“Over the last 60 years, Amsterdam’s leaders, planners and designers have by trial and error created a template for a city where bikes are the dominant force in transportation planning and design. That template has five essential characteristics; skip or short-change any one of them and your city of bikes won’t work as well.

1. All streets are bike streets

In most cities, the network of bicycle tracks and lanes is far sparser than the overall street network for vehicular traffic. In Amsterdam, the street network map is the bike network map. Almost all streets in the city have excellent bike facilities of one type or another. What is extraordinary is that in Amsterdam you are more likely to need a specialized car map than a bike map, since many streets have limited or no car access.”

Read more…

https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2017/10/5-reasons-why-amsterdam-works-so-well-for-bikes/544101/

Cycle helmets – an overview

Be informed:

“It is at first surprising to many people that the wearing of helmets by cyclists is a controversial subject. However, cycling safety is a much more complex issue than many people realise, where best evidence and real-world experience sometimes conflict with received opinion. Key considerations about risk when cycling, what influences cycling safety and the inter-relationships between safety interventions, cycle use, behaviour and health (both individual and public) are often poorly understood. In particular, opinions as to whether cycle helmets are an appropriate, proportionate or effective intervention are often dominated by emotion and expressed with exaggeration, which can make it difficult to know what to believe.

The Bicycle Helmet Research Foundation (BHRF) and cyclehelmets.org were established to provide a resource of best-available factual information and to challenge evidence and policies that do not stand up to scrutiny. BHRF is pro-cycling and pro-health and seeks to judge the evidence on its merits.

This overview is an attempt to distill the most important evidence and arguments about cycle helmets. Readers are invited to explore the cyclehelmets.org website for comprehensive information on the topics covered with in-depth technical analysis and references.”

Read more…

http://www.cyclehelmets.org/1139.html

News!

The Complete Streets Summit Taskforce (NJDOT, New Jersey Bicycle and Pedestrian Resource Center) selected the Asbury Park Complete Streets Coalition to receive a Complete Streets Champion Award at the New Jersey Complete Streets Summit at Rutgers University yesterday. We’re proud and honored to have been recognized for our efforts to help make streets safer for everyone in Asbury Park. Our work will continue with the support of Mayor Moor, City Council, and Transportation Director Mike Manzella. We’re grateful for invaluable guidance from NJ Bike & Walk Coalition.

The plaque is for the city Complete Streets Policy. The glass award is APCSC!

We are honored!

The Complete Streets Summit Taskforce has selected the Asbury Park Complete Streets Coalition to receive a Complete Streets Champion Award at the 2017 New Jersey Complete Streets Summit on October 24, 2017!

August 10, 2017    **CONGRATULATIONS  ** State of New Jersey DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 1035 Parkway Avenue PO Box 600 Trenton, New Jersey 08625-0600 Chris Christie Governor Kim Guadagno Lt. Governor Richard T. Hammer Commissioner Dear Members of the Asbury Park Complete Streets Coalition: Congratulations! The Complete Streets Summit Taskforce has selected the Asbury Park Complete Streets Coalition to receive a Complete Streets Champion Award at the 2017 New Jersey Complete Streets Summit on October 24, 2017. The Summit will be held at the Rutgers University College Avenue Student Center located at 126 College Avenue, New Brunswick, New Jersey. The program will begin at 8:30 a.m. and will conclude at 4:00 p.m. Awards will be given during a lunchtime ceremony. We hope representatives of the coalition will be able to attend to receive this honor and stay throughout the entire Summit. Any municipal staff members, elected officials, or other local advocates that supported the coalition’s work are also welcome to attend. We may be contacting you soon with regard to speaking or sharing your experience on a panel. If you and any guests will be able to join us, please let us know as soon as possible. Please contact Miriam Salerno at the New Jersey Bicycle and Pedestrian Resource Center at miriam.salerno@ejb.rutgers.edu with your RSVPs. Thank you for your hard work and leadership in bringing safer, more complete streets to New Jersey. Sincerely, Elise Bremer-Nei, AICP/PP Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator Office of Bicycle and Pedestrian Programs cc: Michael Manzella, Transportation Manager cc: The Honorable John Moor, Mayor of Asbury Park

The auto industry started brainwashing us nearly a hundred years ago when they invented the concept of the “jaywalker,” the hapless rube sauntering into the middle of the street and engineering his own demise. Armed with this piece of propaganda, they not only defeated legislation that would have slowed cars in cities but also successfully criminalized the act of walking.

Read more…https://www.outsideonline.com/2253891/how-i-learned-start-worrying-and-hate-car

APCSC will receive this honor tomorrow at Rutgers University!

Congratulations!

The Complete Streets Summit Taskforce has selected the Asbury Park Complete Streets Coalition to receive a Complete Streets Champion Award at the 2017 New Jersey Complete Streets Summit on October 24, 2017.

An issue of equity, starting with beautiful, and visible piano key crosswalks on Springwood Ave.

Portland Crosswalk Shows How Drivers Think (or Don’t) About Pedestrians

“If the unconscious or semi-conscious biases of drivers impact their decision to yield, crossing the street is all the more dangerous for black men.”

“In addition to furthering their thesis that racial bias impacts pedestrian safety, the researchers say their findings show a need for reducing the perceived discretion drivers have for yielding to people waiting to cross. When there is no crosswalk, drivers assume they have a choice of whether to yield or not — even when there’s a law saying otherwise. With a marked crosswalk in place, there is less perceived discretion.”

Read more…https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/portland-crosswalk-shows-drivers-think-pedestrians

REAL piano key crosswalks!

Piano key crosswalks being striped on Springwood Ave @inAsburyParkNJ for Better Block event Saturday, October 14 – safer & celebrate area’s musical history!

Australian report notes benefits of compact, walkable neighborhoods and Complete Streets.

Read more:  https://www.healthybydesignsa.com.au/resources/

Doing it in Asbury Park!

A new report gives the country an F grade on attempts to make it easier and safer for all citizens to get places without a car.

Whether by street design, long distances between places, or more deep-seated cultural reasons, most Americans walk very little every day. That’s a shame: Public health advocates argue that moderate, informal exercise outside, including walking, is an important determinant of public health. And America’s car-centric development isn’t doing us any favors, remaining an impediment to higher levels of walking and walkability, a new report shows.

Read more:

https://www.fastcompany.com/40472360/the-u-s-is-failing-at-making-its-communities-more-walkable