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Traffic Violence. 3 stories.

Hello APCSC Friends~

Three recent tragic events inspire this newsletter today.

I’d truly prefer not to be writing about them.

Please share your thoughts after reading. At the start of the holiday season I know it’s a downer. but so important that we have these conversations.

First:  Last week a child was struck and seriously injured by a driver in Asbury Park. I published the family’s GoFundMe on social media. They will need ongoing help, even though they only asked for funds to pay for a ramp for the child’s wheelchair.

The child who was struck by a driver after getting off his bus in Asbury Park.

A long Asbury Park Next Door thread ensued, in which people strayed way off the topic to mention annoyance of bicyclists riding on the sidewalk, revealing a total lack of understanding of the critical importance of improving infrastructure design so drivers cannot run into children as they get off the bus – the true dangers of drivers on our roads. And outrageously, one commenter stated, “Watch your kids.”, showing a stunning lack of empathy for the child with a broken pelvis, and his family with serious, ongoing financial needs.

Second: A tone deaf article in the NYTimes. The paper published an article on November 29th that’s unsurprisingly tone deaf citing an an incident of road rage in which a cycling advocate was killed. In twisted logic the writer blames the incident on The War On Cars. This (formerly) highly respected news outlet is not immune to the brainwashing of the auto industry, NYT editors are willfully ignorant, or else they just want to sell readership piling on with those who continue to bash bicycling advocacy in the US. Streetsblog called out the NYTimes in an article today.

The cyclist fatality in Paris was NOT caused by the “war on cars”.

It’s sadly unsurprising that American reporting would avoid applauding Paris Mayor Anne Hildago’s success in building more and more bicycling infrastructure, and vastly improving health and safety for everyone in the city.

Third: A bicyclist fatality in Long Branch. Can you spot what’s wrong, wrong, wrong with this reporting?  Read the article in Patch.

Poor street lighting can be the cause of a fatal crash. 

The “teen”driver is not held responsible because he “stayed at the scene”, and “it appears to be an accident”.

American crash reporting almost always absolves the driver unless they are intoxicated. The victim is often blamed for being on the road at all, or not wearing a helmet or bright clothing.

The driver should not always be blamed. 

Journalists rarely mention the distractions of gigantic dashboard screens, the dangers of huge SUVs, the design of roads that allow, even seem to invite speeding, lack of adequate street lighting, or insufficient bicycling and walking infrastructure. All of which is truly to blame.

In the US drivers do terrible things because they can. Roads are dangerous by design, the industry is not regulated against selling excessively large vehicles, and the built environment prioritizes drivers above all other road users.

These, and almost all other CRASHES are preventable.

Airline crashes are treated as such – the plane is grounded, and every aspect of the crash is investigated to prevent it happening again. Not so with car crashes. 40,000 people are killed in traffic violence every year in the US.

Road violence is rarely an accident. It’s always a crash. #crashnotaccident

Our city leaders  and traffic engineers ignore the needs of the large  % of people in every community who do not or cannot drive, whether due to age, disability, or financial reasons.

It doesn’t have to be this way.
Join the movement.
Email: apcompletestreets@gmail.com

 

Onward~

Polli Schildge

Editor APCSC

Postscript:

Without question every collision is a crash. Sadly some people still think crash and accident are interchangeable terms. The use of accident is no accident – the auto industry has made that term ubiquitous and it’s been adopted by police and journalists thereby taking the onus off drivers and systems that lead to crashes. Thankfully many police departments and journalists are switching to crash, but in some recent articles BOTH terms are used. It’s hard to break a habit…

Calling a crash an accident makes it seem pre-ordained or unavoidable.

Crashes take the lives of 40,000 people every year in the US and they’re treated like collateral damage because, oh well, we have to drive.

It’s criminal that traffic/road engineers and the auto industry have continued to fail people, to kill people – the vulnerable road users outside of cars, those within cars, and drivers themselves.

 

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Trunk or treat Halloween

I’ve been saddened over the years about trunk or treat.

It’s a become a fun event for communities and families all over the US, so this isn’t a Halloween tradition bashing.

Trunk or treat

Wandering around in a parking lot collecting candy from the trunks of cars just doesn’t match the thrill of running around town getting a pillow case load of candy, peripherally supervised by parents, if at all.

Halloween is the deadliest day of the year for kids, so it’s very good that Halloween has evolved.

*This is a postscript after a near tragic moment last evening after this article was published: A driver turned onto our street and ran over the “NJ Law Stop For Pedestrians” bollard, crushing it in the middle of the intersection, and drove off. It could have been a child. 

Drivers might be distracted, intoxicated, or inattentive, so we advocate for streets that are designed to be safe on Halloween and every day in Asbury Park. Streets need better lighting, curb extensions and other traffic calming measures.

Drivers rule our roads, so it’s good that Halloween has evolved. 

This afternoon there are many more families walking along the sidewalk in front of our house than on a normal day at 5pm. The littles are carefully supervised by adults. Even under a mom’s watchful eye, a little superman dashed into the street as a driver sped by. She grabbed him in time.

Our house is at a main intersection in a relatively quiet part of our city, and as we sit on our porch waiting for the trick-or-treaters, the kids eagerly looking toward the next house to get treats, we also see drivers zooming up to the stop signs and rolling right through.

Trunk-or-Treat will remain a part of American  Halloween.

Automobiles are part of our culture, and our streets are not safe with drivers who behave as if roads belong to them.

Families and kids should have options to trick-or-treat in neighborhoods, and also trunk-or-treat with their school, town, or church community if they want to, not because they have to.

Loads of kids come to our neighborhood every Halloween, so we can see that families still choose to trick-or-treat in neighborhoods that they feel are safe.

We have to build cities that are truly safe for the most vulnerable, and not having to hang out in a parking lot on Halloween.

Unless families want to because it’s really fun.

Onward~

Polli Schildge, Editor APCSC

 

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NJ is the most dangerous state for pedestrians. What’s Asbury Park doing about it?

How safe do you feel on Asbury Park city streets? We’d love to hear from you. Email:  apcompletestreets@gmail.com

We all walk sometimes. Some of us ride bikes, and many drive.

Are you ever fearful when you’re seeing a loved one off in a car, on a bike, or sending a child off walking to school?

What’s Asbury Park doing about safety on city streets?

There have been some efforts to implement measures to calm traffic, but bike lanes are not connected, curb extensions are not built into newly paved roads. School zones lack basic complete streets infrastructure.

Our streets are wide and seem to invite speeding, so that’s what drivers do. Drivers routinely ignore stop signs, and run through right turns on red without stopping.

Factors that worsen pedestrian safety include long crossing distances, intersections where right-on-red is allowed. More cities are banning right turn on red, and like in Hoboken redesigning streets to save lives. .

Things to know about crosswalks and pedestrian safety.

Meanwhile, there is also a sense of driver entitlement, and simmering anger at anyone using the roads other than drivers.

Road rage

Road rage leads to traffic violence. 

Incidents of road rage escalate across the country. Anger triggered by stress leads to aggressive driving behavior, speeding, and crashes: “humans are just too overwhelmed with, just, everything.”

Road rage in Poughkeepsie involved gunshots, and leads to fist fighting in Ohio days ago.

Road rage violence in Ohio

New Jersey has the distinction of being the most dangerous state in the country for pedestrians.

At some point in life, nearly everyone has been a pedestrian, whether out on an evening stroll, crossing a busy street in the center of town or walking home from school or the bus stop as a kid.

A study has found that the overall number of pedestrian fatalities has increased by 53.34% since 2012.

By gathering and analyzing data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s fatality analysis reporting system, the study also found that New Jersey is the most dangerous state in the country for pedestrians.

Streets are public space. Everyone deserves to use the space equitably and safely. 

In April Smart Growth America reported that pedestrian fatalities are at a historic high.

We know the problem, we know the cause, and we know how to fix it.

Painted stripes on the road are not the only solution.

Paint doesn’t protect. 18% of crashes take place in crosswalks.

Our streets are dangerous by design, designed primarily to move cars quickly at the expense of keeping everyone safe. 

Let us know what you think about your safety on city streets in Asbury Park. Email apcompletestreets@gmail.com

Onward~

Polli Schildge, Editor APCSC

 

 

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The mess of school dropoff. STILL trying to launch Bike Bus in Asbury Park.

Hello APCSC supporters~

I’ll make this short.

This gift article is so worth a read in The Atlantic about the mess of traffic around schools every day: How School Drop-Off Became a Nightmare More parents are driving kids than ever before. The result is mayhem.

Kids riding bikes to school isn;t revolutionary. So why is it so hard in AP?

We’ve been working on launching Bike Bus since last November.

I’m a certified League of American Bicyclists Instructor and I can help set it up. APPD is supportive. So what’s the problem?

Bike Bus has been growing globally, where Sam Balto, a Phys Ed teacher in Portland  launched it and it grew all over the US, and in NJ too. Kids riding bikes to school is not revolutionary, but you’d think it was in Asbury Park.

What’s making it so hard?  I’ve done slide presentations and talked it up for almost a year. 

Excuses, excuses… (*The “L Word” is  a biggie. Scroll down.)

It’s way too similar to the ongoing excuses why we can’t open school playgrounds.

Excuses also abound why we can’t implement traffic calming measures in the city to make it safer, more accessible, and equitable for people walking and rolling. Even just with paint for starters. Especially on the southwest side where more kids walk.

Bike Bus is simply kids riding bikes together to school with a few parent volunteers, picking kids up along the way at “bus stops”. 

I’m sure it’s obvious, and the article says it all, so I don’t need to provide the reasons why riding a bike to school with a bunch of friends (with a parent or teacher volunteer leader blasting tunes!) is a wonderful way for kids to start the day.

I hope you’ll read the article.

Love to know your thoughts.

*The “L Word”: “Liability” gets thrown around way too much.

Polli Schildge, Editor

 

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First installment of real stories: Tales From The Streets

Hello readers,

This is the first in a series of stories from people walking and rolling, sharing their experiences on the road.

Please submit your Tales From The Streets to apcompletestreets@gmail.com.

This installment is from a self-described “Recumbent Racing Trike Adventurist”. He’s sharing a story from someone else with his own commentary.

(Emphasis in bold is from this editor. I might take the liberty of making small grammatical edits for clarity.)

Erskien Lenier’s recumbent bike.

This post is in response to someone else’s that posted a picture of someone in a car distracted by holding and looking at their cell phone instead of paying attention to surrounding traffic including possibly cyclists.

The over all impression I think the post was trying to convey was that you are powerless against negligent drivers, so therefore you don’t ride a bike or any human powered vehicle.

I disagree…

I wear a Gear 360 helmet camera and between high viz colored jerseys, my rig recumbent racing trike is painted neon yellow, my neon yellow helmet, rear facing Cateye Vizeo tail lights that have mode that is similar to what the rear of a police motorcycle uses for pulling someone over and the reality that my choice of human powered vehicle is a very unusual looking recumbent racing trike, rear approaching traffic tends to slow way down and go way wide out of curiosity to get a better grasp of what they are encountering.

I should also mention that I am within 50,000 miles of crossing the 1 million lifetime human powered mile mark.

  • If a driver is truly distracted by something, or even chemically compromised I rely upon a small helmet mounted rear view mirror to peripherally track the trajectory of approaching rear traffic so I can take evasive action if necessary.
  • In higher traffic areas where the bike lane is just lines in the gutter where debris accumulates, the road surface is bad, or cars are parked in the bike lane or non bike lane, I take a lane. And if a vehicle approaches from the rear too quickly I move to center, or slightly left of center to let them know that I am taking the lane as the law in my State of California mandates as I have the right to, and 99.9% of traffic will back down. Especially once they realize they are being filmed they go around without horns blaring, or raving engines, or blowing exhaust like the jacked up pickups tend to think is ok to do every now and then.
  • Never hug the curb, as you have no place to go if someone comes in too close – and curb hugging gives the message that you don’t belong on the road and don’t deserve respect.
  • Ride as if you own the space you occupy and also be responsive to the need to divert your path if necessary for those simply not attentive or being overly  aggressive or bullying.
  • Consider a Recumbent Trike – They generally don’t get treated like wall paper along the roads because they are do different.
  • Never allow your fears discourage you from enjoying the beauty and benefits to your body, mind and spirit, or stop you from going for a ride or commuting. Nothing is 100% safe even being in a car or even worse, sitting on the couch – which is lethal over time….

Life is for the Living and the Loving….

  • Take BOLD ACTION and build into those actions the steps you can, to make your journeys a “calculated risk” that leave you more confident that you can hold your own space, and deal with whatever life presents as you explore and enjoy the journey.

He or She who Risk Nothing Loses Everything that Makes Life Worth While.

 

Onward~

Polli Schildge, Editor

 

 

 

 

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A preventable tragedy – the Gaudreau brothers killed by a reckless, drunk driver

 

An entitled, impatient, intoxicated driver passing on the right on a dimly lit road killed 2 young men.

The Gaudreau brothers were husbands, fathers, brothers, sons. Their wives and children are husband and fatherless. They were supposed to be groomsmen in their sister’s wedding the following day. Their families are devastated.

He was drunk and dangerous. He killed two people. But he is not ENTIRELY to blame…

The deaths of these two young men was preventable. We need much more than PSAs, signs, education and enforcement.

The only way to reduce the likelihood of deaths and serious injury on our streets and roads is changing the built environment for equitable access for all road users.

Read the New Jersey Bike And Walk Coalition press release.

https://njbwc.org/press-release-gaudreau-brothers/

“This tragedy was avoidable on so many levels. We are not going to achieve zero traffic deaths with cute messaging. We need safer roads, safer drivers and safer vehicles. Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew were killed cycling on Salem County Route 551, a rural road with no shoulders and a 50 mph speed limit by a drunk driver who passed another driver on the right who was safely passing them.”

John Boyle, Research Director for the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia and the Vision Zero NJ Alliance.

Drivers are prioritized in the US over all other road users.

Roads are public space, but how many of us who walk and roll feel that we have equal right to access the streets in our city – are you fearful of riding a bike or walking in our city of Asbury Park?  Why?

Drivers speed with impunity, run traffic signals and stop signs, and take turns on on red without pausing.

Drivers kill.

New Jersey 2023: There were 177 total pedestrian fatalities, and 24 people riding bikes were killed by drivers.

Whether you’re impressed by data or not…

How many people have to die – it could be YOU, your mother, father, son, daughter, friend.

Driving is a privilege, not a right.

Until we change the culture – the mindset that drivers rule our roads:

Local city leaders can commit to making design changes on streets and roads to keep vulnerable road users safe (that’s any road user outside a car!).

The system in the US prioritizes driving, and the auto industry has such influence that driving is considered a basic human right, but safety on our roads is not.

We can lobby legislators in NJ, and call for NJ to pass the Target Zero Commission bill (S361/A1476).

 The bill will establish a comprehensive plan to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries on New Jersey’s roads by employing proven strategies and countermeasures. We demand that our leaders act now to prevent further tragedies and make our streets safe for everyone.

It’s rare that a license is revoked at all, even if there’s a fatality, and almost never permanently.

That drunk driver taken off the road would be warranted, and prevent him from killing again.

But it’s only a matter of time that another fatality occurs on any road that is not designed for safety of all users.

🤬

Onward.

Polli Schildge, Editor

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The REAL Rules of the road. 

These Are The Unbreakable Rules Of Driving

This article in Jalopnik Magazine lists 18 ways drivers (and all people in cars) should behave. It’s a car magazine that actually gets it.

Here are the most important ones. Especially numbers 1, 2, and 3.

Now get in your car and behave. Or just get on a bike or walk. 

1. Don’t Hit People With Your Car. You are the driver. Even if you gave Tesla $15,000 for its so-called “Full Self-Driving” software, you are still the driver. Your car weighs thousands of pounds. It’s your responsibility to avoid hitting people with your car. Yes, even if someone jaywalks wearing all black in the middle of a storm late at night. Don’t hit people with your car. If that means driving more slowly, then so be it. If that feels like too much responsibility, maybe you shouldn’t be driving.

2. Road rage.  Other drivers are going to do things that annoy you. They’re going to make mistakes. Sometimes they might even do something reckless or stupid. Go ahead and honk at them, sure, but you’re never going to make the situation any better by escalating from there. Really? You want to fight someone in the middle of traffic? Grow up. Also, this is America, so they might have a gun. Don’t mess with people who might have guns.

3. Chill Out With The Speeding. If you’re on private property, you can do pretty much whatever you want. Want to get drunk and try to jump your dirtbike across the creek without a helmet? That’s dumb, but on private property, no one’s going to stop you. On public roads, though, you have to think about other people. It’s just part of living in a society. It isn’t the end of the world to do 70 mph in a 65 mph zone, but how about we don’t drive 71 in a 35? Deal?

4. Stop It With The Weaving.  Sure, you’re in a hurry, but constantly changing lanes in an attempt to drive faster than traffic rarely saves you much time and could just as easily make you late. Not only do you risk being pulled over by a cop and given a ticket, which takes forever, but you could also cause a crash, which takes forever and can cost a ton of money. This goes double if all you ultimately end up doing is passing a single person in the HOV lane who was just giving the car in front of them a little space.

5. You Probably Deserved That Parking Ticket. There are always going to be exceptions, but let’s be real here. The people who complain the loudest about how unfair it was that they got a parking ticket are usually the people who deserve it the most. Oh, you just popped in for a minute? Would you like to show me on the parking meter where it says the first five minutes are free? No? Because you knew you were risking a ticket when you decided not to pay? OK then. Shut up and pay it.

6. Put Your Damn Phone Down. Compared to other developed countries, the U.S. is a uniquely dangerous place to drive — or not drive if we’re being honest. France, Germany and the UK all have cell phones, too, but Americans appear to be particularly committed to using their phones while driving. It’s illegal because it’s dangerous, and if you really need to check that Facebook message the moment it comes in, just pull over to check it. Let’s be real, though. It can wait.

7. Just Be Sober. If you have to drive, stay sober, and definitely don’t drink while you’re driving. Even if you’re in New Orleans, just don’t. Then again, while drunk driving is a huge problem, high driving has also become a much bigger concern in recent years. And for whatever reason, far too many people seem to think there’s nothing wrong with driving while high. It’s still illegal, makes you a danger to others, and if the cops catch you, that’s your own damn fault.

Onward~

Polli Schildge, Editor

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Enforcement isn’t the answer to reducing traffic fatalties and injuries, but…

 

FOOD FOR THOUGHT.

Lots of city residents lament in personal discussion, and especially on social media that we need more traffic enforcement to reduce speeding and other bad driver behaviors, as though that’s the best remedy for dangerous driving.

Enforcement isn’t the best way to effectively reduce speeding or other bad driver behaviors.

Too little enforcement can give drivers a sense that roads are theirs to do what they please any time, anywhere.

“Why do many of us drive dangerously on the roads? Because we think we can get away with it,” Jonathan Adkins, CEO of the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA), which tracks traffic fatalities across the country, told NPR earlier this year. “And guess what — we probably can right now in many places in the country.

A traffic ticket may not be effective in changing that driver’s behavior after the cop leaves the scene, but it can be a deterrent, and be a part of changing the culture in a city.

Evidence suggests that enforcement and road engineering ought to work together.

 

Police officers and their department heads have become reluctant to do traffic stops mainly for 2 reasons: to avoid accusations of racial bias, especially after the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. in 2015, and because of fear for their own safety. Traffic Enforcement Dwindled in the Pandemic. In Many Places, It Hasn’t Come Back.

Traffic stops that involve equipment violations like a broken tail light, which are often a result of racial profiling are becoming more rare, while at the same time, a reduction of traffic stops for speeding and running signals and stop signs is also dropping.

So what do we do?

“Really long-term, design has to be the solution,” said Shawn Garcia, director of advocacy for the safe-streets organization Transportation Alternatives in New York. “Policing is not the direction we want to go in.”

I’m representing APCSC as part of a group of advocates working for legalization of speed cameras to be legalized in NJ.

Speed camera

The objections that stymie the legislation of speed cameras in NJ and Texas come from civil libertarians who oppose the surveillance, even though studies in the U.S. and overseas show that speed cameras are effective at reducing speeds and injuries, .

Legal mechanisms designed to keep streets safe are breaking down, while traffic deaths are rising. Is there a better way?

Impounding cars, and revoking licenses plus legalization of speed cameras among other strategies can be effective: A fatal crash shows us everything that’s wrong with traffic enforcement

Police gather at the scene of a crash

“New Jersey emerged as the state with the highest rate of pedestrian fatalities. New Jersey Tops Pedestrian Fatality List. Out of the 3,030 total traffic deaths recorded in the state during the study period, 916 were pedestrians. This means that 30.23% of all traffic fatalities in New Jersey involved pedestrians, the highest percentage in the nation.”

APCSC has been advocating for a Vision Zero Policy in Asbury Park…but this requires a commitment to implement street and road modifications to change driver behavior, and make it safe for walkers and rollers.

“Lots of cities have appointed staff to oversee their Vision Zero efforts, but who don’t implement physical safety measures, instead sit at a desk creating power point presentations. Here Is What Vision Zero Should Really Look Like.

Generally, city professionals are reduced to working on bike lanes, preparing plans with lots of public outreach (marketing), and applying for grants. When we see this, we are seeing an unserious approach. Does this seem familiar in Asbury Park?

Safety on Asbury Park streets and roads shouldn’t be the domain of one person; or the police. It needs to be part of the culture. Safety first. Safety second. Safety, safety, safety.

If we’re depending upon enforcement, signs, and PSAs to change driver behavior we’re doing it wrong. 

Our streets can be reconfigured, often starting with just paint and pilot projects. When roads are paved the street or road can be modified with curb extensions so people walking have less distance to cross and to slow drivers. Raised crosswalks, mini-roundabouts, protected bike infrastructure are proven effective countermeasures to slow driver speeds.

Signs and PSAs are not effective, and are a lazy way for cities to imply that they are doing something about driver behavior.

Screenshot

I’ll leave you with a quote:

We ask everyone outside the car to be safe so that drivers can be dangerous.

Onward.

Polli Schildge, Editor apcompletestreets.org

 

 

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A Misdirected Public Service Announcement In Asbury Park

This PSA below was sent out by the city of Asbury Park, and it needs to be revised.

 

This PSA  focuses on responsibility of bike and scooter riders with 8 “rules” at the top of the message, implying that behavior of people using micro mobility are the most serious concern to public safety.

Only 3 short, vague lines are aimed at drivers at the end of the PSA.
The message to drivers looks like an afterthought, and almost appears that it was designed by the auto industry.
Words matter – the industry strives to shift the responsibility off drivers, and place the onus on other road users.
PSAs are a LAZY way of checking a box. 
We can do better with messaging in Asbury Park. 
Please. 
We all know that DRIVERS are the greatest danger in any city to everyone: themselves, and especially anyone outside of a car..
If there are PSAs about safety in AP they should be directed to drivers FIRST with the most emphasis – and ideally there should be separate PSAs aimed exclusively at drivers.
Drivers and bike riders alike erroneously believe that bike riding in painted bike lanes is safer, or a “rule” as indicated in the graphic. It’s NOT a rule, nor is it safer.
 
Telling bike riders to use bike lanes is misinformation, and inconsistent with the  “Bicyclists May Use Full Lane” signs that are finally going up in AP. (Thank you- we need them everywhere in the city!)
Almost every bike lane in the city is in the “door zone”. Painted bike lanes make the road seem a bit narrower to drivers, possibly slowing them down. Painted lines indicate to drivers that bike riders may be present. But they are not effective safety infrastructure for bike riders. Driver doors open into the lane, causing people to hae to swerve into traffic or get hit by the door.
NJ law states that bike riding on the roadway, “take the lane” is legal.
Please keep the message consistent. The city is posting Bicyclists May Use Full Lane sings, so don’t tell bike riders that it’s a “rule” to use the bike lane.
Tell drivers that they should be looking out for people on bikes and scooters , and walkers too!
It’s ESSENTIAL that driver behavior is the FIRST concern in any messaging about a  “Safer Asbury Park.” 
We all know that drivers are a huge problem in the city, and they’re getting worse, yet this graphic message indicates that bike and scooter riders are the menace.
Every day we are all at risk of serious injury or death by inattentive or aggressive drivers while walking or biking, and driving too. It is me, you, and ALL of us who could be victims of dangerous drivers.
Signs and PSAs are minimally helpful, but language and perception matter.
The PSA graphic references 4′ passing at the bottom of the message. Instead, it needs to make specific reference to the NJ 4′ Safe Passing Lawand should be at the top.
It is the LAW that drivers must maintain low speed behind people on bikes and scooters until they can pass with 4′ of clearance.
The two gigantic digital signs on Ocean Ave. restrictions for tents, dogs, and bikes should be used to deter speeding and dangerous driving on thoroughfares in the city.
What are Asbury Park’s priorities … really?
Traffic volume has increased in the city, and it will continue as more residential properties are developed and venues and events are on the calendar. 
 
It’s critically important that the city redesigns streets to make it less likely that drivers will behave badly.
Physical implementation of traffic calming measures like curb extensions, mini roundabouts, raised crosswalks, physically (not just painted) protected bike infrastructure are methods that are proven to mitigate bad driver behavior and save lives.
Until AP implements bold changes to the built environment, and offers more alternatives to driving like 24/7 transit VIA in Jersey City, and bike share, it must be the priority to focus messaging to drivers to make streets safer for vulnerable road users.
We are ALL are vulnerable – you, me, our neighbors, our children, and grandchildren any time we are outside of a car. 
Asbury Park must stop demonizing people riding 2 wheels with stupid “bicle riding prohibited” signs. How about NO Driving signs?
Bike lane ends?
How about Roadway Ends?
If there’s a sign we need everywhere (we  have too many stupid signs)  it’s
Slow The F Down.
Get involved. Share your email.
We have work to do to make this clty safer, provide equitable mobility and access for everyone, to make it a truly livable city for everyone. 

 

Onward.

Polli Schildge, Editor

 

 

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Sign to oppose the stupid e-bike bill

Please take 10 seconds to oppose this TERRIBLE BILL. And share!
New Jersey Bill S2292/A3359 would require registration and insurance for all low-speed e-bikes and e-scooters.
While other states are rolling out subsidies to make e-bikes more affordable, New Jersey is poised to do the opposite, making e-bikes harder to access and more expensive for working families.
Want a job and an e-bike? Apply to this new SF delivery program
Advocates are adamantly opposed to Senate President Nicolas Scutari’s bill, fearing it would undermine the goals of reducing car dependency and carbon emissions, and be an expensive and arduous impediment for those who rely on cheaper modes of transportation.
It’s really just a distraction from the REAL issue, which is TOO MANY CARS, traffic crashes and fatalities in New Jersey.  There is not enough reliable transit in the state, city by city, so this bill would effectively force people to rely MORE on driving, or be unable to access destinations at all.

These are the most affordable electric vehicles on the market and an increasingly popular for seniors and alternative to driving a car or delivery van.A New Jersey Senate committee on Thursday passed what even supporters call a flawed bill that would require micro-mobility users to carry a type of liability insurance that doesn’t even exist yet.

There is no requirement for insurance for class 1, 2, or 3 e-bikes, with max speed under 28mph. Over 28mph generally does require insurance. This bill would require insurance for all e-bikes and scooters, including low speed.
Drivers of motor vehicles kill over 40,000 people every year, and it’s worse with the proliferation of large SUVs and bigger and bigger trucks.
Imagine car-free streets with bikes of all kinds, and infrastructure to support all types of bike riding. More micro mobility would make our roads safer for everyone – far more so than with the number of cars on streets everywhere.

Onward.

Polli Schildge, Editor
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