Wednesday Morning Commute - Remedial

Good morning

• Bike lanes were added to Shady Grove Road from Interstate 270 to Darnestown Road and to Forest Glen Road from Maryland Route 97 to Brunett Avenue as part of Montgomery County's repaving projects. They also improved the pedestrian crossing of Forest Glen at Sligo Creek. 
• Work will soon begin on a Columbia Pike improvement project. This work, separate from the Streetcar work, will add bike racks and wider sidewalks. 
• Midtown Manhattan is now requiring some cyclists who receive tickets to take a remedial cycling class. "It comes amid broad agreement among bike advocates and the Transportation Department that compelling riders to obey traffic signals, go with traffic and stay off the sidewalk is critical to improving the image of cycling and ensuring the long-term health of New York City’s expanding bicycle network....The two most common offenses have been riding on the sidewalk and not using the bicycle lane." 
  • More serious offences are merely ticketed, but these lessor offenses require a day of class-work plus a day of community service. So that's pretty messed up in my opinion. 
  • I used to teach defensive driving when I was in college, and I think the program is very useful, but I liked the way Texas did it better than this. First of all it was optional. You could either pay the ticket in full; or pay a small fee, take the class and have the ticket vacated. Which means that people in the class had chosen it - even if it was under duress (and there were others there just to get their insurance bill reduced). Second of all, I don't even think it should be illegal to ride outside the bike lane, so I really don't support giving it a more onerous punishment. 
  • I've suggested DC do this, but as an optional way to void a ticket. Like I used to tell my defensive driving students - Robert DeNiro still takes acting lessons. And drivers ticketed for bike related violations (even speeding) should be allowed the option too. 
  • I really can not believe that NYC still requires cyclists to use the bike lane when one is present. How do they get to be a Silver Bicycle Friendly Community with that rule?

Comments

[Jim T]

It's not New York city, it's New York State that has the mandatory bike lane rule. Inline skaters have to use the bike/skate lane also, if one is present.

The one possibly-crazy city rule is that drivers are required to right-hook (or left hook) the bike lane when making a right turn, unlike DC and Maryland where you merge into the bike lane before making a turn.

[Jim T]

The obvious question is whether it's a really good class, as WABA might teach, or a mediocre class as what a New Jersey policeman might teach.

The idea of a bicycle safety class is a good idea, but I'd say that it should be offerred/mandated offerred for motor vehicle infractions as well. The average driver who commits a moving violation does not know the bicycle safety rules either.

[Turtleshell]

Maybe in DC we would lower the fines for speed cameras and add community service and class for owners of speeding cars. I'll bet it would reduce speeding dramatically.

[T]

It always fascinates me that WTOP refers to Georgia Ave as "Rt 97." The only folks I ever hear call it Rt. 97 are those driving it from Sunshine and north. Everyone else just says, Georgia.

It's great with the connecting up at Shady Grove Rd down to Darnestown Rd. Will make it much easier to get from the C&O to Gaithersburg-area.

[oboe]

How do cyclists take left turns if they must stay in the bike lane?

[Jonathan Krall]

@oboe, states with mandatory bike-lane-use laws have a set of exceptions, such as left turns or debris in the lane. MD had this law until recently.

[Jim T]

Maryland still has the mandatory bike lane rule (the shoulder rule was repealed in 2010). The exceptions are similar to the exceptions for the as-far-right-as-practicable rule. So as a practical matter, the only difference between Maryland and Virginia is that one who is keeping up with the speed of traffic need not ride in the bike lane in Virginia, whereas in Maryland she still has to ride in the bike lane (unless one of the many exceptions apply).

Michael Jackson has long maintained that the exceptions in Maryland apply whenever a cyclist has any safety-based reason for not riding in the bike lane. Of course, one has to still be alive at trial to articulate that reason.

[contrarian]

How do they get to be a Silver Bicycle Friendly Community with that rule?

Because the BFC criteria are all about process and not outcomes. I'm sure NYC has lots of bicycle coordinators on the payroll and lots of master facilities plans in the vaults. Those are the things that count toward a BFC rating. Whether a community is actually an inviting place to ride your bike doesn't seem to factor in at all.

[just another rider]

I recently found the lanes on Shady Grove Road. While the lanes on Eastbound Shady Grove Road are alright (but stop at the overpass to I-270 where space is limited), the lanes on West-bound Shady Grove road stay on the right side of the road, even to the right of some right-turn only lanes.

i've been meaning to take a snapshot of them but have yet to get to it. Fortunately I don't need to go that way often.

[just another rider]

as for the sidewalk ramps the linked WTOP article talks about, ADA ramps look like collision hazards:
* ramps at the corner are "cutouts" rather than smooth-sided features and
* all of them seem to have the walk light right smack in the middle of the corner.

I can just imagine taking the sidewalk when it gets dark and rainy and running straight into it. How do the wheelchair set maneuver around those things?