Wednesday, March 9, 2016
Post publishes another anti-bike rant
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| Fred Kunkle Washington Post |
Kinkle writes that the dooring only applies to the driver side door: "We might argue that if you nail an adult riding his or her bicycle on the sidewalk, you should get a $50 award. Double, if it’s during lunch hour on K Street."
You may recall the anti-bike rant by Courtland Malloy back in 2014 in which he said: "It’s a $500 fine for a motorist to hit a bicyclist in the District, but some behaviors are so egregious that some drivers might think it’s worth paying the fine."
Since the Post linked to Milloy's article, we can only speculate that the Post encourages this type of inflammatory writing to attract readers, comments, page views. I like the Post. I read it every morning. I'm very disappointed that it's OK to make light of injuring or killing cyclists. I thought it was beneath them. Apparently not.
By the way, riding on the sidewalk in Fairfax County is legal.
Labels: courtland milloy, fred kunkle, washington post
Sunday, June 1, 2014
Using carrots and sticks to improve multimodal transportation
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| Photo: Washington Post |
Today's Post article "Has Dulles Toll Road outlived its value?" (print), "Higher tolls pushing many off the Dulles Toll Road" (online) looks at the effect that higher tolls are having on Toll Road user's travel patterns and attitudes.
It's no surprise that most people who use the Toll Road on a regular basis are not happy to be paying higher tolls. It's also not surprising that it may be affecting their behavior.
According to the article, some people contend that more commuters are using alternate routes to avoid the higher tolls. The number of trips taken on the Toll Road has decreased, but vehicle miles traveled in the US has decreased during the same time period.
People interviewed in the article claim more commuters are using alternate routes such as Lawyers Road, Leesburg Pike, Route 7, and Beulah Rd. But there is no real evidence that's the case. Maybe people are just driving less.
The best quote in the article is from Jessa Foor of Sterling who said rising tolls prompted her to leave her job in Arlingotn County for one in Reston, closer to home. "Most of the reason I left my job is that I was paying a ridiculous amount of money to spend two hours on the road."
Maybe the "stick" of higher tolls is having an effect. Is it a bad thing that people are taking jobs closer to work? In the case of Jessa, her commute is now about 6 miles vs. approximately 25 miles (I used rough estimates based on place to place distances). A 6 mile bike commute takes about 30 minutes.
America's Cities Are Still Too Afraid to Make Driving Unappealing, an article from The Atlantic CityLab, contends that cities have relied too much on using carrots and not enough on sticks. The article references recent research that looks at the effects of carrots and sticks in the U.S. and Europe:
This research asserts that carrots have been only modestly effective at promoting NMT [non-motorized modes] in the US, and this is in large part due to a lack of sticks to discourage alternatives to NMT, namely driving. Existing literatures provides case studies of European cities that employ a combination of carrots and sticks and also boast NMT mode shares far beyond that seen in the United States. Similar research is lacking in the US because of a lack of available sticks to study.
Would using more sticks be a "war on cars?" Not necessarily. It might just be a way to take into account all of the true costs of driving, including the cost of free parking, the cost to everyone who pays what user fees don't pay for road construction and maintenance, the indirect costs of air and water pollution, etc. Maybe it's time for a few more sticks.Labels: carrots and sticks, washington post
Thursday, May 29, 2014
Post article on WABA bike safety classes and local efforts to improve cycling conditions
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| Photo: Washington Post |
WABA's bicycle education program is featured in the first part of the article. Our parent organization is doing a great job teaching safe cycling skills in DC, Arlington Co, and Montgomery Co., with affordable or free classes that fill up on a regular basis.
[Dan] Hoagland [WABA's education coordinator] and his 40 part-time instructors teach people to ride “with the most knowledge and forethought, and to bring their entire perspective and attention to it.”
The instruction is not about the bicyclist alone, he noted. “Everything from where you position yourself in the lane to the body language you use communicates to drivers. You can actually prevent crashes and influence driver behavior.”
“It’s when bicyclists do things that are unexpected and act unpredictably, I feel, that the conflict arises.”
Enrollment is steadily increasing, Hoagland said. “A lot of folks have had a bad experience out there. A lot of them don’t know if it was caused by their actions or not. They just had a close call, and they want to know what they do to prevent that from happening.”
The second part of the article highlights the investments that Arlington and DC are making to make cycling more accessible to everyone:
The instruction is not about the bicyclist alone, he noted. “Everything from where you position yourself in the lane to the body language you use communicates to drivers. You can actually prevent crashes and influence driver behavior.”
“It’s when bicyclists do things that are unexpected and act unpredictably, I feel, that the conflict arises.”
Enrollment is steadily increasing, Hoagland said. “A lot of folks have had a bad experience out there. A lot of them don’t know if it was caused by their actions or not. They just had a close call, and they want to know what they do to prevent that from happening.”
In addition to helping teach people to bike, Arlington has added routes to make biking safer. The county has “about 50 miles of off-street trails, 36 miles of bike lanes and 78 miles of recommended street routes,” Leach said. “We’re also going to be doing our first protected bike lane in Pentagon City and Crystal City.”
In the District, the first local jurisdiction to create protected lanes, a new one recently opened on M Street, boosting the well-used “cycle tracks,” as they are sometimes called, on 15th and L streets and Pennsylvania Avenue, all in Northwest.
One more sign of how popular bicycling is becoming in our area.In the District, the first local jurisdiction to create protected lanes, a new one recently opened on M Street, boosting the well-used “cycle tracks,” as they are sometimes called, on 15th and L streets and Pennsylvania Avenue, all in Northwest.
Labels: daniel hoagland, waba, washington post
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
"My wonderful, safe, climate-controlled, comfortable cocoon."
Earlier this month I wrote a letter to the Post in response to an article about the lack of auto parking at the new Tysons Silver Line stations. I noted there is bike parking at each station, and that many people could bike there. The Post article mentioned John Lucas who lives near Tysons but prefers to drive, stating that "There are not alternate forms of transportation that are reliable."I mentioned in my letter that Mr. Lucas could bike to the nearest station and get some exercise in a pollution free manner. Apparently Mr. Lucas does ride a bike but he also seems to love to drive as evidenced by the final sentence of his letter to the editor that appeared in today's Post: "I’ll give up my steering wheel when you pry it from my cold, dead hands." So much for using an alternate form of transportation.
In a Dec. 2 letter, Bruce Wright, the chairman of the Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling, suggested that I should walk or bike a mile to the new Tysons Silver Line Metrorail stations, instead of driving, and thereby get some exercise, ease congestion and reduce pollution. Mr. Wright’s suggestion was a perfect example of why the parking dilemma facing soon-to-be Silver Line commuters should have been resolved long ago. Fairfax County’s failure to accommodate those commuting to Tysons Corner by automobile will be a colossal failure, especially when winter’s worst arrives.
Mr. Wright’s appeal to commuter ruggedness is wishful thinking. Though I manage, as an 80-year-old, to bike 25 to 30 miles per week, I would be ill-advised to risk traveling down busy Leesburg Pike to Tysons in anything less than my wonderful, safe, climate-controlled, comfortable cocoon — just like other automobile commuters are inclined to do.
While much of the rest of the globe races to embrace individual carbon-powered transport, we race to handicap our economy through forced carbon energy denial. The atmosphere we seek to protect is the same one being polluted by the rest of the world, which will gladly consume any energy we eschew. Our ability to drive anywhere is a blessing that most fail to appreciate, especially those coercive utopians who seek to remold our society into something it will never be.
While driving, it should always be comforting for me to recall, and edit slightly, the late Charlton Heston’s proclamation: I’ll give up my steering wheel when you pry it from my cold, dead hands.
John Lucas, Vienna
Mr. Wright’s appeal to commuter ruggedness is wishful thinking. Though I manage, as an 80-year-old, to bike 25 to 30 miles per week, I would be ill-advised to risk traveling down busy Leesburg Pike to Tysons in anything less than my wonderful, safe, climate-controlled, comfortable cocoon — just like other automobile commuters are inclined to do.
While much of the rest of the globe races to embrace individual carbon-powered transport, we race to handicap our economy through forced carbon energy denial. The atmosphere we seek to protect is the same one being polluted by the rest of the world, which will gladly consume any energy we eschew. Our ability to drive anywhere is a blessing that most fail to appreciate, especially those coercive utopians who seek to remold our society into something it will never be.
While driving, it should always be comforting for me to recall, and edit slightly, the late Charlton Heston’s proclamation: I’ll give up my steering wheel when you pry it from my cold, dead hands.
John Lucas, Vienna
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| Route 7 headed into Tysons. Note dead-end paved trail on the right. Image: Google Maps |
The only safe option for most cyclists is to take a very circuitous route to the south that uses neighborhood streets, past Wolf Trap, to the Ashgrove Trail behind the Sheraton and new Walmart near the Spring Hill Metrorail station. That route ads about a mile to the trip, not a great distance for any cyclist but it's definitely not a convenient, direct route.
There is a bus that travels on Route 7 and I was surprised to see that it only runs every hour. No wonder most people drive.
Not only does the county have a very difficult marketing task ahead of them to convince dedicated motorists to try using alternative transportation modes, they need to create a safer biking and walking environment and provide better transit options. While progress is being made, there is a very long way to go before Tysons and the surrounding area is bike-friendly.
I didn't discuss Mr. Lucas' comments about climate change. According to his line of reasoning, the world should race to burn as much carbon as possible before others do the same. Is it any wonder that so little progress is being made to slow the warming of the planet? I wonder what Mr. Lucas' grandchildren will think about his philosophy 20 years from now?
Nor did I mention that over 33,000 people died in car crashes last year, an increase of over 1,000 from the previous year. Not my idea of wonderful and safe.
Labels: letter to editor, Tysons, washington post
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Letter in Post about scofflaw motorist
I was almost speechless after reading a recent letter to the Post, Commuting headaches in the District, in which a commuter rails against bike lanes and scofflaw cyclists then whines about getting caught speeding in a 25 mph zone. If it weren't so sad it would be funny. The letter typifies the attitudes of some motorists who are quick to find fault in others but ignore their own:
Thank you, District of Columbia, for all the new bike lanes! My commute down L Street NW is now 15 minutes longer, and many cyclists still refuse to obey traffic laws such as stop signs and red lights.
And thanks to how the District manages the traffic lights, my car each night never goes farther than about 200 feet to the next red light — crawling through the District at a snail’s pace. Each light lasts about a minute, so that adds another 20 minutes to my commute, because I hit about 20 of them.
Also, thank you so much for the $125 ticket I received for doing 36 mph in a 25 mph zone. I’m not kidding — $125 for that. It’s small consolation that the District has since dropped the fine to $100.
With all the millions the District is raking in from red-light and speed cameras, could it please hire an expert who knows how to manage traffic efficiently? And while you are at it, can someone repave the roads?
Laura Gore, Crownsville
The WashCycle posted a good response to the letter, You're Welcome. I sent a brief letter to the Post and an edited version appeared in today's paper. A copy is online under the headline The Bias of Drivers:And thanks to how the District manages the traffic lights, my car each night never goes farther than about 200 feet to the next red light — crawling through the District at a snail’s pace. Each light lasts about a minute, so that adds another 20 minutes to my commute, because I hit about 20 of them.
Also, thank you so much for the $125 ticket I received for doing 36 mph in a 25 mph zone. I’m not kidding — $125 for that. It’s small consolation that the District has since dropped the fine to $100.
With all the millions the District is raking in from red-light and speed cameras, could it please hire an expert who knows how to manage traffic efficiently? And while you are at it, can someone repave the roads?
Laura Gore, Crownsville
The Feb. 2 letter from Laura Gore of Crownsville, “Commuting headaches in the District,” is a perfect example of how many motorists view the world. Ms. Gore is upset that “many cyclists still refuse to obey traffic laws such as stop signs and red lights,” then she complains about being fined for speeding in a 25 mph zone. Does Ms. Gore realize her bias?
Bruce Wright, Reston The writer is chairman of the Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling.
Here's the unedited version that includes a quote from Tom Vanderbilt on "modal bias:"Bruce Wright, Reston The writer is chairman of the Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling.
The letter from Laura Gore of Crownsville, "Commuting headaches in the District," is a perfect example of how many motorists view the world. Tom Vanderbilt of the book Traffic calls this modal bias, "thinking that one’s mode of travel is the 'normal,' even superior, one." Ms. Gore is upset that "many cyclists still refuse to obey traffic laws such as stop signs and red lights." She then has the gall to complain about being fined for speeding in a 25 mph zone. I doubt that Ms. Gore even realizes her bias, otherwise she would be embarrassed by her statement.
Labels: scofflaw cyclists, scofflaw motorists, washington post
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Post whines again about cyclists
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| Washington Post photo. |
This is blatant behavior that we see every day at every intersection and yet the Post focuses on bicyclists. Makes you wonder.
Labels: cyclist behavior, washington post
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Share the road letters in the Post
Several letters appeared in the Post today responding to an earlier editorial with the inflammatory title "Bicyclists are welcome in D.C., but they, too, should obey the law." David Cranor of TheWashCycle wrote an excellent rebuttal"Sharing the Streets" used incomplete data from a 2004 D.C. government report to unfairly single out cyclists.
The study, which found cyclists slightly more likely to be at fault than drivers in accidents, included a critical fact the editorial ignored. Cyclists were faulted in 16 percent of crashes and drivers in 13 percent, but another 7 percent were hit-and-runs by drivers.
Furthermore, the study was based on police reports, which are unreliable. In four crashes, cyclists were cited for sleeping. And the police often assign blame without interviewing the cyclist, who can be under doctor’s care when the investigation begins, which a recent study shows leads to cyclists being more often blamed.
Many cyclists ignore traffic control devices such as stoplights, but so do drivers who, according to the Federal Highway Administration, also speed 70 percent of the time. Considering how much more reckless and dangerous drivers are, asking cyclists to follow the law "too" seems misplaced. Cyclists are still waiting for drivers to behave as well as we do.
The study, which found cyclists slightly more likely to be at fault than drivers in accidents, included a critical fact the editorial ignored. Cyclists were faulted in 16 percent of crashes and drivers in 13 percent, but another 7 percent were hit-and-runs by drivers.
Furthermore, the study was based on police reports, which are unreliable. In four crashes, cyclists were cited for sleeping. And the police often assign blame without interviewing the cyclist, who can be under doctor’s care when the investigation begins, which a recent study shows leads to cyclists being more often blamed.
Many cyclists ignore traffic control devices such as stoplights, but so do drivers who, according to the Federal Highway Administration, also speed 70 percent of the time. Considering how much more reckless and dangerous drivers are, asking cyclists to follow the law "too" seems misplaced. Cyclists are still waiting for drivers to behave as well as we do.
Labels: washcycle, washington post
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Providing safe ways for kids to walk and bike to school
Today's Post contains a good letter to the editor on providing safe ways for kids to walk and bike to school, One way Virginia can get kids movingRather than mandating more time in gym class ["Va. assembly approves PE bill in effort to curb obesity in kids," Metro, Feb. 2], Virginia lawmakers could promote physical activity for schoolchildren by requiring municipalities to provide safe walking and bicycling routes to school. The number of children walking and bicycling to school has decreased significantly over the past four decades, reflecting the lack of routes through neighborhoods that are safe from automobile traffic.
I grew up in a neighborhood with a streetscape similar to my current one in Falls Church. I could walk or bike to school and friends' houses without my parents being overly concerned about speeding automobiles. Drivers expected to encounter children who were walking or biking. Today, authorities at my child's middle school and former elementary school forbid children from walking or biking to school, citing traffic concerns. Authorities at the middle school even cite the presence of high school student drivers (encouraged with subsidized parking spaces on the shared campus) as a reason to forbid walking by younger students.
Part of solving the obesity epidemic is changing the toxic environment that discourages the walking and bicycling that should be a normal part of a child's day.
Joyce Migdall, Falls Church
Two other pieces in the Post relate to creating safer streets, the editorial Red-light cameras get results "cameras saved 159 lives in the 14 cities over five years starting in 2004. If the cameras had been in use in every big American city, 815 lives would have been saved during the same span, the researchers concluded." I grew up in a neighborhood with a streetscape similar to my current one in Falls Church. I could walk or bike to school and friends' houses without my parents being overly concerned about speeding automobiles. Drivers expected to encounter children who were walking or biking. Today, authorities at my child's middle school and former elementary school forbid children from walking or biking to school, citing traffic concerns. Authorities at the middle school even cite the presence of high school student drivers (encouraged with subsidized parking spaces on the shared campus) as a reason to forbid walking by younger students.
Part of solving the obesity epidemic is changing the toxic environment that discourages the walking and bicycling that should be a normal part of a child's day.
Joyce Migdall, Falls Church
and another letter to the editor More red-light cameras, please "I have changed my habits at all intersections since receiving a couple of fines from these so-called moneymakers, which wouldn't make any money if drivers obeyed the law. I encourage the installation of more of these, as well as speed cameras. It is time for drivers to slow down and obey the law. Driving is a privilege, not a right to cause harm to yourself, your passengers and others on the road." by Bob Stacy, Falls Church.
Labels: red light camera, safe routes to school, washington post
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Bicyclist/motorist interactions
For bicyclists and drivers, navigating traffic is a two-way street is the title of an article in today's Post about the increase in bicycle traffic and the accompanying increase in conflicts between bicyclists and motorists. Michelle Harburg sums it up about right:"About 60 percent of the drivers are positive," Harburg said as she locked her bike a few minutes later. "And 40 percent are negative, and when I say negative, mostly I mean just not aware. About 10 percent of them just don't like bikers. They shout at you, 'Get off the Road!' or beep just to try to scare you to death."
Friday is Bike to Work Day and we all need to be aware of our surroundings. Cyclists need to obey traffic rules and motorists need to give cyclists the respect they deserve. [BTW, WABA has been having problems with their Bike to Work Day registration page. It appears to be working now so if you had problems registering earlier, try again.]We don't agree with Fairfax Co Police detective Neville:
"The people who do it for sport generally handle their bikes pretty well," said Detective Scott Neville, who investigates fatal accidents in Fairfax County. "It's the people who are biking to and from work, without so much awareness or understanding of the law, who get into trouble."
Competitive cyclists may know how to handle their bikes better but in my experience they are some of the most blatant offenders when it comes to obeying traffic rules (behind bike messengers). Bike commuters are out there every day and most know the consequences of bad behavior. They usually travel alone, not in race packs where there's strength in numbers and more incentive to blow through lights and stop signs.As more people decide to go by bike, motorists will learn that they need to share the road. I think attitudes are changing slowly. I see more cyclists on the roads every day and motorist behavior seems to be getting ever so slightly better.
For a change the weather forecast looks great for Bike to Work Day tomorrow; warm and mostly sunny, with a predicted high of 88°. Hope everyone has a great day.
Labels: washington post
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Creating a bike-friendly Tysons Corner
That's the title of a letter we recently sent to the Post regarding the article Shuttles for Tysons Metro stations in Virginia need grants that appeared on Dec. 22. The article notes that a shuttle bus system will cost "$9 million to buy the new buses and $5.8 million annually to operate the service."For Tysons to become a true mixed-use, livable place there need to be many transportation options. We pointed out that a bike sharing system would cost very little and could be in place in a matter of months. Bike-friendly streets, long- and short-term bike parking, and other infrastructure will allow new residents a low-cost, pollution free alternative to sitting in traffic jams at all hours of the day.
Labels: bike share, Tysons, washington post
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Pedalmania in the District
Today's Post has a good editorial on bicycling in this area, Pedalmania in the District: Everyone benefits from increased bicycling:Bicycling offers wide-ranging benefits for cyclists and non-cyclists alike. It eases congestion, uses space efficiently -- 10 bikes can fit in a single car parking spot -- and offers health benefits to everyone: those who burn calories on their bikes and non-riders who also benefit from decreased pollution and traffic.
Labels: washington post
