The League Of American Bicyclists Is Opposed To The AV Start Act

Think autonomous vehicles are the answer to safety for everyone on our streets? Maybe not ready for prime time. Check out what the League of American Bicyclists says:

The AV Start Act will drastically increase the numbers of autonomous vehicles without safety standards for people on bikes or walking.

“The Senate is planning on voting on the AV START Act before the end of the year. The League opposes the bill because it doesn’t include serious safety protections for bicyclists and pedestrians.”

WHY THE LEAGUE IS OPPOSED TO THE AV START ACT

“The AV START Act will drastically increase the number of vehicles on our streets which are exempted from federal safety standards. Currently, each manufacturer of autonomous vehicles is allowed 2,500 exemptions. The AV START Act will allow each manufacturer to sell 80,000 vehicles by year three. ”

Read more…

https://bikeleague.org/content/why-league-opposed-av-start-act?utm_source=%21Master+List&utm_campaign=f2a1352ede-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_12_22_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_7b4ab70cf6-f2a1352ede-138224497

There Are No Accidents

A stunning personal story about how a tragic car crash changed a life, starting with the realization that there are no accidents.  “…over 35,000 people die every year in the United States from traffic violence. Every two years, more people die in our streets than the number of Americans killed during the Vietnam War.”

Misfortune changed this young man’s life. But he knows (as do we at APCSC) that the problem is solvable.  He observes in his city: “We continually see elected leaders prioritize publicly-subsidized parking ahead of safe streets. Some publicly shame folks who get around using a bicycle. They wait to improve safety until after people are hit and killed. And most importantly, they often do nothing. They aren’t just killing bike lanes. But we know they can do better because sometimes electeds show leadership. APCSC knows that our Mayor and City Council are showing real leadership.  Stay tuned for the Walking and Bicycling Master Plan, and design and implementation all over the city to make it safe for everyone to get around with slower, and fewer cars on our streets.

sA Better Street

“This misfortune irreversibly changed my life, the lives of everyone in that car, their families and their friends. I reacted by imagining life as capricious. Death and suffering seemed to be arbitrary “accidents” caused by human error. Life forced this on me every time I got in a car. With no effort at all I could be killed or kill someone else.

But seventeen years later, I feel much different. My friend’s death was not an accident. All of the 35,000 deaths each year in our streets include painful personal stories like the one I’ve recounted. These deaths are not accidents. Traffic violence is caused by public policy. It’s the result of our collective decisions about street design, speed limits, and land use. We know how to minimize crashes but we fail to care. ”

Read more…

https://www.theurbanist.org/2018/10/23/a-better-street/

Free Webinar: Small Places, Smart Mobility

Asbury Park fits the description of a small city developing smart ways to address equitable transportation. Learn about other ways that small cities are bridging the transportation gap for people who lack access to dependable transportation, or need a connection between their transit stop and final destination.  Free webinar, “Small Places, Smart Mobility”, Thursday, Nov. 1 at 2pm EST.

The National Complete Streets Coalition continues the webinar series on implementation and equity this month with two stories of small towns doing big, innovative work to implement equitable transportation.

On Thursday, November 1, 2018 at 2 p.m. EDT is the next webinar, ”Small Places, Smart Mobility.”

Register here for the free Webinar!

https://smartgrowthamerica.org/register-for-small-towns-smart-places-webinar/

 

 

How To Get Drivers To Slow Down And Stop

Asbury Park isn’t alone in working on implementing ways to #slowthecars, and to get drivers to yield and stop for people walking and on bikes.  Using “human factors psychology,” (focused on altering group behavior) and positive reinforcement with a “community engaged approach”.  Here’s how St. Paul is doing it.  Check out the “gateway treatment”. Could AP use this idea?

From Planetizen: “Human factors psychology includes other jargon-y sounding terms like “social norming” and “implied surveillance.” “…clarify more of the concepts behind this tool for convincing drivers to slow and even stop for the safety and right of way of pedestrians.”

To Get Drivers to Yield, St. Paul Uses Psych Trick

The third wave of enforcement, which was in August, we put up simple R1-6 signs (or “bollards“) . Those went up at our treatment sites and they were very effective. We started doing another wave of enforcement. Then we started seeing compliance in the 70s, which is just a dream compared to where we were last fall.

Then we did our fourth wave in October and we enhanced those in-street signs to “gateway treatments.” A gateway treatment is when you have that R1-6 sign on the center line and then when you have one in the outside lane. So you’re driving through multiple signs on a gate.

Does this sign look familiar?

Read more…

https://usa.streetsblog.org/2018/10/18/want-drivers-to-yield-to-pedestrians-you-gotta-play-mind-games/

Let’s Get Over Helmets

Let’s do this- build infrastructure for bicycling. We shouldn’t have to arm ourselves as if we’re going into battle when we get on bikes, nor should anyone be shamed for not wearing a helmet. Bicycle riding is mentally and physically healthful, makes a positive impact on the environment, and reduces traffic, so let’s prioritize it.  Point: there are a too many car/bike crashes, period. Most of them involve aggressive/inattentive drivers and grave bodily injury to the person on the bike, in which a helmet wouldn’t have mattered at all.

Vancouver authors focus on Dutch success in avoiding cycling head injuries without widespread use of helmets

The Dutch could have made bike helmets mandatory. They didn’t. Bruntlett recalled that in the 1990s, they adopted a set of safety principles that state that road users make mistakes behind the wheel of a car or on a bicycle. That meant that roads should be engineered to minimize the impact of those errors.

“So if there are differences in speed between bicycles and cars, then there should be physical separation between the two,” Bruntlett said. “And if that physical separation is impossible, then the car should be slowed down to a certain speed.”

Read more, and get the book:

Bicyclists May Use Full Lane

A clear explanation of “Bicyclists May Use Full Lane”. Can drivers be educated?

On a personal level, as a recreational and commuting road cyclist, my life is endangered numerous times every time I ride by motorists who assert what they think is their “right” to the road. Sometimes it’s outright aggressive behavior, and sometimes it’s in the form of inattentive entitlement, like rolling though stop signs and turning right on red without a pause. Drivers yell that I should get off the road, even though I have made eye contact and acknowledged drivers near me, and I’m riding in a courteous and careful manner. The reaction by many bicyclists is to move as far to the right as possible to allow drivers to pass.  But hugging the line or riding in the shoulder (gutter) only reinforces the belief of any drivers passing people on bikes that they inherently deserve the entire lane, and puts bicyclists in danger of having to swerve around debris, and potentially ending up in the path of a vehicle.  Can drivers be educated in this car-centric culture?

Bicyclists May Use Full Lane

Carlton ReidOct 12, 2018

“The simple answer to why cyclists ride in the middle of “traffic lanes” is because they are allowed and advised to take such actions.”

 

Some motorists think roads were built for cars, and that people on bicycles are interlopers. Historically and legally, this is not the case: most global jurisdictions enshrine the right of bicyclists to enjoy the public highway – that is, to enjoy it in law if not always in reality. International traffic treaties also guarantee this basic right. Some bicycle advocates like to remind motorists that they and their motor vehicles are allowed on the road only under license while cyclists are allowed on the road by right.

As evidenced by the 2009 Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, U.S. bicyclists “may use [the] full lane,” but this doesn’t stop some motorists shouting that cyclists do not belong on roads.

Read more…

https://www.forbes.com/sites/carltonreid/2018/10/12/bicyclists-may-use-full-lane/?fbclid=IwAR0hB4vtoTiFcS-g7G53DJXf6t9xfw-uynfuZI8eI4TuaeFo4Yzrsk4HDiA#6190f4bb24f8

London To Ban Cars In City Center

With this plan cars would be banned from half of all roads in the city center, and vehicles passing through on access roads would be limited to 15 mph. The ban is intended both to improve cyclist and pedestrian safety, and reduce emissions.

This line in the article pops out: “…future-proofing the Square Mile”. The area of the entire city of Asbury Park is 1.4 square miles, and almost one-third of all households in Asbury Park are zero-car households. If London can make this work for the currently 480,000 people who work there, and for another 90,000 expected to join over the next decade, it’s possible that a city with a population of only 16,000 can do it.  American cities and cities all over the world are dealing with the same issues regarding cars: human and environmental health, deaths and injuries, traffic congestion, parking, and speeding. All of these issues can be alleviated by eliminating or at least drastically reducing numbers of vehicles.

The City of London is kicking cars off half its roads

As the need to reduce carbon emissions from cities becomes ever more clear, London sets itself on a path to ban cars from half the streets in its city center.

“Top of mind for the City of London Corporation is ensuring that people will be able to navigate the district in the future. Chris Hayward, the City’s chair of planning and transportation, called it “future-proofing the Square Mile,” where currently, 480,000 people work, with another 90,000 expected to join over the next decade. To Hayward, prioritizing walking, cycling, and public transit over private cars is a matter of pure geometry. According to a report from the City, over 600 square meters of street space is needed to move 80 people in 55 cars or taxis; the same number of people traveling in five buses need 170 square meters, and 160 if traveling by bicycle.”

“If the City moves forward with the plans, which are up for a vote later this fall, it will not be the first step the district takes toward creating a more human-scale and sustainable streetscape: Over the summer, the local parking authority began adjusting parking fees in accordance with a vehicle’s emissions, and its also considered banning high-emission vehicles altogether from some streets (Central London is notorious for terrible air quality). It also falls in line with policies under way in other cities. Oslo, for instance, is moving toward a car-free city center next year, and Madridplans to outlaw cars from 500 acres of its city center by 2020.”

Read more…

https://www.fastcompany.com/90248746/the-city-of-london-is-kicking-cars-off-half-its-roads

Sign Up To Test Electric Cars 10/23

Electric Vehicle Car-Share Program in Progress in Asbury Park – Ride-and-Drive on 10/23

Electric Vehicle Car-Share Program in Progress in Asbury Park City Hosts Electric Vehicle Ride-and-Drive Event on Tuesday 10/23/18 10/17/18, Asbury Park, NJ – The City of Asbury Park is installing an electric vehicle car-share program, making Asbury Park the first city to offer the service along the Jersey Shore. The City’s electric vehicle car-share partner, Greenspot, will be installing electric charging station infrastructure throughout the City. Vehicles will be available for rent hourly or daily with pricing still to be determined. “We’re starting with 2 car-share vehicles each on Sunset, Mattison, and Springwood Avenues, as well as a dual-port charging station installed for public use on Sunset and Mattison Avenues,” said Transportation Manager Michael Manzella, “Almost one-third of all households in Asbury Park are zero-car households, so this will help improve accessibility for residents, as well as serve as a draw for visitors.”

Read more…

http://www.cityofasburypark.com/egov/documents/1539709020_66182.pdf

Banning Cars

There are only 2 American cities among this list of 13 taking steps to reduce use of automotive vehicles. The US is in love with cars, particularly BIG cars, despite emissions and damage to the environment, and the fact that they are responsible for most pedestrian and bicyclist injuries and deaths.  Take a look at these cities without cars.  Thriving businesses and restaurants, people walking and on bikes, and few if any vehicles.  Wow, where do their delivery trucks park?

13 cities that are starting to ban cars

02 Mar 2018 Leanna Garfield

Germany’s highest administrative court ruled that, in an effort to improve urban air quality, cities can ban cars from some streets.

As the NYTimes notes, the ruling could open the floodgates for cities around the country to go car-free.

But German cities are not the only ones getting ready to take the car-free plunge. Urban planners and policy makers around the world have started to brainstorm ways that cities can create more space for pedestrians and lower CO2 emissions from diesel.

Here are 13 cities leading the car-free movement.

Oslo plans to permanently ban all cars from its city center by 2019 — six years before Norway’s country-wide ban would go into effect.

Read more…

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/03/13-cities-that-are-starting-to-ban-cars