Category: Bicycle Safety and Advocacy

I went on my first Critical Mass ride a week ago Friday in West Palm Beach.

Not to be too critical, it wasn’t much of a mass. A grand total of five riders showed up, including me and two riders who came with me.

We had a fine ride, nonetheless. We rode at a leisurely pace, obeyed most of the traffic laws (we coasted through a couple of stop signs when there were no other vehicles around) and had some pleasant chats.

I’m not sure I’m a fan of Critical Mass

Most stories I’ve read about Critical Mass in other cities emphasize the confrontational aspect: to clog the streets at rush hour just because they can. Instead of making allies of motorists, I think they reinforce all the negative stereotypes of outlaw cyclists.

I like the Freakbike Militia’s Summer of Love Approach (left), which leaves motorists, riders and passersby with a “wow, that’s fun” feeling.

What’s the deal about Portland and biking?

Jonathan Maus does an excellent bike blog, where a reader described a bicycle traffic jam he ran into on the way to work. [Thanks to Jonathan for permission to use these pictures.]

“I encountered a bike traffic jam this morning as I was heading west bound on Hawthorne approaching the Hawthorne Bridge. I found a line of bikes that extended the entire block of Hawthorne between SE Grand and SE 6th and more bikes were backing up behind me.

“In 10+ years of commuting by bike in Portland I have never been in a line up at the foot of the Hawthorne Bridge where

I had to wait for a second cycle of the light.”

Portland bike traffic increasing

Jonathan pointed out in an earlier story that bike traffic at one intersection had shown a 30% increase in 2008 vs. 2007. There were 2,750 bike trips logged by the Bureau of Transportation in 2008. Car trips hover around 6,300.

If present trends continue, he projects that it won’t be long before bicycles make up half the trips in the corridor.

It may be time, he suggests, to reconfigure this particular road to reflect the changing transportation patterns.

It seems like PBOT might want to consider putting N. Williams on a diet. It could stand to lose a few feet of car space. How about taking it down to just one motor vehicle lane, one bike/bus shared lane, and then the on-street parking lane?

critical mass with small letters

The Critical Mass cycling movement takes its name from physics, where a critical mass “is the smallest amount of fissile material needed for a sustained nuclear chain reaction. The critical mass of a fissionable material depends upon its nuclear properties, its density, its shape, its enrichment, its purity, its temperature, and its surroundings.”

And that’s what’s happening organically in Portland. The riders pictured above aren’t part of a group ride; they’re not part of a “cause.” They are regular folks on their way to work or go shopping.

At some point, they are going to reach critical mass (small letters) or a tipping point where the city is going to have to allocate them more space than the tiny bike lane pictured.

West Palm Beach’s Critical Mass

If you’d like to join the West Palm Beach Critical Mass ride, show up at the fountain at the east end of Clematis Street (where the old library was) on the last Friday of every month at 7 P.M. and look for bicycles.  (Or bicycle, in our case.) Even if there’s no mass, you’ll probably run into some nice folks to ride with.

Two pieces I’ve done recently have struck a chord with readers: Shoot a Cyclist for Safety and an account of a crash on A1A in Delray Beach where witnesses said a motorist turned in front of a cyclist who had a green light.

Cyclists are outgunned

Cyclists are outgunned (literally in some cases, as the stories above show).

Motorists have AAA, developers, oil companies and others with big bucks pushing their agenda, but cyclists are such a fragmented group that WE can’t even agree on what we want.

And, to be honest, most of us would rather ride our bikes and complain about bad drivers than do the dull work to make things better.

Florida Bicycle Association sticks up for bikers

The FBA, incorporated as a non-profit in 1997, sets as goals:

• To be a powerful, influential organization that protects and advances the interests of bicyclists
• To educate bicyclists, pedestrians and motorists about safely sharing roadways and paths
• To be a voice for the needs of bicyclists
• To encourage the creation of great on-road and off-road places to ride
• To provide a statewide communications network for bicyclists
• To encourage more people to bicycle more often

FBA is a great resource

• Florida Bicycling Street Smarts is a great collection of safe riding tips and what Florida law really says about cycling.
• Florida Bicycle Law Enforcement Guide is great when you run into a cop who tells you you don’t belong on the road.  Odds are that you know more about the law than he does.
• Group Riding Brochure tells how to make group rides safe, enjoyable and a billboard for exemplary behavior.
• Head to the FBA web site to see what other ways they can help you (and you, them.)
• Individual membership is $25 a year. Some bike club memberships will throw in a membership to FBA for free and some bike shops will give discounts to FBA members.

Board of directors have a juggling act

The Board of Directors met in West Palm Beach. I never appreciated the juggling act that goes on between bicycle groups, cyclists, law enforcement, state agencies and everyone else until I sat through a full day of discussion.

The FBA works hard not to step on the toes of other cycling groups with their own agendas. They also have to figure out how to represent the views of cyclists who want money spent on multi-use paths vs. bike lanes vs. pure vehicular cyclists who say we have a right to the road and don’t need any special accommodations.

Here are the minutes

To give you an idea of how much stuff they cover (and, in some cases how it falls into the Dull But Necessary Category), I’m going to post some of the minutes of the meeting along with pictures of the members and some of the presenters.

New officers

Congratulations to new board member Stephanie Striefel of Delray Beach. Thanks to Raphael Clemente for many years of service to the Board. Though he has stepped down from the Board, we will keep him involved as much as his schedule allows. He has been a major source of energy, enthusiasm and our connection to the racing community. Don Braverman stepped up to the VP position vacated by Raphael. Stephanie jumped into the fying pan right away by taking on the Secretary position vacated by Don. David Henderson and Steve Diez remain in their officer positions of President and Treasurer respectfully. Jodi Hohlstein of Orange Park attended as a potential member of the Board

David appointed a nomination committee of Mike Lasche, Mighk Wilson and Laura Hallam to review current Board and Advisory member positions for renewal at the next board meeting to be held in October. David appointed a subcommittee of himself, Don and Stephanie to review the Bylaws and Policies & Procedures manual.

What do we fight for?

David appointed a 2010 Legislative Strategies subcommittee of Mike, Mighk, Dan Moser, George Martin and Laura Hallam. A survey will be distributed to the membership/FBA News list to rank their top three initiatives based on the seven or eight reviewed at the meeting.

[Note: I found this the most enlightening discussion of the day.

Determining what you want to fight for is a careful balancing act. You don’t want to open a can of worms in some cases by asking for a wholesale review of state statutes dealing with cycling, for example, because you could lose more than you could gain.

A proposal to require law enforcement officers to fill out a long form for every bicycle incident sounded good from the standpoint of collecting statistics, but it may get opposition from LEOs without really accomplishing much in the long run.

Passing laws to prevent cyclists from being harassed by motorists has been a flashpoint for yahoos (see Shoot a Cyclist for Safety) in some places where it was tried. It also makes cyclists “special” when the goal is to make bicycles just another vehicle on the road.

It’s not all as simple as it sounds.]

Bike Ed Rebranding

A Bike Ed Rebranding Powwow will be held in Orlando 8/22/09. Mighk and Keri Caffrey will lead the discussion.

The next board meeting and annual meeting will be held in October in either Orlando or Mount Dora. Annual award presentations will also be made and/or presented at the local level based on the locale of the recipient.

Jeff Hohlstein to direct new First Coast Chapter

Jeff Hohlstein will be the director of the First Coast (Duval, St. Johns, Nassau, Clay) Chapter of FBA – the first chapter of more to come based on finding champions to further our mission at the local/regional level.

Bike BBQ Beer, Beach Bash

Partnership with zMotion, a Zimmerman Advertising team, to present the Bike BBQ Beer, Beach Bash October 18, 2009 in Ft. Lauderdale with proceeds benefiting FBA. Carmen Marston, Zimmerman Advertising VP, HR Director, provided details about the event.

Specialized Cardiac Rehabilitation

Endorsement and promotion of SCOR (Specialized Cardiac Rehabilitation) Chapter in Charlotte County coordinated by Eric Stockley – easily replicated in other areas of Florida

Mount Dora Bike Fest

The Lake County Bike Summit/Rally will be held 10/10/09 in Mount Dora in conjunction with the Mount Dora Bike Fest.

Rick has asked FBA to take the lead in promoting the Summit/Rally. Based on this request, it might be a good idea to shift the date and location of our next board meeting and annual meeting from 10/24-25 in Orlando to Mount Dora since we’ll have a captive audience of Mount Dora Bike Fest participants.

If you’re in agreement, I’ll work out the logistics but it makes sense to have the Summit/Rally and Annual Meeting Saturday, 10/10, in the mid to late afternoon while MDBF participants are hanging around the headquarters area. The board meeting could actually still be held in Orlando Friday, 10/9, evening or in Mount Dora. LET ME KNOW YOUR PREFERENCE ASAP PLEASE.

I hadn’t planned to write about this story out of Asheville, NC.

An Asheville firefighter charged with attempted first-degree murder after witnesses said he shot at a bicyclist, made his first appearance today in Buncombe County District Court.

Charles Alexander Diez, 42, apparently fired at the Asheville man after arguing with him about riding his bike on the busy road with his 3-year-old child in a bike seat behind him, Asheville Police Capt. Tim Splain said.

The bullet blew a hole through the outer lining of Simons’ helmet and went straight through both sides of it, but he was not hit.

He had to be an isolated nutcase with a gun

At least, that’s what I thought until I read through nearly 200 comments on the local media web sites.

My parents taught me not to play in street. But they kept themselves safe with the help of gun with a reliable buy 9mm ammo from Palmetto State Armory. Later, I saw some jerk playing russian roulette with a 3 year old. Sounds like he has already been shot in the head. There are close to half a million bicycle-car accidents with injuries each year. 12 % are caused by vehicles, 78% by someone riding a bicycle. No tag, no insurance, no brainer. If you want to ride a bike fine. Let your babies stay with friends or family. How could you live with the fact that you caused the death of your child riding a stupid bicycle in the middle of the road? Buy the fireman another box of ammo and save the kids from ignorant moms and dads!

Share the Road buttheads

I am sick and tired of seeing these share the roads license plates knowing that half of these buttheads do not represent what they say. How many times have I had one of these two wheeled bandits blow through a stop sign while I am sitting at it in my car?? Bicycle vs car…Winner goes to the car when they hit. I try to look out for bicycles, motorcycles and pedestrians but if they (the bicycle riders) have no regard for the law….Why should I respect their space. I have many friends and family that ride motorcycles and bicycles. I love it when you have one bicycle rider riding in 5:30 traffic and taking up a whole lane on a busy road. Those are the one’s I want to ditch, but I do not. I will learn to share the road better when these bicycle riders learn to share better.

To be fair

To be fair, there were a lot of folks who were unhappy with the shooter. (But it was mostly because he’s been put on paid administrative leave. )

 

 

Sometime riding partner Mathilde and my first reader in the wild sent me a link to a story by Bob King about the Florida Department of Transportation’s (FDOT) new Emergency Ride Home Program.

Ever had a day when it’s storming like crazy, you ran over a nail on the way to work, you forgot to pick up a spare tube the last time you flatted and you worked late so there’s nobody in the parking lot to give you a lift?

FDOT might bail you out

Here’s how it works (in FDOT-speak):

The Emergency Ride Home (ERH) program provides free taxi service in emergency situations for registered commuters in Broward, Martin, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, and St. Lucie Counties 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Think of it as “commuter insurance.”

Who can participate?

The program is available to commuters who carpool, vanpool, ride transit, bicycle, or walk to work at least three days a week. Eligible “emergency” situations include the sudden illness of the commuter or a member of his/her immediate family; unscheduled overtime or extended work hours; or a carpool/vanpool driver’s inability to make the scheduled trip home due to an unexpected work schedule change of illness.

Each registered ERH program participant is allowed up to six free emergency rides per year. An original voucher must be given to the taxi company to utilize the service. This does not include the tip for the taxi driver.

How Can You Start?

Sign up right now or call Customer Service at 1-800-234-RIDE and a representative will assist you. If you qualify, you will receive vouchers in the mail within seven to ten business days.