Advocacy & Safety - What to advocate for?

A new article in my local paper, the Holland Sentinel, (http://hollandsentinel.com/stories/041707/local_20070417001.shtml) shows the local transportation planners and township supervisors are at least saying they see bicycle transportation as a viable alternative. Although I believe them, I can understand how others with more experience in bicycle advocacy might be wary.

The Environment:
The area is a formerly agricultural one that has been turned into an area of massive urban sprawl. Most of the old county roads (every mile or 1/2 mile, country blocks so to speak) are now major arterials with 5 lanes and 45-55 MPH speed limits with apartment complexes, sub-divisions, small factories, Wally World type stores, strip malls and gas stations everywhere. We also have major highway running through the middle of the area that is 2 lanes each way divided like a limited access, but there are stop lights every mile or so for the major county roads (it is kind of a slightly-less-limited-access).

It is also almost impossible to route plan around the arterials because all the sub-divisions are designed to lead nowhere. One-way-in and One-way-out kind of places these are (btw, how much would it suck to live near the only entrance to one of these places?).

In terms of current advocacy it is almost all recreational. The only people you see riding when the sun is not shining are riding Wally World bikes *insert your own assumption here*.

What we currently have:
We currently have a fairly ubiquitous (avoided the word "good" there) system of sidewalk style MUP's we call bike paths. They are anywhere from 5' to 20' from the road (some are actually designed to go around the back side of signs at store entrances, oy vey..:o) and are really just wide sidewalks. This system really does work well for children getting to school, slower riders on their weekend beach cruiser rides, etc., but it certainly leaves something to be desired for the faster moving cyclist. I find it also works well even for faster cyclists in the areas that are still pretty rural where you have frequent stretches of 1/4-1/2 mile without any intersections, driveways, etc. These paths do tend to stay fairly clean and in pretty good shape. They are also widely used in the summer months by everyone (walkers, rollerbladers, skateboarders, children on pink bikes with streamers alongside lycra-clad roadies).

Rights:
Cyclists do currently have a right to the road and there is really no fear of losing that. I actually welcome the day that someone challenges that because that would mean a massive increase in the number of cyclists using the roads to create such a perceived problem. So far this year I wouldn't have to remove my shoes to count the number of times I have seen a cycist riding in the road, except for me :D.

The problem then is what to advocate for?

Do I advocate for some middle ground facilities like striped bike lanes on newly widened roadways, or something else? Call me cyclist-inferior, but I really am not very excited about getting into 55-60 mph, multi-lane traffic and pushing against a Lake Michigan headwind at 12 mph. However, I also realize the bike path system we have now is not a good one for a lot of cyclists.

What about the VC approach to places like this? Do the VC folk just ride the road anyway and just center their advocacy efforts on making sure they keep their right to the road?

Thanks for any advice.

Advocate for lower speed limits. If the traffic lights are as close as you say and there are many intersections (shopping centers, etc.) then there is no need for such high speed between slowing/stops.

Arterials here are now for the most part 45mph posted, which works for the 1/2mi intersectionless gaps, but is too high when intersections are more often. There are still a few 50-55mph arterials in the further reaches (there were many more at this speed 15yrs. ago) City I live in changed several of 45mph arterials to 40mph about a year ago (for ped/cyclist safety). I don't notice any difference, but I do when I go thru 35mph school zones (which results in better compliance due to higher levels of enforcement)

Al

Advocate for lower speed limits. If the traffic lights are as close as you say and there are many intersections (shopping centers, etc.) then there is no need for such high speed between slowing/stops.

Arterials here are now for the most part 45mph posted, which works for the 1/2mi intersectionless gaps, but is too high when intersections are more often. There are still a few 50-55mph arterials in the further reaches (there were many more at this speed 15yrs. ago) City I live in changed several of 45mph arterials to 40mph about a year ago (for ped/cyclist safety). I don't notice any difference, but I do when I go thru 35mph school zones (which results in better compliance due to higher levels of enforcement)

Al

Traffic lights are typically 1 mile apart, some are 1/2 mile apart. I will look through my OP to try and find the confusion (probably my fault). Thanks for the reply, and I agree that lower speed limits would probably be best. However, I doubt that is going to happen since the cars definitely rule the road here. It is more a matter of trying to safely inject bikes into the road somehow.

I was refering to the combination of arterial intersections, the occasional collector and the comercial driveways.
A similar layout to here. 1mi agri. grid turned into 1mi suburban arterial grid. Over time intersections increase and speed limits need to decrease, but the SL change usually lags development.
Al

wide bike lanes, speed limits, or WOLs. speed limits don't do much good, in my limited experience, like Al said the one time people DO slow down is near a school zone where they might get zapped by a cop because they are there a lot. otherwise, SLs are a joke.

wide bike lanes, speed limits, or WOLs. speed limits don't do much good, in my limited experience, like Al said the one time people DO slow down is near a school zone where they might get zapped by a cop because they are there a lot. otherwise, SLs are a joke.
People tend to drive at a comfortable speed for the situation (comfortable to them, which is usually too fast).

Despite this, I do believe even with low (but still some) enforcement that 10mph reductions in SL do have an effect. Many drivers are 'programmed' to see SL sign and drive 10mph over. Seeing a 40mph SL the speeder feel less comfortable passing it at 60mph vs. seeing a 50mph SL sign passing at same speed.

I would also advocate for WOL and well designed share the road signs. Also perhaps some sharrow experiments.

Al

For newly widened roadways I like WOLs or sharrows. I agree with Al about speed limits.

I have to say I do like the sharrow idea better than a completely separate bike lane. Is the implementation of this typically accomplished by installing this along with a WOL?

It might sound a bit odd or even dumb. But how about advocating for a couple of bicycle patroll oficers... maybe even you could lead the charge? If it is known that there are police on bikes in an area such as Zeeland they would be more likely to drive slower, pass with more care, obey laws, etc because they would never know if there is a cop in that group of cyclists up there on the right.
Just my 2 cents, which I'd appreciate you giveing back to me because I'm broke and hungry right now. :D

It might sound a bit odd or even dumb. But how about advocating for a couple of bicycle patroll oficers... maybe even you could lead the charge? If it is known that there are police on bikes in an area such as Zeeland they would be more likely to drive slower, pass with more care, obey laws, etc because they would never know if there is a cop in that group of cyclists up there on the right.
Just my 2 cents, which I'd appreciate you giveing back to me because I'm broke and hungry right now. :D
Here you go $0.02, and a Bell's Oberon to wash it down :D.

Bicycle patrol wouldn't work well where I work (I work in the surrounding townships, not in the city of Zeeland) because of how sprawled out it is. Bicycle patrol really only works for traffic enforcement of cyclists, special events and in areas of extremely dense population like areas of NYC. I suppose we could do some stings of motorists where I ride my bike and call out stops to waiting Officers, but we would have to increase the number of cyclists on the road a great deal to justify that (I can only dream).

I have, however, requested to go the IPMBA (http://www.ipmba.org/) school so I can do some special events and maybe some special, silent enforcement in some of our high narcotics areas, and I have been working on educating other Officers on specific violations that can be really dangerous to cyclists. Some of these violations seem pretty benign until you see them through the eyes of a cyclist.

If it's an area of sprawl, one thing to advocate for are bike racks on buses so that people can combine bus and bike transport.

Bike parking is also something to advocate for. What use is it to ride a bike instead of a car if there's nowhere to park your bike?

Bike lanes can encourage cycling, but they have to be implemented well to be useful. Same with bike paths. A good bike path or three that connects major destination points in a manner that allows cyclists to travel a great distance without crossing any intersections (a bike freeway) really helps a huge amount. Note that this kind of bike path is not the same as a trail or MUP.

Your community should look to Portland or Davis for ideas. Portland especially has shown a measurable increase in many of the things they have done. Santa Barbara is kind of a static city where things don't change much over the years, so it's hard to show much change.

I am a bike officer in a northwest Ohio town with 16500 people and 11 square miles. I drive a patrol car with the bike on the back and then stop, put the radar into action and patrol on bike. The car parked as if I were running traffic with the radar on to set off the radar detectors and hopefully slow traffic down. I ride about 600 miles a year on duty and can get to calls quickly on my bike. I got tons of crap from other officers until the day a call was dispatched were I was further away and beat the patrol car to the call with my bike. I stop cars, tractor-trailers and bicyclist alike. The great thing about bike patrol is you can transport the bike to the smaller communities, dismount the car and ride the bike. IPMBA is a great resource and offer amazing training.

I recently wrote my congressman and senator at the Ohio State House to include bike lanes on all resurfacing and projects on State Routes. Wider roadways are safer for walkers, runners, bicyclist and the police on traffic stops as they are able to get further off the roadway. Most state routes in my area have a three inch hard shoulder and one and a half feet of gravel that gets plowed into the ditch each winter.

I have found that the only things that slow drivers down are speed bumps and traffic signals; speed limits are treated as a suggestion.

I believe I've driven on the road you're talking about several times and it's typical suburban hell.

I agree with noisebeam about WOLs and sharrows for these kinds of roads. I think bike lanes are less desirable here because there are so many driveways and side streets. The same objection applies to side paths in this environment. It's just safer, IMO, for riders to be where they can see and be seen, with the other traffic. This isn't a blanket indictment of bike lanes, just in this case.

A more drastic solution would be bike paths that go behind the stores, roughly parallel to the arterial. Such bike paths would connect the various big box stores and strip malls. They could also link the housing tracts and apartment complexes that are built like pods off the arterials. There's often good right of way for path development in the space behind the shopping and housing centers. The goal would be to have the paths completely separated from motor traffic and pedestrians, but with total access to all destinations in the area.

Traffic lights are typically 1 mile apart, some are 1/2 mile apart. I will look through my OP to try and find the confusion (probably my fault). Thanks for the reply, and I agree that lower speed limits would probably be best. However, I doubt that is going to happen since the cars definitely rule the road here. It is more a matter of trying to safely inject bikes into the road somehow.

I don't think you're going to get slower speed limits in Michigan anytime soon. The state standard is now the 85th percentile rule, meaning that speed limits are set at the speed below which 84.9 % of the drivers are traveling.

In other words, they're now letting the criminals (speeders) draft the laws. Is that crazy or what?

The state of Michigan repeatedly takes municipalities to court when they do set lower limits. One example was in East Lansing (on Saginaw Hwy) recently. E.L. lowered the speed limit from 45 to 30. The state sued on the grounds that, like most arterials, the road was classified as a state highway. That means the state can set speed limits even when local people and police departments object. The state won.

I would advocate for planning of a collector road system that provided substantial transportation benefits for trips under a few miles, and connecting residences to parks, schools, and first-tier commercial destinations while reducing traffic demands on arterials. The collector roads should be two lanes with 16' wide lanes and left turn pockets.

I would advocate for better local street connectivity, particularly between subdivisions and connections to nonresidential areas. Good street connectivity should be a requirement of the development ordinances.

I would advocate for paved bike/ped short-cuts between developments when street connections are not politically, economically, or topographically feasible.

I would advocate for traffic signal sensor loops on side streets and left turn lanes to be designed and adjusted to detect bicycles.

I would advocate for wide outside lanes on arterials.

I am a bike officer in a northwest Ohio town with 16500 people and 11 square miles. I drive a patrol car with the bike on the back and then stop, put the radar into action and patrol on bike. The car parked as if I were running traffic with the radar on to set off the radar detectors and hopefully slow traffic down. I ride about 600 miles a year on duty and can get to calls quickly on my bike. I got tons of crap from other officers until the day a call was dispatched were I was further away and beat the patrol car to the call with my bike. I stop cars, tractor-trailers and bicyclist alike. The great thing about bike patrol is you can transport the bike to the smaller communities, dismount the car and ride the bike. IPMBA is a great resource and offer amazing training.

I recently wrote my congressman and senator at the Ohio State House to include bike lanes on all resurfacing and projects on State Routes. Wider roadways are safer for walkers, runners, bicyclist and the police on traffic stops as they are able to get further off the roadway. Most state routes in my area have a three inch hard shoulder and one and a half feet of gravel that gets plowed into the ditch each winter.

I have found that the only things that slow drivers down are speed bumps and traffic signals; speed limits are treated as a suggestion.

Thanks for the input and welcome to the board! Glad to hear you are able to inject your bike into your patrol time. My area is quite a bit bigger (about 50 square miles), but I had not considered just carrying the bike along and jumping back and forth before. If I did this in areas of higher population density (subs, trailer parks, apartment complexes) it would be easier to get back to my car to respond to a hot call if need be. To cover that area how many Officers do you typically have on at a time? Being a Sheriff's Office we are pretty thin with only 3-4 overnight for our 50 square miles.

A more drastic solution would be bike paths that go behind the stores, roughly parallel to the arterial. Such bike paths would connect the various big box stores and strip malls. They could also link the housing tracts and apartment complexes that are built like pods off the arterials. There's often good right of way for path development in the space behind the shopping and housing centers. The goal would be to have the paths completely separated from motor traffic and pedestrians, but with total access to all destinations in the area.

I have considered this as well and would love to see it happen. In fact, we have a pretty big railroad system in the area, and have thought about advocating for paths to placed along the existing railroad lines. The problem with that idea is that the rail lines are still very active and CSX would never let it happen. I will look around for other areas where this could be done though, thanks.

Railway lines in metro-phx seem to be more of an impediment to completing 'backway' routes than any other obstical. Arterials go over.under them, but very rarely is there a residential type street that crosses.
I see successful projects for ped/bike bridges to cross canals, freeways, etc., but never railways. I'd bet railway land rights, laws, etc. established over a hundred years ago have to do with this.
I only mention this as if there is a rail, think of what perpendicular routes may be needed.

edit: here is a link about railways and local control : http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/0413fri1-13.html

Al

I ride about 600 miles a year on duty and can get to calls quickly on my bike. I got tons of crap from other officers until the day a call was dispatched were I was further away and beat the patrol car to the call with my bike. I stop cars, tractor-trailers and bicyclist alike.

I love watching bike patrols at work. When I was visiting family in Weirs Beach, NH, I watched a group of college-age women in a convertible hoot and yell at two stopped bike patrol officers as they drove by. One of the bike patrol officers spotted an open container violation. They quickly caught up to them in traffic and soon the ladies weren't laughing anymore.

I have 2 recomendations for advocacy.

1. Strict, consistent, never-ending enforcement of speed limits. My area seems to have a only a semiannual speed enforcement / revenue boost campaign. Otherwise its 75mph in 55, 65 in 45, 55 in 35 pretty normal.

2. More aggressive enforcement / prosecution of those responsible for motor vehicle homicide to bicyclists, with reasonable prison time, fines/restitution, and extensive media coverage to educate citizens. I could go out today and run someone down, then claim "didnt see um/accident", walk away scot free. I think its a little absurd that someone chatting on their cell phone can run you down and get away with it as "accident", but if you've had 2 beers before you did it you're probably going to jail.

3. Adding a third one. Make cell phone use while driving illegal.

4. One more. Advocate against powerful motor vehicles. Who the heck needs more than 250hp for anything? This whole nascar-nation mentality needs to go away, esp. in light of oil/political and climate issues.

I recently wrote my congressman and senator at the Ohio State House to include bike lanes on all resurfacing and projects on State Routes. Wider roadways are safer for walkers, runners, bicyclist and the police on traffic stops as they are able to get further off the roadway. Most state routes in my area have a three inch hard shoulder and one and a half feet of gravel that gets plowed into the ditch each winter.

If you are advocating for wider roads for walkers, runners, cyclists, and police officers, why would you want the state to stripe the outside width as a bike lane? Do some searches to see what kind of self-righteous attitude some cyclists can get when someone is in "their" space. Why not leave the extra space unmarked (wide outside lane) so that it's useful for everybody, including motorists who can now use it for turning and emergency parking when necessary?

If you are advocating for wider roads for walkers, runners, cyclists, and police officers, why would you want the state to stripe the outside width as a bike lane? Do some searches to see what kind of self-righteous attitude some cyclists can get when someone is in "their" space. Why not leave the extra space unmarked (wide outside lane) so that it's useful for everybody, including motorists who can now use it for turning and emergency parking when necessary?

Here we go...painted line phobia discussion time. Hey JJ, why not leave the affairs of Ohio to us Ohioans..we promise we won't send the contractors over there to paint your roads, but we kinda like painted lines on our state highways.

Here we go...painted line phobia discussion time. Hey JJ, why not leave the affairs of Ohio to us Ohioans..we promise we won't send the contractors over there to paint your roads, but we kinda like painted lines on our state highways.

Explain how my post demonstrates "painted line phobia."

Explain how my post demonstrates "painted line phobia."

Your post(s). I think assuming you have a painted line phobia is much nicer than accusing you of being an anti-bike lane vc zealot, don't you think? :p

I'd advocate for all new street projects and road resurfacing projects to include bikes and bike infrastructure in the planning phases. to increase cycling in your community, to increase the bikeability and in turn, bicyclist safety thru increased numbers on the roads.

On higher speed arterials it is very beneficial to the vast majority of cyclists to have bike specific infrastructure. I was just driving my car for the first time in several months- ski trip - and while driving in a 'wide outside lane' saw a lot of all over the road driving.

bikes to be considered in all new streets and street resurfacing projects. have the county get a 'bike master plan' going, like the cities of Portland and Seattle, where bikes are considered as traffic and road considerations, including bike lanes, are made for bicyclists.

I'm not saying you have to advocate for bike lanes on all roads and lobby that bicyclists need them to ride- that fallacious argument is only bandied about by the foresterites- but to increase cyclist numbers, cyclist safety, on road visibility, and community improvements, lobby for a bike master plan that considers MUTCD and AASHTO guidelines and exceeds them with bike specific infrastructure integrated with public rights of way.

Your post(s). I think assuming you have a painted line phobia is much nicer than accusing you of being an anti-bike lane vc zealot, don't you think? :p

Either assumption is just that until you provide some reason for making that assumption. And by some reason, I'd like more than you saying "your post." Something specific would be nice.

Or we can forget all about that and address the matter at hand (which is what I'd prefer). What in particular about my suggestion do you disagree with? All you've done so far is call me a name so I really don't know if you agree or disagree.

We have a minimum of four on the road. When we are at five or six, my sergeant has me on the bike the entire tour. That's when it gets interesting, and tiring.

Cheers

We have a minimum of four on the road. When we are at five or six, my sergeant has me on the bike the entire tour. That's when it gets interesting, and tiring.

Cheers

Awesome. Good to hear and good for you for pushing for it.