Advocacy & Safety - Rumblings of bike/ped advocacy in my city...

I'm sure what I have to face is nothing like what most of you have to face every day. Unfortunately I have to ride down a busy 4-lane street with effectively no speed limit (20mph, it's never enforced). Two articles appeared in our local paper today:

Street unsafe for peds and cyclists (http://www.kvnews.com/articles/2005/08/16/news/news01.txt)
Street signs to alert drivers to peds (http://www.kvnews.com/articles/2005/08/16/news/news03.txt)

I've never attended a city council meeting or wrote letters, but I think I might start. Personally these signs aren't going to do any good and I'll be surprised if they last more than 3 days. They're going to mount them in the middle of the road?!? Crazy.

Anyway, does anyone have any suggestions for attending council meetings and speaking up? That's where most of the action is happening so I doubt letter-writing will do any good.

<snip> Personally these signs aren't going to do any good and I'll be surprised if they last more than 3 days. They're going to mount them in the middle of the road?!? Crazy.
There is one of these signs on a street I ride on my commute, and I actually think it does make cars aware
of a crosswalk from a further distance away. Some municipalities have signs that say 'enforced by fine',
or something along those lines.



Anyway, does anyone have any suggestions for attending council meetings and speaking up? That's where most of the action is happening so I doubt letter-writing will do any good.
They usually have a time set aside for public comments. You should attend a few meetings to see how they 'flow'.
In my experience, it is also a good idea to have something prepared when speaking, rather than ad libbing it.
You should still write a letter, to help organize your argument, and send it to the newspaper.

Personally these signs aren't going to do any good and I'll be surprised if they last more than 3 days. They're going to mount them in the middle of the road?!? Crazy.


The village near where I work is full of senior citizens and has an active senior citizens rec center. 2 years ago they put up just these type of signs. I have found them effective. I have no problem walking to the post office at lunch time. But 2 blocks away (not part of the village) where there are no signs one must run across the street to avoid being hit.

It also helps if the police, from time to time, station plain-clothes "walkers" and aggressively ticket cars that fail to yield. In the end that may be the real effective measure.

It also helps if the police, from time to time, station plain-clothes "walkers" and aggressively ticket cars that fail to yield. In the end that may be the real effective measure.

Hmm, really... I would have never guessed that the signs actually work. The cops occassionally do walk in plain clothes to snipe people, but the department is really understaffed. Since the city is growing (well, the university is growing), they're focusing their efforts on minor-in-possession reports and illicit substances. Personally I think rude drivers and DUIs are much more important than a freshman having a beer with some friends, but...

I keep neglecting to find out what time the council meetings are. I've been waking up at around 3pm every day, so I unfortunately don't have time to get to city hall before they lock the doors. I'll make a special point of waking up "early" and doing it tomorrow.

The city here recently put up usch signs in the downtown district, and they have been more then effective. Here, people stop at YIED signs and blow off STOP signs and red lights. Go figure.