Month: September 2024

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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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