According to an update posted on the H5865 legislative status page, the vulnerable roadway user bill is scheduled for a hearing on 3/30/2011. We don’t know a time yet, but please pencil in this day on your calendars. Once we have a time, we will send out another update. People will need to come out… read more
Advocacy
Moving Beyond the Automobile
The people over at Streetfilms.org are running a 10 week series on how to Move Beyond the Automobile. They are about halfway through the series already, but have already released one just over three minutes long on bicycling: Moving Beyond the Automobile: Biking from Streetfilms on Vimeo. I’d encourage everyone to check out… read more
“vulnerable road user” bill filed in RI
At our request Representative Joe McNamara (D-Warwick) has filed H5865 which increases the penalties if a “reckless” driver seriously injures or kills a vulnerable road user, which includes bicyclists, pedestrians, wheelchair users, highway workers, skateboarders, those driving animals or ag equipment. The bill was assigned to House Judiciary , the Committee that last year approved… read more
A DOT “cozy” with bike advocates? If only…
New Yorkers with ties to a former transportation commissioner and Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer’s wife are suing New York City for a bike lane they say decreased safety on a street through a wealthy Brooklyn neighborhood. In the lawsuit filed yesterday in the State Supreme Court in Brooklyn, the New Yorkers allege that the city’s… read more
RI Hospital Seeking Volunteers for Bike Safety Programs
Injury Prevention Center of Rhode Island Hospital is seeking volunteers for 3 bicycling safety rodeos during Bike Month.
Removing Roads and Traffic Lights
I just happened upon an interesting article published in Scientific America. A mathematician in the 1960’s, Dietrich Braess, discovered a paradox: in a network in which all the moving entities rationally seek the most efficient route, adding extra capacity can actually reduce the network’s overall efficiency A real life test of this paradox played out… read more
Is it time to let go of “Share the Road” and move towards “Take the Lane?”
Here is a thought-provoking, real-life article that – I think – points to the necessity of cyclists being “courteously assertive” when it comes to claiming our space on the roads. Never – think I – should a cyclist be flattened because they were doing their best to share the road. Simply put, if the lane… read more
A Study in Contrast
This video is an excellent example of how the population in the Netherlands reacts to an automobile striking cyclist: httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeJ-d86pKsw Do you think the same could ever happen in the United States?
Breathing Slightly Easier
Word on the street from Washington, D.C. is that for the time being, biking and walking have been spared from the congressional chopping block: Of the nearly 600 amendments to the 2011 House budget bill (HR1), biking and walking, Transportation Enhancements and Safe Routes to School were not singled out to be cut. It’s an… read more
Plowing the Bike Paths
Will Fairbrother, a commuter and member over at Bike to Brown, posted on Governor Chafee’s forum suggesting that the state make Providence and RI more bike friendly by plowing the EBBP. If you support the idea, you can add your voice to the cause. I’ve approached RIDOT and RIDEM about this very issue in the… read more
New Pavement Marking
Pop quiz: Does anyone know what the marking to the left is? Starting last Fall, I began seeing these pop up all over the East Side of Providence. The motorists clearly don’t know what they mean, do you?
Sharrows – Need Careful Implementation
The next version of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) is due out really soon now. The MUTCD defines the standards used by road managers nationwide. The next release will include sharrows, which we’ve talked about both online and in our monthly meetings. They appear to be an attractive marking for older cities… read more