Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Meeting with City of Fairfax Police
Members of FABB recently met with Fairfax City Police Chief Rick Rappoport and Sargent Pam Nevlud to discuss bicycling issues in the city. The City is developing a new web page, Cycling in the City, and we requested an opportunity to provide input. Rather than focusing on the dangers of cycling, we wanted more of an emphasis on education.While many people think that bicycling is a very dangerous activity, when compared to other activities, it is relatively safe. It's safer than boating, swimming, and driving, and more dangerous than baseball and soccer. Most people receive almost no bicycle education, which would help reduce the number of crashes that do occur.
We hope to work with the City of Fairfax to possibly sponsor a bike rodeo for kids. Teaching kids how to drive their bikes at an early age will help everyone in the long run. Why wait until they are rebellious 15 and 16 year olds before teaching them basic traffic law and how to operate a vehicle in traffic. As John Allen notes in his article Bicyclist Education in Perspective:
By failing to teach our children at an early age, we give them the ten years between the ages of five and fifteen to develop bad habits which a few weeks of driver training at age 15 can not overturn, and which many carry with them for the rest of their lives. These bad attitudes apply between motorists, and they apply to the way motorists treat bicyclists and pedestrians. It is hard to regard bicyclists and pedestrians as equally important and legitimate participants in traffic if you have yourself never been taught any self-respecting or legitimate way to be a bicyclist or pedestrian.
As you can see from the photo above, the city still has a bike patrol and a fleet of police bicycles. That's Douglas Stewart of FABB and Sargent Nevlud in the photo.Labels: city of fairfax, police
Comments:
I like the tone of the BikeBaltimore subpage on the City of Baltimore Transportation website:
http://www.baltimorecity.gov/government/transportation/planning/bikebaltimore/index.php
As far as your mentioning of bike rodeo, you might be interested in some of the ideas expressed in this paper: http://urbanplacesandspaces.blogspot.com/2008/07/ideas-for-making-bicycling-irresistible.html
with regard to neighborhoods (ward/neighborhood bicycling enhancement is the header)
http://www.baltimorecity.gov/government/transportation/planning/bikebaltimore/index.php
As far as your mentioning of bike rodeo, you might be interested in some of the ideas expressed in this paper: http://urbanplacesandspaces.blogspot.com/2008/07/ideas-for-making-bicycling-irresistible.html
with regard to neighborhoods (ward/neighborhood bicycling enhancement is the header)
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