The 1019 Project

2011-12-23T10:42:00.000-05:00

Smartphones, dumb drivers

With smartphone ownership proliferating, a total ban on cellphone use by drivers is needed, for the safety of everyone on the road.

When the state Office of Traffic Safety asked California drivers to name the biggest safety problem on the road, nearly 40% listed drivers who use cellphones. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Can you safely talk on a cellphone — or for that matter, check your email or scroll through Google Maps — while driving? Well, of course you can. But those other folks with their hands off the wheel and their eyes off the road are a public menace.

Unfortunately, that sums up the attitude of many American motorists, who widely acknowledge using their phones while behind the wheel but insist they're safe drivers. Meanwhile, the number of people worried about the other guy is soaring. When the state Office of Traffic Safety asked California drivers to name the biggest safety problem on the road, nearly 40% listed drivers who use cellphones. That's a big jump from last year, when the top worry was aggressive drivers and speeders, and only 18.3% were concerned about cellphones.

So what changed? Probably the explosion of smartphones, which aren't so much phones as portable computers — and which, like a computer, require both eyes and often both hands, meaning that, in our view, drivers should never operate them. But they do. More than 1 in 4 Americans who download applications to their smartphones admit to using those apps while driving, according to a survey by Nationwide Mutual Insurance. And the number of people with smartphones is growing fast. U.S. sales of smartphones are expected to hit 95 million in 2011, and 43% of mobile phone owners have smartphones; soon it will be a majority.

Motorists have good reason to worry about this. Studies show that people talking on their cellphones are four times more likely to be in an accident than other drivers, and their level of impairment is comparable to people with a blood alcohol level of 0.08%, the legal limit. And that research was done back when cellphones were used only for making calls. Now that they're used for posting on Facebook or playing Angry Birds, we suspect the dangers are much greater.

Lawmakers haven't caught up. Thirty states ban cellphone use by novice drivers, but none do so for all drivers. California has a law that tries to limit the problem but aims at the wrong target. Here, it's forbidden to text while driving or to hold a cellphone to one's ear, but drivers over 18 can still talk using a hands-free device; moreover, it's still technically legal to use a smartphone app while behind the wheel. This is both outdated and ineffective. There is no evidence that using hands-free devices reduces cellphone-related accidents, which happen because drivers are distracted by their conversations, not because they're using one hand to hold a phone.

A total cellphone ban would avoid the problem of legislating for yesterday's technology, and reduce the number of accidents. Meanwhile, if you value your life and the lives of others, don't dial and drive.

Original Article posted in the L.A. Times on December 8th, 2011

Richmond 2015: City Wins World Cycling Event Bid

2011-10-04T18:56:00.001-04:00

Cycling in the Netherlands

2011-10-04T15:46:00.000-04:00

2011-09-08T09:20:00.003-04:00

Failure was a rarity in life of Henrico cyclist

By: Bill McKelway
Published: September 08, 2011 in the Richmond Times-Dispatch


Credit: Family Photo

More days than not, the first email would come about 4 a.m.

"He would want me to know his resting heart rate," said Susan Hefler, a nationally regarded bicycling coach based in Northern Virginia who describes Michael John Fawell as a man of indomitable will and self-discipline.

Hefler has three years' worth of daily training regimens that Fawell followed and filed to her from the home Fawell shared in western Henrico County with his wife of 10 years, Lara; daughter Cambelle, 14 months; and son Luke, 4.

Today, Hefler, Fawell's family and much of the Richmond area's competitive bicycling community will be at Fawell's funeral, an event marking a tragic end to a life in which failure was a rarity.

During a late-afternoon training ride Aug. 25, Fawell, 38, was wheeling toward Rockville in Hanover County on Pouncey Tract Road when his white Cannondale road bike, traveling 30 mph on fresh blacktop within a marked bike lane, collided with an oncoming pickup truck that had turned left in front of him.

The collision marked a rare instance when Fawell was riding alone, and his family said he remained without medical care with two collapsed lungs for as long as 30 minutes.

"It is one of the tragedies about all this," said Lara Fawell, who sells medical equipment and worked with her husband from the couple's home. "Mike never did anything wrong. He was always the one who made a point of being careful, of thinking of others, of doing the right thing."

"To him, cycling was a passion — it inspired him to succeed and provided him an outlet to feel free," Lara wrote of her husband, who grew up in the Chicago suburbs and graduated from Northwestern University.

The powerfully built racer and nationally ranked time trialist died at VCU Medical Center in Richmond four days after the collision as the result of a massive head injury. He had been wearing a helmet and his distinctive black-and-white patterned training outfit.

Gerald Lee Anderson, 70, of the 600 block of Nelwood Road in Manakin-Sabot is facing an October court date in Hanover County, charged with failure to yield while making a left turn.

Fawell's death has drawn attention, his wife said, to the need for motor vehicles and bicycle riders to recognize one another on area roadways, especially on Pouncey Tract Road, which gets heavy use from both types of vehicles.

The fact that Fawell was injured in a marked bike lane should not offset the need for motor vehicles to recognize that bike riders have the right of way whether they are in marked lanes or not, she said.

"We would talk together about safety all the time," she said. "The tragedy is that we have a little boy now who adored his father and a little baby girl who will never know her father."

Fawell was a multisport athlete, triathlete and bodybuilder who turned to competitive bicycling as he began to age. But Hefler described him as born to ride, a man with powerful legs who seemed to know no competitive boundaries and whose infectious smile belied a rigorous work ethic.

"You have to be disciplined in cycling," she said. "You have to go at it every day, from an hour to three hours."

Shortly after he began training about three years ago, Fawell entered a 40-mile race in Charlottesville and told Hefler he was simply going to outdistance the other 120 riders, not wanting to chance the often-ramshackle sprints to the finish line that typify most races.

"I'm saying to myself, 'Sure. Go right ahead.' But I'm thinking, 'No way.' "

Fawell won against longtime, higher-level racers. "It taught me a lesson that I'll always associate with Mike and I've never forgotten as a coach: 'Never underestimate the power of someone who is committed.' "

"He was a coach's dream," she said.

Link to Original Article

bmckelway@timesdispatch.com (804) 649-6601

2011-08-23T13:13:00.000-04:00

Bike Lanes in NYC

2011-07-13T15:16:00.001-04:00

French Media car hits Flecha, Hoogerland

Apparently motorists don't see cyclists even when the motorist is driving a media car covering the biggest bike race in the world, le Tour de France!

2011-07-09T07:55:00.002-04:00

Horner abandons Tour; team defends decision to let him finish stage

By Andrew Hood
Published Jul 9th 2011 6:09 AM UTC

From Velonews.com

SUPER-BESSE, France (VN) – RadioShack officials defended the call to allow Chris Horner to finish Friday’s seventh stage at the Tour de France despite suffering a concussion in a late-race crash.

Horner hit the deck in the high-speed fall with about 40km to go that also took down teammate Levi Leipheimer and sent Bradley Wiggins (Sky) and Remi Pauriol (FDJ) packing with broken clavicles.

The 39-year-old finished the stage more than 12 minutes back, but was immediately transferred to a local hospital for observation. He was diagnosed with a concussion, a broken nose and a hematoma to his calf . The recently crowned Tour of California champion will not start Saturday’s eighth stage to Super-Besse.

RadioShack team spokesman Philippe Maertens told VeloNews on Saturday morning that it was impossible to tell how badly Horner was injured until he crossed the finish line in Chateauroux. It was only then that RadioShack and Tour officials realized that Horner was dazed and not fully aware of what was happening.

“It is hard to immediately make a diagnosis immediately after a crash. Chris fell into the ditch and the first thing he said was, ‘put me back on the bike,’” Maertens told VeloNews. “It was only after he crossed the finish line that we realized the situation. At the finish line, he didn’t know where he was. He didn’t remember anything. It was a miracle that he finished the stage. Luckily, he had three or four other riders and they helped him get to the line.”

In the chaos of Friday’s crash, Horner fell into a ditch on the right side of the road and seemed to be lost in the shuffle as TV cameras focused on GC-contender Wiggins, who was on the other side of the road nursing a broken clavicle.

According to a report in the French daily L’Equipe, Horner briefly lost consciousness but quickly insisted on remounting his bike and continuing the race. Tour doctor Pascal Rivat was quoted in L’Equipe, saying: “I said what I thought (that he should stop). I let him continue, but I never left his side.” Rivat was seen checking on Horner from the doctor’s car during the remainder of the race and stayed close to the Horner group of riders until they crossed the line.

Once Horner crossed the line, officials and doctors quickly realized that Horner was dazed, groggy and not fully aware of what was happening. When VeloNews asked Horner how he was, Maertens interjected: “He cannot speak now! He doesn’t know where he is!” Horner was ushered to the RadioShack team bus, which was at the end of a long line of team buses parked on a straight road continuing past the finish line. Doctors placed Horner onto a stretcher and transported him to a hospital in Chateauroux.

Maertens said RadioShack team doctors stayed with Horner overnight and confirmed there are no life-threatening injuries.

“Scans revealed no life-threatening injuries. He didn’t remember anything, but we went to see him this morning and he’s smiling, he’s already coming back,” Maertens said. “Chris will stay in the hospital over the weekend and travel back to the United States only when it’s safe.”

Maertens posted a photograph of Horner from the hospital bed, quoting Horner as saying, “Next year I will be back in the Tour.”

Horner’s odyssey came on the same day that Tom Boonen (Quick-Step) abandoned the Tour. The classics star crashed hard in Stage 5 and was also feeling the effects of a blow to the head. Boonen said he made the decision to pull himself out of the race because he was a “danger to other riders.”

“I think I have a concussion. I have a terrible headache,” Boonen told Belgian journalists huddled outside the Quick-Step bus Friday at the finish line in Chateauroux. “I was a danger to the other riders in the race. It was better to pull out.”

From Velonews.com, link to original article

2011-06-28T08:05:00.002-04:00

Helmet Spotlight

Bell Muni and Arella

www.bellsports.com/cycling

2011-06-20T15:45:00.000-04:00

Stop the fight: Bikes vs. cars a mismatch

By Frank Wooten

wooten@postandcourier.com

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Riding a bike is good for you.

Getting hit by a motor vehicle while riding a bike is bad for you.

Bad attitudes by motor-vehicle drivers about bicycle riders, and vice versa, are bad for both -- though it's often amusing to watch them exchange unpleasantries, including creatively delivered obscene gestures.

Unfortunately, though, needless tragedy transcends such comic relief. And the rise in bicycle ridership in the Charleston area, which is already plenty crowded with cars, SUVs, trucks and motorcycles, has inevitably been accompanied by a rise in the risk of fatal accidents.

When hotheaded folks on both sides of this divide play what is, in effect, a game of high-stakes "chicken" with each other, that road hazard climbs even higher.

Too many bicyclists rile drivers by riding two, three and more abreast, filling up not bike lanes but car lanes.

Too many drivers rile bicyclists by honking at them, crowding them, and in extreme cases, venting their road-hogging wrath by shouting crude insults at them.

When pushed tempers come to potentially disastrous shove, this traffic problem boils down to a powerful physics problem: Mass times acceleration equals force.

And when a one-ton (or more) mass of steel and glass moving at even a relatively moderate pace strikes a bike, that frequently equals serious injury or death.

A recent letter to the editor, citing this mismatch, condemned "self-centered" cyclists who "continually criticize the operators of the cars for whom the roads were designed." His solution: "For safety's sake bicycles should be banned from roads with speed limits above 35 mph unless a dedicated bike lane is provided."

However, swelling ranks of cyclists pedal not for just fun and exercise but for transportation to and from school, work or shopping. The high price of gas will keep fueling that trend. Many of the routes cycling commuters must follow don't include bike lanes. And bike lanes, while nice, are no panacea.

It's scary enough for motorists having to trust fellow motorists to stay in their lanes. Yet if they weave wayward, the damage is typically limited to insurance rates.

If a bike weaves wayward into a car's path, or a car weaves wayward into a bike, the damage all too often requires death rites.

While bicycle helmets, though not mandated by S.C. law (yet), save lives, they can't always overcome the terrible impact of that physics formula.

At least the Cooper River bridge has a three-foot concrete barrier -- not just a painted line -- separating its bike/pedestrian and car lanes. At least there's growing awareness that following -- and enforcing -- safety regulations lower the bike-carnage toll. Cyclists should ride in the direction of car traffic, stay to the right, have front and rear lights at night, and obey traffic signs.

Motorists, under S.C. law, must maintain "a safe operating distance" from cyclists. Also under state law, "it is unlawful to harass, taunt or maliciously throw an object at or in the direction of any person riding a bicycle."

Hey, don't throw anything un-maliciously, either.

Back to "safe operating distance": Though not quantified in our state law, it's generally defined across the nation as three feet.

Math problem: A car going a scant 30 miles per hour travels three feet in less than 7/100ths of a second.

A bicyclist hit by a car usually goes down hard.

Eleven months ago, Edwin Gardner of Charleston, a cycling advocate, was killed on Montagu Street when his bike was hit by a Jeep. He was 64.

Thirteen days ago, Christina Genco of Newton, Mass., who a week earlier had begun a cross-country Habitat for Humanity cycling trek here in Charleston, was killed on Alabama's Route 35 when her bike was hit by an SUV. She was 22.

The driver who hit Gardner was charged with following too closely. No charges have been filed in Genco's death, but an investigation continues.

Winning the legal blame game, however, offers limited consolation when you're on either end of a bike-vs.-car crash. So be careful out there.

And if you must express disapproval of cyclists, or motorists, do it from a truly "safe operating distance."

Frank Wooten is assistant editor of The Post and Courier.

Link to Original Article

2011-06-10T21:18:00.000-04:00

Faces of Distracted Driving: Jacy Good

On May 18, 2008, Jacy Good and her parents attended her graduation ceremony at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania. On the way home, a young driver talking on his cell phone ran a red light, causing a tractor-trailer to swerve and crash into the Goods' vehicle. Jacy was critically injured, and both of her parents, Jean and Jay Good, were killed instantly. Jacy spent four months in the hospital and still spends much of her time in physical and occupational therapy.

In 2010, Jacy joined the board of FocusDriven, the first national nonprofit organization devoted specifically to raising awareness about the dangers of texting and cell phone use while driving.

For more information, please visit www.distraction.gov. To share your story, upload a video to YouTube and email the link to faces@distraction.gov.

2011-06-01T17:36:00.002-04:00

2011-05-29T12:13:00.000-04:00

Cycling Car Hazards - Road ID Rules of the Road

Bob Mionske discusses common cycling hazards encountered while riding in traffic: Right Hook, Left Cross, and Doorings.

2011-05-21T15:54:00.000-04:00

Faces of Distracted Driving: Eric Okerblom, 19

On July 25, 2009, 19-year-old Eric Okerblom was killed when his bike was struck by a truck traveling at 60 miles per hour. Cell phone records indicate that the driver was texting just prior to the collision.

Since their son's death, Bob and Eilene Okerblom have become advocates against distracted driving, supporting the STANDUP Act, FocusDriven, No Phone Zone, Impact Teen Drivers, and other local efforts.

For more information, please visit www.distraction.gov. To share your story, upload a video to YouTube and email the link to faces@distraction.gov.

2011-05-04T20:24:00.000-04:00

Bicyclist thrown 30 feet in hit-and-run on Shore Drive

By Kathy Adams
The Virginian-Pilot
© May 4, 2011

VIRGINIA BEACH

A bicyclist was struck and injured during a hit-and-run on Shore Drive on Tuesday evening.

Jim Dunham at Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital. (Steve Earley | The Virginian-Pilot)

Jim Dunham, 55, said he was on the last leg of his pre-dinner bike ride when, all of a sudden, he went flying through the air. He landed about 30 feet away and ended up at Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital with a host of injuries, including nine broken ribs and a broken clavicle and pelvis.

Police say a blue truck may have struck him and fled the scene, and detectives are investigating the incident as a felony hit-and-run case.

The incident occurred shortly before 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday near the intersection of Shore Drive and 83rd Street, police said. There was one witness, but she did not see the actual impact, said Officer Adam Bernstein, a police spokesman.

Dunham said he didn’t see the vehicle. He’s been riding for 32 years, often along Shore Drive on his way to and from his Cape Story home, he said. He was wearing a helmet and safety gear.

Dunham said he was struck once before on Shore Drive, more than 20 years ago, but was not seriously hurt. In April 2009, a cyclist died after being struck from behind by a sport utility vehicle on the road. No charges were filed in that death.

Tuesday’s case remains under investigation. Police ask that anyone with information call Crime Solvers at 1-888-LOCK-U-UP (562-5887) or text “VBTIP” and the information to CRIMES (274637).

Link to original article on the Pilot Online

2011-05-04T11:12:00.001-04:00

Brain Trauma

Even so-called "mild" head injuries can lead to serious concussions with long-term consequences. Aired July 30, 2008 on PBS

NOVA scienceNOW Brain Trauma from Brain Trauma Foundation on Vimeo.

Program Description

Knocks to the head may seem funny in cartoons, sports replays, and YouTube videos, but even minor head injuries often lead to serious concussions. A concussion may leave no trace on a conventional MRI scan yet cause permanent memory loss, attention problems, and depression. NOVA scienceNOW investigates promising new leads in understanding this puzzling condition, which affects millions of people in the U.S., including many high-school and college athletes who suffer concussions yet are encouraged to return to the playing field.

2011-04-24T19:22:00.002-04:00

One in 10 would stop cycling if forced to wear a helmet, poll suggests

By BikeRadar, UK


10% of cyclists would quit if forced to wear a helmet.

We got an emphatic response to last week’s question of the week – Should cycle helmets be made compulsory? – and a new poll from the UK’s Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) reinforces what a lot of you were saying.

A survey of more than 4,000 cyclists found just 20 percent thought helmets should be made compulsory, while 10 percent suggested they'd give up cycling altogether if it became law. Another 30 percent said they'd risk hefty penalties and defy any law which forced them to wear a lid.

Some 60 percent of respondents already wore helmets, while a similar figure felt it should be their own choice to wear one or not. Compared with bright clothing and bike lights, helmets weren’t seen as a priority. “One in 10 cyclists being prepared to give up cycling shows how controversial compulsory helmets would be," said IAM's cycling manager Duncan Pickering. "But generally people aren't anti-helmet – they see it as an issue of choice.

“Ultimately, fewer than 10 percent voted that they didn’t think wearing a cycle helmet was beneficial at all, so if cyclists feel safer wearing one it makes sense to do so. But cyclists can improve their safety and confidence a lot by taking training. Many accidents involving cyclists could be prevented by cyclists positioning themselves more defensively in relation to larger vehicles.”

You can follow BikeRadar on Twitter at twitter.com/bikeradar and on Facebook at facebook.com/BikeRadar.

Link to original article on BikeRadar.com

2011-04-02T15:28:00.002-04:00

The Long Run

A New York City Firefighter's Triumphant Comeback from Crash Victim to Elite Athlete

On the morning of December 22, 2005, Matt Long was cycling to work in the early morning when he was struck by and sucked under a 20-ton bus making an illegal turn. The injuries he sustained pushed him within inches of his life. Miraculously, more than 40 operations and months later, Matt was able to start his recovery. In spite of the severity of his injuries, Matt found the psychological consequences of the accident nearly as hard to process. He would no longer be able to compete at the highest level.

In the 18 months before the accident, he had competed in more than 20 events including several triathlons and marathons and had qualified for running's most prestigious race, the Boston Marathon. After the accident, his doctor told him he'd be lucky if he could even walk without a cane.

The Long Run is an emotional and incredibly honest story about Matt's determination to fight through fear, despair, loneliness, and intense physical and psychological pain to regain the life he once had. The book chronicles Matt's road to recovery as he teaches himself to walk again and, a mere three years later, to run in the 2008 New York City Marathon—a gimpy seven-and-a-half hour journey through the five boroughs. "Running saved my life," Matt says, and his embrace of the running community and insistence on competing in the marathon has inspired many, turning him into a symbol of hope and recovery for untold numbers of others.

The Long Run by Matt Long with Charles Butler

2011-03-24T21:41:00.000-04:00

Focus Driven - Advocates for Cell Free Driving

2011-03-23T22:45:00.000-04:00

Faces of Distracted Driving: Joe Teater, 12

On January 19, 2004, Judy Teater and her 12-year-old son Joe were driving to an after school activity when a young woman behind the wheel of a Hummer and talking on her cell phone ran a red light and slammed into their vehicle. Joe died the next day from his injuries.

Judy is a founding board member of FocusDriven, the first national nonprofit organization devoted specifically to raising awareness about the dangers of distracted driving.

For more information, please visit www.distraction.gov. To share your story, upload a video to YouTube and email the link to faces@distraction.gov.

2011-03-23T22:23:00.001-04:00

Faces of Distracted Driving: Ashley Johnson, 16

On May 10, 2010, 16-year-old Ashley Johnson was killed when she lost control of her vehicle, crossed the center line, and hit a pickup truck head-on. Although her father had warned her against cell phone use behind the wheel, she was texting at the time of the crash.

Amos Johnson, Ashley's father, now speaks to local teens about the dangers of distracted driving.

For more information, please visit www.distraction.gov. To share your story, upload a video to YouTube and email the link to faces@distraction.gov.

2011-03-18T10:57:00.001-04:00

Freedom from Fear

By Mighk Wilson

Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past me I will turn to see fear’s path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.
– protagonist Paul Atreides in the Frank Herbert novel Dune

Undoubtedly, one of the most common deterrents to bicycling is fear. Fear of motorists. Notice I said "motorists," not "cars" or "traffic." When people talk about bike safety, especially those who are afraid to bike on the roads, they aren’t much concerned about potholes or dogs or sand on the corner or their ability to control the bike. They fear the motorist they can’t see and who supposedly can’t see them. This fear is based on the belief that a significant number of motorists are likely to hit bicyclists while overtaking them. Does it happen? Yes. Is it common? Not at all.

Beliefs are survival tools our brains use when we don’t have sufficient direct sensory information to make a decision. Good beliefs can protect us from potential dangers. Bad beliefs mislead us into being fearless when we should be wary or fearing the wrong things. While I sit at my desk in my office I believe my bike is sitting in the bike locker where I locked it and left it, even though I have no evidence to support that belief. It’s not until I go out there, open the locker and look inside that I know my bike is actually there. I couldn’t function sanely if I spent the day believing my locker was being broken into. Conversely, if I believed no one would wish to steal my bike, I wouldn’t bother locking it and would again sit at my desk believing it was still there.

What kinds of events contribute to our beliefs about bicycle safety? First and most common is sensory information -- observation of the motorists and bicyclists around us. Such observations often convince people that bicycling is unsafe. It only takes a few incidents of carelessness or rudeness by motorists to convince some that cycling is a dangerous activity even though most interactions with motorists are non-threatening. We humans are easily startled when something big comes rushing up from behind us. Think -- predator! Even after 25 years of cycling an overtaking car still occasionally startles me.

Second are the lies that motorists tell when they have treated cyclists poorly. Catch up to a motorist after one has nearly sideswiped you and you’ll most likely hear one of the following lies: A) "I didn’t see you." B) "You belong on the sidewalk." C) "You’re supposed to ride all the way to the right."

Third are stories about crashes. The media does not report "20,000 people rode their bikes today and none of them were hit by motorists." They usually report that someone has been killed while cycling and make little or no effort to explain why the crash occurred.

The fourth way is through statistical data on bicyclist-versus-motorist crashes. Here again the information is skewed toward the negative. The statistical data people receive through the media is vague and misleading.

My purpose on these pages is to show you why proper cycling on roads is quite safe and can be accomplished by normal adults. I’ll be covering a few statistics (okay, a lot of statistics) my own experiences, the skills and practices necessary for safer cycling, and some reasoning about the motorist’s perspective.

The Crash Data

I collect a good deal of information about cycling crashes. It’s part of my job as a bike coordinator. Regrettably, what most people get to see are just raw numbers and media reports. (Some are even echoing these reports in their arguments to get cyclists removed from the roads.)

For example: in Orange, Seminole and Osceola Counties there were 644 bicyclists-versus-motorist crashes in 1994; 11 resulted in death. Scary thought, huh? But how many of those involved a cyclist driving on the right side of the roadway (not on the sidewalk) during daylight hours and obeying the signs, signals and rules of the road? Only 74, and of those not one was a fatality. Of those 11 deaths, 8 occurred at night, and 5 involved cyclists hit from behind. (How often do you see a cyclist out at night without lights?) The other 3 daytime deaths involved kids who failed to yield (ages 10, 15 and 16). These are the proportions of crash types you’ll see in most Florida cities.

Of those 74 crashes, 24 involved an overtaking motorist, and that’s the type of crash people fear most. That’s 24 daytime, non-fatal, motorist-overtaking crashes for an entire year for an area with more than 1.1 million licensed motorists (not including tourists). That means only one motorist out of 46,000 (0.002%) in our area in 1994 was so incompetent as to hit a bicyclist from behind in broad daylight. Only 13 resulted in significant injuries and only 4 in incapacitating injuries. Only 2 of the 24 motorists claimed they "did not see" the cyclist.

So what’s happening? A very small number of motorists are unsafely and unsuccessfully passing cyclists and the ensuing crashes are sideswipes that result in mostly minor injuries. Fortunately there is a way that you can reduce the tendency for motorists to pass unsafely. None of these overtaking crashes occurred on roads with wide curb lanes, bike lanes or paved shoulders. They happened on narrow lanes. And the law says that when the lane is narrow you are allowed to leave the right-most side and ride toward the middle.

"What of the other 50 crashes?" you ask. They resulted in 27 significant injuries; 4 incapacitating. They mostly involved motorists who failed to yield at intersections and driveways, and neither bike lanes, sidewalks nor paths offer protection from such crashes. Indeed, on sidewalks and sidewalk-style bikeways you will be more susceptible to such crashes, not less. On the roadway you’ll be more visible. The same defensive driving skills you use as a motorist will normally keep you out of such crashes.

And what of those scary media reports of cycling deaths? The old newspaper adage goes: "’Dog Bites Man?’… that’s not news. ‘Man Bites Dog,’ now that’s news." The commonplace goes unreported; the unusual gets the coverage. Furthermore, we like to have our beliefs reinforced and media producers share the belief that bicycling is dangerous. No one likes being told their beliefs are wrong.

If I owned a radio station I would broadcast a daily bicycle crash report. The most common report would go like this: "Twenty-thousand people rode bikes today. Only one was involved in a crash with an automobile. He was slightly injured while riding on the sidewalk facing traffic and was struck by a motorist exiting a driveway."

Individual Risk

What are the odds of one individual (like you or me) getting hit from behind by a careless or incompetent motorist? The experiences of a handful of other cyclists do not determine your personal risk of being hit by an overtaking motorist. What determines your risk are your behaviors and the behaviors of the passing motorists.

I’ll use my own experience here; I encourage you to work out your own numbers.

First let’s look at my old commute to work. For about 3 years I bike-commuted 6.5 miles each way to our old office in Winter Park about 3 times per week. (Today the office is only 1 mile away in downtown Orlando.) None of the route had bike lanes. About 2.5 miles had wide curb lanes, but the remainder had narrow lanes (11 feet or less) and about a mile of that had parallel parking. Not what most folks would call "bike-friendly." It took about 35 minutes, with about 5 minutes spent waiting at red lights. I would say a car would pass me on average every 15 seconds, 4 passes per minute. That works out to 720 passes per week; 108,000 passes over 3 years.

I’ve been cycling for over 25 years at about 5,000 miles per year. Probably 2,000 of the 5,000 were urban and suburban, and mostly here in the Orlando area. The vast majority of those miles have been on roads without bike lanes or paved shoulders, and few had wide curb lanes. At 15 mph that works out to about 3,300 hours of urban cycling. At 4 per minute (a very conservative estimate) that comes to about 792,000 passes. Out of over three-quarters of a million passing motorists, not one has hit me. (I haven’t experienced any type of motorist-versus-bicyclist collision in 25 years, unless you count the time I ran into the trunk of a parked car while adjusting my toe strap as a teen.) If 1 out of 10,000 motorists (one-hundredth of a percent) who passed me failed to see me, and 10 percent of those who didn’t see me didn’t avoid me I would have been hit 7 or 8 times in the past 25 years. Did I mention I also ride regularly in rain and darkness?

What about "luck?" Luck is a superstitious belief system some use when they don’t understand statistical odds. Remember, only 24 cyclists were hit from behind during daylight hours in our area in one year. If luck had anything to do with it, then there are thousands of "lucky" cyclists in our area. Millions of bicycle trips are made each year but only a handful result in injuries or death. Those who use the sidewalks seem to be less "lucky" since 198 of them were hit at driveways and cross-streets (eight times as many as those hit from behind).

I'm a normal person with normal skills. I make no claim of invulnerability. To claim invulnerability from the risk of passing cars is comparable to claiming it from lightning or tornadoes. While these forces are undeniably lethal, none are very likely to happen to me, or to you.

Training, Skills and Practices

Speaking of skills, another erroneous belief is that to ride safely in traffic one must be an "expert" or have "special skills and training." Strangely, people who believe special skills and training are necessary don’t bother to suggest what those skills or training might be. Perhaps it’s because they don’t know what they are.

Using myself as the example again, I ask, "What particular special skills have I mastered to consistently keep overtaking motorists from hitting me?" None that I know of. I’ve used a rear-view mirror attached to my helmet, but don’t look at it every second. Besides, I don’t think looking in a mirror is a special skill; motorists do it all the time. My mirror broke a while back and I got along fine for a few months until finally replacing i.

What about training? In elementary school in the 1960’s I got the usual "Officer Friendly" presentation on bike safety. His message? Always stop and look both ways before entering the road, ride on the right side of the road, stop at stop signs and red lights, and signal your turns. That was my sole bicycle safety training until I was into my early 20’s. My parents didn’t (and still don’t) ride any significant amount. (Dad was surprised to learn you’re required to ride on the right side of the road, not the left.) As a kid I rode an enormous amount of mileage compared to most. Every day during summer vacation I was out on the suburban streets and country backroads, traveling farther and farther each year. At age 14 I rode my first century, solo. I was doing self-supported, multi-day touring before I graduated high school. The bike continued to be my primary mode of transportation after I got my motor vehicle operator’s license. For about 10 years I rode entirely on roads with no more training than the police officer’s simple presentation. This did not occur in some sleepy small town, but in the bustling suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio. I did not see my first bike lane until I was 27. In my early 20’s I started reading Bicycling Magazine, and picked up some pointers there. I didn’t ride regularly with a club until 1988. I didn’t read John Forester’s tome Effective Cycling until seven years ago. So much for the argument that safe cycling requires elaborate training.

I will not deny that I am an "expert" cyclist today (guilty as charged!), but I wonder when it was that I graduated to that level. I suppose one could say I was an "expert" cyclist at age 14 since I rode that solo century and regularly rode in heavy traffic. But I somehow achieved that level with no more training than the "Officer Friendly" pitch.

What skills and practices do I use while cycling? Let’s break those skills and practices into two types, General Driving Skills and Practices and Cycling-Specific Skills and Practices. General driving skills and practices are those you use when driving any vehicle. Ask yourself if you are capable of all of these:

traveling on the right
stopping for stop signs and red lights
yielding when entering the street
scanning for and negotiating with overtaking traffic before moving left
scanning for threats from cross-streets, driveways and turning vehicles
keeping out of the right turn lane when going straight
turning left from the left or left turn lane

If you practice all of the above you will eliminate the vast majority of motorist-versus-cyclist conflicts and crashes.

Cycling-Specific Skills include balance and steering, braking, shifting, and scanning over your shoulder. Three emergency maneuvers are taught In the Effective Cycling curriculum and other bike courses: the "rock dodge," the "quick stop" and the "instant turn." In 25 years I’ve not used either of the last 2 except when teaching Effective Cycling courses. At bike rodeos we teach 10-year-olds how to do the "rock dodge" in a couple of minutes. If you’ve been cycling a while you probably do it instinctively. There were 2 crashes in 1994 that involved an overtaking motorist and a cyclist avoiding an obstacle, one of them at night and neither involving serious injury.

Obviously you’re not going to head out onto a busy road without having mastered balance, steering and basic braking. Many novice cyclists don’t understand shifting, but I don’t see any evidence that that leads to a significant number of crashes. That leaves scanning over your shoulder. Now it’s not the scanning that’s the skill, but scanning without making the bike swerve. We can teach this skill to 7-year-olds in a few minutes. Most readers of this article are already capable of it. In 1994 there were ten cases in which an adult cyclist supposedly veered left in front of an overtaking motorist. Four of them were riding in the dark or at dusk and one was intoxicated. It’s critical to understand that this skill is necessary whether one is in a bike lane, on a sidewalk, or on a road without any special accommodation for cyclists.

(I say supposedly because "He just veered out in front of me!" is almost as common as "I didn’t see him!" Experienced cyclist Duke Breitenbach was hit and injured in Lake County by a motorist who had just passed three other cyclists on a four-lane highway on a bright, sunny day. The driver said, "He just veered out in front of me!" and the Florida highway patrolman believed him. Duke told the patrolman he most certainly did not veer, but the officer treated the cyclist with a Ph.D. as though he was a juvenile delinquent.)

Now we come to cycling-specific practices. Taking the lane is the most important cycling-specific practice because the ones mentioned above won’t discourage motorists from passing you in an unsafe manner. If the lane you’re in is too narrow for a motorist to pass you safely and you keep all the way to the right, some motorists will try to pass you within the same lane. This is both dangerous and unpleasant. Dangerous because you will have no room to maneuver around a road hazard and the motorist may even sideswipe you. I guess I don’t have to explain "unpleasant."

Another very important practice is keeping at least three feet from the driver-side doors of cars parked on the roadway. This very similar to taking the lane. In big cities like New York and San Francisco "dooring" is a very common and serious crash.

Taking the lane is something I’ve only been doing since I read Effective Cycling about six years ago. I’ve noticed a few important things since then. First is that I have far fewer close calls with passing cars. My roadway position forces motorists to give me a wider gap. I’ve found it to be less stressful cycling this way. No, I do not experience more annoyed or aggressive motorist behavior. But when a motorist does get annoyed and passes aggressively I have much more room to maneuver. As for the threat of the inattentive overtaking motorist, all I can say is I’ve yet to hear the sound of squealing brakes coming from right behind me. Horns? Yes, but no more than before.

Behind the Eyes and Between the Ears of the Big, Bad Motorist

A while back I mentioned lightning and tornadoes. Reasonable people strive to understand the true nature of such forces so they can learn to avoid harm. In the same way, a cyclist must learn the true nature of motorists.

We can break motorists into four classes: competent ones who don’t want to hit us, incompetent ones who don’t want to hit us, intimidators who don’t want to hit us, and those who want to hit us.

If you bike in a vehicular manner, follow the rules and use lights at night, the competent type will not hit you. Why? Because you are both acting in a predictable manner and following traffic rules based on logic.

The intimidator will honk, scream, and even maneuver in such a way as to threaten you, but won’t hit you unless you escalate the conflict.

There is very little you can do to avoid being hit by the psychotic fourth type. Neither a wide curb lane, bike lane nor paved shoulder will stop them. But worrying about them is like worrying that ball lightning will come bouncing into your house and smack you in the head. Cycling only on paths separated from the roadway might work, but keep in mind that cycling on sidewalks increases your risk of being hit at a cross-street or driveway two- to ten-fold regardless of your level of experience. Stories of motorists who hit cyclists with intent to harm or kill fall into the "Man Bites Dog" category. In over 125,000 miles and 25 years of cycling I’ve had only one motorist attempt to hit me. He did so because I made him pass me twice on a narrow roadway. I recommend you not do that. Now we’re left with the incompetent motorist.

Even incompetent motorists care about self-preservation. The primary threat to a motorist is another big vehicle coming from the side or front, so that’s where his attention will be. On urban and suburban roads there are many driveways and cross-streets, so motorists are always on the lookout for what’s ahead of them. In order to be avoided you must be seen. The best way to be seen by a motorist is to put yourself where he’s normally looking – right in front of him. The one serious exception is the intoxicated driver. I avoid cycling after dark on major roads on Friday and Saturday nights. Of course intoxicated motorists put everyone at risk; motorists and pedestrians as well as cyclists.

Taking the lane forces motorists to move into the adjacent lane and gives you the space you deserve. I recently wrote an article about roadway positioning and one reader said he disagreed with my recommendation to take over a narrow lane. He said he always rides "right on the white line," is frequently passed too closely by motorists, has been run off the road a few times, and that when he gets a chance to confront them they inevitably say, "I didn’t see you!"

Both he and I have biked for many years. I’ve been taking the lane for more than five years. (Before that I my experiences were quite similar to his.) Why did those motorists "not see" him yet consistently see me? The answer is simple; they did see him. Of course they’re going to say they didn’t see him, they just startled or threatened him through rudeness or carelessness and probably believe he doesn’t belong on the roadway. The motorist will blame only one of two people, the cyclist or himself. The cyclist on the roadway – even the one riding on the white line – is in plain view of motorists. If motorists routinely missed seeing bicyclists riding straight ahead of them it would be the most common type of motorist-versus-cyclist crash, but it’s one of the least common. "I didn’t see you" really means, "I intentionally passed you in an unsafe manner but I don’t want to admit it." They might as well say, "I cannot be held responsible to avoid hitting you because you are virtually invisible."

Here’s a story to illustrate the silliness of the "I didn’t see you" line. My wife Carol and I were on our tandem at dusk in downtown Orlando. We were signaling a left turn and moving into the center of the lane. A motorist passed us on the left, crossing the double yellow line, again, as we were signaling a left turn. After the unsafe pass I decided to go straight instead of making our left and see if we could catch her. We caught up with her a few blocks later as she was exiting her SUV to enter a house and I asked for an explanation for her action. She said she hadn’t seen us. We were on a tandem with a trailer with a yellow flag and a flashing red taillight on a slow-speed, well-lit street and she crossed the centerline to avoid us…but she "didn’t see us." What were her response choices? A: "I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that" or B: "I didn’t do anything wrong; you did something wrong." But since she couldn’t identify anything we had done wrong she could only say, "I didn’t see you."

If so many motorists don’t see you, how do they avoid you? They are very likely to hit you if they don’t see you, even if you’re riding on the white line. If they do see you, why do they pass you in an unsafe manner? Because you let them or they are extremely rude or maybe a combination of both. If someone’s going to be rude to you, where do you want to be, up against the curb with nowhere to go or out in the lane where you have room to maneuver?

Unfortunately there is an important difference in behavior between urban/suburban roads and rural roads. Out on rural roads motorists often let themselves get distracted. This is especially true when the road is very straight and there are long distances between intersections. High-speed, fatal, motorist-overtaking crashes are the ones that draw the notice of the club cycling community and the media, since they usually happen to "one of our own" and to someone who does a lot of cycling. These deaths are relatively rare, but their emotional impact is far-reaching. Our only recourse to reduce these is to push for strengthened motorist training and accountability, for paved shoulders, and for the removal of dangerous motorists from the roads.

We all have our stories about aggressive motorists, but most result in just that – stories. Many of us have friends or acquaintances who have been hit or even killed (I’ve lost two). But then, those of us in bike clubs know a lot of cyclists. These deaths are always on high-speed rural highways. Florida has more than its share of long, straight, boring rural roads where motorists can nod off or distract themselves with radios, cell phones, cassette players and whatever else. Out there you have to make yourself as conspicuous as possible; a solid and brightly colored jersey is best.

The more bicyclists people see the more they will look for them and the more they will believe that bicycling is a reasonable means of travel.

National Risk Analysis Rates

There’s no such thing as absolute safety. Risk is a relative thing. In 1993, Exponent Corp. (then Failure Analysis Associates, Inc.) published fatality rates for various activities. Here is how some of the activities scored, in Fatalities per Million Hours of Activity:

Motorcycling 8.80

Life Overall 1.53

Automobile travel 0.47

Bicycling 0.26

School bus travel 0.22

Airline travel 0.15

Cyclist Ken Kifer validated Exponent’s rate using data from the Bicycle Institute of America on his Web site, Ken Kifer’s Bike Pages (see Sources).

That 0.26 rate applies to all bicycling fatalities. Here is some recent data from the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles to further break them down. There were 117 cycling fatalities in Florida in 1999; 91 were adults (18 and over); 54 of those adults were riding at night.* Only 5 (4%) were sober adults riding during daylight hours on the roadway and obeying the rules of the road. Four percent of that 0.26 rate comes to 0.01. One should also keep in mind that only about 44% of motorist fatalities involve 2 or more vehicles (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration), so we could drop the risk of being killed as a motor vehicle occupant by another motorist to 0.21. So proper daytime vehicular cycling for sober adults (even on those "dangerous" rural highways) is about 15 times less fatal than airline travel, which is widely considered to be one of the safest forms of transportation available, and 21 times less fatal than being an occupant in an automobile.

(*I am not saying that people should not ride at night, only that cyclists should make themselves conspicuous.)

Fatalities aren’t the only crashes we worry about, of course; what about injuries? In a study of trampoline safety, Exponent included comparisons of bicycling and automobile injuries (as Hospitalizations per Million Hours of Activity):

Football 12.4

Bicycling 7.5

Automobile 3.0

Trampoline 2.5

Swimming 1.9

Don’t let that 7.5 number mislead you though. Once again, the above includes all bicyclists and all types of crashes. We’re concerned here with just the motorist-versus-cyclist crashes. Professor William E. Moritz at the University of Washington surveyed experienced cyclists in 1996 on their activities and crashes. He found only 11% of their crashes involved motor vehicles. Experienced cyclists also experience one-fifth as many crashes per mile as "novice" cyclists. So the risk of being injured by a collision with a motorist is certainly much less than the 7.5 per million hours shown above.

How much less? We may not have enough data to calculate that. The rough cut estimate would be to take just the 11% that involve motorists from the 7.5 hospitalizations per million -- that drops us to 0.83. But we really need to know how many hours of on-road exposure cyclists experience, plus the number of injury-producing crashes with motor vehicles in which the motorist was at fault. (While it’s not appropriate to apply the data from fatalities to injuries, remember that only about 4% of Florida cycling fatalities involved a sober adult cyclist obeying the rules of the road and riding during daytime hours.) Moritz estimated that his survey respondents experienced crashes (of all types) on major roads without bicycle facilities at a rate of 66 per million miles (or one crash per 15,000 miles). Those same cyclists traveled only about 7,000 miles per crash on multi-use trails and about 700 miles per crash on sidewalks.

Don’t Forget the Good Stuff

I could spend many pages describing the benefits we get from cycling that more than balance out the small risk. Here’s one recent example. A 1999 study from Sweden on physical activity and health found, "Even after adjustment for other risk factors [and that includes crashes], including leisure time physical activity, those who did not cycle to work experienced a 39% higher mortality rate than those who did."

What Does All of This Say About Cyclists and Society?

Very young children will cover their eyes when playing "peek-a-boo" with their parents. They believe that because they can’t see their parents, their parents cannot see them.

Most of us believe what we want to believe. Those who want cyclists out of the way because they see them as a hindrance will certainly use ignorance, lies or sophistry (plausible but fallacious argument) to convince us that bicycling on roadways is dangerous. They use the false-danger argument because society tells them it’s wrong to say they’re superior to others. It’s socially acceptable to say bicycling is inherently dangerous, not that a fellow citizen is a nuisance when exercising a basic liberty. But the most effective way in which motorists convince cyclists that they don’t belong on the roads or that they will be in great danger is through intimidation and harassment. Such behavior reinforces the scare stories and bad statistics in the media. That is why I encourage cyclists to take legal action when motorists commit assaults. (Assault does not require physical contact, only threat.) Such incidents are rare, but ripple through the community as a wave of intimidation.

Being afraid of real risks and threats is healthy. But the belief that bicycling is dangerous is based on intimidation, scary stories and vague statistics. The bicycling community must attack the true threat to bicycling – the attitude that cyclists are intruders, second-class road users or sacrificial lambs. We cannot and will not change that attitude by saying, "Please give bicyclists a place to ride." Indeed, such pleas reinforce the belief that bicycling on roads is dangerous.

We change it by saying, "Bicyclists are human beings, citizens and vehicle drivers, and have the inalienable right to liberty. Travel on our shared public roads is an essential element of this liberty. Treat us with respect."

And by encouraging one another to claim our rightful piece of the road.

Sources:

"Is Cycling Dangerous?" From the Web site of Ken Kifer -- http://www.kenkifer.com/bikepages/health/risks.htm

Effective Cycling, John Forester, MIT Press

Why Bad Beliefs Don’t Die, Gregory W. Lester, Ph.D., Skeptical Inquirer, November/December 2000

Exponent Corp. Web site, http://www.fail.com/index.html

"All-Cause Mortality Associated With Physical Activity During Leisure Time, Work, Sports, and Cycling to Work," Lars Bo Andersen et al, American Medical Association, http://www.archinternmed.com
Link to the Original Article

2011-03-18T08:19:00.001-04:00

Faces of Distracted Driving: Margay Schee, 13

On September 23, 2008, 13-year-old Margay Schee was riding home from school when a semi-truck slammed into the back of her school bus. She was killed when rescuers were unable to get her out of the burning wreckage. The truck driver was talking on his cell phone at the time of crash and said he never saw the bus.

Margay's mother, Elissa Schee, is a founding board member of FocusDriven, the first national nonprofit organization devoted specifically to raising awareness about the dangers of distracted driving.

For more information, please visit www.distraction.gov. To share your story, upload a video to YouTube and email the link to faces@distraction.gov.

2011-03-16T12:40:00.000-04:00

Faces of Distracted Driving: Julie Davis, 58

On April 15, 2009, 58-year-old Julie Davis set off for a hike with her best friend in Rudolph, Wisconsin. As they were walking beside the road, a 19-year-old driving at 70MPH struck Julie from behind, killing her instantly. Crash reconstruction reports showed the driver could not have been looking at the road for 8.75 seconds. She was cited for inattentive driving and fined $173.40.

Laurie Hevier, Julie's daughter, is now an advocate against distracted driving.

For more information, please visit www.distraction.gov. To share your story, upload a video to YouTube and email the link to faces@distraction.gov.

2011-03-16T12:31:00.000-04:00

Faces of Distracted Driving: A Message from Secretary LaHood

2011-03-09T22:18:00.001-05:00

Biker faces endurance test of life

By Michael Martz
Published: January 01, 2011

Wayne Goodman celebrated his 60th birthday Oct. 22 in a hospital room with a group of friends and a box of chocolates.

His friends, all devoted mountain bikers like Goodman, offered to open the wrapped box for him because he couldn't use his hands effectively after a spinal-cord injury a month earlier.

Goodman said no. Emphatically.

"I kind of went at it like a dog," he said.

Greg Rollins, president of the Richmond chapter of Mid-Atlantic Off-Road Enthusiasts, was there. "He tore at it and tore at it," he said.

In the end, Goodman got his piece of chocolate.

He's showing the same determination — with help from his doctors and an unshakeable circle of friends — to overcome an injury that initially left him paralyzed and unsure if he ever would walk again.

"He's taking it like he's taken everything else in stride in his life," said Nathan Burrell, trails manager for the James River Park System. "He's taking it as a challenge."

Goodman, a Henrico County native and resident, has taken plenty of risks in his life. He has spent days without sleep in the wilderness in adventure races. He has ridden the toughest trails and taken some tumbles.

But his life took a turn too many when the front wheel of his bike hit a grassy rut near the main picnic shelter in Forest Hill Park. He was adjusting his camel pack so he could drink water on a trail ride with a young biker who wanted some tips.

The wheel turned right, tossing Goodman head first into a stone wall.

"As soon as that happened, it was like someone hit a light switch," he recalled in an interview this month in the Spinal Cord Injury Unit at Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center in Richmond. "I could not feel anything."

His girlfriend, Chin Cha Akers, got to him quickly and called for help. When an emergency medical technician arrived and asked him to wiggle his toes, he found that he could.

"That's when I said to myself, 'I have a chance here,' " Goodman said.

Since that moment, Goodman has been working to make the most of that chance.

He underwent surgery at VCU Medical Center to relieve pressure on his swollen spinal cord, injured in the cervical vertebrae of his neck.

After two months at VCU, he transferred last month to McGuire, where he was entitled to care because of three years he served in the Marines in the late 1960s.

Goodman's injury leaves plenty of room for hope. It was an incomplete injury to the spinal cord — there's no chance of recovering movement in an injury that's complete — with a high D rating on a descending scale of severity.

"I think he will recover significantly after all this treatment," said Dr. Mohammed Bhuiyan, who is overseeing a team of physicians and treatment specialists working intensively with Goodman at McGuire.

Bhuiyan told Goodman last week that he would be able to walk again in his home once he leaves the hospital, probably by the end of February. "It made me so happy, it made me cry tears of joy," Goodman said.

None of his many friends doubt his will or tenacity.

"The beautiful thing about Wayne is he finds a freaking way to make it happen!" said Deborah Khars, a mountain biker, trail volunteer and occupational therapist who visits Goodman frequently at McGuire.

Goodman was one of the people who forged the North Trail that completed a loop for bikers, runners, hikers, and anyone else who enjoys the James River Park trails on both sides of the river, including Forest Hill Park.

"He's definitely been one of the lions," said Burrell, who worked with Goodman in designing and building trails in the park system for six years.

Bill Swann, who spent countless weekends working with Goodman over the course of a year in building the North Trail, organized "A Day in the Park for Wayne" last month in Forest Hill Park. He and other friends sold "G-Man" T-shirts and raised $2,400 in donations

It's an appropriate response for a man who had to buy a trailer for all the tools he'd bought for trail work that he did for what he calls "my ministry."

"Building the trails was my outlet for community service," Goodman said, "and doing what maybe Jesus or God would want me to do."

Even now, with his prognosis good but far from certain, Goodman is still thinking about the park system.

"I still want to come down and do trail work," he said. "I just love it."

mmartz@timesdispatch.com

(804) 649-6964

Link to Original Article in the Richmond Times-Dispatch

2011-03-09T10:13:00.000-05:00

Faces of Distracted Driving: Alex Brown, 17

On November 10, 2009, 17-year-old Alex Brown was killed when she crashed her truck on a rural road while she was on her way to school. She was texting at the time of the crash.

To honor Alex's memory, her family -- Jeanne, Johnny Mac, and 12-year-old Katrina -- formed an anti-distracted driving advocacy group, the Remember Alex Brown Foundation.

For more information, please visit www.distraction.gov. To share your story, upload a video to YouTube and email the link to faces@distraction.gov.

2011-03-08T10:03:00.002-05:00

Faces of Distracted Driving - Kelson Vaillancourt, 21

On May 20, 2009, 21-year-old Kelson Vaillancourt was riding with a co-worker to a job site. The driver was distracted and failed to yield at a stop sign. He drove into oncoming traffic, and their vehicle was struck by a tractor-trailer. Kelson died the next day.

To honor her brother's memory, Loren Vaillancourt has been using her visibility as Miss South Dakota 2010 to speak with schools and organizations throughout her state about the dangers of distracted driving.

For more information, please visit www.distraction.gov. To share your story, upload a video to YouTube and email the link to faces@distraction.gov.

2011-03-07T11:35:00.001-05:00

Second Half volunteers help paralyzed Henrico man

By Katherine Calos
Published: March 07, 2011

The second half of Chris Tompkins' life isn't playing out the way people would have expected, either before or after the injury that left him paralyzed.

Before his bicycle accident nearly two years ago, Tompkins, 62, was in perpetual motion — taking long bike rides every weekend, singing in the One Voice choir, pursuing photography as a hobby and working for the state as an environmental engineer.

Now that he needs a wheelchair, he's perpetually hoping for progress — and getting it, thanks to a support system wrapped around a group called Second Half.

Credit: EVA RUSSO/TIMES-DISPATCH

Chris  Tompkins, who was paralyzed in a bicycle accident in 2009,
gets help  with his rehabilitation from Johnny Gray (left) and
John Karsten (right)  who are members of Second Half, a group
of men that developed out of  the Needle's Eye Ministry.

Thirty-five men from Second Half share two-man shifts visiting Tompkins for an hour five days a week to help with his rehabilitation. Their connection began as a religious one, but they've adapted it to answer Tompkins' need for daily stretching exercises to keep his joints flexible.

"The group helped him get this far," said Mahshid Soltanian, a physical therapist at The Laurels at University Park, where Tompkins now lives in western Henrico County. "The emotional support, the physical support, friends coming over and giving him energy every day, him getting up and making an effort every day, that's good for everybody. It's important to get therapy so when you regain the [use of a] muscle you have enough flexibility to use it."

Tompkins feels blessed, and often so does the group that supports him.

Second Half is a group of about 60 men, mostly retired, who meet every other Wednesday to share prayers and personal testimony. It grew out of Needle's Eye, a lunchtime ministry for business people that's been operating for 32 years.

"It was never a service group," said Gordon Prior, who organized Second Half in 2002 after retiring from his dental practice. "We wanted to know what God's plan was for the rest of our lives. It could be anything."

Prior knew Tompkins through St. Giles Presbyterian Church and had kept track of his progress after the April 4, 2009, accident in Hanover County.

From VCU Medical Center, Tompkins went to the Shepherd Center in Atlanta for intensive rehabilitation. He came back to Richmond for a brief stay at McGuire Veterans Affairs Medical Center and then moved to The Laurels at University Park in July 2009.

"Would you be comfortable including him in our group?" Prior asked members of Second Half. "We could go to him and share with him what we do at our meetings. We did that in the beginning.

"Then I asked him, 'Chris, is there anything else we could do besides the fellowship?' He said, 'What I really need, if I could get someone to keep my arms and fingers stretched and more supple in between physical therapy, it would be a tremendous help.' "

Johnny Gray and John Karsten were the pair working with him on a recent morning. Tompkins gave them instructions as they raised his arms above his head.

"Keep my elbows straight," Tompkins said. "Take the hands higher and higher."

"It's a problem if you're not loose," he explained. "You can't do as much. That's why the stretches are so wonderful." Plus, it feels good.

He has 20 percent to 50 percent sensation below his shoulders, he said. Shoulder level and above "is where I have a lot of feeling. It feels really good to be massaged where I have feeling."

Tompkins is an incomplete quadriplegic. His injury occurred at the C3-C4 vertebrae in his spine. Actor Christopher Reeve, who later died, had a complete break at the C1-C2 vertebrae and needed a ventilator to breathe. Tompkins is able to breathe and talk on his own.

His fingers are bent, but they relax a bit as the gloved volunteers rub his hands with cocoa butter. In the 16 months that Second Half has been working with him, he has developed enough mobility in his arms and hands to guide his motorized wheelchair, use a computer and feed himself using a special brace. When he arrived at The Laurels, the only way he could maneuver a wheelchair was to use puffs of breath to operate the controls.

Now he can generate the equivalent of 40 watts of power on a push-pedal rehabilitation machine.

He's working on standing and taking a few steps. "I feel like I weigh 300 pounds," he said after the physical therapist helped him put on a gait belt and get up from his wheelchair.

"He's been quite an inspiration for us," Soltanian said. "He never gives up. He comes up with new ideas."

"That's the key," Tompkins said. "Never give up."

Tompkins has support from his wife, Ginny, and son, Rob, in addition to the staff at the Laurels and the Second Half group. St. Paul's Episcopal Church provided a handicapped-accessible van for him to use. He and his wife sold their house, and she moved into a condo that can accommodate his wheelchair.

"Now I have nothing," he said, "but I have everything I need."

"Most quadriplegics don't have a real good support system," he added. "One of my goals is to help them. My heart goes out to all these people."

The Second Half session ends with a prayer. They pray for guidance for the nation's leaders, for a peaceful resolution to the problems of Egypt and other places in the world. They pray for each other. They give thanks.

"We probably get a bigger blessing going over there than he does," Prior said. "He's very inspirational, always positive. He prays for us probably more than we pray for him.

"It's been a real positive in a lot of lives."

kcalos@timesdispatch.com

(804) 649-6433

Link to Original Article in the Richmond Times-Dispatch

2011-03-01T07:28:00.000-05:00

Is Cycling ‘Recreational’ or ‘Transportational’?

“Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.” —Mark Twain

That quote is over a century old, and things have changed, right?

Perhaps Twain was being a might too ornery.

Take our current Congress, for example. Rep. Michael Grimm, R- Staten Island, voted to repeal health care reform, arguing that it’s an “economy-crushing, job-killing bill.”

Asked to explain why he saw no contradiction in accepting government-funded health care for himself, while voting to deny health care to 51 million of his fellow citizens, he replied:

“What am I, not supposed to have health care? It’s practicality. I’m not going to become a burden for the state because I don’t have health care, and God forbid I get into an accident and I can’t afford the operation. That can happen to anyone.”

Exactly, Rep. Grimm.

Well, perhaps one example is not sufficient for refuting Twain’s observation.

Let’s try at the other end of the country.

Rep. Duncan Hunter, R- San Diego, was first elected to Congress in 2008, succeeding his father, who represented San Diego from 1981 to 2009.

Recently, Rep. Hunter was asked his opinion about whether federal transportation money for “things like bike trails” is “waste,” or whether he thinks “biking is a mode of transportation.” Rep. Hunter responded:

For some in Congress, biking shouldn’t be within the purview of the Transportation Committee. (Getty)

“I don’t think biking should fall under the federal purview of what the Transportation Committee is there for. If a state wants to do it, or local municipality, they can do whatever they want to. But no, because then you have us mandating bike paths, which you don’t want either.”

To put things in perspective, the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure was, until this year, chaired by Jim Oberstar, a member of the Congressional Bike Caucus and, in Andy Clarke’s words, “a true champion of bicyclist’s issues in Washington.”

Commenting on Oberstar’s defeat, Bikes Belong President Tim Blumenthal observed that “No elected official has done more for bicycling than Jim Oberstar.”

But as they say in Washington, “elections have consequences,” so with Jim Oberstar out, there was a new vacancy on the Transportation Committee, and it was in with Duncan Hunter.

And as he made clear, for him, biking shouldn’t be within the purview of the Transportation Committee.

But why not, you might ask? Because, as Hunter observes, “I don’t see riding a bike the same as driving a car or flying an airplane… I think it’s more of a recreational thing. That’s my opinion.”

In other words, people who drive cars and fly airplanes never do so for recreation; those are activities that are strictly transportational in nature.

Hopefully, this won’t come as surprising news to all of those people who are motoring along the 59-mile scenic drive, or scenic Route 75, both located in Representative Hunter’s hometown of San Diego.

Hopefully, all those private pilots who fly out of Montgomery Field or Brown Field (both in San Diego) are flying only for transportation. Imagine the embarrassment if it turned out that people were recreating on automotive and aeronautic transportation infrastructure, right under Rep. Hunter’s nose.

But perhaps all those motorists really are just transporting themselves to work, and not at all enjoying a scenic drive. And perhaps all those private pilots really are just flying in to the office.

Perhaps federal transportation dollars really don’t get spent on recreation—especially in Duncan Hunter’s hometown.

And as long as we’re talking about our federal transportation dollars, we might want to ask whether they only get spent on transportation that pays for itself.

That is, after all, what Rep. Hunter wants to require for transit projects funded by the Congress.

So, of course, it would be reasonable to ask whether Rep. Hunter is also insisting that the federal government stop subsidizing automobile use. Will all motorists be paying their own way from now on?

Or is Rep. Hunter suggesting that we should require transit to pay for itself, while we continue to subsidize automobile transportation?

Speaking of transportation, let’s get back to those bikes.

Bob Mionske

It’s clear from Rep. Hunter’s comments that people who ride bikes never do so for transportation; that is an activity that is strictly recreational in nature. Of course, somebody will have to explain that fact to all those people who bicycle to work in the morning, even in towns that aren’t as bike-mad as Portland.

And somebody will have to explain to cyclists that the bike paths cannot be used for both recreation and transportation, just like motorists never use the roads for both recreation and transportation. And of course, cyclists never, ever use the roads. Nope. Unheard of—especially in San Diego, where the weather is a harsh 70 degrees year-round.

And when you get right down to it, the crux of the problem in Rep. Hunter’s eyes is this: As much as some Representatives might want to provide some support for cycling, it would be an unconstitutional abuse of congressional authority for the Transportation Committee to allocate money toward cycling.

It just can’t be done, because as Rep. Hunter explains, it’s a constitutional issue.

So as you can see, things have changed in the last century. Or at least we can say that Mark Twain was just feeling a might ornery that day. Now ain’t that a relief?

In related news, the League of American Bicyclists has sent out the following alert this week:

Dear Friends:

Working with our partners at America Bikes, we have been monitoring and preparing for possible federal budget cuts that could attack biking and walking. This is a “pre-alert” to give you the heads up that if biking and walking funding and programs are attacked, we will have a very short window in which to take action.

If an amendment attacking biking and walking is proposed we will let you know right away and ask that you do your part as a citizen to raise your voice for biking and walking. If such action is required we will provide specific information and directions.

There is no action to take at this moment – this is just a heads up that we need everyone to stand-by for action.

Thank you in advance.

To stay abreast of this issue, you can follow the latest developments at the League of American Bicyclist’s “Take Action”page.

By Bob Mionske

Research and assistance by Rick Bernardi, J.D.

Link to original article on Bicycling.com

2011-02-28T08:14:00.000-05:00

OP-ED ON BIKE SAFETY

By John Peck, The Huntsville Times

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. _ Look closely at this picture. This is what the motorist failed to see when he hit Ernie Wu at 6:30 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 29. Wu, CEO and president of ERC Inc., was riding to work in the pre-dawn darkness when the motorist struck him on a stretch of Drake Avenue with a quarter mile of visibility, no rain, no fog, street lights and no other traffic on the road.

The cyclist in the picture is running a $300 lighting system and wearing an IllumiNITE™ jacket, identical to those used by Wu that morning and far exceeding the minimum required illumination required for cyclists by law. That particular light system can be seen up to a mile away. So one wonders, what was this driver doing when he hit Wu? Apparently it does not matter because, according to the account in The Times, "The driver of the car, who has not been charged, told police he did not see Wu before he hit him."

'Not Been Charged...' What is it going to take before motorists face some legal consequences for injuring and killing cyclists? Alabama is among six states where a police officer cannot issue a citation if they do not see what occurred, even if the driver is clearly negligent. This needs to change.

Let's do the rundown, and I say this without irony:

September 2008 - Sarah Chapman, Huntsville

July 2009 - Carlos Serrano, Scottsboro

May 2010 - Sharon Bayler, Taft, Tenn.

December 2010 - Ernie Wu, Huntsville

Consequences: Chapman, Serrano, Bayler - Deceased. Wu - cracked vertebrae in neck and back. (He got lucky.) Drivers: No charges, citations or license suspension.

In each case, the conditions were the same: Clear, wide roads, low or no traffic, a quarter to half mile line of sight, clear weather and good lighting. At least two riders were running with flashing lights and reflective vests.

Two of the drivers admit to reaching for cell phones. Two drivers said they simply did not see the cyclists. Even at 60 mph (and the limits on these roads were no higher than 45 mph and as low as 25), each driver had a minimum of 20 seconds to notice a cyclist moving at 15 mph. Twenty seconds. Count it out.

Had these drivers been drunk or high, they'd be facing jail time, stiff fines and loss of driving privileges. A breathalyzer test usually settles the issue of filing charges, but there is no test for distraction. It falls to an easier test. Say the magic words, "I just did not see them." Presto! It is a "tragic accident."

These tragedies are NOT accidents. A seized axle steering an old Toyota into a school bus, shoving it off a freeway bridge, is an accident. A passenger jet flying through a flock of geese and landing in the Hudson River is an accident. Running into plainly visible cyclists and pedestrians in perfectly clear conditions is gross negligence.

This is not a debate about who does or does not have the right to be on the road. Our streets and roads are a public-use facility and it is a privilege to use them that comes with responsibilities, drivers and cyclists alike. This is about protecting vulnerable users from others who have failed in their responsibility to not hit things or kill people. Your driver's license charges you with that responsibility. While each of the victims here went beyond the legal minimum to be visible and to ride in low traffic conditions, each driver most obviously failed to operate their vehicle safely and logically and deserves to be separated from their driving privilege. Distraction is the new drunk-driving and it needs to be treated as such.

We're not talking summary execution, but a temporary license suspension until a reasonable investigation is completed is a good start. And a reasonable investigation must go further than a breathalyzer and the "magic word" test. Take a look at that cell phone. It tells the truth if asked if it was in use. GPS? Screaming kids? Radio adjustment? There is no issue inside a car that cannot wait until a complete stop at the side of the road.

The drivers who struck Sarah, Sharon, Carlos and Ernie are likely not bad people. They probably do not deserve jail time. However, they made grave errors that require reprimand and, at minimum, deserve a period where they lose driving privileges and suffer hefty financial pain so they too can share the consequences of what they have caused. As it is, our public safety and legal systems let drivers off far too easily for negligent behavior, leaving it to the victims or their families to extract justice or restitution. What else has to happen to change this? People I know personally have already died.

Morgan Andriulli is vice president of the Spring City Cycling Club and a founding board member of the Alabama Bicycle Coalition.

Link to original article

2011-02-14T20:48:00.000-05:00

2011-01-17T20:43:00.000-05:00

WARNING - This is an extremely graphic video. Most of the footage is reenactments of actual crashes, and others are video footage from traffic cameras of actual motor vehicle crashes. The reality is that 43,000 people lose their lives every year in the United States. 43,000 people DIE in situations like what is depicted in this video. Please drive safely and defensively, slow down, wear your seat belt, and be careful. Tomorrow is not guaranteed to us... It is very easy for us to die. People do it every day...

2011-01-03T22:00:00.000-05:00

Movistar’s Amador attacked by thugs on training ride

By Andrew Hood
Published Jan 3rd 2011 1:16 PM EST
Velonews.com
Movistar racer Andrey Amador is recovering in a hospital after muggers beat and left him unconscious in a Costa Rica riverbed over the weekend in an apparent robbery of his new Pinarello Dogma 60.1s bicycle.

Amador, 24, was on his final training ride of 2010 when thugs poured out of two passing vehicles near the Costa Rican capital of San José. They stole his bike and beat him so severely he was left unconscious for six hours in a riverbed alongside the roadway.

“They left him unconscious and very likely beat him some more. He was around six hours unconscious along a river and when he woke up, it was already late in the afternoon, and he called us and we went to pick him up,” recounted Iván Amador, the cyclist’s older brother, in a Movistar team release. “It appeared that he only had cuts and bruises, but the next morning he started to vomit and we had to take him to the hospital.”

Amador said his brother remains in a San José hospital where he is being treated for various injuries, including contusions to his lungs that make breathing difficult as well as paralysis of one of his kidneys due to the severity of the beating.

Amador, who has raced the past two seasons with Caisse d’Epargne, was set to race in the Tour de San Luís later this month in Argentina. It’s not sure how long he will be sidelined.

The thieves were likely targeting Amador’s brand-new blue and green Pinarello Dogma 60.1s bike that was handed out to Movistar riders at a team camp in Spain ahead of Christmas. The bike features the new electric Campagnolo group, so it could be quite easy to track the thieves if they try to sell such a unique bicycle on the open market.

2010-12-18T07:54:00.002-05:00

Huge cost of mismatched bumpers
When bumpers on cars and SUVs don't line up (and many of them don't), low-speed collisions produce more damage and higher repair costs

ARLINGTON, VA — Bumpers are the first line of defense against costly damage in everyday low-speed crashes. Bumpers on cars are designed to match up with each other in collisions, but a long-standing gap in federal regulations exempts SUVs from the same rules. New Insurance Institute for Highway Safety crash tests demonstrate the results: SUV bumpers that don't line up with those on cars can lead to huge repair bills in what should be minor collisions in stop-and-go traffic.

Full text of release at: http://www.iihs.org/news/rss/pr120210.html

2010-12-13T19:09:00.004-05:00

2009 Bicycle Fatality Statistics
Information from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, www.iihs.org

Less than 2% of motor vehicle crash deaths are bicyclists. The most serious injuries among a majority of those killed are to the head, highlighting the importance of wearing a bicycle helmet. Helmet use has been estimated to reduce head injury risk by 85%.¹ Twenty-one states and the District of Columbia have helmet laws applying to young bicyclists; none of these laws applies to all riders. Local ordinances in a few states require some or all bicyclists to wear helmets. A nationwide telephone survey estimated that state helmet use laws increase by 18% the probability that a rider will wear a helmet.² Helmets are important for riders of all ages, especially because 87% of bicycle deaths are persons 16 and older. During the past few years, only about 1 in 10 fatally injured bicyclists were wearing helmets.

Bicyclist deaths by gender, 1975-2009

The following facts are based on analysis of data from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS).

A total of 630 bicyclists were killed in crashes with motor vehicles in 2009. Bicyclist deaths were down 37% since 1975. The decline since 1975 among female bicyclists (56%) was larger than the decline among male bicyclists (33%). In every year since 1975, many more male than female bicyclists were killed in motor vehicle crashes.
91% of bicyclists killed in 2009 reportedly weren't wearing helmets. Information on helmet use became available in FARS in 1994.
Bicyclist deaths in 2009 peaked during the warm weather months of June-August (12% in each month) and were least likely to occur during the winter months of January and February (4% in each month).
Bicyclist deaths in 2009 occurred most often during the hours of 3pm-6pm (19%) and 6pm-9pm (22%).
Deaths among bicyclists younger than 16 have declined 87% since 1975, while deaths among bicyclists 16 and older increased 69%. Deaths of bicyclists younger than 16 were 13% of all bicyclist deaths in 2009.
Many more bicyclists were killed in urban areas than in rural areas in 2009 (69% compared with 30%). In 1975, bicyclist deaths occurred equally in rural and urban areas.
36% of bicyclist deaths in 2009 occurred at intersections.
58% of bicyclist deaths in 2009 occurred on major roads other than interstates and freeways, and 36% occurred on minor roads. 49% percent of deaths among bicyclists younger than 16 and 34% of deaths among bicyclists 16 and older occurred on minor roads.
28% percent of bicyclists age 16 and older killed in 2009 had blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) at or above 0.08 percent.

2010-12-10T06:40:00.003-05:00

Driver Sues Family of Deceased Cyclist

From Bob Mionske's Road Rights blog found on Bicycling.com on 11/29/10

Matthew Kenney, 14, was an honors student, and a popular athlete who was active in several sports. David Weaving, 48, had five drunken driving convictions on his record, four of them in a 31-month period between 1996 and 1999. On April 27, 2007, Weaving was speeding down Route 69 in Prospect, Connecticut; the speed limit was 45 MPH, but Weaving attempted to pass another vehicle at 83 MPH. This time, his reckless driving caught up with him, with tragic results. Matthew Kenney and his friends were on their bikes, and according to Weaving, the youths were jumping their bikes off a ramp, when Kenney suddenly appeared in the road, in wet, foggy conditions at dusk. Weaving slammed into Kenney. Though Kenney survived the initial impact, he suffered severe head and internal injuries, broken bones and lacerations. He did not survive beyond the next day.


*Bob Mionske*

Weaving was subsequently convicted of manslaughter, and is currently serving a 10-year prison sentence. Kenney’s parents are seeking permission to file suit against the Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles. The Kenneys allege that under state law, Weaving’s multiple DUI convictions should have resulted in his license being permanently revoked in 1999. The Kenneys have already filed suit against Weaving, seeking $15,000 in damages. It was Weaving’s response to the Kenneys lawsuit that brought national attention to the case. Alleging that he has “endured ‘great mental and emotional pain and suffering,’ wrongful conviction and imprisonment, and the loss of his ‘capacity to carry on in life’s activities,’” Weaving has counter-sued the Kenneys for “contributory negligence,” claiming more than $15,000 in damages.

Matthew Kenney, he alleges, was not wearing a helmet, as required by Connecticut law, and according to Weaving, that makes Kenney’s parents negligent, and he alleges, responsible for Matthew Kenney’s death.

Naturally, Weaving’s inability to behave responsibly before Matthew’s death, and to accept personal responsibility after Matthew’s death, left people appalled. But in fact, counter-suits are a routine response to lawsuits, because they serve as a means to transfer some of the risk of a lawsuit from the defendant back to the plaintiff, so it’s not particularly shocking that Weaving would go on the counter-offensive, alleging parental negligence in this case.

That’s not the same thing as saying Weaving will win on his counter-suit. For one thing, although Weaving denies that he was speeding, his speed has already been established as a fact in a court of law, and based on that fact of his reckless speed, and Matthew Kenney’s death, he has been convicted of manslaughter. Attempting to re-litigate that fact in civil court will likely only work against Weaving.

Still, even though it’s been established that Weaving was speeding, he could attempt to prove that Kenney’s parents also bear some responsibility for their son’s death, because Matthew Kenney was not wearing a helmet when Weaving hit him. I don’t think he’s going to get very far with that argument, either.

True, in Connecticut, helmets are required for riders under the age of 16, and police may verbally “warn” parents that their child must comply with the law if their child is riding without a helmet. However, Connecticut law is quite explicit on this point: “Failure to wear protective headgear as required by this subsection shall not be considered to be contributory negligence on the part of the parent or the child nor shall such failure be admissible in any civil action.” In short, the law prohibits Weaving from claiming that Kenney’s failure to wear a helmet contributed to his death.

Nevertheless, even though it’s not allowed under Connecticut law, his argument that the failure to wear a helmet contributed to Matthew’s death is what caught my attention. To prove that argument, Weaving would have to present evidence that a helmet would have prevented the fatal injury that Matthew suffered to his brain. On the surface, this seems like it might be an easy argument—Matthew was not wearing a helmet, Matthew was hit by a car and suffered a severe head injury, and was declared brain dead the next day. But even if he could make this argument—and under Connecticut law, he can’t—he would have to prove that but for the lack of a helmet, Matthew Kenney would be alive today. To do that, Weaving would have to prove that a helmet would have saved Kenney’s life, even though Weaving hit Kenney at more than 80 miles an hour.

And that is a lost cause, even if Weaving had the resources (and he doesn’t) to hire an expert witness to make that laughable assertion. Even the most ardent proponents of helmet use acknowledge the fact that bicycle helmets are only designed and tested to protect your head in a low-speed impact—typically, a fall of only a few feet, at no more than about 14 miles per hour. That is the standard required by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Helmet manufacturers could make helmets that withstand greater impacts, but as they laconically note, there are trade-offs. Would you want to wear a motorcycle helmet while riding your bike? Because that increased weight and heat retention is what it would take to manufacture a bike helmet that would withstand high-speed impacts. For that matter, why reinvent the wheel? Helmet manufacturers could just begin marketing motorcycle helmets as “bike helmets”—but as the bicycle helmet manufacturers ask, who would wear one?

The fact is, many cyclists wear helmets because they perceive that any potential for increased discomfort is outweighed by the safety benefits gained. But if safety standards only require that helmets withstand a low-speed impact, are there really safety benefits to wearing a helmet? Perhaps surprisingly, the answer is a qualified yes. In a low-speed fall from your bike, a bicycle helmet may protect you from sustaining a head injury, and considering the fact that the majority of bicycle accidents are solo crashes, helmet impact standards do address the types of impacts associated with the majority of bicycle accidents. From that perspective, there is some safety benefit to be derived from wearing a bicycle helmet.

The problem, however, is that nobody straps on a helmet because they’re afraid that they might have a low-speed solo fall from their bike. Nobody driving by a cyclist who is riding sans headgear yells “wear a helmet” because they’re afraid that cyclist might have a low-speed solo crash. Nobody passes mandatory helmet laws because they want to protect cyclists from themselves. No, the reason helmet use is considered de rigeur is because people believe that a helmet will protect the cyclist from the head injuries associated with the high-speed impact of a collision with an automobile.

This is why we see police and media reports noting whether a cyclist who was injured or killed in a collision with an automobile was wearing a helmet. We see this even if the cyclist’s injuries were not head injuries; the media (and their audience) still want to know “Was the cyclist wearing a helmet?” They might as well be asking, “Was the cyclist wearing a talisman?” And if you think about it, that is exactly what they are asking. It’s exactly what insurance company attorneys want to ask in court. It’s exactly the issue David Weaving wants to bring into court, to absolve himself of any liability for his own reckless driving—“But your honor, the cyclist was not wearing a magic talisman to protect against my reckless driving!”

It’s this kind of magical thinking that the Connecticut Legislature had the foresight to address in their mandatory helmet law, with the proviso that the failure to wear the mandatory helmet “shall not” be considered to be contributory negligence on the part of the cyclist. Yes, the legislators decided, we want to encourage children to wear helmets because children in particular are subject to low-speed solo crashes. But no, the legislators emphasized, we do not want reckless drivers shifting the blame for the injuries they cause to the children they’ve injured, even if that child is not wearing the mandatory helmet.

Of course, when police and media ask, “was the cyclist wearing a helmet?” and when passing busybodies yell “wear a helmet” at total strangers, helmet use for cyclists of all ages is treated as being virtually mandatory, in practice, if not in law. And that sense that helmet use is mandatory, or should be, inevitably leads to calls for mandatory helmet laws—something I will be discussing in my next Road Rights column.

Written by Bob Mionske, J.D.
Research and drafting by Rick Bernardi, J.D.

2010-11-02T08:49:00.002-04:00

Lost in the Glare

A popular Wisconsin cyclist was killed when the sun blocked a driver’s view.

By Bob Mionske (from Bicycling Magazine)

In the 1990s, one team dominated the Master’s category at races throughout the Midwest: the Vic Tanny team, sponsored by Jeff Littman, who held the Mr. Wisconsin title, but was making a transition from bodybuilding to bicycle racing. In 1994, when Littman opened his own health club, the Vic Tanny team he had been sponsoring became Team Wisconsin, which still races today. Through Team Wisconsin’s junior team, Littman was also behind the development of future racing professionals. Jeff and I raced in many of the same events throughout the Midwest, and so I knew who he was; in fact, everybody who raced in the Midwest did, because his team consistently crushed the other teams in the Master’s category.

That is why I immediately recognized his name when I heard it again last week. On October 1, Littman was out on a training ride when a motorist rear-ended and critically injured him. Four days later, on October 5, Littman succumbed to his injuries. Wisconsin cyclists were stunned; in addition to his reputation as a powerhouse of a racer, Jeff Littman was also the President of the Wisconsin Cycling Association.

As is so often the case, the driver who hit Littman never even saw him. But this wasn’t just another case of driver inattention; the driver never saw Littman because he was blinded by the morning sun in his eyes. As he reported to investigating officers, he had been on the road for less than a minute, and he couldn’t see because the sun was “too bright”:

“The sun was very bright and glaring on my windshield. I was wearing sunglasses, my visor was down and my windshield wipers I just turned off because the dew was clearing. I was going under the speed limit about 40 mph because it was very hard to see. I made sure to be in my lane because I couldn’t see oncoming traffic or anything much more than about 10 feet on front of me. I didn’t see anyone then all of a sudden boom I hit two bicyclists.”

Littman’s riding partner, Lauren Jensen, who was also hit, reported that she had been riding in the center of the shoulder, and that Littman had been hugging the fog line. The driver, who said that he was trying to stay in his lane to avoid oncoming traffic, actually veered onto the shoulder.

Cyclists are often reminded of the necessity of making themselves visible to drivers. When we assume that a driver can see us because we can see the driver, we make what I call an error of mutual recognition. While a motorist might be readily seen, a cyclist, who is only one-seventh the size of an automobile, might be overlooked—particularly if the motorist is subconsciously only scanning for other motorists. For this reason, many cyclists attempt to enhance their their ability to be seen with brightly colored or reflective clothing, and lights.

But even with enhanced conspicuity, there is still the chance that the driver just doesn’t see the cyclist. On the morning of October 1, the driver who was unwittingly bearing down upon Jeff Littman and Lauren Jensen was facing directly into the morning sun, and whatever conspicuity-enhancing efforts the two cyclists may have made were completely lost in the deadly mix of blinding glare and excessive speed.

Could the driver have avoided this collision? Sure. He could have slowed to a speed that was “reasonable and prudent under the conditions,” as Wisconsin law requires—but he didn’t. When drivers fail to observe their legal duty to adjust their speed for conditions, collisions, sometimes tragic, are often the result, as was the case with Jeff Littman. And all too often, the driver, and the driver’s insurance company, fail to see that it was the motorist’s failure to observe the law that led to the collision. I once had a case in which a motorist had hit and injured a cyclist, but the insurance company refused to pay. The insurance company claimed that it was not the drivers fault that the sun was setting in the direction he was traveling, and that the cyclist should have known that he was in danger. Fortunately for my client, the jury “saw” things differently.

Although the driver who collided with Jeff Littman and Lauren Jensen could have taken action to avoid this collision, it may be that there was nothing that the two cyclists could have done. They were both riding on the shoulder, and the driver drifted out of his lane. The driver was unable to see anything in front of his vehicle, and was driving too fast for conditions, so conspicuity was not a factor in the collision.

Did they even realize the danger they were in? Would you realize the danger? If there’s anything positive we can take away from this tragedy, it may be the lessons we can all learn. The sun is a factor that is predictable, and therefore foreseeable, and that should be taken into account by both drivers and cyclists.

First, as a cyclist, if you are riding into the sun and it is difficult to see, you are in a very dangerous situation, because you are positioned between the sun and the eyes of any approaching drivers, and they may not be able to see you there. Similarly, if you are riding with the sun to your back, oncoming drivers may not be able to see you. In either situation, you are in a very dangerous situation, and you should be aware of that. To mitigate the danger, you should consider waiting for the sun conditions to change. Alternatively, you might consider choosing another route. You might also consider adjusting your road position further to the right.

Second, if you are out riding and the sun is impairing your vision, you must be certain that it is safe for you to proceed before crossing through an intersection. John Stenner was a National Time Trials Champion, and one of my cycling teammates in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. On May 16, 2004, John Stenner was riding home from work when he was hit and killed by a driver. One of the factors that played a role in this collision was the blinding sun. However, it wasn’t the driver who was blinded; instead, it was speculated that with the sun setting low in the sky, the approaching car was lost in the glare of the sun, and John just didn’t see it as he crossed an intersection. John got his start in collegiate racing, and was one of the founding members of the National Collegiate Cycling Association. Today, John’s memory lives on in the John Stenner Collegiate Cycling Scholarship. But even if you’re not a collegiate racer, John’s memory can live on in you, too, every time you remember to proceed with caution when the sun is in your eyes.

Third, if you are driving, and are blinded by the glare of the sun, you must adjust your driving to mitigate this impairment of your vision. This is not just a “safety suggestion,” it’s a legal duty that you are obligated to observe; the basic speed law of every state requires you to lower your speed to a reasonable and prudent speed, regardless of the posted speed limit, when conditions require a reduced speed. If visibility conditions are such that you can’t see, then reduce your speed to one that is safe—or even stop, if safety requires it—until you can see. At other times, when you can see, but glare may be present, consider wearing sunglasses with polarized lenses to cut glare.

We can’t eliminate all risk from every ride, but the risks of serious injury are already quite low, and with these simple precautions, we can further reduce the risk of being hit by a driver who never even saw us.

Written by Bob Mionske, J.D.
Research and drafting provided by Rick Bernardi, J.D.

2010-10-12T17:57:00.002-04:00

TBI - Traumatic Brain Injury

Why everyone should wear a helmet while riding a bicycle

This story is about soldiers that have served in Iraq, but the lesson holds true for everyone. A traumatic brain injury can completely change your life. And when it occurs from a bicycle crash, most of the time they are preventable if the cyclist had been wearing a helmet.

"It makes me a little mad. People are like, oh well, you seem fine. Well, you know, I'm not. It's not like I'm missing a leg. But I'm missing something that I can never get back." - Jake Mathers, USMC

Link to original story on NPR.org

Sgt. Victor Medina's Story

2010-09-13T15:35:00.000-04:00

Bicycle and Pedestrian Awareness Week - September 12th through September 18th

Sharing the Road with Bicycles and Pedestrians

Posted by Tony Gordon on 9/13/2010 2:57:52 PM

September 12th through September 18th has been designated as Virginia's Second Annual Bicyclist and Pedestrian Awareness Week.

Henrico County Police would like to encourage bicyclists, pedestrians, and motorists to follow the rules of the road in regards to safety. Last year in Virginia, 84 people died while walking or cycling across the Commonwealth. An additional 607 cyclists and 1,402 pedestrians were injured. By educating everyone on how to properly share the road with bicycles and pedestrians, we hope to reduce these tragic numbers.

Bicyclists are reminded that they must obey all traffic laws just like an automobile when riding on public roadways. They are required to obey stop signs, traffic signals, and other regulatory signs.

Pedestrians are encouraged to wear bright colors, walk against (facing) traffic, and be alert.

Motorists are reminded that they are required to give a minimum of a two-foot gap between their vehicle and the bicyclists when passing.

Everyone should be reminded to follow simple safety rules while on the public roadways and to be aware of your surroundings. This should include being aware of pedestrians, bicyclists and other motorists. If we are courteous, remain patient, and obey the rules of the road, we can make them much safer for all users.

Brochures about bicycle and pedestrian safety can be found on the Henrico Police website under the Traffic Safety Section. www.henricopolice.org

Remember the life you save may be your own.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact Sergeant A.J. Gordon - Traffic Safety Unit at (804)328-2573 Ext 2243.

2010-09-13T15:07:00.002-04:00

Virginia's State Bicycling Policy Plan

The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) has developed the State Bicycle Policy Plan to ensure bicyclists are an integral component of Virginia’s multimodal transportation system, and to provide bicycle policy recommendations that will guide the planning, design, construction, operation and maintenance of bicycle accommodations.

The draft plan provides strategies and identifies opportunities for enhancing the implementation of the Commonwealth Transportation Board’s 2004 Policy for Integrating Bicycle and Pedestrian Accommodations, as well as VDOT’s coordination within the agency and with stakeholders across the commonwealth.

The VDOT State Bicycle Policy Plan, including a summary of recommendations is available for public review and comment beginning Monday, Aug. 16, and concluding Friday, Sept. 17, 2010.

Comments can be submitted via e-mail to vabiking@vdot.virginia.gov until Friday, Sept. 17, 2010.

2010-08-29T11:21:00.001-04:00

Copenhagen’s Car-Free Streets & Slow-Speed Zones

by Clarence Eckerson, Jr. on August 4, 2010 | 8,519 Plays

In Copenhagen, you never have to travel very far to see a beautiful public space or car-free street packed with people soaking up the day. In fact, since the early 1960s, 18 parking lots in the downtown area have been converted into public spaces for playing, meeting, and generally just doing things that human beings enjoy doing. If you're hungry, there are over 7,500 cafe seats in the city.

But as you walk and bike the city, you also quickly become aware of something else: Most Copenhagen's city streets have a speed limit of 30 to 40 km/h (19 to 25 mph). Even more impressive, there are blocks in some neighborhoods with limits as low as 15 km/h (9 mph) where cars must yield to residents. Still other areas are "shared spaces" where cars, bikes and pedestrians mix freely with no stress, usually thanks to traffic calming measures (speed bumps are popular), textured road surfaces and common sense.

We charmed you last month with our look at bicycling in Copenhagen, now sit back and watch livable streets experts Jan Gehl and Gil Penalosa share their observations about pedestrian life. You'll also hear Ida Auken, a member of Denmark's Parliament, and Niels Tørsløv, traffic director for the City of Copenhagen, talk about their enthusiasm for street reclamation and its effect on their city.

Original link on Streetfilms.org

2010-08-27T10:40:00.000-04:00

Move Over PSA from the Virginia State Police

2010-08-22T09:05:00.001-04:00

Shawn Vestal: Driver created ‘horrible bond’

Shawn Vestal The Spokesman-Review

William Knight was driving his 1997 Kia without insurance when he hit a bicyclist outside Cheney in April, police say.

A few days later, he was cited again: no insurance, expired tabs, driving with altered plates.

So Becky Jeffries finds it hard to accept when she’s told by the state patrol that Knight was likely not to blame for hitting and killing her stepfather, James L. Dahl, as he walked across First Street in Cheney on June 27.

Knight is to blame, she says, because he should not have been driving in the first place.

“The fact that he hit somebody else with no insurance, and was stopped (after) that with no insurance – that’s a problem,” she said. “I feel that this guy should be in jail.”

But it seems very possible that this guy will not wind up in jail – at least not for these collisions. (The criminal charges he faces for allegedly stealing his sister’s wedding ring and pawning it might be a different story.) Jeffries and Ted Chauvin – the bicyclist hit on April 15 – say they’ve been told by investigators that Knight probably will not be charged with a crime.

The Spokane County Sheriff’s Office and the Washington State Patrol say they have not arrived at final decisions. Chauvin’s case has been bounced around the sheriff’s department, after the deputy who initially investigated it left the agency. The case has landed on the desk of Detective Dave Thornburg. I couldn’t reach Thornburg, but in a phone message he said the case had simply fallen behind some higher priorities – including a couple of fatal accidents.

“I haven’t forgotten about it, I just haven’t had the time to get back to it,” he said.

WSP spokesman Trooper Troy Briggs didn’t dispute Jeffries’ characterization of the investigation’s status, but couldn’t be more specific on short notice Thursday. A significant detail is the fact that Dahl was not in a crosswalk when he was struck. Briggs said he understands the frustrations of people who lose loved ones, but that a driver with a record still might not be to blame in a given case.

I tried to reach Knight, but he didn’t return my calls.

Chauvin, a research assistant professor in the new medical school program at Washington State University in Spokane, is a longtime bicyclist who was out for a training ride on Cheney-Plaza Road when Knight clipped him from behind.

“Next thing I know, I’m flying through the air, and I see my bike flying one way and his car decelerating,” he said. “It was a really surreal experience.”

Chauvin suffered broken bones in his ankles and wrists. His elbows were “ripped open.” Fortunately, he said, he didn’t suffer any head injuries.

Knight stayed with him, expressed remorse and helped him complete a 911 call, Chauvin said. He told Chauvin he’d been reaching for his cigarettes and hadn’t seen him. But he later appears to have told the sheriff’s deputy that Chauvin was riding on the opposite side of the road – a version of events that went out in the initial news release and was reported in the local media.

That chafed Chauvin, who is passionate about the importance of bicyclists following the rules. He also fears it may have muddied the waters in the investigation of his case.

Chauvin was hospitalized for four days. He had surgeries on his ankle and wrists, with plates and pins now holding things together. He missed five weeks of work. Shortly after he returned, he was reading the newspaper one day when he saw a story about Dahl’s accident.

The driver’s name leapt out at him: William W. Knight Jr.

He called the sheriff’s department, reaching a sergeant who told him the initial investigator had left the department and that no charges were likely, he said.

“Then I dropped the bomb on him,” Chauvin said. “I said, ‘Did you realize this is the same guy who hit and killed a guy in Cheney?’ ”

The sergeant did not. And Thornburg – in his message to me some two months later – says he still needs to sit down with the WSP and consider the cases together.

Jeffries said that, although Dahl was not in a crosswalk, she has a hard time believing there wasn’t some responsibility on Knight’s part. It was a well-lighted area, with no other traffic around, and Dahl was not someone to walk out in front of cars, she said.

She wonders why Knight’s license was not suspended – he has ignored his April citations and they’ve been turned over to a collection agency. It might not have kept him off the road, but it would have given officers a reason to arrest him at the accident, she said.

Jeffries’ aggravation is understandable. But Briggs, the WSP spokesman, and Christine Anthony of the Department of Licensing noted that a driver’s license isn’t suspended immediately for receiving a no-insurance ticket. Drivers have a right to argue their case in court, for one thing. And if they fail to appear, a deadline must pass before the state can act.

As unsatisfying as it is, it takes time.

As unsatisfying as it is, Knight’s license is now, finally, suspended.

Jeffries says she plans to press her case with the police and prosecutors. She and Chauvin want to work toward what they see as a just end: a legal consequence for the man who brought them together.

“We have this horrible bond now,” Chauvin said. “Thanks to Mr. Knight.”

Shawn Vestal can be reached at (509) 459-5431 or shawnv@spokesman.com.
Link to original article

2010-08-12T12:06:00.004-04:00

Authorities in NC look for driver in bike hit-and-run

2010-06-11T15:49:00.002-04:00

Tom Vanderbilt talks "Traffic"

2010-05-03T19:20:00.004-04:00

Sharing the road with bicycles is hardly a hardship

Nobody's time is so important they can't look out for the little guy

By Michael Dresser, The Baltimore Sun (Link to Original Article)

May 3, 2010

There are many dreadful burdens in this cruel life we lead: disease, heartbreak, war, taxes and death. But despite all the anguished cries from drivers who balk at the slightest delay, sharing the roads with bicyclists just doesn't rank in the same class.

You wouldn't know that from some of the reactions on the Getting There blog to a recent item about a bill that establishes a buffer between motor vehicles and bicycles. The way some people carry on, you'd think they'd been sentenced to drive at bike speed in perpetuity.

The law that passed the General Assembly is simple enough. It tells the folks in cars and trucks and those testosterone-fueled Dodge Rams to allow 3 feet of distance between their vehicles and the bicyclists they are passing. It's something drivers should be doing already.

Now the police aren't going to be out on the streets with magic electronic rulers ticketing folks who come within 2 feet, 11 inches of a bicycle for a nanosecond. But it does give them a statute to rely on if they see some road-raging lunatic buzzing a bicyclist by a few inches. Chances are, most of the tickets under this law will be written after a driver actually clips a bicyclist. Right now, unless the police can show actual intent to injure, there's not a lot they can do in such cases.

Mostly the law serves to educate. It sets a standard that can be taught in driver's ed classes. It gives parents a clear-cut rule to pass on to their teens with learners' permits.

But for some folks, any concession to the safety of bicyclists is a surrender to the forces of two-wheeled evil. Here are a few of the reactions:

I live in a scenic rural area, where cycling groups take weekend fun rides EVERY weekend. The roads have no shoulders and no turn lanes. There are no easy detours — when I run across a bunch of Lance Armstrong wannabes going 25 in a 40 or 50 mph zone, I can't just 'turn at the next corner and go around' them. That will take me a mile or more out of my way.

And there's this:

I use these roads to go to the grocery store, the doctor's office, my parents' house, the hardware store, you name it. I don't appreciate the packs of city dwellers who drive out here, park their cars, and clog up my neighborhood thoroughfares. I can't tell you how many times I have been driving at the posted speed and come around a blind corner, only to almost hit a cyclist going less than half the posted speed in the middle of the lane.

And another:

Shame on the State legislature for bowing down to another special interest group. … Bicyclists pay no highway taxes, and should therefore have no more special privileges than pedestrians.

When a bicyclist hears or sees a vehicle approaching, he should pull far off the shoulder to not [impede] traffic. Bicyclists caught in the traffic lanes should be fined.

My reaction: Cry me a river.

It has been more than five years since I last took a bicycle onto a Maryland road, so by now I am firmly in the majority of folks who get around mostly by engine-driven vehicles. But the experience of trying to share the road with speeding drivers tends to stay with you.

For decades now I've driven the back roads of Maryland, occasionally coming upon groups of bicyclists pedaling furiously but poking along by gas-driven standards. And at times, on curvy two-lane roads, their presence has actually forced me to slow down — sometimes for more than a minute or two — until the road straightened out and I could pass.

And guess what? There was no permanent damage. Never was an appointment missed or a destination denied. The world kept spinning on its axis.

Here's a flash for the internal combustion crowd: Bicyclists, even the Lance wannabes who live somewhere else, have a right to be on all roads except for a few high-speed highways. They do not impede traffic; they are an integral part of traffic. It has been thus since the dawn of the auto age. Should bicyclists stay to the right and use the shoulders when they can? Absolutely. But there are times when they have to use the travel lanes and the rest of us just have to learn to share.

Bicyclists may not pay gas taxes, but they pay sales tax on their bikes. The government hits them up in most of the ways it hits up others. Their bikes cause no pollution and almost zero wear to the road system. They don't require widened highways or significant traffic law enforcement.

They don't seem to demand much except that other drivers honor their right to safe roads. Even when they ask for a bike path, they're happy to share it with hikers.

So what harm are they doing?

The rules of the road boil down to an essential principle: The big should look out for the little guy even when the little guy is in the wrong. The tractor-trailer truck driver should defer to the guy in the SUV; the SUV driver should let the woman in the small car merge; the motorist should look out for motorcyclists and bicyclists, who should in turn refrain from running over pedestrians.

Maybe the local clergy could find a sermon topic in this clash between motorized and human-propelled cultures.

How would Jesus drive? Would he buzz bicyclists or counsel us that blessed are the meek of vehicle?

Would the Buddha rage at delay or find good karma in driving gently?

Would Muhammad spur us to vehicular jihad or remind us that Allah prizes mercy over wrath.

Can't we at least agree that Moses and the authors of the Talmud would tell us to stop kvetching and obey the law already?

With Gov. Martin O'Malley planning to sign the bill, the 3-foot law will take effect Oct. 1. There's no reason under Heaven to wait until then to comply.

michael.dresser@baltsun.com

http://twitter.com/michaeltdresser

2010-04-18T06:46:00.001-04:00

Why Do You Ride?

2010-04-16T09:00:00.003-04:00

Eco-savvy efforts challenge Richmond’s button-down image

By Lee Graves

When Tom Bowden hops astride one of his customized bikes — be it the 1985 Schwinn or the 1983 Fuji — to commute from his home in the West End to his job in downtown Richmond, he doesn’t expect much two-wheeled company.

“I don’t see a lot of bicyclers in the morning,” Bowden, a lawyer with Sands Anderson Marks & Miller, says about the 9-mile ride. “One day, I counted as many as 10 people on their bikes who looked like they were going somewhere with a purpose. I think that’s the most I’ve ever seen.”

The one exception is Bike to Work Day in May, a national effort with strong backing from Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones. And Bowden sees that as one of numerous positive signs. “I think Richmond is a much better cycling environment than it was, and it’s getting better all the time.”

The same can be said for efforts on many fronts to make the Richmond region more environmentally savvy, both as a place to live and a place to do business. Residents, officials and corporate leaders increasingly see clean technology, renewable energy and sustainable development as paths toward greener pastures.

Read the remainder of the article here...

2010-03-25T17:05:00.003-04:00

2010-03-18T20:13:00.002-04:00

Cyclist struck and killed by vehicle in Concord, NC

By Brigida Mack and Jeff Rivenbark

CONCORD, NC (WBTV) - An avid cyclist from Mount Pleasant was struck and killed by a vehicle in Concord early Wednesday morning.

Adam Wesley Little, 34, died at Carolinas Medical Center NorthEast in Concord.

According to the Concord Police Department, Little was cycling southbound along the shoulder of NC Highway 49 near the intersection of US Highway 601 when he was struck by a car around 7:30 a.m.

The driver of the car, 24-year-old Stacy Renee Shaw, has been charged with misdemeanor death by vehicle, child restraint violation, and failure to notify the North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles of an address change. None of the passengers in Shaw's vehicle were hurt police said.

According to the police report, Shaw claimed she did not see Little operating his bicycle and she side-swiped him. The report goes on to say that Little "...was also thrown in the air and down the road and off into the grass."

Little was wearing appropriate safety gear including a helmet and clothing, and there was a safety light installed on the back of his bike, the police report said.

Police said there is no evidence that Shaw was impaired by alcohol or drug use at the time of the crash. The investigation is ongoing.

Brian Goss is still reeling from the news about his close friend's death.

"He was a man who died doing what he loved," Gross said. "He's got a lot of people that just cared about him so much."

Little's 20-plus mile commute to work into Charlotte was nothing compared to the hundreds of miles he road when practicing with his pro-cycling team, the Subaru Fisher Road Team.

Goss said Little's family is taking comfort in knowing he didn't suffer and is now reunited with his infant son who died a few years ago.

"We're thankful that, now, he gets to be with his son again and we're certainly gonna miss him but we're always going to remember him," Gross said.

Jim O'Brien runs the bike shop in Kannapolis that built bikes for Little's team. He said Adam was someone who loved life and lived every day like it was his last.

"He was a fit as most people wish they could be," said O'Brien. "He was a good dad, a good husband and we don't have him anymore."

O'Brien said people came in and out of his shop all day on Wednesday in shock after hearing the news of Little's sudden and tragic death.

Those in the cycling community say the tragic loss is a reminder of how drivers must be willing to share the road.

"Folks have got to pay attention," O'Brien said. "On both sides, they've got to pay attention. It's altogether too easy for bad things to happen to good people."

Link to original article

2010-03-07T22:22:00.001-05:00

Road ID - It's Who I Am.

This is a great idea. I think everyone who trains on the road should own one of these. Doesn't matter if they are a cyclist or runner... one collision with an inattentive motorist could send you to the ER and the EMT's, doctors, nurses, etc may not have a clue as to who you are and your family will be left worrying as to why you've been gone for so long on your bike ride. A ride you aren't coming back from... at least not today...

2010-03-04T18:52:00.010-05:00

The Dangers of Teen Drivers

On July 27, 1996 I said good-bye to a friend of mine. Chris was a great guy. Everyone loved him... and he was only 17 years old when he crashed his pick-up truck head-on into a tree on warm summer evening on his way to a pool party to hang out with some friends. EMT's pronounced him dead on arrival. Police said alcohol and speed were not a factor. But we already knew that. Chris was pretty responsible. No one knows what caused him to run off the road and crash into a large oak tree on that July evening. It was a single-vehicle accident and the curve in the road wasn't that sharp. I'll never forget how I felt that night. Knowing a friend of mine I had just seen a few hours earlier was gone from this life... it was a very hard thing for a 19 year old "kid" to wrap his mind around.

From the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for U.S. teens, accounting for more than one in three deaths in this age group. In 2008, nine teens ages 16 to 19 died every day from motor vehicle injuries. Per mile driven, teen drivers ages 16 to 19 are four times more likely than older drivers to crash. Fortunately, teen motor vehicle crashes are preventable, and proven strategies can improve the safety of young drivers on the road.

In 2008, about 3,500 teens in the United States aged 15–19 were killed and more than 350,000 were treated in emergency departments for injuries suffered in motor-vehicle crashes. Young people ages 15-24 represent only 14% of the U.S. population. However, they account for 30% ($19 billion) of the total costs of motor vehicle injuries among males and 28% ($7 billion) of the total costs of motor vehicle injuries among females.

Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.

2010-02-25T17:50:00.000-05:00

Park the Car, Take the Bus

By Clive Thompson - Link to Original Article on wired.com

Texting while driving is a huge problem in the US. We know it’s insanely dangerous. Studies have found that each time you write or read a text message, you take your eyes off the road for almost five seconds and increase your risk of collision up to 23 times. The hazard is “off the charts,” says David Strayer, a University of Utah professor who has studied the practice.

That’s why states are frantically trying to ban it. Nineteen already prohibit texting while driving, and plenty more — including West Virginia and Missouri — will likely join the pack next year.

But I’m not convinced the bans will work, particularly among young people. Why? Because texting is rapidly becoming their default means of connecting with one another, on a constant, pinging basis. From 2003 to 2008, the number of texts sent monthly by Americans surged from 2 billion to 110 billion. The urge to connect is primal, and even if you ban texting in the car, teens will try to get away with it.

So what can we do? We should change our focus to the other side of the equation and curtail not the texting but the driving. This may sound a bit facetious, but I’m serious. When we worry about driving and texting, we assume that the most important thing the person is doing is piloting the car. But what if the most important thing they’re doing is texting? How do we free them up so they can text without needing to worry about driving?

The answer, of course, is public transit. In many parts of the world where texting has become ingrained in daily life — like Japan and Europe — public transit is so plentiful that there hasn’t been a major texting-while-driving crisis. You don’t endanger anyone’s life while quietly tapping out messages during your train ride to work in Tokyo or Berlin.

Rich Ling, a sociologist who studies the culture of texting, grew up near Denver but now lives in Oslo with his family. He told me that Denmark has so many buses and streetcars that teenagers often don’t bother getting their driver’s license until later in life. “My daughter is 18, and she’s only sort of starting to think about driving,” he says. As a result, texting while driving “isn’t as big a deal.”

In contrast, US cities and suburbs have completely neglected their public transit. With very few exceptions — New York and Boston are two — buses and trains are either nonexistent or wretchedly inadequate. People desperately need cars to shop, work, and meet up with friends. Which is precisely why we’re in a crisis: Two activities that are both central to our lives are colliding.

Of course, you could argue that texting shouldn’t be so culturally central to people and that they should just cool it in the car. You may well be right, but good luck convincing them, my friend. And anyway, there are other benefits to making the streets safe for texters: Dramatically increasing public transit would also decrease our carbon footprint, improve local economies, and curtail drunk driving. (Plus, we’d waste less time in spiritually draining bumper-to-bumper traffic.)

Texting while driving is, in essence, a wake-up call to America. It illustrates our real, and bigger, predicament: The country is currently better suited to cars than to communication. This is completely bonkers.

By all means, we should ban texting while driving, or at least try. But we need to work urgently on making driving less necessary in the first place. Let’s get our hands off the wheel and onto the keypad — where they belong.

2010-02-20T08:02:00.002-05:00

Three Feet to Pass — Why Such Resistance?

by Bruce Drees on February 18, 2010 - Link to Original Article on www.vabike.org

With the final blow delivered by a House transportation sub-committee to Senate Bill 566 this morning, the 2010 legislative session has effectively ended, sending Virginia’s cyclists home empty handed. In leading a statewide effort, the Virginia Bicycling Federation tried unsuccessfully to accomplish three objectives:

Change the existing passing distance between a car and a bike from 2 to 3 feet.
Change the existing “following too closely” law from applying to a motor vehicle following another motor vehicle to include motor vehicles following bicycles.
Adoption of a “careless driving” law similar to several other states that required motor vehicle operators to exercise “due care and regard” for other roadway users. Note: this provision was withdrawn before it even got started when it became clear that it didn’t stand a chance.

These changes were spurred by a desire to bring state code in line with contemporary safe separation practices. In addition, we had hoped to make some progress in addressing incidents in recent years where Virginia’s criminal justice system turned its back on us. If you think that running over a bicyclist or pedestrian is illegal in Virginia, think again. The above legislation would not have totally fixed this, but the changes would have helped.

The 3 feet overtaking provision in SB566 was passed by the state Senate in an uncontested 40-0 vote. We are grateful to our Senators and staff members for this, as well as to those who supported us in the house when HB1048 came along. Delegate Jeion Ward of Hampton provided a wonderful take on this bill as a grandmother. Additionally, we appreciate the support shown by our two most populous jurisdictions in the state for their support, Fairfax County and City of Virginia Beach.

How could things fall apart with such simple pieces of legislation? I attended most of the hearings and watched the floor debate for HB1048. Here are some of the objections raised, with my response to each:

“Bicyclists are often law breakers, unworthy of any added protection under the law.”

Don’t many drivers fit this category too? Yet they receive protection.

“Bicyclists are inconsiderate when they delay drivers from getting to their destinations, especially in narrow lanes or roads.”

Drivers delay other drivers too. To get on a major arterial near my house in a car, I am often am the only vehicle tripping the traffic signal. This stops upwards of 20-30 cars for 30 seconds or longer. Everyone waits patiently while I get on the highway, then we all travel together about a half mile or so down the road where the process repeats itself. No one honks, screams obscenities, or throws things at me. Yet bicyclists often receive harsh treatment for allegedly impeding a single motorist by far less. This same heat and intimidation was evident in each of the hearings I attended.

The public roads are just that — public, available on a first come, first served principle.

“A 3 ft. passing rule would inconvenience and hazard motorists by requiring them to move into the adjacent or oncoming travel lanes.”

As any experienced cyclist will tell you, this is already a frequent case under the existing law. The new law would have had little to no impact on the vast majority of drivers who pass us safely already. It’s the ones who don’t understand what a safe passing distance is that we are most concerned with. In addition 3 feet accounts for the typical wobble of many cyclists and children, and helps to prevent crashes where a cyclist gets startled and loses control. In short, the changes were not totally about the spandex mafia, though that’s how the legislation was portrayed by opponents.

“Bicyclists should police themselves before coming in asking for added legal protections.”

“Policing ourselves” clean before any headway can be made in bike safety legislation is an impossible standard to meet. It’s unfair too — we don’t ask drivers to police other drivers. Can you imagine AAA warning and cajoling red light runners and speeders? Yet that is what we are being asked. If people are breaking the law to the extent that it is a concern, it should be up to the police to enforce those laws.

Those were the main arguments against. If you are thinking, “Where’s the beef?” you are not alone.

In a truth is stranger than fiction move, the vote in the full House was almost entirely along party lines with Republicans lining up against and Democrats totally for. Is bicycling really a partisan issue? Things certainly didn’t start out that way. The proposed changes were initiated by a Republican and championed by others, and the bills were patroned by two Dems from N. Virginia. Yet things ended in the House along party lines. The Capital Hill rumor mill has it that the Republican Caucus considered HB1048 enough of a threat to go after it. Have Republicans become that unfriendly toward bikes and bike safety? I’m pretty much down the middle, so I’m asking this rhetorically, not sarcastically.

The treatment of this bill in the House and the rationales offered for defeating it have irked a number of Republican donors who bike. It appears there are at least a few legislators who owe the bikers that support them the benefit of a sound understanding of our concerns and a viable suggestion or two on how we can move forward on this next year.

VBF went into this thinking that our proposed changes were pretty straightforward and supportable. While we expected some difficulty, we did not expect to be roughed up for the reasons stated. But persistence pays, and we’ll be back next year. In the meantime, please get to know your legislators. More importantly, get them to know you as a skilled, responsible, and law abiding cyclist.

2010-02-17T08:01:00.000-05:00

2010-02-10T19:39:00.004-05:00

Insurer settles in bicyclists' deaths

Plaintiffs to get nearly $5 million

By John Monk - McClatchy Newspapers

It may have been the most expensive cell phone call ever made in the history of South Carolina.

An insurance carrier will pay nearly $5 million to settle the case of a distracted driver who evidence alleged- among other things - was using a cell phone when she struck and killed two bicyclists in Lancaster County.

"It's been a long time and a difficult time," said Sherri Hoskins, 52, of the death of her late husband, Thomas, at 49 in 2007.

"We are forever changed, and my kids are fatherless," she said.

Hoskins spoke Thursday afternoon outside a Columbia federal courtroom where, minutes before, U.S. Judge Joe Anderson had approved the nearly $5 million settlement. The exact amount was $4,999,900.

"A jury might have awarded you more, and it might have awarded you less," Anderson told Hoskins in a brief hearing in which he approved the settlement. "No one can say for certain."

In December, a Lancaster County judge approved a $2.5 million settlement in state civil court for the death of the other cyclist, Lee Anne Barry, 43.

Drivers' cell phone use is a hot-button issue these days in South Carolina and across the country. Blocks away the day before, state lawmakers discussed banning motorists' hand-held cell phone use. It is currently legal to drive while texting or talking on a hand-held cell phone in South Carolina.

How much of a role the use of a cell phone by driver Sharon King - whose Chrysler Pacifica killed the two bicyclists - played in the deaths promised to assume major prominence in the trial.

Lawyers for the cyclists' estates said in pretrial hearings and in court filings that King was on a cell phone at the time of the crash. Among their evidence: cell phone records and a statement by the woman King had been talking with that she heard the impact of the crash on the open line.

"We believe the cell phone was the major cause of the crash," said one of Hoskins' lawyers, Dick Harpootlian.

But defense lawyers were prepared to argue that, while King was distracted, she had laid the phone down on a seat and was preparing to operate the car radio at the time of the crash.

Court filings also indicate King had more than one dog in the car, which also could have distracted her.

"We believe the totality of the evidence would have cleared Ms. King of all exaggerated allegations, including cell phone usage," said defense lawyer Nicholas Gladd.

In agreeing to the settlement, "Ms. King admitted to an unfortunate distraction which, coupled with the unique combination of vehicles and bicycles together on the same highway, caused the accident," Gladd said.

In any case, what is beyond doubt, in the language of Thursday's settlement, is that King was negligent.

The road she was driving on had little or no other traffic; she had a clear view of the road; the bicycles were well to the right and had the right of way; and the October weather was clear, according to court records.

Two weeks ago, in a Lancaster County courtroom, she pleaded guilty to reckless driving in the deaths.
---

Similar Stories

$5M settlement reached in SC deaths of 2 bikers

$5M settlement reached in deaths of 2 bikers

Two killed in overnight crashes

SC Legislators to discuss texting ban for drivers

Texting while driving ban could pass

2010-02-09T08:24:00.000-05:00

Talking Points on HB 1048 and SB 566
From the Virginia Bicycling Federation Website, www.vabike.org

This bill would help educate motor vehicle drivers to pass the drivers of any non-motorized vehicle (including a bicycle) with a wider margin of error and thereby reduce the number of fatalities and serious injuries to these legal and legitimate road users. In addition, this bill could improve justice for all lawful and prudent drivers of non-motorized vehicles (including bicycles) who are injured by negligent following motorists. Finally, this bill would make it illegal to harass or endanger the driver of any legal vehicle by tail-gaiting.
This bill would amend three sections of the Code of Virginia, §§ 46.2-816, 46.2-838, and 46.2-839

§ 46.2-816. Following too closely. Currently, this Code section applies only to motor vehicles following other motor vehicles, trailers, or semi-trailers. The proposed modification would extend the same standard of legal protection to the drivers of all vehicles that are permitted on the roadway, including bicycles, mopeds, and animal-drawn vehicles. The prohibition on following too closely would still only apply to drivers of motor vehicles, so the common (and typically safe) practice of a bicyclist drafting another bicyclist would not be affected.

§ 46.2-838. Passing when overtaking a (motor) vehicle. The proposed change would retain the current 2-foot passing distance for passing motor vehicles, but clarify that this code section applies to passing motor vehicles only. Otherwise, § 46.2-838.and § 46.2-839 would be redundant and/or confusing for bicycles, mopeds, and animal-drawn vehicles.

Note that § 46.2-907 (Overtaking and passing vehicles) additionally applies to riders of bicycle and mopeds. This section, which is unaffected by HB 1048 or SB 566, says that the bike or moped rider “may overtake and pass another vehicle on either the left or right side, staying in the same lane as the overtaken vehicle, or changing to a different lane, or riding off the roadway as necessary to pass with safety.” Also, a bike or moped rider “may overtake and pass another vehicle only under conditions that permit the movement to be made with safety” and shall otherwise “comply with all rules applicable to the driver of a motor vehicle when overtaking and passing.”

§ 46.2-839. Passing bicycle, electric personal assistive mobility device, electric power-assisted bicycle, moped, animal, or animal-drawn vehicle. The sole proposed change to this statute would be to increase the minimum passing distance for bicycles and mopeds from two feet to three feet.

The current code says “pass by (at least) two feet”, but it doesn’t seem to be enough.

Recent Bicyclist Fatalities: 11 cyclists were fatally struck by Motor Vehicles in 2009 in Virginia, and most of them were hit from behind. Several were high-profile incidents: Daniel Hersh in Virginia Beach, Kevin Flock in Dinwiddie County, and Dr. Joe Mirenda near Harrisonburg, all of whom were apparently hit squarely from behind.

Claims of a “Suicide Swerve”: Drivers involved in such crashes may state that the cyclist swerved into them as they were passing the cyclist. Drivers must consider a bicycle’s typical wobble when estimating the safe passing distance, and a three-foot swerve or wobble is less credible than a two-foot swerve or wobble.

Extended Mirrors: Vehicles pulling boats, horse trailers, and trailers with lawn care equipment tend to have extended mirrors on the passenger side that extend farther than the driver realizes.

Educational Value: Neither drivers, cyclists or law enforcement officers carry measuring devices to know exactly how closely one vehicle is passing another, but 3 feet seems to be a recognizable educational tool to give the drivers the message to give the cyclists a wider berth (whereas any collision provides the needed proof that the passing distance was inadequate). If the changes to following too closely and passing too closely are adopted, DMV’s Virginia Drivers Manual and state Drivers Test can incorporate this information.

Nationwide Practice: 16 States, plus the District of Columbia have already adopted 3 feet in their codes: Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana Maine, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, Wisconsin, and bills that would adopt the 3-foot minimum distance for passing bicyclists are currently pending in at least several other states. Thus, a 3-foot minimum distance for passing bicyclists will likely be the law in a majority of the U.S. states within a few years.

Bicycle-Friendly State Criterion: Moreover, the League of American Bicyclists has adopted the existence of a 3-foot minimum passing law as one criterion for ranking the bicycle friendliness of the 50 states. Virginia has twice been ranked the 23rd best state, in part for lacking a 3-foot passing law. Passage of this bill would help improve Virginia’s ranking in the future which will help attract more bicycling tourists to visit Virginia.

Reasons for Requiring Less Passing Distance (2-feet) for Passing Motor Vehicles:

1) Two Feet is Adequate for Passing Motor Vehicles at Low Speeds: Low-speed maneuvering such as in parking lots often has vehicles as close as two feet, and the driver and passenger in the motor vehicle are protected by the vehicle, so passing by two feet seems to work well for motor vehicles.
2) Motorists Naturally Pass Other Motorists Widely at Higher Speeds: In part because lane-splitting by motor vehicles is illegal, motor vehicle drivers tend to naturally give other motor vehicles a wide berth, particularly at higher speeds.
3) Non-Motorized Drivers Are More Vulnerable and May Naturally Wobble to Stay Balanced: On the other hand, the bicyclist (and similar road user) lacks occupant protection, resulting in small miscalculations or errors having catastrophic consequences for the bicyclist. Moreover, two-wheeled or single-track vehicles such as bicycles must necessarily wobble some to stay balanced, whereas four-wheeled vehicles don’t wobble The catastrophic results of a collision dictate that a greater passing distance be required when a motor vehicle passes a bicyclist.
4) Wind Blast: The wind blast from a large truck passing with two feet at high speed is far more problematic for a cyclist than for a motor vehicle. Furthermore, wind blasts from large passing vehicles can cause bicycles and mopeds to wobble even more than usual.
5) Differences in Typical Speed Differentials: Bicycles and mopeds generally pass other vehicles at relatively low speeds, whereas motor vehicles may pass non-motorized vehicles at speed differentials exceeding 45 MPH.

2010-02-04T09:44:00.000-05:00

Rahsaan Bahati: Out of Compton

2010-02-02T14:21:00.008-05:00

3′ Passing Bill Committee Vote Wednesday

by BudVye on February 2, 2010

HB1048 Following too Close & 3 Foot Passing is on the Docket for House Transportation Sub-Committee 2 Wed. @ 5 p.m.

Have not yet talked to the patron to see if she intends to merge it into

SB 566, but in the event it is heard on Wed., please make some calls or

Emails supporting it. All phone #’s are 804 area code at their General Assembly offices

Richmond area: John Cox (Hanover) 698-1055, deljcox@house.virginia.gov; Betsy Carr (Richmond & Eastern Chesterfield), 698-1069, delbcarr@house.virginia.gov

Tidewater area: Glenn Oder (Newport News) 698-1094,

delgoder@house.virginia.gov; Jeion Ward (Hampton) 698-1092,

deljward@house.virginia.gov

Northern VA: Thomas Rust (Herndon) 698-1086, deltrust@house.state.virginia.gov

Lynchburg: Scott Garrett 698-1023, delsgarrett@house.virginia.gov

and Chairman Bill Carrico from way out in Galax, 698-1005, delccarrico@house.virginia.gov

With only 7 on the sub committee, I think it is permissible for you to call the one geographically closest to you, urging them to support the change of passing distance from 2 feet to 3 feet.

It is more of a guideline and educational rule of thumb for vehicle drivers rather than an enforcement tool to punish law breakers since there are no measuring instruments that can tell if the vehicle is passing the cyclist by 3 feet, 2 feet, or one foot, but 16 states now have 3 feet in their code, and it seems to be easier for drivers to comprehend so that they may give the cyclist a little wider berth when passing, leaving a little more room for error in the event either the driver or the cyclist wobbles.

Even if this bill is not heard on Wed. a.m., your message will not be wasted since these seven will also hear SB566 when it comes over to them from the Senate and into the House Transportation Committee.

HB 1048 changes the minimum distance for passing a bicyclist to three feet, from the current (ridiculous) two feet. Fifteen other states now have three feet to pass laws. HB 1048 also prohibits a motorist from following a bicyclist too closely, to prevent harassment by tailgating. This bill will be heard in House Transportation Subcommittee 2 on Wednesday morning. If your delegate is Carrico, Oder, Rust, Garrett, Cox, Ward, or Carr, please contact them and ask them to support HB 1048. Rust, Oder, and Garrett are probably the swing votes, so they’re the ones we especially need to write to.

2010-01-30T18:17:00.001-05:00

Cyclist Killed in Miami on January 17th, 2010

A male cyclist was killed shortly after 8am this morning by the driver of a silver Volkswagen on the Bear Cut Bridge. The bicyclist was riding in the bike lane heading into Key Biscayne when a motorist fatally struck him and kept on going, witnesses outside La Carreta heard a loud sound and spotted a speeding vehicle dragging a blue Cannondale road bicycle while blowing through a red light about 2.5 miles from where the cyclist was struck. (see map below)

The driver, Carlos Bertonatti, was apprehended by police near his residence in Key Biscayne. A group of cyclists went to where the police were and saw him detained in the back of the squad car. Some witnesses at the scene are saying the driver appeared intoxicated and based on the fatal injuries to the cyclist and heavy damage to the motorist's vehicle it's apparent he was exceeding the speed limit.

Below is a photo of cyclists trying to help the victim, a photo of the damaged vehicle, and one of the wrecked bicycle after it was dislodged from underneath the vehicle.

An ambulance took approximately 20-22 minutes to arrive from when the initial 911 call was made at 8:04am. Police explained to the witnesses that Village of Key Biscayne Fire Rescue had no jurisdiction on the causeway. Dispatchers were deciding whether City of Miami or Miami-Dade would come while the cyclist laid there dying.

Key Biscayne is the most popular cycling route in Miami, cyclists are supposed to feel safe in this area yet tragedies like this occur. This is very unfortunate and sad. The problem concerning motorists driving while intoxicated, texting, talking on the phone and speeding needs to be better addressed in South Florida. All this makes me very upset.

*Edit 1/18 - The victim has been identified as Christophe Le Canne, a 44-year-old cyclist and family man from South Miami.

1019 Project Note: Posting from the Miami Bike Scene blog. Photos courtesy of Andre Quirino

Christophe Le Canne Memorial Ride from rydel high on Vimeo.

2010-01-29T20:18:00.004-05:00

I'm Alive

My wife played this song for me tonight, and said it reminded her of my "accident" and all I'd overcome and my perspective on the entire incident. So we decided to post it on the blog tonight.

2010-01-26T12:12:00.007-05:00

Student is Punished for Riding his Bike to School

He Apparently Violated School Policy in Saratoga Springs, NY

Apparently the School Superintendent, School Board, and Principal of this particular school don't agree with the "Safe Routes to School" program. Here's a link to the original article in the Saratogian. Here's another story on the issue.

The principal cited several reasons (listed below in italics) as to why student shouldn't be allowed to ride to school.

The school’s reason for the no-biking policy is primarily one of safety, Principal Stuart Byrne said.
“I would be a nervous wreck every day if kids were riding to school,” he said. “Traffic isn’t bumper to bumper, but it’s non-stop. My personal hunch is that a sheriff or a state trooper could make a living out here.” He said the district’s policy does not allow students to ride or walk to schools outside of the city’s urban core.

He also used this excuse to cite why the school does not allow kids to ride their bikes to school.

Byrne noted that, as in any other community, Saratoga Springs has its share of individuals who have served criminal sentences for abusing children. He pointed out an incident several years ago where John Regan attempted to abduct a student at Saratoga Springs High School.

2010-01-22T08:57:00.003-05:00

Va. Senate panel advances 70 mph speed limit

RAY REED MEDIA GENERAL NEWS SERVICE
Published: January 21, 2010

A state Senate committee yesterday approved a bill to raise the speed limit to 70 mph on some highways, and rejected a proposal to keep the limit at 65 mph for tractor-trailer rigs.

Sen. Stephen D. Newman, R-Lynchburg, sponsored Senate Bill 537, which would set the 70 mph limit for all vehicles on roads where engineers deemed it safe. Gov. Bob McDonnell promised during his campaign to raise speed limits to 70 mph.

But at the trucking industry's request, Newman said, he offered to amend his measure and keep trucks at the current 65 mph. Many trucks now are equipped with governors that limit their speeds to 65, Newman said industry representatives told him.

The proposed amendment got zero support from Senate Transportation Committee members, including Newman himself. "The industry would like it; it is before the committee; it is not part of my bill," Newman said.

Trucking-industry lobbyists did not comment during Newman's presentation.

The amendment died when no one offered a motion to accept it.

"One of the most dangerous circumstances you can develop on an interstate highway system is bifurcated speed limits," said Sen. John Watkins, R-Powhatan, said. "I think we would be in a safer position to stick to one speed limit and let the bill rise or fall."

Sen. R. Creigh Deeds, D-Bath County, voted against the bill, saying he worried about its effect on Interstate 81.

"I thought it was already about 85 mph for trucks," Deeds said, to chuckles from other committee members.

Newman joined in, saying "I'd like to have a list of those trucks governed at 65."

The same bill is pending in the House of Delegates, where it is sponsored by Del. Charles W. Carrico, R-Galax.

Ray Reed writes for The News & Advance of Lynchburg.
Link to original article in the Richmond Times-Dispatch

2010-01-21T19:58:00.001-05:00

The Holland Tunnel

Bikes are actually faster than cars sometimes...

2010-01-12T19:59:00.003-05:00

Doctor sentenced to 5 years in prison for assaulting cyclists in Brentwood

A doctor convicted of assaulting two bicyclists by slamming on his car brakes after a confrontation on a narrow Brentwood road was sentenced today to five years in prison.

Christopher Thompson, wearing dark blue jail scrubs, wept as he apologized to the injured cyclists shortly before he was sentenced.

"I would like to apologize deeply, profoundly from the bottom of my heart," he told them, his right hand cuffed to a court chair.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Scott T. Millington called the case a "wake-up call" to motorists and cyclists and urged local government to provide riders with more bike lanes. He said he believed that Thompson had shown a lack of remorse during the case and that the victims were particularly vulnerable while riding their bicycles.
The case against Thompson, 60, has drawn close scrutiny from bicycle riders around the country, many of whom viewed the outcome as a test of the justice system's commitment to protecting cyclists.

Millington said he did not take into account more than 270 e-mails and letters from cyclists that were filed with the court urging a tough sentence.

The July 4, 2008, crash also highlighted simmering tensions between cyclists and residents along Mandeville Canyon Road, the winding five-mile residential street where the crash took place.

One cyclist was flung face-first into the rear window of Thompson's red Infiniti, breaking his front teeth and nose and cutting his face. The other cyclist slammed into the sidewalk and suffered a separated shoulder.

At his sentencing hearing at the county's airport branch court, Thompson cited the Bible in urging cyclists and residents of Mandeville Canyon to try to resolve their differences peacefully.

"If my incident shows anything it's that confrontation leads to an escalation of hostilities," Thompson said.

Thompson, a former emergency room physician who described the crash as a terrible accident, testified during his trial last year that he and other Mandeville Canyon residents were upset that some cyclists rode dangerously and acted disrespectfully toward residents and motorists along the street, a popular route for bike riders.

On the day of the crash, Thompson said he was driving down the road on his way to work when several cyclists swore at him and flipped him off as he called on them to ride single file. He said he stopped his car to take a photo to identify the riders and never intended to hurt anyone.

But the cyclists said the doctor was acting aggressively from the start. They said he honked loudly from behind them and passed by dangerously close as they moved to ride single file before he pulled in front and braked hard.

A police officer told jurors that shortly after the crash that Thompson said he slammed on his brakes in front of the riders to "teach them a lesson."

Prosecutors said Thompson had a history of run-ins with bike riders, including a similar episode four months before the crash when two cyclists told police that the doctor tried to run them off the road and braked suddenly in front of them. Neither of the riders was injured.

Jurors convicted Thompson in November of mayhem; assault with a deadly weapon, his car; battery with serious injury; and reckless driving causing injury.

-- Jack Leonard at the L.A. County airport courthouse

Photo: Christopher Thompson weeps as a judge sentences him to five years in prison for assaulting two bicyclists by slamming on his car brakes after a confrontation on a narrow Brentwood road. Credit: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times

Post and Photo from the Los Angeles Times.
Previous Post from the 1019 Project on this topic

2010-01-09T09:30:00.002-05:00

Should the bike lane adapt to cyclist's needs?

You can read more about the history of the Lightlane, here.

2010-01-07T19:32:00.012-05:00

Despite Risks, Internet Creeps Onto Car Dashboards

Audi says it tested its system to reduce the amount of time that drivers spend looking at screens.

By ASHLEE VANCE and MATT RICHTEL

Published: January 6, 2010

LAS VEGAS — To the dismay of safety advocates already worried about driver distraction, automakers and high-tech companies have found a new place to put sophisticated Internet-connected computers: the front seat.

Technology giants like Intel and Google are turning their attention from the desktop to the dashboard, hoping to bring the power of the PC to the car. They see vast opportunity for profit in working with automakers to create the next generation of irresistible devices.

This week at the Consumer Electronics Show, the neon-drenched annual trade show here, these companies are demonstrating the breadth of their ambitions, like 10-inch screens above the gearshift showing high-definition videos, 3-D maps and Web pages.

The first wave of these “infotainment systems,” as the tech and car industries call them, will hit the market this year. While built-in navigation features were once costly options, the new systems are likely to be standard equipment in a wide range of cars before long. They prevent drivers from watching video and using some other functions while the car is moving, but they can still pull up content as varied as restaurant reviews and the covers of music albums with the tap of a finger.

Safety advocates say the companies behind these technologies are tone-deaf to mounting research showing the risks of distracted driving — and to a growing national debate about the use of mobile devices in cars and how to avoid the thousands of wrecks and injuries this distraction causes each year.

Read the rest of the article online here at The New York Times

2010-01-06T20:08:00.002-05:00

New River Valley bicyclists seek better protection

Two people injured in bike wrecks say they believe the motorists who hit them were not adequately punished by the court system.

By Mary Hardbarger | The Roanoke Times

BLACKSBURG -- While biking home from work in late October, Elizabeth Hokanson of Blacksburg was struck head-on by a vehicle.

The impact knocked her off her bike and from the southbound lanes to the northbound lanes of South Main Street, which she was crossing.

Thanks to her helmet -- which was cracked in 11 places -- and the condition of her body at time of impact, her injuries were minimal, considering the severity of the crash.

"The crash was not anticipated at all. ... I didn't have time to think," Hokanson said. "And because of that, my body was still loose -- they said like a rag doll."

She suffered a concussion, several cracked ribs, wrenched joints and a large knot on her left shin bone.

The driver of the vehicle that hit Hokanson was found guilty Dec. 2 of failing to yield the right-of-way in Montgomery County General District Court and fined $30.

The maximum fine she could have received was $250.

Beth Lohman, president of the New River Valley Bicycle Association, said the fine was "insulting to the cycling community."

Today, Hokanson joins Lohman's outrage and questions whether the punishment would have been more severe had she also been driving a vehicle.

Their concerns are mirrored by other bikers, who say not enough is being done to punish motorists at fault in these type of incidents.

"To me there are two issues at hand," Lohman said. "One is how these cases are perceived and two, how these cases are handled by police and the judges."

According to state law, Hokanson has two years from the time of the crash to take civil action, and she said that possibility is under consideration.

Hokanson is an avid cyclist, and before the crash, she commuted to work at Virginia Tech on her bike, no matter the weather.

"I wear my bike gear under my work clothes," she said. "I love to ride."

She is a League of American Cyclists-certified biking instructor and vice president of the New River Valley Bicycle Association.

On the day of the crash, Hokanson said the weather was clear and it was still light outside when she began her ride home at about 5 p.m.

From Hubbard Street in Blacksburg, she approached South Main Street, and with a green light, began to cross onto Ellett Road. At the same time, the motorist was driving west on Ellett Road and began to make a left onto South Main Street.

"And then I remember a loud noise and a silver blur," Hokanson said. "Beyond that, I don't remember anything until the emergency room."

The trauma caused by the crash have prevented Hokanson from riding her bike.

She was unable to drive her car for more than a month after the crash because of back and joint pain. She goes to physical therapy three times a week to build her strength so she can go back on the road again.

Cases like Hokanson's are not uncommon in the New River Valley.

Months earlier, Michael Kiernan, a friend of Hokanson's and Tech faculty member, was sideswiped by a motorist on Nellies Cave Road in Blacksburg and suffered arm and shoulder injuries.

Kiernan said in court the driver claimed to not have seen him. She was charged and found guilty of illegal passing on the left and fined.

"Drivers need to know that we are out there, and we are legal and vulnerable users of the road," Hokanson said. "The 'I didn't see the bicyclist' plea is not a good enough excuse to get off scot-free."

Kiernan said he is still in the dark about what happened that day.

"If I could go back to that day in court, I would have asked the judge, 'Well why didn't she see me?' " he said.

Kiernan said he was not given an opportunity by the judge to seek details that he believes could shed new light on the case.

"In my opinion, I believe the judge already knew what sentence he planned to hand down before we even entered the courtroom," he said.

To prevent such incidents in the future, both Kiernan and Hokanson say drivers should be banned from talking on the phone.

"It's a no-brainer," Kiernan said.

Hokanson said getting rid of that distraction will force drivers to stay focused on their surroundings.

Lohman said she wants to see more protection given to cyclists through the law. She cited legislation in Texas and Oregon that protects vulnerable road users such as bicyclists and pedestrians.

Lohman said this legislation provides a higher level of care for these road users and ensures higher fines against motorists at fault.

"Bicycles are treated like vehicles under the law," she said. "Therefore, bicyclists should always be subject to all laws and principals."

As president of the area bicycle association, Lohman said she is hearing more concerns about bikers' safety every day.

"I get a lot of feedback from bikers saying they want more justice and recognition," she said.

"People need to know that we're present in the NRV and that we have connections to other organizations that can help justice be done."

Link to Original Article in The Roanoke Times

2009-12-31T14:26:00.019-05:00

Two different crashes in Virginia last night killed 3 people. Both crashes occurred on interstate highways in seperate parts of the state, and both involved motorists who had crossed into the other lane of travel driving the wrong way and struck another vehicle head on.

Two die in head-on crash after car plows through HOV gates

By Kathy Adams
The Virginian-Pilot
© December 31, 2009

VIRGINIA BEACH

The barriers were down, the red and yellow lights flashed their warning, and the overhead sign barred entry.

But Montreal D. Fuller, 29, of Norfolk drove past the signs on Wednesday and plowed through the barriers meant to prevent drivers on Interstate 64’s reversible HOV lanes from entering oncoming traffic. He drove a BMW the wrong way onto Interstate 264 West, crashing head-on with another vehicle. The cars burst into flames, and both drivers were killed.

The crash occurred shortly before 1:30 p.m., just after the I-64 HOV lanes opened to eastbound traffic. In the morning, they accommodate drivers traveling west.

Fuller took the wrong ramp from the I-64 HOV lanes, and the BMW went into oncoming traffic instead of I-264’s eastbound lanes, said Sgt. Michelle Cotten, a state police spokeswoman.

A van heading west on I-264 swerved when its driver saw the BMW, Cotten said. The car clipped the van in the rear, but the driver was uninjured, she said.

But Frances Wilson, the woman driving the Ford Taurus behind the van, didn’t have time to react to the BMW, Cotten said. The force of the impact ignited the two vehicles. The drivers died in their cars, she said. Wilson, who lived in the 500 block of Windward Drive in Chesapeake, was 57.

She worked for Sentara Healthcare, spokeswoman Emman Inman confirmed today. She would not say where she worked within the health care system. Wilson had an active license with the state as a registered nurse, according to state records.

No one else was in the vehicles.

It’s unclear why Fuller exited the wrong way, Cotten said. He lives in the 800 block of E. 27th St. in Norfolk.

As a result of the crash, several inner lanes of I-264 East and West as well as the reversible HOV lanes on I-64 were closed for more than three hours Wednesday afternoon as authorities cleared the crash and began investigating. The Interstate 564 HOV lanes also were closed, Virginia Department of Transportation spokeswoman Nora Jump-Scott said.

The ramps for the reversible HOV lanes have flashing lights, six barrier gates and overhead signs alerting motorists to when the ramps can be used, Jump-Scott said. They were operating properly at the time of the crash, she said.

Fuller would have had to plow through the barriers to enter I-264 West going the wrong way, Cotten said.

“We absolutely have no earthly idea, nor could we speculate, on how anyone could do what the state police are reporting occurred,” Jump-Scott said.

“There’s just no way to get around these ramps.”

Cotten said several HOV barriers were severely damaged in the collision, but VDOT officials immediately began repairing them.

The line of six red-and-yellow-striped metal gates that control access to reversible HOV lanes are equipped with sensors, Jump-Scott said. When one or more are struck, they trigger a change in color on an electronic wall map at a control center in Virginia Beach.

Typically, that prompts VDOT officials to dispatch a Safety Service Patrol truck . Jump-Scott said she wasn’t sure whether the wrong-way driver tripped the sensors on Wednesday; VDOT officials monitoring closed-circuit TV screens that show local highways spotted the accident and called state police.

“It would be pretty difficult to get around them,” she said of the gates. “They’re hit quite often, actually.”

On one night in December 2004, police stopped and arrested two wrong-way drivers on local highways without collision or injury, one in the reversible I-64 HOV lanes. VDOT officials monitored the wayward vehicles, in one case stopping traffic at the Downtown Tunnel, which was in the driver’s path. Wednesday’s fatalities weren’t the first caused by a wrong-way crash involving the reversible HOV lanes.

In February 2006, a drunken driver went the wrong way on I-264 after leaving the HOV ramp by Newtown Road, close to Wednesday’s site. About 200 yards later, his vehicle struck another, killing a 26-year-old man.

State police said the HOV gates were in place at the time of that crash. The driver, Shane Williams, pleaded guilty to aggravated involuntary manslaughter in Norfolk Circuit Court.

In March 1997, two people died on I-64 after a driver entered the reversible, barrier-enclosed HOV lanes going the wrong way. His vehicle struck another head-on.

Just as in Wednesday’s crash, authorities couldn’t explain why the barriers didn’t deter the driver.

Pilot writers Matthew Bowers and Lauren King contributed to this report.

Kathy Adams, (757) 222-5155, kathy.adams@pilotonline.com

Read the article at The Virginia-Pilot Online
All Photos from the Viriginia-Pilot Online

Wrong-way driver triggers fatal wreck on I-295

Richmond Times-Dispatch Staff Reports
December 31, 2009

Virginia State Police say a wrong-way driver triggered a fatal crash on Interstate 295 in Hanover County late last night. Trooper T.M. Howard said the crash occurred in I-295's northbound lanes just south of the Pole Green Road interchange at 11:40 p.m. Howard said William E. Goode Jr., 51, of Norfolk was driving northbound when his 1992 Cadillac sedan was struck by a southbound 1999 Dodge pickup truck driven by Nickolas R. Sickal, 19, of Barhamsville.

Goode was declared dead at the scene; Sickal was taken to VCU Medical Center with injuries that Howard said were serious but not life-threatening. Also transported to VCU with serious but not life-threatening injuries was Goode's 9-year-old granddaughter, Howard said. State police are continuing their investigation, and charges are pending, Howard said.

2009-12-21T18:19:00.003-05:00

From Tragedy to Advocacy: Mary Beth Kelly

by Clarence Eckerson, Jr. on February 16, 2008

Mary Beth Kelly's story is as inspirational as they come.

In June 2006, she and her husband Dr. Carl Henry Nacht were bicycling home from dinner on the Hudson River Greenway in Chelsea when an NYPD tow truck turned sharply into the bike lane at 38th Street and 12th Avenue. Despite signs telling drivers to yield to pedestrians and cyclists, the tow truck did not slow down as it headed toward a riverfront tow pound. The truck struck Carl, injuring him severely. He died four days later.

Bicycling was an integral part of Carl and Mary Beth's lives. Their first date was done on bikes and they often took their bikes on vacation. A physician at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital, Carl regularly used his bike to commute to the work and to make in-home visits to sick patients.

Rather than forsaking cycling after Carl's death, Mary Beth and her children Zoe and Asher got right back on their bicycles. Perhaps most important, Mary Beth has emerged as an outspoken and eloquent advocate for New York City cyclists. She now serves on the advisory council for Transportation Alternatives, where she is working to create and pass comprehensive complete streets legislation in honor of her husband.
Link to Original Article on Street Films

2009-12-20T19:09:00.004-05:00

Copenhagen’s Climate-Friendly, Bike-Friendly Streets

by Elizabeth Press on December 14, 2009

Tens of thousands of people from nearly every nation on earth have descended on Copenhagen this month for the UN climate summit. As the delegates try to piece together a framework for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, they're also absorbing lessons from one of the world's leading cities in sustainable transportation. In Copenhagen, fully 37 percent of commute trips are made by bike, and mode share among city residents alone is even higher.

Come see "the busiest bicycling street in the Western world", and lots of other you-gotta-see-them-to-believe-them features including bike counters (featuring digital readouts), LEDS, double bike lanes (for passing) and giant hot pink cars.

Copenhagen wasn't always such a bicycling haven. It took many years of investment in bike infrastructure to reclaim streets from more polluting, less sustainable modes. Last week, I was able to squeeze in a whirl-wind tour with Mikael Colville-Andersen, the bike culture evangelist behind Copenhagenize and Copenhagen Cycle Chic, to get a taste of the city's impressive bike network and cycling amenities. Watch this video and see how Copenhageners flock to the streets by bike even in December, when average temperatures hover just above freezing.

Link to Original Article on Street Films

2009-12-15T18:42:00.001-05:00

What Would Get Americans Biking to Work?

Decent parking.

By Tom Vanderbilt - Link to Original Article
Originally Posted on http://www.slate.com/ - Monday, Aug. 17, 2009

When we talk about transportation, we tend to talk about things in motion. What is often left unremarked upon, in conversations about crowded highways, is something without which those crowds would not exist: parking. That humble 9-by-18-foot space (the standard size of a spot) is where traffic begins and ends. It is the fuel to traffic's fire.

Why is it overlooked? One possibility is that parking is more typically treated as real estate, the subject of arcane building codes and zoning regulations, rather than as a part of transportation networks; given that cars spend 95 percent of their time parked, this makes some sense. Another reason may simply be that, in most of America, parking is taken as a given. Donald Shoup, author of The High Cost of Free Parking, has estimated that 99 percent of car trips in the United States terminate in a free parking space, which means the nation's drivers don't have much incentive to think about parking—or not driving. In many American places, there are more parking spaces than people.

If car parking is often overshadowed in traffic talk, bicycle parking is even more obscure. For many people in the United States it might be hard to imagine what there is to talk about. Why don't you just stick it in the garage? Or: Isn't that what street signs and trees are for? But as the share of trips made by bicycle has grown in recent years—in Portland, Ore., for example, bicycle use has grown nearly 150 percent since 1990, and an estimated 5 percent of people bike to work—new attention is being paid to what happens to those bicycles when they are not in motion.

The most high-profile instance of this is the so-called "Bicycle Access Bill," recently signed into law after a New York City Council vote of 46-1. The measure will require the owners of commercial buildings with a freight elevator to allow people to enter the building with a bicycle—though what happens from there depends on the building. (See this useful summary of the bill.)

While the right to enter a building with a bicycle may seem minor, the bill potentially represents a huge de facto increase in the city's supply of bicycle parking, which is currently estimated at 6,100 racks, many of these outdoors. What's more, New York's City Council also passed a bill mandating that commercial parking garages provide spaces for bicycles—one bike space for every 10 cars, up to 200 cars.

Why do these measures matter? Because parking helps make commuters—a lesson long ago learned with cars. Studies in New York found that a surprisingly large percentage of vehicles coming into lower Manhattan were government employees or others who had an assured parking spot. Other studies have shown the presence of a guaranteed parking spot at home—required in new residential developments—is what turns a New Yorker into a car commuter.

On the flip side, people would be much less likely to drive into Manhattan if they knew their expensive car was likely to be stolen, vandalized, or taken away by police. And yet this is what was being asked of bicycle commuters, save those lucky few who work in a handful of buildings that provide indoor bicycle parking. Surveys have shown that the leading deterrent to potential bicycle commuters is lack of a safe, secure parking spot on the other end. (In England, for example, it's been estimated that a bicycle is stolen every 71 seconds.)

A number of American cities are now waking up to the fact that providing bicycle parking makes sense. Philadelphia, for example, recently amended its zoning requirements to mandate that certain new developments provide bicycle parking; Pittsburgh's planning department is weighing requiring one bicycle parking space for every 20,000 square feet of development* (admittedly modest compared with the not-uncommon car equation of one parking space per 250 square feet); even the car-centric enclave of Orange County, Calif., is getting in on the act, with Santa Ana's City Council unanimously passing a bill requiring proportional bicycle parking when car parking is provided. In Chicago, Los Angeles, and other cities, pilot projects are investigating turning car-parking meters—once semireliable bike-parking spots, now rendered obsolete by "smart meter" payment systems—into bike parking infrastructure.

Few cities are doing more than Portland—which has been experiencing a particular boom in bicycle commuting—to increase bicycle parking. In September, for example, the City Council will vote on code changes that would require residential buildings to have the same bicycle parking requirements as commercial buildings. Granted, Portland, Ore., is an unusual place for the United States: a place where business owners actually petition the city to build "bike corrals," or collections of racks that tend to swap one or two car parking spaces for a dozen bike spaces, in front of their establishments, and where residents casually drop lingo like staple, meaning the type of bicycle parking structure that looks like a staple stuck into the concrete. And in a move that is sure to give John McCain fits, the city is spending $1 million of federal stimulus funds on bicycle parking at transit hubs.

Of course, even Portland's efforts would look rather quaint in a country like the Netherlands, where an estimated 27 percent of daily trips are made on bicycle. Outside of, or underneath, Dutch railway stations in the major cities sit vast bicycle parking structures. In fact, parking is so readily available that many riders keep a bike at their origin and destination stations. The three-story parking-garage-style facility outside Amsterdam's Central Station holds some 9,000 bikes, while Groningen has a massive, covered and guarded facility that holds 4,500 bikes. And yet even these structures do not seem to meet demand.

The spatial and aesthetic challenges of having too many parked bikes attached to every last lamppost and historic building has prompted some wonderfully innovative design and market responses. The underground "Bicycle Parking Tower"—actually a series of 36 towers—at the Kasai Station in Edogawa, Tokyo, holds more than 9,000 bicycles, any of which can be retrieved within 23 seconds via an automated mechanism. In Zaragoza and a few other Spanish cities, meanwhile, the Biceberg, a small kiosk beneath which sits a storage bay, creates spots for 92 bicycles in the same space that four cars would occupy. Another approach is to combine guarded bicycle parking in a one-stop facility with mechanics, bike stores, education, and other services, as with Brazil's ASCOBIKE. Muenster's "Radstation" comes complete with a bicycle wash—for $4. In the United States, the for-profit Bikestation sells secure parking ("valet and controlled access") and provides air for tires as well as showers and Wi-Fi in its "bike-transit centers," in cities ranging from Santa Barbara, Calif., to Seattle. At Washington, D.C.'s Union Station, a similar concept — with everything from rentals to repairs — is scheduled to open in August, a swooping shell of glass and tubes, designed by KPG and at least partially inspired by the arc of a bicycle wheel.

Of course, even in a bicycling paradise like Copenhagen, bicycle parking is hardly ideal. "Parking is the last great challenge in a bike culture," as Mikael Colville-Andersen, who writes the Copenhagenize blog, told me. In its 2004 "Traffic and Environment Plan," the city of Copenhagen, noting that bike parking wasn't even assessed until 2001 (when it was found there were 2,900 spaces in the historic center), declared: "Only one third of cyclists are satisfied with their options for parking their bicycles and other road users, particularly walkers, are increasingly annoyed by parked cycles."

This last point brings up another problem: So-called "bicycle pollution," or the clutter of masses of bikes chained to every last railing. In a city where bikes outnumber people, this is perhaps inevitable, but it's also a function of the inherent appeal of bikes—literal door-to-door transportation. As Colville-Andersen put it, "people prefer to park on the street, leaning the bikes up against the building. It's all about ease-of-use. If you can't walk out your door and get on your bike in under 30 seconds, it's irritating." Still, space has its limits, and in a design competition to upgrade Vartov Square, next to Copenhagen's City Hall—which the mayor's office notes "mainly looks like a cluttered and worn parking area"—there is a call for underground bicycle parking.

Meanwhile, back in Portland, Ore., as bicycle parking gets more respect, another bastion of the automobile landscape is getting a makeover: access, and perhaps even special lanes, for bicycles at the drive-throughs of fast-food joints.

Correction, Aug. 19, 2009: This article originally stated that Pittsburgh might require one bike parking space for every 20,000 feet of development. The unit in this figure should have been square feet. (Return to the corrected sentence.)

2009-12-15T18:33:00.000-05:00

Bike-Lane Emergency from Nicholas Whitaker on Vimeo.

2009-12-09T11:41:00.013-05:00

The Reggie Shaw Case

Another sobering reminder of the dangers of texting while driving

On September 22, 2006, in Logan, Utah, Reggie Shaw was driving to work when his eastbound Chevy Tahoe SUV clipped an approaching Saturn Sedan in the westbound lane. Driving the Saturn was James Furfaro, 38, and in the passenger seat was Keith O'Dell, 50; two scientists who worked together. The force created by Shaw's Tahoe when it clipped Furfaro's Saturn sent it spinning into the path of an oncoming truck operated by John Kaiserman. Mr. Kaiserman was hauling a trailer carrying two tons of horseshoes and other related equipment.

The impact killed both men instantly. Law enforcement officials later learned that Shaw had been texting while driving to work that morning. Reggie Shaw was convicted and received a relatively light sentence, but Utah subsequently passed the nation’s toughest law to crack down on texting behind the wheel. Offenders can now face up to 15 years in prison.

Studies show that talking on a cellphone while driving is as risky as driving with a .08 blood alcohol level — generally the standard for drunken driving — and that the risk of driving while texting is at least twice that dangerous. Research also shows that many people are aware that the behavior is risky, but they assume others are the problem.

2009-12-08T19:57:00.006-05:00

David Zabriskie's Yield to Life seeks safer roads for cyclists

Non-profit educates drivers, cyclists on how to co-exist

By: Laura Weislo for CyclingNews.com

On a beautiful autumn Sunday, nearly six hundred cyclists gathered for a ride in High Point, North Carolina, most eager to enjoy the seasonable weather after a week of cold, driving rain. But the mood was somber as the ride to honor David Sherman, an avid cyclist who was the victim of a fatal hit-and-run incident, got underway. It was a sobering reminder of the risks we all take while out on the road.

Friends organized the ride with proceeds going to benefit Yield to Life, an non-profit started by Garmin-Slipstream's David Zabriskie. The US time trial champion had his own run-in with a careless driver in 2003 which nearly ended his career. Since then, he's worked to try to teach drivers to be more sensitive to cyclists.

"The idea for Yield to Life came to me while I was recovering from my last and most serious bicycle/car accident. I was reflecting on the incident and I realized that the woman who turned directly into me did not think of me as LIFE. I was just an obstacle in the road - this thing in her way," Zabriskie told Cyclingnews.

"I became more aware of the complete lack of civility on the road and felt a new approach was needed to tackle the issue. I wanted to sensitize motorists to the life at stake and often in motorists' hands."

Yield to Life also provides education for cyclists to encourage them to follow the rules of the road and ride responsibly. Zabriskie and his organization hope that through education and awareness campaigns, they can "change attitudes, perceptions, and behavior and create mutual respect for all life on the road."

The number of cyclists on the roads has increased greatly over the past few years: USA Cycling has registered the largest number of racers in its history this year, but the increase is not just in the racing community. The number of riders commuting to work has also increased - the League of American Bicyclists reports a steady increase in bicycle commuting over the past eight years.New York City alone has seen a 26% increase in the past year, according to recent reports.

But having more cyclists on the road is good and bad: more riders may mean more collisions with cars, but as cyclists become more prevalent, drivers learn to deal with them better. Zabriskie's aim is to aid in educating both drivers and riders.

"More and more people are riding their bikes and motorists are not accustomed to seeing and accommodating cyclists on the road," explained Zabriskie. "We also live in a culture where technology has overrun our lives and converted the car into an office. Motorists are distracted, they are not expecting to see cyclists on the road, and when they do, motorists often lack the experience on how to best negotiate the space."

Cyclists in the US frequently find themselves the subject of an impatient driver's rage, normally with little consequence - a shout 'get off the road', passing too close, or the odd beer or soda can lobbed in their direction. The driver is hardly ever caught, much less punished, but that all changed earlier this month when a Los Angeles physician, Christopher Thompson, was convicted of six felonies after intentionally stopping short to "teach a lesson" to two cyclists, both were injured in the crash.

"I am constantly faced with motorists who have no patience for or understanding of cyclists' equal rights to use the road. The Thompson case is a good precedent for motorists who choose to do damage to cyclists," said Zabriskie.

The Yield to Life web site is full of stories from all over the country of harrowing accidents and riders struggling to heal from horrific injuries. It's a sobering reminder that there is much work to do.

"Every story reminds me of why I started Yield to Life and the work we have ahead of us. We hope to use these stories to highlight the devastation that one moment of inattentiveness or negligence can cause.

"We need to change the way motorists view cyclists. In Europe cyclists are respected. It's part of their culture. When a motorist sees a cyclist in Europe, they see their grandma, their brother etc. Everyone knows someone who rides and they are sensitive to cyclists' safety. We can make laws, etc, but if motorists do not feel cyclists deserve to be on the road, the rage will continue and tensions will rise and retaliations will continue.

"Bike lanes are great and more would be better, but there are always times when cyclists may have to enter the stream of traffic and motorists should understand that."

Friends of David Sherman continue to actively work to seek justice in the case. The SUV driver, Grayson Warren Dawson, 48, has been charged with felony hit and run, misdemeanor death by motor vehicle and driving without a license.

Find out more about Yield to Life.

Link to original article on CyclingNews.com

2009-12-06T15:11:00.000-05:00

Traffic Enforcement for Bicyclist Safety

A Training Video for the Chicago Police Department

Traffic Enforcement for Bicyclist Safety from Chicago Bicycle Program on Vimeo.

I know this was intended as a training video for the Chicago Police Department, but a lot of the same laws apply here in Virginia and throughout the country. Motorists and cyclists need to learn to share the road and cooperate so that everyone makes it home safely.

2009-12-02T22:13:00.006-05:00

More on the hot topic issue of distracted driving and texting while driving. I'm sure we're going to see this more and more in the coming months and years. I think it's going to be hard to outlaw all cell phone use and make it comparable to DUI laws, but that is what many people are pushing for and probably what should happen. Technology (specifically cell phones and the internet) has really exploded in the last 10 years. It is taking the laws time to catch up.

Waging War On Distracted Driving

by Nate DiMeo
Originally Published on NPR.org - November 27, 2009

Just a few years after most people sent their first text message, texting while driving is already banned in 19 states.

This swift public policy action banning talking or texting on mobile phones while driving is in stark contrast to what happened in the 1970s when people tried to get the public to take drunk driving seriously, says Chuck Hurley, the chief executive officer of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, or MADD.

"It was literally a joke on late-night television," Hurley recalls. "It was normal behavior; it was how people got home."

Hurley ran the National Safety Council in the 1970s, and he spent most of the Carter administration feeling like he was banging his head against the wall trying to get people to take drunk driving seriously.

A Victim's Story

And then, he says, people heard the story of one victim named Cari Lightner. The 13-year-old California girl was killed by a drunk driver in 1980. Her mother, Candy Lightner, started MADD to raise awareness about drunk driving. There was even a TV movie starring Mariette Hartley as Candy Lightner.

"It really electrified the country both in terms of public policy and in terms of morality," says Hurley about MADD and the publicity it generated. "It really became immoral to drink and drive."

He says changing attitudes about distracted driving might take something more. Most people don't think of texting or talking while driving as harmful activities. Hurley says changing public perceptions might require another activist like Candy Lightner.

Jennifer Smith wants to be that leader. Just last fall her mother, Linda, was killed by a driver who was on his cell phone at the time. Smith says she looked for a grief counseling group to join, something like MADD. When she didn't find one, she realized that she was the right person to start it. Her brand-new group is called Focus Driven: Advocates for Cell-Free Driving.

"My mom's story was the perfect example," she says. "It was such a cut-and-dried case. [The driver] was on the phone for less than a minute. He was only driving for a quarter of a mile. He just didn't see the light."

Replacing Statistics With Stories

Smith says MADD was successful because it kept telling stories that replaced statistics with real people. So Smith has been telling her story as much as she can. She'll be on an upcoming episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show with the young man who killed her mother. She's also telling her story to lawmakers, alongside the family members of other victims.

"We do have to make it illegal," Smith says. "That's going to be the big thing with people. [People think] it may be wrong, but it's still legal, so it can't be that wrong."

She's not going to have an easy job. Americans love their cell phones, and distracted driving is still late-night joke fodder. Recently 19-year-old pop star Taylor Swift spoofed public service announcements about texting and driving on Saturday Night Live.

It's the kind of thing that exasperates Priscilla Natkins of the Ad Council. She recently developed a public service campaign targeting teen drivers and their cell phones.

"If you have credible sources saying it's not that much of a problem, it makes our challenge that much more considerable," Natkins says.

Rather than telling kids to stop texting or get off the phone while driving, Natkins' campaign asks them to remind their friends not to do it.

She says that people will only really change their behavior while they are driving if they're afraid of hurting others. It may be personal guilt — as much as legal guilt — that ends up saving lives.

Related Articles

Pew Internet Report: Teens and Distracted Driving

Utah Tackles Texting and Driving Problem Head On

Video Highlights Danger of Texting While Driving

Texting While Driving: How Dangerous is it?

Should Cell Phones Be Banned While Driving?

2009-11-30T21:40:00.009-05:00

U.S. teens report 'frightening' levels of texting while driving

5,870 fatalities last year in crashes involving distracted drivers

By Ashley Halsey III
Washington Post Staff Writer

A graphic British public service video that portrays a fatal accident caused by a texting teenage driver has been the talk of Facebook and other places where young Americans congregate, but a study suggests that it hasn't done much to change their habits.

A quarter of U.S. teens ages 16 to 17 who have cellphones say they text while driving, and almost half of Americans ages 12 to 17 say they've been in cars with someone who texted while behind the wheel. Teens say their parents are texting fanatics, too.

Those findings are in a report released Monday by the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project.

"The percentages of drivers who report texting while driving is extremely disturbing, given the severe safety hazards this behavior causes," said Fairfax County police Capt. Susan Culin, commander of the traffic division. "However, the percentage of teen drivers that report texting while driving is even more frightening, due to their inexperience."

Drivers younger than 20 had the highest distracted-driving fatality rate among all age groups last year, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Drivers 20 to 29 ranked second.

The administration said that 5,870 people died and about 515,000 were injured last year in accidents attributed to distracted driving. Twice as many fatalities, 11,773, were attributed to drunken driving.

The actual number of distracted-driving deaths and injuries might be higher. There is no blood-alcohol test to prove that someone was texting, and phone records are not clear-cut. Drivers who cause accidents are no more prone to admit they were texting than they are to say they were drunk.

"I believe the percentage of teen drivers texting is even higher than this study reports," Culin said. "It's imperative that we take greater steps in correcting the problem by passing tougher laws and setting better examples for our children."

Overall, 81 percent of U.S. residents said they have used their cellphone while driving, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Of the 82 percent of 16- to 17-year-olds who have cellphones, 52 percent said they use them while driving.

Teens told Pew researchers that they texted while driving to find friends, get directions and flirt. Some said they tried to restrict texting to when they were stopped at red lights.

"Many teens understand the risks of texting behind the wheel," said Amanda Lenhart, co-author of the Pew report, "but the desire to stay connected is so strong for teens and their parents that safety sometimes takes a back seat to staying in touch with friends and family."

At a conference that U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood convened to discuss distracted driving, he urged parents to set an example for their children by paying attention to the road.

But, the Pew report says, "the frequency of teens reporting parent cellphone use behind the wheel in our focus groups was striking, and suggested, in many cases, that texting while driving is a family affair."

Link to original article in the Washington Post, November 17, 2009

If you haven't seen the PSA from the United Kingdom that the article above refers, to here is some commentary from the Today Show on this powerful piece of footage, and then a portion of the video itself. Be forewarned, it's fairly graphic. The last video is a segment from an episode of SoCal Connected about distracted driving. You can see the full 26 minute video here.

Graphic PSA from the United Kingdom on texting while driving

Video from SoCal Connected that shows how texting while driving compares to DUI.

2009-11-30T08:02:00.003-05:00

Boulder Goes Bike Platinum

by Clarence Eckerson, Jr. on December 5, 2008

Add Boulder, Colorado to the League of American Bicyclists' cities to achieve Platinum Bike Status. This Fall, they were bestowed the nation's highest rank for U.S. cities and joined Portland, Oregon and Davis, California as the only three cities to have that honor.

I spent five days on a bike in Boulder in October and can testify it is close to bicycling nirvana. The resulting Streetfilm is only a taste of what is going on in the bike culture universe. You'll get to sample what its like to ride some of their amazing bike amenities including its wonderful greenway system with its emphasis on continuity and an uninterrupted commute.

Having produced Streetfilms on all three Platinum bike cities, one thing that is beginning to emerge as a sure tell tale sign you got a healthy biking city: the numbers of youngsters riding bicycles. Boulder has numerous programs to encourage kids to walk and bike and we were lucky enough to include two of them here. Don't miss our Boulder Streetfilms series as well as our long-form pieces on Davis and Portland.

2009-11-29T10:52:00.005-05:00

The Urban Road Is A Dangerous Place

by Carrie Richardson - Originally Published on NPR.org - November 24, 2009
NPR Series - On The Road To Safety

A feisty octogenarian is unrepentantly jaywalking in front of my car. He’s got a walker, and he’s hacking away with it, as if clearing a path through the undergrowth with a machete.

I pull to the stop and watch as he progresses toward the opposite curb. I confess to an admiration of his guts and his energy. I think about our society’s sedentary ways and hold this man up as an example: We just don’t have an excuse to sit on our duffs when Jack (as I imagine he is called) is out here, braving the urban jungle!

But just as Jack, or maybe Harry, or Franz, or perhaps Pedro, is completing his rebellious trek across my lane, a Mercury Cougar arrives on the scene and lays on the horn. The driver behind me apparently believes quite strongly that Harry here should be punished by death for his illegal crossing, and I should be his executioner.

The engine revs angrily behind me and my hypothalamus takes over. I don’t have a choice now. I’m going to have to rip that machete out of Pedro’s hands and protect us both from the roaring Cougar!

However, the attacking beast escapes by passing me on the right, and Franz has finally got his walker onto the curb.

As for me, well, I continue on my way. I’m going home and taking a walk.

Carrie Richardson is a bilingual second-grade teacher and master’s student in Denver.

2009-11-29T07:43:00.009-05:00

When Emotions Go Into Overdrive

by Alissa Corby - Originally published on NPR.org - November 26, 2009

NPR Series - On The Road To Safety

A robot is easy to get angry at.

It feels like on the road, we forget there are human beings behind the wheel. It feels like we think a car has headlights for eyes, and a toothy grille for a grin.

But we are all just people and because of this sometimes unfortunate fact, we all make mistakes. When we are stressed and our blood is pumping, our bodies respond by going through a whole range of emotions. Human expression is integral in this equation, because without it, we can not read the apology or sincerity in another driver's eyes.

For this reason, I suggest that we all try to make more eye contact on the road. Yes, sometimes it’ll be aggressive, but I think it always surprises another driver when I smile at them instead of scowl with anger.

I have even found myself in the situation of yelling at a driver when they made an honest and harmless mistake. They stopped, looked at me and apologized and I felt horrible for yelling at them after that. I realized that my emotions had got the best of me.

Alissa Corby is a 24-year-old art education graduate student and AmeriCorps tutor living in Buffalo, N.Y.

2009-11-29T07:38:00.003-05:00

On Two Wheels, The Road Looks Different

by Caroline Keem - Originally published on NPR.org - November 27, 2009
NPR Series - On The Road To Safety

This summer I bought a bicycle and began commuting the nine miles to work in downtown Chicago on two wheels. I started hating the inventions of the cell phone and iPod as I saw bikers, walkers, joggers, even drivers rolling along determined to tune out the rest of the world.

"You can't block out the world while you're still in the middle of mine!" I thought angrily.

Astonishingly, I often see bikers not doing what they ought to. They don’t signal, they ride on the sidewalk and, worst of all, they don’t wear the required lights so they can be seen. One night last week, I was walking in my neighborhood when out of an alley sped a biker. He chased me down the sidewalk, yelling. After he finally rode off, I realized why people hate cyclists.

My attacker was likely just passing on the aggression he had just received from some other person or driver.

But on the road, I feel I have to do better than just pass it on. I have to pay it forward.

What other people should or should not be doing on the road is none of my business. My only responsibility is to have manners, wave a "thank you" to the driver who lets me go first through the intersection, warn pedestrians that I'm passing them, to make sure that I'm seen and to remain alert to the world.

Caroline Keem is a painter, sculptor and designer who loves to garden, tinker with electronics and watch the sun come up on her bike ride to work.

2009-11-27T19:21:00.018-05:00

Safe Driving For Seniors: Officials Get Creative

Originally Aired on NPR - November 24, 2009 (use the link to listen to the original broadcast)

NPR Series -On The Road To Safety

A University of Florida study predicts that within 15 years, a quarter of all drivers in the U.S. will be age 65 and older. Once they reach the over-75 age bracket, they're more likely to be involved in fatal accidents than any other age group — except teenagers.

So how are officials in states like Florida, which has a huge population of senior citizens, addressing such questions as, can old drivers adopt new driving habits to drive more safely? When should people stop driving? And what should they do after they stop?

Advising Older Drivers, Studying The Roads

Inside a converted garage in Gainesville, Fla., Angela Black is at the wheel of an immobilized Dodge Neon that's connected to a computer. Black, 66, is a volunteer at the University of Florida's Institute for Mobility, Activity and Participation, or I-MAP. Desiree Lanford, of I-MAP, helps Black get comfortable for the driving simulation. It's one of the tools I-MAP uses to study which skills fade as drivers reach their 70s and 80s.

The windshield of the stationary Neon has been removed, and just beyond it is a three-screen projection of an imaginary highway. "You notice it's very sensitive," Lanford says as she instructs Black. As Black is taking the test, she drives through a red light. "Oh my goodness," Black says.

I-MAP's mission is to figure out how to make driving easier for seniors. The institute advises older drivers on choosing an age-appropriate car: Think wider mirrors, bigger knobs and a simple dashboard. And its not just interested in car and driver — the group studies the roads, too.

Sherrilene Classen of the institute says researchers have found several features that make one road more older-driver-friendly than another — like a wider shoulder on the road, a protected left-turn lane and a green arrow to give drivers the right of way.

Roads Are So Much More Complicated

AARP is also active in helping older drivers. The organization has put together a video for a course it gives. Seniors who take it can knock some dollars off their car insurance. Jean Thomas, a retired teacher, and Robert James, a retired law enforcement officer, took the course in Gainesville, Fla. They're both 75.

"I've been driving since I was 14," James says. "I still drive; I even ride a motorcycle. I really think I do pretty good, but it might be better to ask somebody who's driving with me what they thought."

"I think I am a good driver, and I've been told I'm a good driver, but I am more cautious than I used to be," Thomas says.

A few moments later, James puts on his helmet, snaps the chin strap, and gets on his 2007 Suzuki Burgman.

He looks trim and well-fitted to his bike, but a lot of older drivers don't notice how much they have changed physically: How much driving has changed — and what they can do to adjust.

A consultant on senior transportation in Orlando, Fran Carlin Rogers does "car fits" for older drivers and tries to help them cope behind the wheel with some common signs of age. She asks: "Are you sitting too far forward when you drive, to make up for getting a little shorter?" or "Are you not using a seat belt, because it's tough to reach back that far?" And, she says, older drivers often need help positioning their rearview mirrors.

"The way mirrors are recommended to be positioned now are dramatically different than the way all of us learned to drive because the roads are so much more complicated," Rogers says. "There's much more traffic than [when] we were young drivers. We really want to have mirrors that are pulled out."

Tattling On Bad Drivers

While these are programs to help older drivers continue driving, the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles' grand driver program is about getting older drivers — and other impaired drivers — to stop driving. Sandra Lambert, who is in charge of drivers' licenses in Tallahassee, Fla., says that people will call her and give confidential tips about who should be scrutinized. The tips might come from a doctor, a neighbor or an adult child — but most often, it's the police.

"Law enforcement officers typically get called to the scene of a crash, even if it's a minor crash, and they observe something with that driver," Lambert says. "There's a section that they can refer that driver for us to take another look." Another look could mean a new written test, or a new road test. And it means the driver could lose his or her license.

But Lambert says it's not always an either/or, drive-or-don't drive question. "We want to preserve a senior's dignity and their independence — but we want to have highway safety," she says. "So if we can evaluate a senior — or anyone that's a high-risk driver — and determine that they can go to the doctor, church, because it's a safe driving distance, we can limit their driving. It keeps them from getting into high-risk situations."

Another Alternative

In Orlando, there's another alternative: the Independent Transportation Network. Part of a national organization that started in Maine, it's a co-op that has been running in Orlando for three years. Under the organization, the relationship between passenger and driver is not commercial — it's pretty close to neighborly.

Thaddeus Seymour, the retired president of Rollins College, is a driver for the organization. At 81 years old, he not only picks up and delivers people a few times a week — he also serves on the local ITN board.

Seniors who need rides, like Jane Morrison, set up prepaid personal accounts and get a monthly statement. The rides cost about half what a taxi would. Her decision to stop driving was a combination of medical necessity and discomfort.

The drivers are either volunteers, like Seymour, who take payment in credits for rides they may need in the future — or drivers who do it for cash. He says it's not just about transportation. "The biggest challenge for older adults is depression, which comes from isolation, which comes from the lack of transportation, the inability to continue the engagement that has been a pattern of their lives." It is a quality of life question. And, it's also a quantity of life question.

2009-11-25T21:14:00.011-05:00

How Safe Are Our Roads?
NPR Series - On The Road To Safety

This week, more than 33 million Americans will drive at least 50 miles to visit family and friends for Thanksgiving. The great majority will return home safely.

But for too many families, this holiday will bring tragedy. Last year, during the four-day Thanksgiving driving period, nearly 400 people were killed in traffic accidents in the U.S., according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. For all of 2008, more than 37,000 people were killed in car crashes.

Throughout this week, National Public Radio will be airing stories and hosting conversations about highway safety. We'll explore the many ways that safety has been improved through better vehicle technology, smarter road designs, and reformed behaviors, such as reduced drunken driving.

The changes have yielded dramatic results: In 1969, the driving-related fatality rate in this country was 5 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled. The current rate is about 1.27 deaths.

But fatalities are still high because of the many dangers that remain, especially on rural roads where trucks, RVs and passenger cars frequently collide. And new risks are emerging as more and more drivers look away from the road to send text messages. At the same time, tens of millions of aging baby boomers are entering the years when driving skills will be declining significantly.

In coming decades, will we see more advances in safety because of new technologies and laws? Or will we see fatality rates start to rise again?

2009-11-23T18:56:00.004-05:00

Police charge woman in death of Va. Beach cyclist

By Kathy Adams
The Virginian-Pilot

November 21, 2009

Police have charged a Virginia woman with reckless driving nearly three months after a local physician died after being struck with a car.

The incident happened Aug. 25 on Port Republic Road in Harrisonburg, in the northwestern part of the state. Joseph V. Mirenda, a 49-year-old from Virginia Beach, was struck from behind while riding his bike, State Police said. He died at the scene.

Jessica L. Chandler, a 22-year-old from Port Republic, now faces a Class 1 misdemeanor charge of reckless driving. It's punishable by up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine, plus suspension of driving privileges.

Frauke Mirenda, Joseph Mirenda's widow, said she's glad charges have been filed but doesn't want Chandler to go to jail.

Police told the Mirenda family that Chandler was not talking on her cell phone or sending text messages at the time of the crash, Frauke Mirenda said.

"I feel really bad for her because I'm sure she's going to live with this for the rest of her life," she said. "But on the other hand, I feel worse for us."

Joseph Mirenda, a father of two, had been cycling 50 miles from Wintergreen to James Madison University to surprise his son when the crash occurred, Frauke Mirenda said. He was a cardiac anesthesiologist and an avid cyclist, she said.

She said she hopes her husband's death reminds people to be more careful on the road.

Kathy Adams, (757) 222-5155, kathy.adams@pilotonline.com

Other related articles

Roanoke physician killed in Rockingham County

Crash kills former Roanoke doctor

2009-11-23T07:52:00.005-05:00

Disney's Motor Mania

In 1950 Disney released a short 6 minute cartoon featuring Goofy depicting a Jekyll and Hyde type of motorist. While a pedestrian, Goofy is the mild-mannered, polite, courteous Mr. Walker. But when he gets behind the wheel of a motor vehicle he turns into a raving lunatic named Mr. Wheeler. This was 50 years before the term "road rage" was coined (or as Tom Vanderbilt, author of the book Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us), calls it, "Traffic Tantrums"). 60 years later, you'd think this movie would be dated, but it's not. It is still very relevant to today's auto-centric society. What is it that causes people to change into maniacs when they get behind the wheel? Amazingly, this short cartoon is still true of a lot of motorists today and could have been produced this year.

2009-11-22T19:21:00.004-05:00

Seattle Crosswalk

Tap Foot, Lights Blink, Cross Street

Henrico County could use a few of these crosswalks. In fact, the whole Greater Metro Richmond area could use a lot of these.

The 1019 Project

Smartphones, dumb drivers

With smartphone ownership proliferating, a total ban on cellphone use by drivers is needed, for the safety of everyone on the road.

Richmond 2015: City Wins World Cycling Event Bid

Cycling in the Netherlands

Failure was a rarity in life of Henrico cyclist

French Media car hits Flecha, Hoogerland

Horner abandons Tour; team defends decision to let him finish stage

By Frank Wooten

Faces of Distracted Driving: Jacy Good

Faces of Distracted Driving: Eric Okerblom, 19

Bicyclist thrown 30 feet in hit-and-run on Shore Drive

Brain Trauma

One in 10 would stop cycling if forced to wear a helmet, poll suggests

By BikeRadar, UK

We got an emphatic response to last week’s question of the week – Should cycle helmets be made compulsory? – and a new poll from the UK’s Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) reinforces what a lot of you were saying.

The Long Run

A New York City Firefighter's Triumphant Comeback from Crash Victim to Elite Athlete

Focus Driven - Advocates for Cell Free Driving

Faces of Distracted Driving: Joe Teater, 12

Faces of Distracted Driving: Ashley Johnson, 16

Freedom from Fear

Faces of Distracted Driving: Margay Schee, 13

Faces of Distracted Driving: Julie Davis, 58

Faces of Distracted Driving: A Message from Secretary LaHood

Biker faces endurance test of life

Faces of Distracted Driving: Alex Brown, 17

Second Half volunteers help paralyzed Henrico man

By Katherine Calos Published: March 07, 2011

OP-ED ON BIKE SAFETY

By John Peck, The Huntsville Times

Movistar’s Amador attacked by thugs on training ride

Bicycle and Pedestrian Awareness Week - September 12th through September 18th

Virginia's State Bicycling Policy Plan

Copenhagen’s Car-Free Streets & Slow-Speed Zones

Shawn Vestal: Driver created ‘horrible bond’

Sharing the road with bicycles is hardly a hardship

Nobody's time is so important they can't look out for the little guy

By Michael Dresser, The Baltimore Sun (Link to Original Article)

May 3, 2010

There are many dreadful burdens in this cruel life we lead: disease, heartbreak, war, taxes and death. But despite all the anguished cries from drivers who balk at the slightest delay, sharing the roads with bicyclists just doesn't rank in the same class.

Cyclist struck and killed by vehicle in Concord, NC

By Brigida Mack and Jeff Rivenbark

Park the Car, Take the Bus

By Clive Thompson - Link to Original Article on wired.com

Three Feet to Pass — Why Such Resistance?

Plaintiffs to get nearly $5 million

Reasons for Requiring Less Passing Distance (2-feet) for Passing Motor Vehicles:

Va. Senate panel advances 70 mph speed limit

Despite Risks, Internet Creeps Onto Car Dashboards

New River Valley bicyclists seek better protection

Two people injured in bike wrecks say they believe the motorists who hit them were not adequately punished by the court system.

Two die in head-on crash after car plows through HOV gates

Wrong-way driver triggers fatal wreck on I-295

From Tragedy to Advocacy: Mary Beth Kelly

Copenhagen’s Climate-Friendly, Bike-Friendly Streets

What Would Get Americans Biking to Work?

Decent parking.

David Zabriskie's Yield to Life seeks safer roads for cyclists

U.S. teens report 'frightening' levels of texting while driving

5,870 fatalities last year in crashes involving distracted drivers

Boulder Goes Bike Platinum

The Urban Road Is A Dangerous Place

When Emotions Go Into Overdrive

On Two Wheels, The Road Looks Different

Safe Driving For Seniors: Officials Get Creative

Police charge woman in death of Va. Beach cyclist

By Katherine Calos
Published: March 07, 2011