Bikeboard February 2007

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9 participants
28 discussions

PR committee meeting
by Chip Wamsley 15 Feb '07

15 Feb '07

To: Marilyn Betsy Johnathan Tyler We need to get started with the PR committee, by having a meeting. I propose a meeting at Wamsley Cycles, Monday The 19th at 6:30 PM. I propose an alternate date of Wednesday the 21 st, same place and time. What does everyone think? Let me know. Chip Chip(a)wamsleycycles.com

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FWD: [Thunderhead] Traffic Justice article
by director 15 Feb '07

15 Feb '07

Good afternoon, Thought this would be of interest to the board. Nick ---------- Original Message ---------------------------------- From: "Sue Knaup" <sue(a)thunderheadalliance.org> Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2007 08:53:40 -0700 Hi all, Check out this excellent article on Traffic Justice that just came out in the Christian Science Monitor - the best press I've seen yet on this comprehensive issue. Sue <http://www.csmonitor.com> csmonitor.com - The Christian Science Monitor Online from the February 14, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0214/p13s01-lign.html To prevent crashes, a new push to improve driver behavior Methods that reduced road fatalities overseas would work in the US, advocates say. By Linda Baker | Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor Despite the human and financial toll of traffic fatalities annually in the United States - 43,000 deaths and 2.7 million injuries at a cost of about $230 billion - such accidents are often viewed as an inevitable, if tragic, byproduct of driving. Now a small but growing number of safety advocates and transportation researchers want to change that perception, partly by borrowing proven strategies from Europe and Australia. The goal, they say, is to reduce the number of traffic deaths - not by improving cars to limit the severity of crashes, but by targeting human behaviors that trigger collisions in the first place. That strategy has worked well in the Netherlands, where over the past three decades, the annual number of traffic fatalities has declined by 75 percent from 3,200 to 800. Today, that country has one of the lowest per capita traffic fatality rates in the world. "The perspective in our society is that quite some proportion of all car crashes are preventable," says Fred Wegman, director of the Netherlands Institute for Road Safety Research, "and there is no need to accept the death toll." Mr. Wegman visited Washington, D.C., last month for the annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board as an independent adviser to the US government. Improving traffic safety is not easy, he says. "You are famously dependent on how the population perceives the problem, and whether you can interest politicians to take action." Some methods used by the Netherlands to reduce road fatalities include changing road design to limit vehicle speeds, expanding automated enforcement and sobriety testing, and prohibiting the use of electronic devices while driving. "Since the 1960s, safety campaigns in this country have focused predominantly on crash mitigation, such as seat belts and air bags," says Bob Chauncey, director of a new "traffic justice" initiative for the National Center for Bicycling and Walking, a nonprofit group in Bethesda, Md. "With the exception of MADD [Mothers Against Drunk Driving], we don't look at the root cause of the crash." The US approach to road safety is limited in scope, says David Willis, a senior research scientist at the Texas Transportation Institute in College Station. Forty percent of all fatal crashes in the United States are due to speeding, he says. "But unlike almost every other civilized society in the world, we don't focus on driver behavior - we focus on vehicle design." In the Netherlands, says Mr. Wegman, speed limits are very low: 25 m.p.h. in the city, and 60 m.p.h. on the freeway. Dutch roads are also designed to encourage safe driving. Traffic-calming strategies include extensive bicycle and pedestrian facilities, narrow streets with medians, and roundabouts instead of intersections with traffic signals. Roundabouts are traffic circles that force drivers to slow down to 15 m.p.h. A strict police enforcement program, including random sobriety checks and cameras that automatically identify speeders, means "you have a very good chance of getting caught," says Wegman. The legal blood-alcohol limit in the Netherlands is 0.05 percent compared with 0.08 percent in the US. Studies conducted in London showed a 40 percent reduction in crashes that resulted in injuries after the installation of automatic speed cameras. In Victoria, Australia, the number of fatal crashes involving drunken drivers declined by 25 percent after random sobriety checkpoints were set up. In the US, 31 states have raised highway speed limits to 70 m.p.h. Only four states - California, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey - and Washington, D.C., have passed laws against using hand-held cellphones while driving. Most states prohibit or restrict the use of automated speed enforcement, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in Arlington, Va. "People say, 'Driving is a personal matter, government leave me alone,' " says Steve Lind, director of the Washington State Traffic Safety Commission. Washington State law prohibits sobriety checkpoints and bans electronic speed enforcement except in school zones. But the benefits of these strategies are now well documented, Mr. Lind says. "We can't be afraid to get these tools in front of policymakers. It's up to the people to accept them." Legislation, enforcement, and public awareness are the key elements for a successful traffic safety program, Wegman says. The Netherlands' ban on hand-held cellphones while driving, for example, would not be effective without the accompanying media campaign on distracted driving. "The position of the press is very important," says Wegman. The "traffic justice" initiative in the US, which is fueled by local groups, aims to shift the national discussion from "car accidents" to "car crashes," says Mr. Chauncey. Americans accept limitations on personal freedoms in exchange for airplane safety, he says. "Now we expect just conduct from all players in the road transportation system: the planners, the engineers, the drivers, and the car companies." Although roundabouts are becoming more popular in the US, cities and states continue to build roads that allow drivers to speed, traffic-justice proponents say. "Drivers and pedestrians are victims of engineers looking at traffic flow," says Andrea Okomski, executive director of Pedestrian InRoads, a nonprofit in Seattle. "We know about traffic calming.... We just don't do it." www.csmonitor.com | Copyright C 2007 The Christian Science Monitor. All rights reserved. Sue Knaup Executive Director Thunderhead Alliance 928-541-9841 http://www.thunderheadalliance.org <http://www.thunderheadalliance.org/> Main Office: P.O. Box 3309, Prescott, AZ 86302 Washington, DC Office: 1700 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Ste. 400, 20006 202-349-1479

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Meeting Minutes
by Elizabeth Shogren 12 Feb '07

12 Feb '07

Good evening, Everybody. Attached are the February meeting minutes. Please let me know if you see anything that needs some attention. Thank you, BETSY

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Road I course logistics
by Frank Gmeindl 08 Feb '07

08 Feb '07

Bike Board members, March 10-11 will be here before we know it. It's time to complete arrangements for the Road I course. *Time* We must allocate 9-hours course time. I suggest Saturday 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM with a ride somewhere for lunch. I suggest Sunday 9:00 AM - Noon. If any of you who are attending have any problems with those times, please reply-all with an alternative recommendation and justification. *Place* We need to find a place that has a classroom that can accommodate 12-16 people with chalkboard or whiteboard, DVD and projector/TV, and a large parking lot nearby for drills. It would be good if we could secure our bikes when we're in the classroom, too. Any ideas? Frank

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Recommendations presentation to Traffic Commission
by Frank Gmeindl 08 Feb '07

08 Feb '07

Bike Board members, The Traffic Commission responded positively to our recommendations last night. Thanks to Marilyn Newcome for supporting me and Greg! Thanks also to Don Spencer for his support both as a Bike Board member and a Traffic Commission member. Two TC members, Buffy Vehse and Chris Gluck signed up for the Road I course. Nobody batted an eye when I said we want $2,300 to defray the costs of attending the Effective Cycling Seminar in Bethlehem, PA. Peter Schuster wanted the Commission to act now to apply for the $10K grant. Unfortunately, the time ran out before the TC members could discuss and conclude on any of our recommendations so that's on their agenda for their March meeting. This was the second TC meeting that I've attended. They exhaustively discuss every change that anybody asks them to make. I would expect that a two-month cycle would probably be typical for our recommendatons: month 1, we deliver a presentation with a written report and they take the month to review it; month 2 they discuss and decide on our recommendations. Some of our recommendations will probably also have to be forwarded by the Traffic Commission to City Council for approval. That may add another month or two before some recommendations start to get implemented. On the other hand, that's no reason that we can't get all our recommendations ready before the weather gets nice and we'd rather ride;) Frank

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FWD: Re: BB web site picture
by director 07 Feb '07

07 Feb '07

Frank, We've used a couple of my favorite pictures on our website. These are from some of the first Critical Mass rides which started in 2005. http://positivespin.org/PS_AboutUs.html http://positivespin.org/PS_Events/MtownCritMass.html I've attached a few other. One shows Spruce Street filled with (25) bikes on World Carfree Day 2005, the other is in front of the Mtn Lair when we gathered that day. Last Friday our critical mass ride drew 3 riders, pretty good under the circumstances. In the next few months we should get a bigger turnout. Also planning has begun for a human-powered parade in April which would be a great photo-op to get riders of all ages parading down High Street. There's a pretty picture of the rail trail on the Morgantown.com homepage but I prefer the ones with lots of people riding in front of a familiar landmark. A picture of the ASS start would be a good one! Nick ---------- Original Message ---------------------------------- From: "Frank G." <fgmeindl(a)verizon.net> Date: Wed, 07 Feb 2007 13:10:00 -0500 Nick, I'm glad somebody had a similar reaction to that picture. I don't know where it was taken but I would like to have a picture that is clearly taken in Morgantown and that shows lots of cyclists riding on ROADS. If you have such a picture, please present it to the Bike Board and invite feedback. (This morning, I saw a bus with a bike in the rack in front. I wish I had a camera to capture that: bike, bus, lots of snow and traffic.) Mainly to keep the Bike Board together, I would like to set a SOP that anything that goes on the web site passes Bike Board inspection and approval. I would like any Board member to feel free to propose anything to the Board and to invite and collect feedback. Please invite feedback from the Board on the "Share the Road" video. As Chairman, I would prefer to have last word. Frank At 12:00 AM 2/7/2007, you wrote: >Frank, >Is that picture taken in Morgantown? I'll go out and take a local picture >tomorrow. > >May I also suggest a link to the "Share the Road" video that I sent the >link about last week? (http://bikelib.org/video/index.htm) > >If we want to create additional pages can we just send them to Jeff (after >board approval of course)? This website would be a great place to solicit >citizen inputs to make "spot improvement" requests. > >Thanks. >Nick > > > > > >---------- Original Message ---------------------------------- >From: "Frank G." <fgmeindl(a)verizon.net> >Date: Tue, 06 Feb 2007 14:03:41 -0500 > > >Bike Board Members, > > > >Jeff Mikorski, Assistant City Manager, created a Bike Board web site at > >www.morgantown.com/bike-board.htm . He said: "I made an initial web page > >for the bike board. I used the only bike > >related images I had, but if you or other bike board people send me some > >images, I can include them onto the page(s)." > > > >Please reply all if you have any recommended changes. > > > >Frank > > > > > > > >_______________________________________________ > >Bikeboard mailing list > >Bikeboard(a)cheat.org > >http://cheat.org/mailman/listinfo/bikeboard > >

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BB web site
by Frank G. 06 Feb '07

06 Feb '07

Bike Board Members, Jeff Mikorski, Assistant City Manager, created a Bike Board web site at www.morgantown.com/bike-board.htm . He said: "I made an initial web page for the bike board. I used the only bike related images I had, but if you or other bike board people send me some images, I can include them onto the page(s)." Please reply all if you have any recommended changes. Frank

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BB web site
by Frank Gmeindl 06 Feb '07

06 Feb '07

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Bicycle Board Recommendations
by Frank Gmeindl 05 Feb '07

05 Feb '07

Dr. Eck, Please find attached, the Morgantown Municipal Bicycle Board's Infrastructure and Education recommendations to the Traffic Commission. We would like to present these recommendations to the Commission at this Wednesday's meeting. We will bring paper copies Wednesday. If you feel it is appropriate to forward this message to the Commission members, it would afford them the opportunity to review it in advance. Also, we are prepared to present a short summary PowerPoint presentation if appropriate. We will bring a computer and projector. Please don't hesitate to reply or call me at 304-376-0446 if you have any questions, comments or guidance. Frank Gmeindl 304-367-8395 (work) 304-376-0446 (cell) 304-284-8094 (home)

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Final recommendations report
by Frank Gmeindl 04 Feb '07

04 Feb '07

Bike Board Members, Attached is the final report of our infrastructure and education recommendations. I plan to get this to the Traffic Commission members tomorrow, Monday, if possible. If you catch anything wrong in the attached, please let me know ASAP. Frank

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Bikeboard February 2007