03.19.10
Posted in Tales from the Trenches
by Mark Dieterich at 3:35 pm
If you’ve spent any significant time riding a bike around with cars, you’ve certainly encountered what I call a “Whoa… that was close” moment; the vehicle that sneaks up on you and passes you close enough to really catch your attention. If I were to wager a guess, I’d say I experience this once every three months.
It so happens that I had one of these very experiences recently as I was riding across the Point Street bridge, heading towards Wickenden Street. For those unfamiliar with the area, the bridge has two lanes in the direction I was traveling, with no usable shoulder. I use a vehicular approach to biking in the city, which places me far enough out into the lane, that an automobile passing me would need to move over to the other lane to safely pass. I was fully within my legal rights to be riding as described. As I was crossing, a bright yellow truck with www.providencedowntown.com highlighted on the tailgate, passed me and someone yelled “get on the sidewalk”. There was no contact and at no time did a feel this was an intentional act to scare me, but it certainly was one of those “whoa… that was close” moments.
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03.16.10
Posted in Announcements
by Mark Dieterich at 10:06 pm
It’s official. GARI members met this evening and officially voted to merge with the Providence Bicycle Coalition. This was the last hurdle we needed to get over to pave the way to merge the two organizations. In a short while, when all the legal paperwork is completeled, the Rhode Island Bicycle Coalition will be born. Thanks to Sue Barker for all the work she put into this merger!
Stay tuned… the upcoming months will be filled with a new site look, new logo, and whatever else we can all dream up.
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Posted in Advocacy
by Mark Dieterich at 10:52 am
Over the course of the next two years, RIDOT is scheduled to completely repave Elmwood Avenue. I will be meeting with some people this Thursday @ 11am to discuss potential bicycle and pedestrian improvements that might be done in conjunction with the repaving work. If you frequent this area or just have a vested interest in this road, please let me know
- If you really want to attend (we can accommodate a small number of extra participants)
- If you have any feedback or suggestions you would like me to take to this meeting
I’d like to get all feedback by Wednesday @ 5pm, so I can compile it all for the meeting during the next day.
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03.12.10
Posted in Advocacy
by Mark Dieterich at 6:24 pm
According to to a report posted on the Target 12 website, the recently passed Move Over law, requiring motorists to change lanes or at least slow down when passing an emergency vehicle, simply isn’t working. Target 12
wired up a state police cruiser and went undercover to put the law to the test. We also had Trooper Jacques “pull over” one of our undercover cars on a local highway.
One car passed dangerously close to Trooper Jacques as he got out of his cruiser. A tractor trailer passed so close to our car that it rocked the hidden camera. And the trend continued, car after truck, blatantly ignoring the law.
Why does this matter? If motorists don’t bother to obey a law, even when this law directly involves how they should interact with police, what makes anyone think they will head a 3-foot law for bicyclists? Representative Gemma, Newberry, Fox, and Schadone have introduced such legislation (H7243), which would introduce something similar to other state 3-foot laws into our motor vehicle codes. We worked with Representative Gemma last year to try and amend this 3-foot legislation into something, which we felt would be more effective, and will be doing so again this year.
The current bill is scheduled for a house hearing on Wednesday March 24th in the House Judiciary Committee. We will release our revised suggestions prior to this hearing and may be asking for cyclists to come out in support of the changes. Stay tuned…
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03.11.10
Posted in Advocacy
by Margherita at 9:56 am
TRANSPORTATION: Lawmakers to examine Obama’s ‘livability’ efforts
Josh Voorhees, E&E reporter
President Obama’s “livability” initiative will be under the microscope this week as two congressional panels hear from federal and state officials about transportation planning and land use.
The House Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Subcommittee will meet Wednesday to take a closer look at the livability portion of the president’s fiscal 2011 budget request. On Thursday, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will discuss how the federal Transportation Department partners with state and local transportation agencies in the decision-making process.
Obama is asking for more than $500 million for his effort to help state and local governments make more sustainable transportation investments. In addition to the funding request, Obama has also pledged to recast the nation’s overall transportation strategy to focus more heavily on such efforts and has created an interagency partnership between DOT, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and U.S. EPA to work on the issue. DOT took its first major livability action earlier this year when it rewrote selection criteria for transit projects to emphasize reduced carbon emissions and increased economic development.
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03.10.10
Posted in Bike Commuting
by Mark Dieterich at 4:53 pm
Yesterday was the first day of the National Bike Summit in Washington, DC. For those who haven’t heard yet,
The League of American Bicyclists is proud to be the forum for Google to announce what all bike riders have been waiting for – Grab Your Bike and Go with Google Maps. Google is announcing at the Opening Plenary Session at the National Bike Summit that they are adding biking directions in the U.S. to Google Maps.
According to Google this has been the most requested addition to Google Maps. This new feature includes: step-by-step bicycling directions; bike trails outlined directly on the map; and a new “Bicycling” layer that indicates bike trails, bike lanes, and bike-friendly roads.
You can visit http://maps.google.com/biking to try out this new feature. As with all things Google, the biking directions for Google Maps is currently in Beta, but this doesn’t mean it’s not full featured!
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03.09.10
Posted in Alerts, Tales from the Trenches
by Mark Dieterich at 5:49 pm
A Boston Herald article is reporting that a boy was struck while riding his bike along Bark Street in Swansea around 3pm this afternoon. The boy was rushed to Hasbro. No additional information has yet to be released.
UPDATE: a WPRI article has now released word that an eyewitness saw the boy dart out onto the road in front of the car.
Our thoughts go out to the the boy, his parents, and the driver of the automobile. Yet another incident between a bicycle and automobile in our “local” area.
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03.05.10
Posted in General
by Mark Dieterich at 11:29 am
Are you one of the many people plagued by the recent automobile recalls? Plagued by stories about sudden acceleration and failing brakes, the press is reminding us how danger it can be to drive an automobile. A recent segment on NPR discusses the current Toyota recalls and the fact that, while the mechanical and electrical difficulties with the car are not to be ignored,
studies show that the vehicle itself is almost never the sole cause of the accident. Drivers, on the other hand, are wholly to blame most of the time.
One of the panelists, Leonard Evans is a physicist, a former employee of GM and author of the book Traffic Safety. He believes that
the whole history of U.S. traffic safety has been one focusing on the vehicle, one of the least important factors that affects traffic safety.
Evans says his review of the data show that in the decade ending in 2008, about 22,000 people were killed in vehicles made by Toyota or Lexus. All these people were killed because of factors that had absolutely nothing to do with any vehicle defect.
Why isn’t the American public up in arms about the loss of life caused by daily traffic accidents? Why doesn’t the American public react seriously when a person takes another person’s life with their car? Where is the outrage people?
For those drivers who are affected by one of the recent recalls, may I suggest looking at a bicycle or other alternative mode of transportation. You might be surprised and actually find that you enjoy getting around without your car. Yes, there are recalls that affect bicycles, but I have yet to be in a situation where my legs simply refused to stop pedaling or I couldn’t find some way to safely stop my bicycle.
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Posted in Advocacy, Events
by Mark Dieterich at 10:58 am
| March 8, 2010 |
| 6:00 pm | to | 8:00 pm |
We’ve had two months off, hopefully, everyone has taken advantage of the break and visited the RI VeloSprints! With March, we return to our regularly scheduled advocacy meetings… with a brand new location.
We will be meeting at the Brown Bookstore (244 Thayer Street, Providence) in the community meeting room @ 6pm. If you enter through the doors off Thayer, the room is straight ahead on the far side of the bookstore. If you don’t see it, just ask someone at the help desk near the entrance. The room has plenty of seats and is big enough to support significant growth.
On the agenda for this meeting:
- Merger Update
- Henderson Bridge and Linear Park Updates
- Bike-to-Work Day
- Brainstorming for 2010 Projects
… and anything else you would like to discuss.
After the meeting, we can head down as a group to join in the fun at the RI VeloSprints.
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03.01.10
Posted in Bike Commuting
by dgduris at 3:46 pm
OK! Now that we have the helmet issue settled (not), let’s move on to something increasingly germane as this part of the globe warms and more folks begin to ride.
Here’s a situation you may face as a cyclist…
Uphill light. Right lane turns right only. Left lane for going straight on or turning left. Through the intersection there are cars parked along the right side of the road. The left side is free from parked cars, however.
As a cyclist going straight through (down Waterman) where would you position yourself at the light? Would you ride down the right or left side of the road after you crossed the intersection?
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