto the should
to hit an unnoticed cyclist or by a cyclist being forced off of a
shoulder when the shoulder narrows, is interrupted by a driveway or
intersection, is is obstructed, than by a motorist plowing into a
cyclist that is directly ahead of them, which they are pretty certain
to notice. It is also common for motorists to misjudge or ignore the
amount of space needed to pass a cyclist safely. Close passing can be
prevented by taking a more assertive position on the road.

Most bicycle crashes do not involve other vehicles at all. They occur
when a cyclist hits a fixed object or an irregularity in the road
(e.g. sand, debris, parked car, edge of pavement). Such are common on
shoulders and uncommon in travel lanes. Travel lanes are also better
lit than shoulders. For example, on the part of Route 5 in West
Springfield where I was arrested, the shoulder had a guardrail on the
outside and a rumble strip on the inside. There might have been sand
there as well.

Of the bicycle crashes that involve cars, most occur at intersections.
It is important to be integrated into the flow of traffic so as to be
conspicuous, predictable, and assertive, and so that you can be sure
to end up in a good place when you get to the other side of the
intersection. For example, on the part of Route 9 in Hadley where I
threatened with arrest, there was a continuous series of traffic
lights, merges, diverges, right-turn lanes, etc. (that replace the
shoulder). Route 5 in West Springfield also matches this description.
If a cyclist is riding to far to the right (especially on the
shoulder) when they approach a diverge or right-turn lane, they are
faced with the choice of either going the wrong way, merging quickly,
or pulling over quckly and then cutting across traffic to get back in
the right place.

If you follow the rules, the road will guide you along the correct
path and you can go wherever you want to go whenever you want to go
there. You can travel completely freely (except when you get bullied
by cops), without obsessing over every detail of your route. And you
can travel very far and very quickly because you save the time,
effort, and stress that might otherwise be go into detecting every
specific danger you might encounter. Before I discovered vehicular
cycling, ten miles out and ten miles back was about as far as I could
go. Now I think nothing of making trips of twenty-five miles out and
twenty-five miles back.

----------------

In Alegata v. Commonwealth, 353 Mass. 287, 302, 231 N.E.2d 201 (1967),
in regard to appellant Donald G. Chartrand, the Supreme Judicial Court
of Massachusetts defined "disorderly conduct" as follows: "A person is
guilty of disorderly conduct if, with purpose to cause public
inconvenience, annoyance or alarm, or recklessly creating a risk
thereof, he: (a) engages in fighting or threatening, or in violent or
tumultuous behavior; or (b) makes unreasonable noise or offensively
coarse utterance, gesture or display, or addresses abusive language to
any person present; or (c) creates a hazardous or physically offensive
condition by any act which serves no legitimate purpose of the actor."
My conduct fails to meet even a single condition mentioned in this
definition, let alone the definition as a whole.

----------------

response to Steve's question:

My experience as a vehicular cyclist and my training as a League
Certified Instructor have taught me that if you use the right
equipment and follow the right rules, it is not especially dangerous,
regardless of the speed difference. Traffic works the same way for all
vehicles and the rules and safety principles are the same. I have
ridden on many different types of roads and at many different degrees
of assertiveness and I can see the effects plainly.

Any road that actually goes somewhere is a State highway and the
simplest and fastest route to a given destination is almost always a
large, fast one. Often, it is the only practical route to a given
destination, other routes being substantially slower, less direct, and
more complicated. Other routes also usually offer far less
flexibility. In the particular case of my trip home from Agawam (Story
#2), Route 5 was the only practical route (with the exception of
Interstate 91). The next best alternative is much longer and more
complicated, which means more inconvenience and more safety and
navigation concerns.

You mentioned Critical Mass, I do think that it plays something of a
positive role for bike advocacy. However, I am critical of Critical
Mass. I think it sends the wrong message to both motorists and
cyclists by disregarding the law and the rules of the road. I think
that lawful, vehicular cycling would have a much more powerful and
positive influence.

My primary purpose is not protest; It is practical travel, to get
where I want to go as efficiently as possible. That means speed,
simplicity, and flexibility. Too much planning, thinking, and worrying
not only makes the trip itself more difficult, stressful, and
time-consuming, it also increases the chances that I won't bother
making the trip at all. Thinking this way would make it very difficult
live a life with a healthy amount of physical and social activity. It
would represent severe, self-imposed limits on my work, home,
shopping, and entertainment options. Basically, I would be living the
stunted, crippled lifestyle that I lived up until four years ago, when
I first discovered vehicular cycling, instead of the free and active
lifestyle that I have become accustomed to since then.

#28171 From: Wayne Pein <wpein@...>
Date: Tue Nov 10, 2009 4:47 pm
Subject: Re: [CG] Ft. Collins Collision Study
wawa42p
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Bob Sutterfield wrote:
>
>
> Has anybody analyzed this study, perhaps by converting their results
> to standard collision typologies?

I just quickly skimmed it, and the one thing that stands out for me is
that there is almost complete absence of light condition/darkness/unlit
bicyclist as a contributing factor, and I'm sure they would be
significant for some of the collisions.

Wayne

#28170 From: "jacktaylor" <jacktaylor@...>
Date: Tue Nov 10, 2009 3:57 pm
Subject: Re: [Fwd: [transport-policy] D.C.: Fenty uses police escort, clogs traffic on bike rides]
jacktaylor
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Contrast that with the approach to cycling and the good press by London's Mayor
Boris Johnson. Riding alone, for transportation, through the streets of a
not-so-nice area of London.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article6901972.ece


Jack

#28169 From: Bob Sutterfield <bob@...>
Date: Tue Nov 10, 2009 3:34 pm
Subject: Ft. Collins Collision Study
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#28168 From: John Forester <forester@...>
Date: Tue Nov 10, 2009 1:43 am
Subject: [Fwd: [transport-policy] D.C.: Fenty uses police escort, clogs traffic on bike rides]
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-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [transport-policy] D.C.: Fenty uses police escort, clogs traffic on bike rides
Date: Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:21:45 -0500
From: C.Patrick Zilliacus <CPZ@...>
Reply-To: transport-policy@yahoogroups.com
To: Transport-Policy Group <transport-policy@yahoogroups.com>, American Dream Group <PreservingtheAmericanDream@yahoogroups.com>


 

http://www.wtop.com/?nid=428&sid=1807568

Fenty uses police escort, clogs traffic on bike rides

November 9, 2009 - 4:43pm
Mark Segraves, wtop.com


WASHINGTON - D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty's passion for athletics is well known in the area.

But many people are unaware of how the mayor's rigid training schedule is impacting public safety and traffic in the area.

The mayor trains with his competitive cycling team, D.C. Velo, on the streets of D.C. and in the Maryland suburbs several days a week, usually in the middle of the day.

Over the past several months, WTOP videotaped the mayor and his team on multiple dates as the team - escorted by D.C. Police motorcycle officers - rode on parkways where bikes aren't permitted, ran red lights and stop signs and created traffic backups wherever they went.

Documents obtained by the police union through a Freedom of Information Act request show officers from the Special Events Branch are routinely detailed for the "mayor's bike ride," racking up hundreds of man hours - many of which officers spend waiting for the mayor.

On multiple occasions, WTOP witnessed uniformed officers waiting for one to two hours for the mayor's cycling team to arrive for their training rides.

In many cases, the officers would escort the team from the mayor's home or from a Georgetown cycle shop along Rock Creek Parkway to Hains Point, where the team would spend an hour or more doing laps around the park. All the while, the police officers sit and wait, and then escort the team back to the starting point.

On every ride WTOP witnessed, Fenty and his teammates were seen running red lights and stop signs as the officers used their flashing lights to block oncoming traffic.

Fenty and his team have also taken rides along the Clara Barton Parkway in Bethesda, where the speed limit is 50 miles per hour.

Sgt. David Schlosser, public information officer for the U.S. Park Police, says bicycles are not permitted on the Clara Barton Parkway.

D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier says the mayor is entitled to have security with him at all times.

"For the mayor to have a security team when he's out riding his bike is not unusual. It's not uncommon," Lanier tells WTOP. "I don't look at their daily agenda of where they go or what they do. I don't know about running stop signs and stop lights and things of that nature."

Fenty's cycling has a major impact on traffic. The teammates generally ride three or four abreast, taking up one or more lanes of traffic.

Several times, traffic along Rock Creek Parkway, MacArthur Boulevard, and other major roads became snarled with as cars stalled behind the caravan of bikes.

At times, the police officers were seen riding on sidewalks and bike lanes as well as driving into oncoming traffic trying to keep pace with the mayor.

According to sources familiar with the mayor's security detail, Fenty became furious after he spotted WTOP videotaping a recent bike outing.

Last month, Fenty spotted WTOP with a video camera as he rode along Rock Creek Parkway. Minutes later, as Fenty and his teammates rode along the parkway, the mayor darted across the road and onto the bike path, where he dismissed the police escort and took off through the woods.

A few days later, when WTOP caught up with the mayor and his bike team again, they had moved their training ride to Bethesda, where more than 20 cyclists - along with a D.C. Police escort - tied up traffic along Goldsboro Road, MacArthur Boulevard and other major roadways.

AAA spokesman Lon Anderson says he's "disappointed" to hear the mayor is having such a negative impact on traffic.

"It's really sad to hear that we have an elected official that is doing things that are significantly deteriorating traffic for those that use the roads," Anderson tells WTOP.

Traffic isn't the only concern when it comes to the mayor's use of a motorcycle police escort for his bike team.

D.C. Councilmember Phil Mendelson, who chairs the committee that oversees the police department, says it's a public safety issue.

"The purpose of the security detail is to protect him personally. Not to assist and enable recreational activities," Mendelson says.

"I hear from folks all the time about their concerns of having enough police in the neighborhoods. What we have here is police officers being taken out of the neighborhood in order to assist with a personal training regiment."

Mendelson isn't alone in his concerns. Kris Baumann with the police union says the use of these uniformed officers raises many problems.

"These motorcycle officers have other responsibilities They should be out performing police functions in the city and instead, are performing these functions for the mayor," Baumann says.

The mayor also uses U.S. Department of Homeland Security vehicles to transport his bike to races and other events.

According to records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, the mayor's security detail has signed out two Government Services Administration SUVs that are meant for emergency use 25 times in the past two years. Of those 25 dates, 14 coincide with triathlons or other events the mayor participating in.

Chief Lanier defends the practice of transporting the mayor's bike.

"If the detail travels with the mayor and the mayor is going to a biking event, I don't think there's anything wrong with the officers putting the bike in the vehicle they're going to protect the mayor in on an event," Lanier says.

But Baumann and Mendelson disagree, characterizing the practice as a type of "valet service" for the mayor.

"The mayor's security should not be about enabling athletic training," Mendelson says.

Fenty's security detail has also racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in travel expenses over the first two and a half years of his administration.

According to documents provided through a Freedom of Information Act request, the security detail has spent $364,748.66 in travel through April of 2009.

Fenty is quick to point out that the amount is less than his predecessor, Tony Williams, who traveled frequently, but would not answer how much of that money is spent on transporting his bike.

In a letter from the D.C. Police FOIA officer denying WTOP access to the mayor's security detail's travel receipts, WTOP was told that the information is restricted due to "deliberative process."

Several sources familiar with the mayor's detail tell WTOP the security officers regularly use District funds to transport the bike by plane and charge it to the detail's expense reports.

(Copyright 2009 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)



-- John Forester, MS, PE
Bicycle Transportation Engineer
7585 Church St. Lemon Grove CA 91945-2306
619-644-5481 forester@...
www.johnforester.com

#28167 From: Schubley@...
Date: Tue Nov 10, 2009 2:35 pm
Subject: AASHTO & MUTCD
schubertjd
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Hi all,

This is mostly for NRPhillips@... in Delaware, and is at least
somewhat redundant to other posts, which I skimmed as I wisked through
a week's worth of Chainguard digests.  But I think I've nailed the core
points quite succinctly, and therefore am taking the liberty of posting.

The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) is categorically
unambiguous in its language.  The members of the National Committee on
Uniform Traffic Control Devices Bicycle Technical Committee (myself
included) view this as a no-brainer.

The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials
Guide for the Development of Bicycle Facilities (“AASHTO guidelines”)
are also quite clear.  Notably, I checked various editions of the
AASHTO guidelines, from the very first (1981) edition to the most
recent (1999), and all of them say the same thing.

What I don't understand is how these people in Delaware think they can
depart from established national practice, invent their own traffic
law, disrgard the support statements for why the law says what it says,
and not be on the thinnest of ice when an accident occurs.  I hope you
can make that clear to them.

Here's the language from the MUTCD Chapter 9:

<begin MUTCD quote>

Section 9C.04  Markings For Bicycle Lanes
Guidance:
Longitudinal pavement markings should be used to define bicycle lanes.
Support:
Pavement markings designate that portion of the roadway for
preferential use by bicyclists.  Markings inform
all road users of the restricted nature of the bicycle lane.
Examples of bicycle lane markings at right-turn lanes are shown in
Figures 9C-1, 9C-3, and 9C-4.  Examples
of pavement markings for bicycle lanes on a two-way street are shown in
Figure 9C-5.  Pavement symbols and
markings for bicycle lanes are shown in Figure 9C-6.
Standard:
If used, the bicycle lane symbol marking (see Figure 9C-6) shall be
placed immediately after an
intersection and at other locations as needed.  The bicycle lane symbol
marking shall be white.  If the bicycle
lane symbol marking is used in conjunction with other word or symbol
messages, it shall precede them.
If the word or symbol pavement markings shown in Figure 9C-6 are used,
Bicycle Lane signs (see
Section 9B.04) shall also be used, but the signs need not be adjacent
to every symbol to avoid overuse of
the signs.
A through bicycle lane shall not be positioned to the right of a right
turn only lane.
Support:
A bicyclist continuing straight through an intersection from the right
of a right turn lane would be
inconsistent with normal traffic behavior and would violate the
expectations of right-turning motorists.
Guidance:
When the right through lane is dropped to become a right turn only
lane, the bicycle lane markings should
stop at least 100 feet before the beginning of the right turn lane.
Through bicycle lane markings should resume
to the left of the right turn only lane.
An optional through-right turn lane next to a right turn only lane
should not be used where there is a through
bicycle lane.  If a capacity analysis indicates the need for an
optional through-right turn lane, the bicycle lane
should be discontinued at the intersection approach.
Posts or raised pavement markers should not be used to separate bicycle
lanes from adjacent travel lanes.
Support:
Using raised devises creates a collision potential for bicyclists by
placing fixed objects immediately adjacent
to the travel path of the bicyclist.  In addition, raised devices can
prevent vehicles turning right from merging
with the bicycle lane, which is the preferred method for making the
right turn.  Raised devices used to define
a bicycle lane can also cause problems in cleaning and maintaining the
bicycle lane.

<end MUTCD quote>

Note the key elements of this language.  It uses the magic word
"shall."  And it is a standard, not a suggestion.  (In the original
book, the boldface chapter headings underscore this.)

Here is the AASHTO language:

<begin AASHTO>

At signalized or stop-controlled intersections with right-turning motor
vehicles, the solid striping to the approach should be replaced with a
broken line with 0.6-m (2-foot) dots and 1.8-m (6-foot) spaces. The
length of the broken line section is usually 15m to 60m (50 feet to 200
feet).

(p. 25)

Bikelanes sometimes complicate bicycle and motor vehicle turning
movements at intersections. Because they encourage bicyclists to keep
to the right and motorists to keep to the left, both operators are
somewhat discouraged from merging in advance of turns. Thus, some
bicyclists may begin left turns from the right-side bikelane and some
motorists may begin right turns from the left of the bikelane. Both
maneuvers are contrary to established rules of the road and may result
in conflicts; however, these can be lessened by signing and striping.

(p. 25.27)

At intersections, bicyclists proceeding straight through and motorists
turning right must cross paths. Striping and signing configurations
which encourage crossings in advance of the intersection, in a merging
fashion, are preferable to those that force the crossing in the
immediate vicinity of the intersection. One example of such a
configuration is given in Figure 9. To a lesser extent, the same is
true for left-turning bicyclists; however, in this maneuver, most
vehicle codes allow the bicyclist the option of making either a
“vehicular style” left turn (where the bicyclist merges leftward to the
same lane used for motor vehicle left turns) or a “pedestrian style”
left turn (where the bicyclist proceeds straight through the
intersection, turns left at the far side, then proceeds across the
intersection again on the cross street). (See Figure 10.)

(p. 27)

<end AASHTO>

John Schubert
Coopersburg, PA
Limeport.org

#28166 From: John Forester <forester@...>
Date: Mon Nov 9, 2009 10:16 pm
Subject: Re: [CG] LA Times Articles
biketransengr
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The argument about being predictable has been debated for thirty years in slightly different contexts, and by safety instructors and bikeway designers. A cyclist ahead of you and to your right sticks out his left arm. What's predictable? That he swerves in front of you, predictability based on signaling. Unlawful, but all too often the case. Bike-lane stripes make traffic more predictable. So the cyclist on the right-hand side of the lane is more predictable? That is until that cyclist swerves into a left turn. Or, for that matter, destroys the predictability of the stripe by negotiating a left merge before turning left. As I say, that word predictable contains a mixture of sinful and proper behavior that cannot be unmixed.

Serge Issakov wrote:
 

"Predictable is not the same thing as predictably safe."

That's out-of-the-box-thinking genius... simple and obvious but most of us would not think of it ourselves.

To illustrate it in another context, motorist behavior with respect to a ninja bicyclist dressed in black riding at night without lights or reflectors on an unlit street during a new moon is predictable too... it's the same as when the bicyclist is not there.

To a cyclist, being predictable is not helpful in those situations where you're overlooked and need to be noticed,
like when approaching a potential right hook situation in a far right position, which is exactly what bike lanes
encourage.

Serge


On Sun, Nov 8, 2009 at 5:40 PM, Bob Shanteau <RMShant@gmail.com> wrote:
 

I forwarded JohnB's question about whether a stripe makes a bicyclist
safer to Dan Gutierrez, and his analysis makes so much sense, I thought
I would post it to the list.

Bob Shanteau

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: RE: [Fwd: Re: [CG] LA Times Articles]
Date: Sun, 8 Nov 2009 14:23:00 -0800
From: Dan Gutierrez <Dan.Gutierrez@Charter.Net>
To: 'Bob Shanteau' <rmshant@gmail.com>



JohnB wrote:
> When alone in a striped lane of any kind, I think the natural
> inclination is to drive in the center of that lane, to provide
> yourself equal buffer on both sides. Motorists as well as bicyclists
> in bike lanes do this. (Even DZBL's, as we know.) So when the
> bicyclist is within the same lane as the motorist, he or she is within
> the motorist's "zone of maximum surveilance", to use your term, and
> this tendency to center is usually (not always!) overridden. In this
> case, motorists leaves the bicyclist wildly varying amounts of room,
> sometimes way too much because they are nervous about not leaving
> enough. Or the lane is narrow, there is oncoming traffic, and the
> bicyclist is hugging the curb, so the car passes as close to the
> yellow line as they can but it may still be too close. Passing
> distance thus depends on a large variety of factors when the bicyclist
> is in the same lane, even if it's a wide lane. But again, when both
> drivers have their own lane, the centering-within-lane position is the
> default, regardless of the amount of actual room it leaves the
> cyclist. It's the same when both vehicles are cars.
>
> Make sense?

No Bob, this doesn't make sense. Predictable is not the same thing as
predictably safe! A motorist simply ignores what's in the bike lane and
travels as if the bike lane were an empty shoulder. This is quite
predictable, including the hook type turns at driveways and
intersections, since the motorist predictably avoids driving in the bike
lane, even at turns. This is why I dislike Andy's statement about a bike
lane taming traffic; it doesn't. Instead it makes traffic predictably
dangerous, particularly motorists who learn to ignore the bike lane and
the cyclists in it. OTOH, cyclists controlling lanes do "tame" traffic
by forcing it to be both predictable AND safe (queue or lane change to
pass).

- Dan -


-- John Forester, MS, PE
Bicycle Transportation Engineer
7585 Church St. Lemon Grove CA 91945-2306
619-644-5481 forester@...
www.johnforester.com

#28165 From: Serge Issakov <serge.issakov@...>
Date: Mon Nov 9, 2009 6:44 pm
Subject: Re: [CG] LA Times Articles
ljserge
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"Predictable is not the same thing as predictably safe."

That's out-of-the-box-thinking genius... simple and obvious but most of us would not think of it ourselves.

To illustrate it in another context, motorist behavior with respect to a ninja bicyclist dressed in black riding at night without lights or reflectors on an unlit street during a new moon is predictable too... it's the same as when the bicyclist is not there.

To a cyclist, being predictable is not helpful in those situations where you're overlooked and need to be noticed,
like when approaching a potential right hook situation in a far right position, which is exactly what bike lanes
encourage.

Serge


On Sun, Nov 8, 2009 at 5:40 PM, Bob Shanteau <RMShant@...> wrote:
 

I forwarded JohnB's question about whether a stripe makes a bicyclist
safer to Dan Gutierrez, and his analysis makes so much sense, I thought
I would post it to the list.

Bob Shanteau

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: RE: [Fwd: Re: [CG] LA Times Articles]
Date: Sun, 8 Nov 2009 14:23:00 -0800
From: Dan Gutierrez <Dan.Gutierrez@...>
To: 'Bob Shanteau' <rmshant@...>



JohnB wrote:
> When alone in a striped lane of any kind, I think the natural
> inclination is to drive in the center of that lane, to provide
> yourself equal buffer on both sides. Motorists as well as bicyclists
> in bike lanes do this. (Even DZBL's, as we know.) So when the
> bicyclist is within the same lane as the motorist, he or she is within
> the motorist's "zone of maximum surveilance", to use your term, and
> this tendency to center is usually (not always!) overridden. In this
> case, motorists leaves the bicyclist wildly varying amounts of room,
> sometimes way too much because they are nervous about not leaving
> enough. Or the lane is narrow, there is oncoming traffic, and the
> bicyclist is hugging the curb, so the car passes as close to the
> yellow line as they can but it may still be too close. Passing
> distance thus depends on a large variety of factors when the bicyclist
> is in the same lane, even if it's a wide lane. But again, when both
> drivers have their own lane, the centering-within-lane position is the
> default, regardless of the amount of actual room it leaves the
> cyclist. It's the same when both vehicles are cars.
>
> Make sense?

No Bob, this doesn't make sense. Predictable is not the same thing as
predictably safe! A motorist simply ignores what's in the bike lane and
travels as if the bike lane were an empty shoulder. This is quite
predictable, including the hook type turns at driveways and
intersections, since the motorist predictably avoids driving in the bike
lane, even at turns. This is why I dislike Andy's statement about a bike
lane taming traffic; it doesn't. Instead it makes traffic predictably
dangerous, particularly motorists who learn to ignore the bike lane and
the cyclists in it. OTOH, cyclists controlling lanes do "tame" traffic
by forcing it to be both predictable AND safe (queue or lane change to
pass).

- Dan -


#28164 From: Wayne Pein <wpein@...>
Date: Mon Nov 9, 2009 5:17 pm
Subject: Re: [CG] Re: More advice in discussion about intersection bike lanes
wawa42p
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The planners in Portland Maine have already demonstrated an inability to
paint AASHTO compliant width bike lanes, instead striping substandard
width. It's likely they considered the gutter pan part of bike lane
width, either not reading, mis-reading, or simply ignoring the AASHTO
Guidelines. Given that ineptitude or malfeasance, convincing them of
sensible intersection design is like trying to polish a turd.

Wayne

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