TheWashCycle

13-year old bicyclist struck, killed - driver arrested - in PW county

This is from July 30th

Prince William County police say a 13-year-old boy has been struck and killed by a car on Hoadly Road near Olivewood Drive.

The accident occurred about 6:45 p.m. Tuesday. Officers say Prabhdeep Ranahawa of Dale City was riding his bike, crossing Hoadly Road, when he was hit by a BMW driven by a 61-year-old Manassas woman.

Ranahawa was pronounced dead at the scene.

No charges have been filed and police are continuing to investigate the accident.

The police have since finished their investigation and made an arrest

Marilyn J. Freeman, 61, of 8129 King Arthurs Court in the Manassas area, was charged with reckless driving/failure to maintain control following a nearly month-long investigation that included multiple witness interviews and a reconstruction of the scene, Richardson said.

Police initially said that it appeared he was crossing Hoadly Road at the time, but the investigation revealed Ranahawa was bicycling on the shoulder near the edge of the travel lane.

Speaking of the police, GGW recently linked to a great police training video from SF. The police tell a cyclist to take the lane. Fantastic.

Bus/Bike lanes Ignored by Motorists

In other news, puppies are cute and Rosebud is a sled.

NBC breaks the story on cars driving in the bus/bike lanes on 7th and 9th streets downtown.

They do show a police officer telling a double-parked delivery truck to move along. The fine, they point out, for illegally using the bus/bike lanes is $0 because the District Council hasn't seen fit to set a fine.

NBC calls them bus only lanes, but that isn't accurate. Above I called them bus/bike only lanes - as did the sign above. That isn't accurate either. They are bus, bike & right turn only lanes. They have them in Rehoboth, DE, along with signs like the one to the right that explain exactly how they work (compare them to the ones in DC). The interesting thing in Rehoboth is that no one seems to drive in them illegally. It could be the signage, or that there is a real fine, or that it's enforced...or

It could be that DC's bus/bike/right turn only lanes were designed to fail. Let's go back a few years to when Dan Tangherlini was head of DDOT. DDOT studied creating a transitway along K Street - two designs had dedicated transit ways down the middle lanes and one had a curb running bus lane. DannyT wanted the line down the middle. Downtown business owners claimed that would be ugly and wanted the bus lane on the outside. DannyT claimed that would never work because with parking on the outside, cars would be constantly using the bus lanes to turn right and park. Around this time, Dan had DDOT put the bus, bike & right turn only lanes in on 7th and 9th streets and put them on the outside. They have been a total failure. Has Dan proved his point? Perhaps.

More on Herndon's Bike Confiscation "plan"

From Ian Macdonald's blog

The couple had biked to Herndon and were looking to buy a town house in Herndon specifically because it was close to the trail. They chose to lock up their bike to the street sign at Branch Drive because it was close to their destination and was a solid secure object.

If Councilman Husch’s proposal becomes law, I wonder what their reaction would have been to coming back to find their bikes had been confiscated?

It was a locksmith emergency

Nat Wilson met up with an allegedly aggressive driver in Georgetown.

I had taken the lane and was traveling with traffic which was stop and go through all of the stop signs on 39th St.  About 30 seconds later he completely ran me off the road into cars parked on the side and passed me at a high rate of speed nearly striking me and another cyclist who was traveling more slowly ahead of me.

But he didn't attack the driver or take the law into his own hands, he called the police.

The driver sped off blowing through the next few stop signs to get away but I quickly caught up with him when he got boxed in at a red light and took out my iPhone and started taking pictures of his van.  Despite being out of breath I was able to get in a couple of good photos of the driver and his license plates.

A half hour later when I got home I called 311 to report the incident to police.  They sent an officer out to my house and took a report.  I printed out some of the pictures I had taken earlier and the officer radioed the tags and a description of the driver into headquarters. The officer said they where operating in “all hands on deck” mode so all officers would be on the lookout for the van and pull the driver over and check his ID if they spotted him.

The officer said  that was all he could do.  There was no incident number and he didn’t  even take my name. 

Really, that was "all he could do?" With the license plate and a witness they have no other way to find this guy other than hoping an officer spots him - hello the phone number is right there on the van. Shaggy and Scooby could solve this mystery while the others took a nap. The MPD needs to get its act together.

Photo by Nat Wilson

In defense of sidewalk cycling

Most cyclists, myself included, advise people not to ride on the sidewalk. There is some evidence that sidewalk cycling is more dangerous than riding in the street. Some might even say the evidence is overwhelming. But let us not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Sidewalk cycling is (IMO) more dangerous than on-road cycling, but at times it is appropriate and a useful tool in the cyclist toolkit.

I always compare sidewalk cycling to SCUBA diving. Just as SCUBA diving is more dangerous than swimming, it does not mean it can not be done safely - it just requires more caution. it's not that you can't ride safely on the sidewalk it's that you can't ride on the sidewalk as you would in the street and be safe. You have to slow down - often to walking speed, and you have to be extra careful at the intersection and curb cuts. If you act like people can't see you when road cycling, act like they are trying to kill you a.la Death Race 2000 when you're on the sidewalk. You have to be on the lookout for added hazards like cracked pavement, sidewalk furniture, low branches etc.. And of course you have to be cognizant of and courteous to pedestrians. You don't like it when cars fly past you with a two inch passing distance and pedestrians don't like it when cyclists do it to them on the sidewalk. Mrs. Washcycle recently became a pedestrian commuter. She loves bikes - but she does not love them flying along the busy sidewalks downtown at 20 mph and scaring the bejeezus out of her.

Having said that, here are some good things about sidewalk cycling

Sidewalks make good climbing lanes: As part of my daily commute I use sidewalks both going to and coming from work. Both situations are almost identical: I'm going up a steep hill, the outside lane is narrow, the sidewalk is wide, traffic goes fast, there are few curb cuts and no pedestrians. Since I'm going 7 mph I don't want people barreling at me at 45 mph.

Sidewalks make good contraflow lanes: When people recently got tickets for going the wrong way on New Hampshire many suggested they just use the sidewalk. Now going downhill on a sidewalk sucks because you can't fly down the hill (again with the slow) but sometimes, even with the speed constraints, going the wrong way slowly for one block is better than going far out of one's way.

Sidewalks can be adequate bike lanes for roads with a low Bicycle LOS: Usually I would say you're better off in the street, but there are few roads where traffic is so fast and lanes are so narrow that even though you aren't going uphill you might be better off on the sidewalk- like on New York Avenue NE or Irving Road near the Washington Hospital Center.

Sidewalks can be passing lanes: Again, not recommended very often, but when on-road traffic is a real mess (not moving at all and too crowded for lane splitting), the sidewalk can serve as a good way to get around it. In downtown I once found I was better off walking my bike on the sidewalk around one such cluster than trying to negotiate my way through it.

Sidewalks make good driveways: As long as bike parking is on the sidewalk, that's where you'll have to start and end most rides.

You're mileage may vary, maybe you think no one should ride on the sidewalk ever. That's fine. But it worries me that so many people are so quick to denounce sidewalk cycling at all times. It's the kind of attitude that gets bad laws passed.

Speaking of sidewalks, one of the more unusual things I carry in my pannier is a pair of cheap garden shears. When plants start to grow over a sidewalk or trail I know that maintenance could be months away, so I pull over and give it a few snips - very satisfying. I figured I was the only one. Seems I'm not even the only on in DC - Stephanie Kay at WAMU does it too. Here's a response from the gardeners (I would never cut a homeowner's plants without talking to them).

When biking on the sidewalk it's a good idea to avoid the more constricted sidewalks in DC.

Photo by Kavitha Cardoza

Gihon Jordan

Passed away recently. Here's his obituary. Hat tip to Richard Layman.

When he took over as traffic engineer for [Philadlephia] in 1993, Mr. Jordan worked to get more people to walk, bike and take mass transit.

Especially biking. Mr. Jordan, who never owned a car, was responsible for putting city policemen on bicycle patrols; he designed cross-state bike routes for the state Department of Transportation, and bike paths along the river drives and on city streets.

After earning a bachelor's in electrical engineering in 1973 from the University of Pennsylvania, Mr. Jordan pedaled solo across the United States three times and through 21 countries, including Uganda, Ethiopia and Senegal. Along the way, he spread the word about bicyclists' rights, safety, pollution, health, maps, crime, energy demands and road design.

Mr. Jordan was an early and active board member of the Bicycle Coalition of Philadelphia and numerous other biking organizations. In 1984, he wrote "Bicycling, Transportation and Energy: Handbook for Planners," one of dozens of such publications he wrote. He was on the pedestrian committee of the National Academy of Science's Transportation Research Board.

"Gihon knew the dangers and joys of riding a bike in the city. He was a safe biker, always wore a helmet. He had a road bicycle which he kept in good repair," she said. "He rode in the rain and at night."

PG County plans to get better

Prince George's County is working on a Master Transportation Plan. According to the Gazette

Prince George's County residents will have more walking, biking and public transit options, according to the latest transportation master plan.

Drafts propose altering and reworking roads to include bike lanes and sidewalks

The plan has three elements of which one is the bikeways/trails element - last updated in 1975

Bikeway/Trails Element that updates the 1975 Countywide Trails Plan and 1985 Equestrian Addendum to the Countywide Trails Plan.

The Bikeway/Trails Element has an important role to play in supporting the General Plan’s development pattern:

1. In areas of mixed-use development, the provision of well-designed non-motorized facilities offers the opportunity to reduce automobile use for short trips.

2. In residential and commercial areas adjacent to transit stops, the provision of well-designed non-motorized facilities offers the opportunity to reduce automobile use for longer trips.

3. Facilities leading to schools provide alternatives to school bus and automobile access for short trips.

4. Facilities leading to parks and recreation areas provide an alternative to automobile access in these areas as well as opportunities for outdoor recreation during travel.

It's pretty far along - odd that this is the first I remember hearing about it. The Draft Prliminary version came out this past spring. The trail map looks good, with a continued Suitland Parkway and Henson Creek Trail, Cabin Branch Trail, a Chesapeake Beach Rail Trail and even a trail along part of the BW Parkway (north of Greenbelt) but sadly no DC to Woodrow Wilson connector. I couldn't find the actual document online.

PG County needs some serious improvements. there are several cases where DDOT would like to work on a trail but it really needs the PG side to be worth it, so they don't. I hope PG County has some follow through.

Semi-Famous Bike Commuter Interview #2 - David Bono

Surely by now, most of you know about the Robert Novak hit-and-run story. A brief recap just in case.

Syndicated columnist Robert D. Novak was cited by police after he hit a pedestrian with his black Corvette in downtown Washington, D.C., on Wednesday morning.

Novak said he was a block away from 18th and K streets Northwest, where the accident occurred, when a bicyclist stopped him and said he had hit someone. He said he was cited for failing to yield the right of way.

The bicyclist was David Bono, a partner at Harkins Cunningham, who was on his usual bike commute to work at 1700 K St. N.W. when he witnessed the accident.

Novak, who was on his way to work when the incident occurred, said the bicyclist was "shouting at me that I couldn't just hit people and drive away. But I didn't know I'd hit him. I really didn't have any idea it happened until they flagged me down and told me."

Asked whether he believed Novak's account of not seeing the pedestrian, bicyclist David A. Bono said, "No, I would not believe that."

Bono said that the pedestrian, who was crossing the street on a "Walk" signal and was in the crosswalk, rolled off the windshield and that Novak then made a right into the service lane of K Street.

For his part in the incident, Novak was given a whopping $50 citation. The victim went to the hospital complaining of pain in his arm, but no visible injuries.

The whole story seemed to be fodder for some well deserved hilarity...

But then the story got serious really fast.

Chicago Sun-Times columnist Robert Novak said today he has been diagnosed with a brain tumo. The diagnosis was sudden. Novak became ill Sunday during a family outing near Cape Cod, Mass. A family member called 911, and he was brought by ambulance to Brigham and Women's Hospital, where the diagnosis was made.

There's no way to know if or how much the tumor played a part in the hit and run, but it removes all the schadenfreude from the story - especially as it turned more desperate

Robert Novak has announced his immediate retirement following the diagnosis of a brain tumor, a prognosis the Sun-Times' political columnist describes as "dire."

Despite this, I recently took the opportunity to interview David Bono, WABA board member and the cyclist who chased Novak down. Bono is a Harvard educated lawyer with Harkins Cunningham and has been a bike commuter for years. He rides from his Tenleytown home to his Farragut Square office - by way of the Capitol Crescent Trail because it's too short if he goes straight there.

He rides a "Custom Spectrum made by bike maker Tom Kelly. He doesn't measure you he just looks at you on your bike." But he wasn't riding that bike on that day "I would never have put that bike in front of a car" and was instead riding his beater mountain bike.

David was riding east on K Street, approaching 18th when he saw a black corvette hit a pedestrian and then turn right onto the service lanes on K. Despite what politico reported the pedestrian was not splayed on the windshield but up onto the hood. Nonetheless, David chased him and thanks to DC morning rush hour traffic caught Novak at 17th. He claims he felt "more like Ponch from CHiPs" than Starsky or Hutch. it sounds more fitting.

He put his bike in front of the car and told someone to call 911. Novak kept trying to get around him unaware of why he was blocked in and then finally called him over. I asked David if he was scared that the guy might just plow into him to get away and he said "only later when I thought about it." Finally a cop showed up. He asked David a few questions but quickly left to deal with the traffic situation. A second officer showed up and Novak told him he didn't know he'd hit anyone. Novak, the officer and the witnesses all walked down to the scene of the accident after Novak parked his car. The officer then began to interview the witnesses right in front of Novak. We both thought that was odd, but neither of us are familiar enough with the process to know if that was the standard operating procedure.David and some of the other witnesses decided to exchange contact info in case it wasn't handled properly.

After everything settled down, David began to hear from a lot of old friends, which was fun - and from some television shows. In addition to the more tabloid-style shows, he was asked to go to New York and be interviewed on "The Colbert Report." He'd never heard of the show. "If you have kids, they'll tell you to go on" the producer said. So he watched an episode and agreed. He was on his way up on the train when they told him they couldn't do the segment. Here's what they did instead. 

Sure he only gets mentioned as "the guy who rode his bike in front of Novak's car" but still that's cool. David wanted to talk about safety and how the District needs to make pedestrian safety more important

"We're a city that invites tourists to come and walk around our downtown. To stroll along among our memorials and museums. People have to look at this event and wonder if that's safe."

Also, David wanted to talk about his Ride Across America team, Cross Country Crohn's

Team Cross Country for Crohn's will compete   in the 2009 Race Across America (RAAM) to raise money and awareness for Crohn's and Colitis research

which is personal to David as his fiancee struggles with Crohn's.  "I was hoping the team would get the Colbert Bump" he said. That would have been great and better than any WashCycle Bump - or is it? I think it's pretty clear that the WashCycle has more balls than the Colbert Report, wouldn't you agree David?

"I'm a lawyer, perhaps I shouldn't answer that."

Bike DC: Transportation without Toxification

Fresh off the heels of WAGBRAD - write-up to come - we get news that Bike DC is official. Registration is now open.

Bike DC is a noncompetitive, community bike ride through 17 car-free miles of Washington, DC. The route is designed to be enjoyed by experienced riders, novices and families. So that participants may fully appreciate the adventure of cycling on car free city streets, Bike DC is a ride, not a race.

The ride will start at Freedom Plaza go to Twin Oaks

The government of Taiwan has graciously allowed us to visit the 18-acre grounds of the Twin Oaks Estate. The Georgian Revival mansion was built by Gardiner Greene Hubbard, founder of the National Geographic Society, and once was home to Alexander Graham Bell.

Fly by Wire Biking

The future is awesome.

Japanese parts manufacturer Shimano is launching an electronic shifting system for high-end road bikes that it claims will vastly improve performance and reduce maintenance. By replacing the conventional levers that pull wound-steel cables through protective housings with solid-state switches and rubber-coated wires, there's no chance for road gunk to clog things up and interfere with shifting, or, for that matter, your post-ride beer.

The derailleurs, whose job is to move the chain from gear to gear as you shift, talk to each other and automatically adjust so the chain doesn't rub. They also calibrate themselves, so you don't have to play with cable tension to maintain shift quality as cables stretch and the chain and cogs wear. And although the control buttons have been placed in the traditional location behind the brake levers -- so as not to confuse anyone or overly tax that mental overhead -- they could be integrated with the ends of time-trial bars, the top of the handlebars or just about anywhere a rider might find convenient.

The derailleurs talk to one another? I hope it isn't about me. Can wi-fi be far behind?