TheWashCycle

Secret Service Police officer(s?) harassing cyclists in Rock Creek Park

Twice in the last 6 weeks I've gotten reports from cyclists about being harassed by a Secret Service police officer, and while I'd like to flatter myself that all people treated such way will immediately write me about it, that's certainly not true, so I wouldn't be surprised if there were more. The first cyclist posted their experience to the bike Arlington forum.

I was biking on Beach Drive (in the part that has a path next to it) in Rock Creek Park at 15 mph. A secret service agent stopped me and told me to get out of the road because I was going below the speed limit.

The SS officer in this case was wrong, but it didn't seem too egregious. I'm working on the assumption that the second incident involves the same officer.

I was riding north on Beach Dr. Behind me I heard sirens and saw an unmarked car with lights flashing.  For reference traffic was very light, I was riding solo and not holding anyone up. The officer screams at me to get off the road which I tell him I will (thinking he means at a safe street crossing), he then screams profanity and pulls in front of me forcing me to jump into the dirt. 

The unmarked car, followed by two uniformed division secret service cars then pulled over and the second car stopped traffic in the southbound lanes to "escort" the cyclist onto the bike path on the other side of beach drive. 

He then screams at me for "riding a f-ing bike in the f-ing road" and I think tries to escalate the situation by continuing to use profanity and a raised voice.  After it is clear that he has no reason to detain me, the officer in the second car stops both sides of traffic and tells me I have to use the "bike path"

He was told to never ride in the road again. I'll note, they weren't responding to some other crime. The lights and sirens were for the cyclist.

In neither case has the officer been identified, though in the second he drove a dark blue unmarked sedan, had dark hair and a beard and was about 5'9  and about 250 lbs. If you have a similar experience, do as you're told (no reason to escalate things with someone with a gun) but try to get a license plate, a name or a badge number. The particularly bold among you could politely ask the officer to write them a ticket (I personally wouldn't though).

Cyclists, of course, have every right to ride on Beach Drive and the speed limit is a maximum, not a minimum. Nor do I think it is the job of the Secret Service to keep traffic flowing in Rock Creek Park. I suspect the Secret Service - which is not having the best year ever -  would be eager to bring this individual (if it is just one person) back into line. 

Everything is safer than cycling

The claim that youth football is safer than cycling is being promoted again - this time by an NFL team doctor (totally unbiased I'm sure).

Pittsburge Steeleers doctor Joseph Maroon said "It's much more dangerous riding a bike... than playing youth football."

I'd like to see the data he's basing that on. According to the Huffington Post, he's basing it on the same study that others have to make these false claims.  They have an expert who makes the same point I do below...it's not a comparison of rates.

The most likely reason that more 5-9-year-old boys go to the ED with brain injuries resulting from bike accidents is that far more boys ride bikes than play football.

These kind of claims have been made before. A Centreville High School coach tried to make the same claim in 2013, when I wrote

"Haddock said the highest rate of concussions in youth sports occurs in girls soccer, and the highest rate of concussions in the United States stems from bike accidents." He's talking about NUMBERS, not rates and not at the high school level. Either way, it's deceptive to try and cast football as less of a concussion risk than cycling. The numbers are higher because far more people participate in those sports.Concussion rates for football are the highest in all high school sports. I'm unaware of any data on concussion rates for cycling, but I'd be stunned if they're higher for cycling than for football.  While there are twice as many bike-related concussions per year than in football, there are far fewer people playing football than biking (for starters, almost no women play). 

And at the same time, 

Speaking of failing to consider the denominator. Here's someone arguing that Mixed Martial Arts fighting is safer than cycling because more people die while cycling. He also fails to consider the benefits of cycling - everything looks bad when you only consider the costs [Thousands of people contract sexually transmitted diseases each year? Well, I guess it's cold showers for me from now on.] "Is it all so simple that we can just ignore the hard numbers behind these two activities and two data sets?" he asks. Apparantly, it is.  By his logic it's safer to play Russian roulette than bike, because fewer people die doing it. [I don't have an opinion on MMA and whether it should be legal or not, but casting Citibike as dangerous or biking as more dangerous than fighting, without using all relevant data is bad form]. 

 

 

Fifth Annual Metropolitan Branch Trail 5K on May 2, 2015

More information here.

Save the date for Saturday, May 2, 2015, to join the 5th Annual Metropolitan Branch Trail 5K Walk/Run. Race time is 9:00 a.m. The race course will remain along the off-road trail between NoMa and Brookland; however, the location of the start/finish has moved to the trail entrance at the Rhode Island Avenue Shopping Center and the new pedestrian bridge at the Rhode Island Avenue Metro Station. Join your Northeast DC neighbors and Metro area runners for this annual tradition near historic communities and new urban amenities. We welcome the support of sponsor, NoMa BID. The race is powered by the DC Road Runners Club and organized by local volunteers. Free registration for runners under 18. Register now at www.gometbranch.com to run, volunteer, or sponsor the event. See you on the trail!

Speak up for bicycle funding in Arlington

There are several important events coming up dealing with deliberations on Arlington's budget which present opportunities for advocates to speak out against possible cuts to the bicycle and pedestrian programs. 

Tonight from 6:30-8:30pm there are hearings from commissions. 

On March 24th there is a work session on the Department of Environmental Services, including the Stormwater Fund, General Fund, Utilities Fund, Auto Fund, Printing Fund, Ballston Garage Funds, followed that evening by a hearing on the budget.

On 4/7 there's a work session on Capital Funding including Pay-As-You-Go-Capital, Transportation Capital Fund, Metro, Tax Increment Financing Areas, Debt Service

On 4/9  There is a "wrap up” session with "Board direction to staff on remaining decision making information, written questions due from County Board by COB.

On 4/16 there's a final budget decisions and on 4/18 budget adoption.

Drivers who kill people on bikes often don't get prosecuted

Since 1971, there have been 109 fatal bicycle crashes in the DC region. Authorities rarely prosecute the drivers, and when they do, punishments aren't very harsh.

You can read the rest of this at GreaterGreaterWashington.

Commuter Parity Act of 2015, a partial fix to issues with the commuter benefits

Once again a bipartisan group of Congress members have introduced a bill to address some of the unfairness and, more importantly, poor policy implications of the current federal commuter benefit program. Namely:

• Cyclists can only exclude $20 a month, but transit users and drivers can exclude $130 and $250 respectively
• You can combine the transit and parking benefits, but you can't take advantage of both the transit/parking benefit and the bicycle benefit in the same month.
• Unlike transit benefits, an employee using the bicycle benefit cannot choose to reimburse themselves with pre-tax income, the reimbursement must be paid by the employer.
• You  can not use the bicycle benefit to pay for bike sharing.

This law would only fix the last of these, but it would raise the maximum for bike commuting from $20 to $35. Same as the 2013 bill that was introduced by former Congressman Grimm (Rep. King of NY introduced this one) This is not all that bike advocates would want, but it is better than the status quo. None of the Washington area delegation has signed on to this bill, despite the transit increase from $130 to $235 being a huge benefit to DC area commuters, though most did co-sponsor the 2013 one. 

The 2013 bill didn't really get anywhere, I'm not that hopeful that this one will fare any better. 

Outdoor classroom 3 at southern end of Kingman Island Trail

Outdoor classroom 2 along Kingman Island trail

Outdoor classroom along the Kingman Island Trail

These opened in 2012, but I just got around to visiting them.

H street bike parking dearth

Locking your bike to a tree is illegal and bad for the trees. But there is such a shortage of bike parking on h street, that DDOT shares some of the blame here.