March 2009 DC BAC Notes

These are my actual notes, not the official minutes.

The BAC testified before the city council and requested money for a web site. CM Graham asked the BAC to write the mayor and ask him for two things

a) to protect $500k set aside for meeting the goals in the bicycle master plan - it was originally $1.5M but was cut to cover budget deficits. It could be cut again. 

b) that he issue regulations for bicycle parking under the Bicycle Commuter and Parking Expansion Act of 2007. That law requires a study of government buildings and facilities as well as rules "to amend the existing DC Municipal Regulations to include a requirement for bicycle parking spaces for residential buildings with eight (8) or more units." He had 90 days to do it and hasn't done either yet. It passed in 2007.

In the meantime, enforcement of the law that requires 1 bike parking space for every 20 car spaces is triggered by request only. In other words if someone complains to DDOT or the District Council, then an inspector will be sent out to enforce it. Also, the office of Planning directed people not to enforce the law on buildings built before 1987. Not sure why, since the law does not explicitly grandfather anyone in.

If you live in a building which doesn't meet the current 5% standard, contact DDOT and your Council Members.

1. The Legislative Affairs and Safety, Education and Enforcement Committees held a joint meeting.

a. They discussed CM Grahams proposal of setting up DDOT traffic enforcement teams to begin enforcement on cyclists. These enforcement officers would not just ticket cyclists, but any traffic violations (so I'm not sure why he specifically wanted the BAC to agree). Presently they can ticket non-moving violations, but by summer they'll be trained to do moving violation too. Some conditions were discussed such as allowing for the set-up of an area where the Idaho Stop would be allowed, and/or a diversion program whereby ticketed cyclists could have their tickets waived if they completed a confident city cyclist class. [I wouldn't mind letting drivers and pedestrians waive their tickets if they took CCC classes as well].

b. There was a lengthy discussion on tort liability laws. Some BAC members met with CM Wells who supports the change from Contributory Negligence to Comparative Negligence and asked for a draft. The BAC wrote a version based on Colorado's law. Right now if you are deemed as little as 1% responsible for an accident, you can't get the other party to pay any of your damages. Under the draft proposal as long as you're less than 50% responsible the other party has to pay their share. So, for example, if you're 20% responsible, they would pay 80% of your costs.  This would also remove the doctrine of "Last Clear Chance"  The LA committee submitted the draft, which protected Joint and Several liability (the ability to go after "deep pockets" like the owner of the vehicle) at the request of the Trial Lawyer's Association of DC, to the TLA. Their response was something to the effect of "We don't want to change the law until cyclists are more responsible."

46 other states have changed to Comparative Negligence. DC, Maryland and Virginia have not. In most states the defense lawyers are the biggest proponents of it (with insurance companies on the other side claiming rates will go up. They don't.) Maryland has come very close in the past to changing their law.  The change in rules goes way beyond cyclists, as cyclists make up a small percentage of those involved in traffic accidents.

If you're not sure where to stand on this, read this article about  (pdf) Joshua Franklin Palomares-Beckles, a 7 year old killed by a drunk driver, going the wrong way but who, by virture of riding his bike in the street, was found to have contributed to his own death and thus the family could not recuperate the medical expenses they collected trying to save his life.

2. The Facilities Committee met and discussed plans to meet with the new Director of the National Capital Region for NPS. They plan to discuss bike parking, trail connectivity, trail improvements, etc...

NPS has started work on the Environmental Impact Statement for the next section of the Rock Creek Park Trail to be rebuilt (north of P street). NPS is agreeing to widen the trail where possible.

CM Wells is interested in creating bike lanes or a cycletrack on M Street SE/SW, possibly in conjunction with dedicated bus lanes.

The downtown BID has requested that the bike/bus lanes downtown be removed as they aren't working. Better designed lanes should be put in their place.

3. DDOT updates:

The bike station is to be done by June.

DDOT has funding for 40 more SmartBike kiosks and 400 bikes. They're working to locate the operations funding they'll need for the expansion.  Stations will stretch from Historic Anacostia to Wisconsin Avenue and as far north as American University according to the map the Office of Planning has put together. Perhaps they should team up with a health care company like Kaiser Permanente. That's what Sao Paulo did.

DDOT has removed the substandard bike parking inside the DCUSA parking garage and sent it back to the manufacturer and is adding their own, good one. They want to put in more bike parking but are finding some local resistance. Some people feel the new bike parking is cluttering the sidewalk. Others want the other street furniture (benches, garbage cans, etc...) they were promised before they allow any more bike parking to go in.

DDOT hopes to have new bike maps by next week - they'll include new bike lanes, Nationals Park bike valet and SmartBike locations.

There's a Danish exhibit on cycling traveling around the world and the organizers want to bring it to DC in the fall. Union Station is a likely location for it. 

4. MPD

It seems the Police don't have as many recovered/confiscated bikes as they used to now that they can't confiscate unregistered bikes. That may have made up as many as 90% of the bikes they had.

Abandoned bikes are handled by DDOT. They go to the Fort Totten Trash Transfer center. The 'good' ones are set aside. If you're interested in getting these (mostly scraps of beaters) you can contact DDOT or Fort Totten. 

Photo by M.V.Jantzen

Comments

[Contrarian]

Their response was something to the effect of "We don't want to change the law until cyclists are more responsible."

I don't quite get who the "they" is in this sentence. Anyway, it's a non-sensical sentiment. Changing the law would only help cyclists who are from 1% to 49% negligent in an accident. Is that not responsible enough? It sounds like thinly veiled anti-cyclist sentiment.

[Washcycle]

"They" are the Trial Lawyer's Association of DC (If my note keeping was correct).