Monday Morning Commute - black four-inch silver-studded heels

Good morning

• A study aimed at improving the Long Bridge - the railroad bridge between DC and Arlington - could be finished later this year. "The long-range vision includes “multi-modal capacity improvements,” with an eye toward “high-speed and intercity passenger rail, commuter rail” and freight traffic, according to the study. Mass transit, pedestrian and bicycle needs also are being considered."
• I love that the headline of this story is not that "Of the 44,017 worldwide participants in the Strava Cycling Base Mile Blast, which challenges athletes to ride as many miles as they can during the month of January, [local resident Ben] Jacoby currently sits in eighth place" but rather that he chose to get a bike when he could've gotten a car. Because that's far more unusual. 
• Despite bad luck in recent sessions, three bills that aim to make driving that endangers cyclists and others illegal in Virginia are moving forward. The bill that would make following a cyclist too closely illegal was backed by the House Transportation Committee on a 20-1 vote.
• The town of Ridgely, MD will use SHA trail grants to improve it's short section of rail-trail called the Ridgely Rail Trail. This could someday become a stop on a railtrail between Easton, MD and Clayton DE. 
• And Herndon, VA uses it's bike trails to sell the city "District-based Trialogue Studio redesigned the city’s logo and created a marketing campaign that highlights the town’s weekly concerts, small boutiques and accessible bike trails."
• Coverage of the Inauguration alleycat.
• I think I mentioned this before, but a GGW story on Metro power outlets and power supply after a storm. I wonder if they could add an outlet or USB power port to CaBi stations. Power generated by the solar panel could first go to running the station and then charging the battery. But the excess power (and there must be excess since it works even in the depth of winter) could be shunted to the outlet. Most of the time it would just be a small public service, but in a catastrophe it could be huge. In addition, since all the power given away would be clean, they might be able to track how much they give away and sell carbon credits for it.
• When you look at the chart on the causes of road rage, several of them, including #1, could be attributed to cyclists. Missing from the list - ignoring TCDs. It makes me less likely to believe that getting everyone to stop at stop signs will end the occasional hostile behavior of drivers. Also, I wonder if drivers think of passing on the right as cutting, but moving to the front in a bike lane as not cutting. If so, chalk that up as another benefit of bike lanes. 
• Bike commuter groups in the New York City area have seen numbers surge in the last few years, and better facilities and bike-friendly laws are part of the reason. “Bicycling in from New Jersey and other suburbs took off after the city passed a law requiring landlords to accommodate bikes in buildings,”

Comments

[Jameel]

I think the difference of cutting v. not cutting is whether or not there is space to pass. I generally avoid filtering up on the right at stoplights when it would be impossible for drivers to pass once it turns green (e.g., no bike lane or wide curb lane). I see it as good courtesy.

[JeffB]

Re: cause of road rage,
In my opinion people who ingage in road rage are usually 90% of they way there and are just looking for an excuse.

[TC]

Unfortunately, there is almost no excess power from CaBi stations. All an outlet would do is drain the station power and disable it.

[Rootchopper]

My kids who are both new drivers who hate dealing with cyclists on the road (despite the fact that dad ride his bike to work everyday freeing up a car for their use.) I am growing convinced that a void in driver education is partly to blame for road rage toward cyclists. The words pedestrian, bicycle and cyclists were never uttered in the driver ed class I had to attend with my daughter. Nor were they spoken in the driver licensing ceremony at Faifax Courthouse. You'd think that only cars use the roads.

[Crikey7]

I usually choose not to filter to the front when the road ahead is clear, so that it would be me who is, even if briefly, causing inconvenience to others for my convenience. That seems fair. But if the road ahead is not clear, then I will filter to the front.

[UrbanEngineer]

The education on both sides of this is lacking. Drivers carry a much heavier responsibility and definitely need better education on the rights and standard practices of all road users. But I also think as cyclists, we could help this issue by being more consistent with our actions.

For instance: I know plenty of cyclists who, when in a 10 foot wide lane with on street parking along the right side, will ride as far right as possible, inviting cars to squeeze by while they ride in the door zone. I'm not such a fan of being squeezed tightly between things 20 times more massive than myself, nor am I a fan of being doored, so I instead take the lane forcing cars to change lanes to pass me.

If every cyclist did that, I'm sure drivers would tolerate it more. So a bit of cyclist education would help as well.

[Kathy]

From the biking in NYC article, I found this to be the most interesting bit:

"“Bicycling in from New Jersey and other suburbs took off after the city passed a law requiring landlords to accommodate bikes in buildings,” said Mr. Kotch, referring to the Bicycle Access to Office Buildings Law, which went into effect in December 2009."

More data to support the need for legislators to be all inclusive when trying to increase non-auto commuting travel choices.

[JJJ]

From what I understand, the bixi system does not have excess power. Ive heard that many stations require the employees to switch out a depleted battery occasionally with a charged one - the solar panel just extends the life but isnt enough to provide a full charge.

[washcycle]

I dunno, I was told that the panel creates enough power to run on the shortest day of the year, which means that every other day it is making excess. I'd ask Eric Gilliland, but he has more important stuff to do I'm sure.

[oboe]

The words pedestrian, bicycle and cyclists were never uttered in the driver ed class I had to attend with my daughter. Nor were they spoken in the driver licensing ceremony at Faifax Courthouse. You'd think that only cars use the roads.

Well, right. Obviously. Drivers have rights and responsibilities. Pedestrians and cyclists have only the obligation to GTFOOMY.

[TC]

Under ideal circumstances, the panels should keep the batteries adequately charged. There are very few stations in the system that run under those ideal circumstances, never mind offering excess power. The batteries in a high number of stations need to be swapped out daily, especially this time of year.

[Observer]

I think the act of sitting in a confined metal and plastic box (i.e., an automobile) contributes to road rage. In what other situation do people voluntarily confine themselves to a 2' x 3' x 4' space for an hour or longer? And do so on a regular basis? I can't think of any.

Sitting in such a confined space is not natural. It generates tension and anxiety. In some people, that leads to violent emotions and aggression.

[Zolandis]

As someone who bikes and drives on Rhode Island Ave in NW, the issue of filtering up to the right is a compounding problem at rush hour. Bikers routinely take the lane (see above comment), so cars to switch lanes/go around them. When they get to the next light, the biker filters up the side and sits in front of the same set of cars again. Light changes, behavior repeats. So, you have the same driver, 'stuck' behind the same biker, several times in a row, and the impression that the biker is 'cheating' arises, i.e. that he takes the lane when it's convenient, but then slides through when it's not.

You could argue that cars should sit patiently behind the bikes, but given Rhode Island Ave's general backups/status as one of the only ways out of the city, that also is going to contribute to general ill-feeling. You could also argue that bikers should sit patiently in the backups, but that also seems unrealistic, given how bad they are.

Generally, when I bike through here from NE, I try and keep my time on RI to a minimum, and use the lanes on Q and R to go to and from the Met Branch trail. It's almost as fast, much less stressful, and avoids putting me in front of a truck as I bike up a hill.

Not sure of a good solution for using RI ave at peak times, as wedging in a bike lane in seems difficult without taking a lane off a major route. Maybe if they ever finished the NY ave work and cleared up the issues with that road from florida to 395, then it would take some of the pressure off of RI ave, and losing the lane would't be a disaster....