12.28.07
Posted in Advocacy
by Mark Dieterich at 10:29 pm
The Boston Globe has a story of man who killed a teen when he lost control of his SUV while sending a text message on his cell phone.
The man accused of killing a 13-year-old boy in a hit-and-run in Taunton told police he was behind the wheel typing a text message on his cellphone when he lost control of the sport utility vehicle and hit what he thought was a mailbox, a prosecutor said today in court.
So take this man at his word, even if he had hit a mailbox, wouldn’t the right thing be to stop and at least leave a note of apology and offer to pay for a replacement? Forgive me, but I need to get up on my soapbox for just a minute here. I think this incident speaks to some greater moral degradation that’s happening in the good old USA. I happen to live across the street from a field where they hold little league and football practices. During the sporting seasons, it’s not unusual to have cars lined up across the street from my house. I’ve lost count of how many times our mailbox has been hit; it’s been completely taken out twice and I know of at least two back car windows that were broken. Only one person, in all of these incidents, has left us a note! I’m sure that the two people who broke their back car windows were fuming, but it’s not my fault they backed into our mailbox, and it took a tremendous amount of my time to clean up the shattered glass all over the road, our yard, etc. I for one would leave a note, but clearly I’m in the minority. I’m sure some people don’t even know they hit the mailbox, which is even scarier, when you consider it’s about the same height as the kids practicing on the field across the street. Okay, end of soapbox rant.
The boy, Earman Machado, was sleeping over at a friend’s house Thursday night. The teens had gone out at 12:30 a.m. to meet two girls, Strojny said today in Taunton District Court. Machado was riding a bicycle and his friend was walking on the soft shoulder of the road. Police said the friend, also 13, attempted to call 911, but was unable to get through on his cellphone.
What in the world were two 13 year olds doing out at 12:30am? Perhaps the kids snuck out and the parents didn’t know. If they did, I’m sure they are asking themselves this very same question. It’s unlikely the kid had proper lights on his bike, probably the best we can hope for are some reflectors.
Bigos hung his head in court today and was released on $5,000 bail. He was arraigned on charges that included motor vehicle homicide, leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death, and driving without a license. He is scheduled to return to court Jan. 23.
Well, I guess this takes away my standard verdict recommendation, suspend or take away the motorist’s license. You can’t really take one away, if he doesn’t have one. I wonder if he even had any type of auto insurance?
This is truly another sad day for cyclists.
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12.22.07
Posted in Advocacy
by Mark Dieterich at 9:40 pm
I happened upon an interesting article about the Complete The Streets program in The Seattle Times.
Complete streets “are about a right of way for everyone out there traveling, walking or biking,” says Barbara McCann, the movement coordinator. All users of all ages and abilities, she asserts, need to be able to move safely along and across a complete street. And, McCann adds, “safety is a huge reason.”
As well it should be: Every 113 minutes across the United States, a motorized vehicle hits and kills a pedestrian or cyclist. Every eight minutes, one is injured, sometimes paralyzed. Most of Europe, by contrast, has worked for years at expanding walkways and bikeways, making intersections safer and erecting physical barriers to fast city and town traffic. On a per-mile basis, a German pedestrian has only a third as much chance of being a traffic fatality as his American counterpart; a German cyclist only half.
The article doesn’t mention a source for these figures, but that is a staggering number of deaths if it is accurate. I happened upon the article because Rhode Island was mentioned
States and cities are getting the message. Illinois this fall passed a complete-streets law requiring the state’s transportation department to include bicycling and walking facilities in all its urban-area projects. Five other states (Massachusetts, Florida, Maryland, Oregon, Rhode Island) now have some form of complete-streets law on the books. More than 50 metro regions, counties or cities — Charlotte to Johnson County, Kan., Salt Lake City to Seattle — have passed similar statutes.
Really? Rhode Island has some form of complete-street laws on the books? I’ve seen plenty of lip service paid to “taking bicycles into account” when road construction is being planned. I don’t know about you, I haven’t seen too many projects actually come to fruition with improvements for bicycles. The state should be proud of the headway they’ve made with bike paths and the upcoming linear park will be a nice way to cross into Providence, if it actually happens. However, as most of us know, those who are serious transportational cyclists, these types of projects don’t really address our needs. We need to be able to travel almost everywhere people go by car, safely.
I for one, would love to see Rhode Island adopt a transportation first policy. Where city and state planners take a step back and focus on how best to move people, not how best to move cars. The article touched on this desire when it suggested that
Project for Public Spaces has some of the right advice for cities: “Stop planning for speed.” And “think of transportation as public space” — roads, transit terminals, sidewalks, reconfigured to create pleasant environments, a true sense of place.
Wouldn’t that be nice.
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12.16.07
Posted in Advocacy
by Mark Dieterich at 8:52 pm
Another cyclist killed and no charges will be brought against the motorist. According to a Providence Journal article:
A criminal charge against a Westerly woman who fatally struck a Warwick man riding his bicycle in Charlestown will be dropped next week, a spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office said yesterday
I have yet to figure out what I personally think an appropriate charge for this woman would be, but to just drop the case seems like a slap in the face of the cyclist’s family and, to a much lesser extent, the entire cycling community. After all, the police did find that the motorist was speeding
Police said she was traveling at about 60 miles an hour. The posted speed limit in the area is 50 miles an hour.
There was no indication that the cyclist was riding inappropriately, he was riding in the breakdown lane, with traffic. On the other hand, crime scene reconstructionists found the motorist had changed lanes to pass two other vehicles
As she was merging back into the right travel lane, she got distracted and continued right into the breakdown lane,” Healey said, quoting the accident reconstructionist. “At this point she is traveling 50 to 60 miles per hour. She is traveling in the breakdown lane for approximately 100 feet.
That would equate to driving on the breakdown lane for about a second, Healey said, noting that at 60 miles an hour a car travels approximately 90 feet per second.
Hurst told police she flipped down her sunvisor as she came up the hill before Kings Factory Road. The accident reconstructionist found that glare could be a factor given the time of day and location of the accident.
a spokesman from the AG’s office said they dropped the case because
“The only evidence of negligence against Ms. Hurst is that she was traveling at 60 miles per hour and driving in the breakdown lane (but for a period of time lasting just more than one second),” Healey said. “We found that this, clearly, could not be considered ‘reckless conduct’ under Rhode Island case law.”
I’m sorry, but a person was killed! I understand this was not a premeditated crime and accidents do happen. However, people need to take responsibility for their actions and even their mistakes. If a person can’t control their vehicle, perhaps they shouldn’t be driving one? If driving conditions are such that you are experiencing sun glare, how about slowing down to a safe speed? Why aren’t more people outraged at the apparent lack of compassion for a human life?
It’s another sad day for the cycling community.
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12.06.07
Posted in Events
by Mark Dieterich at 11:23 pm
Coming to Providence Bicycle on Thursday January 10th at 7:00pm the SRAM/ORBEA / ZIPP WHEELS TECH CLINIC.
We will have as our guests Butch Balzano from SRAM NEUTRAL SUPPORT, CJ Bradbury with ZIPP and Derrick Griggs of ORBEA USA. Butch will introduce Srams new RED GROUP for road bicycles and compare it to the current Force and Rival kits. He will showcase the time-trial bar end shifters and brake levers as well.
Derrick will highlight Orbeas 2008 product line including the redesigned ORDU triathlon frameset. There will be discussion on materials, technology and design which, when combined, create the legendary Orbea ride. CJ will be on hand with ZIPPS 2008 products. He will explain their new CARBON BRIDGE technology and have cross sections of some rims so you can see what its all about.
It will be a total bike geek night. Refreshments will be served. Contact Joe at 331-6610 or joe@providencebicycle.com for more info or to let us know you’re coming. See Ya.
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Posted in Events
by Mark Dieterich at 11:16 pm
It’s that time of year again: The Hub’s annual end of year open house. Saturday night, starting at 6pm there will be food from Taqueria Pacifica, music by Michah Jackson, and others.
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Posted in Announcements
by Mark Dieterich at 9:01 am
This is an excerpt from the most recent RoadBikeRider.com newsletter
Interbike is considering an East Coast version of the popular
Outdoor Demo that’s held in conjunction with its annual cycling trade
show in Las Vegas. A big difference in the East may be a consumer day,
allowing enthusiasts to see and ride new 2009 bikes and equipment.
Interbike has set Oct. 16-18 for the East event, subject to a survey
sent to hundreds of eastern-U.S. bike shops and manufacturers. The
first two demo days, Thursday and Friday, would be trade only;
Saturday would be open to the public. The proposed venue is Roger
Williams Park near Providence, Rhode Island. According to Interbike,
“The East Coast Demo will have professional seminars, technical
clinics, networking opportunities — a lot of the core things we do at
the [Las Vegas] show, but in a much more loose and inexpensive way.”
How cool would that be to have an Interbike Outdoor Demo Day in our backyard? In the last few years, Providence seems to have put itself on the biking map. We hosted the Cyclocross Nationals for two years, there are efforts underway to host a Cyclocross World Cup race, and now this. Perhaps through hosting these type of bicycle events, people in the government and local businesses will begin to realize there is profit to be had through bicycles and we will start seeing some real change.
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