Category: Bicycle Advocacy

Trails, ciclovia and pump track receive bike grants

A bicycle industry group that encourages people to get out and ride awarded grants to five projects this winter.

Recipients of the $40,000 Bikes Belong grants include three trail projects, a ciclovia in Minneapolis and a pump track in Philadelphia.

The grants raised through donations by bike industry employees reflect the wide diversity of bicycling projects that are underway across the US.

For instance, as your basic roadie, I was unfamiliar with pump tracks until a couple of years ago. Essentially, they're a loop on rolling terrain and banked turns that can be ridden without pedaling …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2011/02/18/trails-ciclovia-and-pump-track-receive-bike-grants/

Advocates seek support for Washington state Vulnerable Users bills

It's crunch time for the Washington state Vulnerable Users bills that create greater penalties for motorists who kill or injure bicyclists, pedestrians or other vulnerable road users.

The Cascade Bicycle Club says House and Senate versions of the bills received favorable support in committee hearings in Olympia. Now they face deadlines for votes by the full House or Senate by the end of the month so they can move on to the other chamber.

This is where a Vulnerable Users bill bogged down last year. That's why advocates at Cascade are asking members to encourage their state representatives to press for the bills to go to floor votes.

Cascade has created a email form making it easy to contact your legislators. ….

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2011/02/17/advocates-seek-support-for-washington-state-vulnerable-users-bills/

Razorback Greenway bike trail funding in Arkansas on chopping block
Funding cut

Republicans in Congress are targeting the Razorback Greenway in Arkansas as the type of pork they want to trim from the budget.

They're putting a $15 million pledge from the US Department of Transportation on the chopping block along with $61 billion in cuts they're considering, reports a local newspaper, the Times Record.

The 36-mile-long bike trail in northwestern Arkansas would connect the towns of Fayetteville, Bentonville, Rogers, Lowell, Springdale, and Johnson. The project, with a total cost of $40 million raised from local sources, was expected to be completed in 2012 ….

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2011/02/16/razorback-greenway-bike-trail-funding-in-arkansas-on-chopping-blockfunding-cut/

Road rage between cyclist and driver causes more anger

A road rage incident between a motorist and a bicyclist dating back to October in Redmond, Wash., has led to a flaming torrent of anti-bicyclist commentary.

Reading through more than a hundred comments at the Seattle Times, I despair for a solution between the bicyclist-motorist animosity anytime soon.

According to published accounts, a Redmond man has been charged with first-degree malicious mischief after he allegedly threw his bicycle at a car whose driver had honked at him ….

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2011/02/15/road-rage-between-cyclist-and-driver-causes-more-anger/

Details of 2009 bicycle fatalities; state-by-state tally

A report issued by the US Department of Transportation compiles the “what,” “when,” “where” and “how” of 630 bicyclist fatalities in 2009 involving motor vehicles.

It's easier to read these numbers if you don't think about the “who.”

“Traffic Safety Facts of 2009” is a follow-up report to one issued last September trumpeting that overall traffic fatalities in the US dropped to their lowest level since 1950. Bicycling fatalities also dropped that year, by 12%.

I suppose it's no surprise that the state with the most bicyclists death was Florida ….

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2011/02/14/details-of-2009-bicycle-fatalities-state-by-state-tally/

Cycle tracks: safe or dangerous?

A study released this week by the Harvard School of Public Health may reignite the discussion over the safety of cycle tracks for bicycling through urban areas.

The Harvard study, conducted on six cycle tracks in Montreal, found that risk of injury for bicyclists is somewhat less in the physically separated bike lanes than riding in the street. Those findings run counter to previous studies that cycle tracks are more dangerous for bicyclists, especially at intersections.

Those findings could come into play as urban planners search for types of bicycle facilities that encourage more people to ride their bicycles for commuting and running errands. The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, for instance, is pushing for 100 miles of separated bike lanes (see video above).

Cycle tracks are bicycle lanes that are physically separated from traffic …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2011/02/11/cycle-tracks-safe-or-dangerous/

Reckless homicide charges in cyclist death in South Carolina

A South Carolina man was charged with reckless homicide this week after one of the five bicyclists he struck with his SUV back in October died on Sunday.

Dr. Matthew Burke (left), 38, an Army orthopedic surgeon stationed at Fort Gordon, Georgia, suffered severe head trauma in the crash. He leaves behind a wife and 11-month-old daughter.

The case raised a lot of interest in the Augusta area and sparked a stream of comments to the local newspaper. There are arguments over whether cyclists have a right to use the roads (they do), to warnings that Georgia bicyclists should stay off of South Carolina roads. ….

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2011/02/10/reckless-homicide-charges-in-cyclist-death-in-south-carolina/

Transportation advocates flock to Olympia on Thursday

Thursday is the day that corporate lobbyists for the transportation industry take a back seat to those voters seeking better choices in transportation policy at the Washington state capitol in Olympia.

Transportation Choices Coalition is organizing the Transportation Advocacy Day for people to meet their legislators and press for more funding and support for bicycling, walking and transit issues.

The coalition is setting up carpools from Seattle and shuttle buses from the Amtrak station. ….

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2011/02/09/transportation-advocates-flock-to-olympia-on-thursday/

Update: Long Beach abandons bicycle license program

Requirements for mandatory bicycle registration in some California cities appear to be going the way of the penny farthing into near-extinction.

Long Beach is the latest city to consider abandoning its mandatory bicycle license program. Late last year San Jose ended bicycle registration, a law that had been on the books since 1974, and Los Angeles ended its program in 2009.

[Update: Feb. 9 — The Long Beach City Council approved halting the licensing program.]

The issue in Long Beach is scheduled to come up at Tuesday's City Council meeting, according to the Long Beach Press-Telegram. The city calls itself the most bicycle-friendly in the US; it is listed as a bronze-level bicycle friendly community ….

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2011/02/07/update-long-beach-abandons-bicycle-license-program/

3-foot passing bill roundup: rejected in WY and ND

Legislative bills requiring motorists to give bicyclists and pedestrians at least 3 feet of space when passing were rejected in Wyoming and North Dakota in the past week.

Currently, there are 16 states that require a safe-passing distance of 3 feet.

The North Dakota Senate rejected the bill by a vote of 17-29. Opponents doubted there could be “consistent and meaningful” enforement of the law, according to the Grand Forks Herald. …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2011/02/01/3-foot-passing-bill-roundup-rejected-in-wy-and-nd/