The Monday Roundup

Feeling congested?
Take a bike and call me in the morning.
(Photo: Will Vanlue)

Here’s the news that caught our eyes this past week…

– The City of Sherwood, located 17 miles southwest of Portland, has seen a 22% reduction in crashes after installing red light cameras at the intersection of Highway 99 and Tualatin-Sherwood Road. Nearly three quarters of the the citations resulting from the cameras were to people making a right-turn at a red light without stopping their motor vehicle, a significant hazard to people on bicycles.

– What started as a collection of trash has turned into a brightly colored bike lane honoring Jenna Morrison, the woman killed while riding her bike in Toronto on November 7. After being chased away by police officers, community members succeeded in painting the teal bike lane (Jenna’s favorite color) at the location of the crash that took her life. The lane was created with water-based paint and will wash away in time but is meant to encourage citizen “ownership and stewardship” of roads in the area.

– The US Department of Transportation reported fewer deaths on America’s highways in 2010 than in any year since 1949. Along with that good news, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood presented new metrics for tracking distracted driving with the hope that they will refine the DOT’s insight into the cause of crashes and fatalities on our roads.

– Chicago’s Department of Transportation has placed red flags around the city at crosswalks near schools, senior centers, and hospitals. People wanting to cross a road on foot are asked to wave the flags to catch the attention of people speeding by in automobiles. The flags are the second part of CDOT’s bleakly titled “It’s Up To You” campaign aimed at people who walk around the city. An earlier component of the campaign involved placing mannequins at the site of pedestrian fatalities.

– Traffic congestion is a big issue for Chicago and one company thinks bikes are the cure. Fifty lucky Chicago residents are now proud owners of Advil-branded bicycles. The black and yellow bikes were handed out as part of Advil’s Congestion Relief Project which the company says provides “the right relief for the real problem” faced by cities across the nation.

– Police in Burlington, North Carolina are back in the bike saddle as the Community-Oriented Police (COP) Unit starts back up after a long hiatus. The successful bike patrol program, which began in 1994 but was canceled because of staffing shortages, is using the original bicycles officers rode nearly 20 years ago. Officers in the COP Unit explain how the bicycles provide better speed, mobility, and access to the community than other options such as patrolling in a car or on foot.

– The Texas NAACP honored Bike Texas with an award for its effort to bring more diversity to bike advocacy in the state. The award marks the first time in history the NAACP has presented an award to a bicycle advocacy organization.

– An article from The Atlantic Cities discusses why certain transportation measurements will always favor automobiles over other modes of transportation, even in an active-transportation-friendly city like San Francisco.

– The folks over at Copenhagenize take a look at a study from Australia which finds the country’s mandatory helmet laws are likely suppressing the number of people who choose to ride a bike as well as depressing the number who use bike share programs in Brisbane and Melbourne.

– Two groups in Pennsylvania are teaming up to teach the art of wrenching to at-risk youth. Volunteers in the program mentor youth and teach them how to assemble, disassemble, and repair bicycles. The training teaches the kids valuable life lessons and can help them find employment later in life.

– Winter may chase many people indoors, but the cold weather is perfect for two things: riding mountain bikes and racing cyclocross.

– Balance bikes are a great way to start your toddler on the road to riding a bike, but Seattle’s Michele Costanza has found they can also help save parents a good deal of stress and back pain.

– ODOT (the Oklahoma Department of Transportation) is starting their own Safe Routes to School program with the familiar goals of reducing childhood obesity and associated illness.

– And finally, you may remember when a bicycle won a race with an airplane in Los Angeles earlier this year. Now the two-wheeled machine has proven itself to be faster than a snowboard in a downhill race on a German TV show. The race is neck and neck most of the way but the bicycle ultimately wins because of one major advantage: pedals.

Did you find something interesting that should be in next week’s Monday Roundup? Drop us a line.

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davemess
davemess
12 years ago

$5 cross races in Indiana?!?!?!

OBRA take note!!!!

oliver
oliver
12 years ago
Reply to  davemess

You beat me to it.

Mike
Mike
12 years ago
Reply to  davemess

You have obviously never put on, nor assisted with putting on a bike race. Even if OBRA waived the bill for insurance, the equipment was donated, and you were able to find officials willing to donate their time, you still would need to pay for the venue, permits, portapotties, etc.

It appears that they have ~ 500 adult cyclocross racers for 2011. OBRA has something like four times that. I’d suggest you do the math, but I’m not sure you’d know where to begin.

Take note!!!! You have no idea what you are talking about!!!!

Mike
Mike
12 years ago

Cyclist loses race against kayaker in race across lake! Has cycling lost its position as greatest form of transportation ever to exist – ever to be imagined?
This and Finger monkeys – the ultimate key chains – next at 11.

wade
wade
12 years ago

absolutely love the northjersey.com mtb link. and for any north jerseyean mountain bikers out there, don’t miss the mahlon dickerson reservation, a wonderland of glacial erratics, black bears and comforting air traffic!

Randall S.
Randall S.
12 years ago

> Nearly three quarters of the the citations resulting from the cameras were to people making a right-turn at a red light without stopping their motor vehicle

But… but… Amanda Fritz told me that bicyclists are the only ones who run red lights!

wsbob
wsbob
12 years ago
Reply to  Randall S.

Right. So you’re thinking that past the red light cameras, there weren’t any people riding bikes and making right turns without stopping?

Maybe you’re right. Or maybe, the camera did capture people on bikes making right turns on red lights without stopping, but the photos couldn’t be used to initiate the issuance of citations due to lack of a way to readily identify persons riding the bikes.

John Lascurettes
12 years ago
Reply to  wsbob

Let’s assume the bikes are behaving the same way they ever were (whatever that is) because the red light cameras can’t do anything to automatically hand out citations. There was still a 22% reduction in crashes. Why? Because the inertia of a car is something that’s harder to control.

davemess
davemess
12 years ago
Reply to  wsbob

So now YOU’RE advocating for bike license plates?!?!?!
WOW

wsbob
wsbob
12 years ago
Reply to  davemess

davemess
So now YOU’RE advocating for bike license plates?!?!?!
WOW
Recommended 0

Haven’t seen anything so far that’s persuasive in terms of registering bikes with an ‘on the bike easily visible license plate’ being a good idea.

Still, I don’t consider that the relative lighter weight of bikes or the ability to brake them them compared to that of motor vehicles, is as inconsequential in failure to stop at red lights before turning, as some people seem inclined to think.

As numbers of bikes together with motor vehicles on the road increases, road users keeping traffic rolling safely and smoothly by complying with traffic controls will probably become ever more important.

Will…thanks for the additional info about the speed cut-off point for issuing citation.

wsbob
wsbob
12 years ago

Re; the Australian mandatory bike helmet law stories on today’s Monday Roundup. Here’s the link to one of them:

http://www.copenhagenize.com/2011/12/repeal-helmet-laws-to-boost-cycling.html

Do Australian residents as a country, actually like and want people in their country to be riding bikes rather than driving? Maybe they don’t, possibly explaing why the all ages, rather than simply an under 16 or thereabouts mandatory helmet law was adopted back in 90-91.

Reader comment from the story accessed by the above link:

“…Here in Australia, it’s a constant bone of contention that cyclists should even be allowed on the road, and too many motorists fail to keep an eye out for cyclists, and many seem to go out of their way to intimidate cyclists into never returning to the road.” Van Strapp, commenting to Copenhagenize story

Australian citizens may have purposely supported or voted for the mandatory bike helmet law to discourage people in Australia from riding bikes.

are
12 years ago

near as i can tell the advil bike in the chicago giveaway is this
http://www.citizenbike.com/catalog.asp?product_category_id=1&product_id=31

are
12 years ago
Reply to  are

with a 48 tooth chainring and a 16 tooth cog, and with 170 mm crankarms, that would be 55.3 gear inches or a gain ratio of 4.1. chicago is reasonably flat. citizen does not always get good customer reviews, but this model has almost nothing on it that could malfunction — rigid front fork, no gearing, etc.

Alexis
Alexis
12 years ago

Man, that Chicago story just makes me irate. Because obviously the problem is that people out walking don’t carry little orange flags with them.

Paul Johnson
Paul Johnson
12 years ago
Reply to  Alexis

More likely it’s an inexpensive and more reliable answer to installing a signal system.

Chris I
Chris I
12 years ago
Reply to  Paul Johnson

More reliable? Get back to us on that after the next wind or snow storm…

Paul Johnson
Paul Johnson
12 years ago
Reply to  Chris I

You mean when the signals are out because the power isn’t on? That’s why Jackson Hole, WY uses flags already.

davemess
davemess
12 years ago
Reply to  Paul Johnson

Salt Lake has them too, and I really don’t think they are because of Power outages. I agree that they are just a cheap, inexpensive way to try to help pedestrians. They’re also common in little mountain towns, where the speed limits go from 55 to 25 rather quickly.

Robin Canaday
Robin Canaday
12 years ago
Reply to  Alexis

I’d like to have a pedestrian-cam. Wonder where I can buy one.

Paul Johnson
Paul Johnson
12 years ago

Jackson Hole, WY has big baskets of red flags identical to the ones used by traffic flaggers in that state at either end of most crosswalks in the tourist district, since the flags work when the power is out (a frequent concern during storm season).

matt picio
12 years ago
Reply to  Paul Johnson

I rode through Jackson Hole, WY this year, and I’m not sure the flags help all that much. Despite the city’s bike-friendly and ped-friendly reputation, I found it to be one of the more unpleasant cities to walk and bike in on the trip. Steamboat Springs in Colorado is doing a LOT better – a city of a similar size. (although Steamboat has some issues as well)

Paul Johnson
Paul Johnson
12 years ago

As for the OklaDOT bit, awesome! Glad to see Tulsa Public Schools and OklaDOT team up! I emailed them last year, and brought it up with INCOG (Tulsa’s Metro equivalent) several times but never got more than a lukewarm response to it, so definitely glad that the Message Was Received.

Safe Routes to School there will likely be highly effective in fixing some critical crossings that put you on six- or eight-lane boulevards for a block or two to get across in their awesome and expanding bike boulevard network, since there’s a school in just about every square mile in the city, but not yet an obvious through route in every square mile.

stephenup
Stephen Upchurch
12 years ago

Here is what our friends in Denmark thought of flag waving pedestrians a few years ago…

http://www.copenhagenize.com/2009/11/wave-your-flag-pedestrian.html

…and what a surprise it’s back on the front page today.

http://www.copenhagenize.com/

I couldn’t agree more.

jim
jim
12 years ago

Did they ticket any bikes in sherwood for not stopping before they turned right on red?