TheWashCycle

To Improve America’s Bike Culture, Lead by Example

Guest editorial by Andrew Fichter

 

As a cyclist, it is easy to be proud of the choice to ride a bike, but it isn’t always as appealing to be an advocate for safe and responsible riding. Instilling an equal level of pride for responsible behavior could help to make cycling an increasingly accepted mode of transport, while enhancing the perception of cyclists held by those who share the roads and intersections with cyclists.

 

I've been an avid bicycle commuter for about seven years. Throughout that time, I have gradually transformed my approach to cycling. At the onset of my bike commuting days, I would regularly make questionable decisions that directly impacted my safety. I would ride while wearing headphones or I would travel the wrong way down one-way streets. I didn’t do these things wth a chip on my shoulder or to prove a point. I did them primarily out of convenience. It was the preferable approach to meet my immediate needs: get from point A to point B efficiently, while enjoying the process as much as possible.

 

Throughout my years of cycling, I became increasingly comfortable and confident navigating challenging traffic conditions within urban environments. This was both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, it was completely liberating and thrilling. I looked forward to the fun of meandering crowded city streets on my bike every day. On the other hand, as my comfort zone expanded and my confidence grew, it became easier to make aggressive and safety-compromising decisions in the heat of the moment — all in the name of efficiency and convenience.

 

There’s no denying the tension that exists on the road between bikes & cars, bikes & pedestrians, and cars & pedestrians. It is dangerously easy to create a potentially fatal outcome if this tension gets the best of us, or if competing elements are underestimated. Regardless of our mode of transport on any given day, the most important question of all seems to fall by the wayside when making emotional decisions: Is it worth the risk?

 

The Accident

On the morning of October 20, 2015, I personally became an example of the disastrous outcomes that a split-second decision can make. I was enjoying a beautiful fall morning on my routine commute to work. As I approached a green light at the base of a hill, an oncoming car drifted into the intersection to turn left. I saw the car, and based on the the tentative approach being made, I thought the driver of the car saw me. 

 

Given my proximity to the center of the intersection, I had a maximum of two seconds to make a decision: proceed or stop. Given that I had right-of-way coming straight, and my instant deduction that the driver saw me, I made the snap judgement to proceed. As soon as I made this decision, I came to the harsh realization that the car did not see me (or simply did not care that I was there). The driver proceeded as if I didn’t exist.

 

I quickly swerved out of the way, slamming on my brakes and flying headfirst over my handlebars. Miraculously, I avoided any contact with the car. The last thought I had before flying off my bike and through the air was “I’m getting hit”.

 

I broke my fall with both arms, fracturing my left elbow and right wrist in the process. The car proceeded to drive away, leaving my bike and I laying in the middle of a busy intersection at rush hour. 

 

There’s no question that I had right-of-way, that the driver of the car was in the wrong, and that some people (the driver of the car being one of them) are awful. None of these things are really the focus of what I’m writing about today, though. The accident itself left me to re-evaluate decisions I made not only on October 20th, but on many days leading up to it.

 

The Selfish Nature of Being In Motion

Cyclists possess a potentially dangerous combination of speed and reduced mass. We can move relatively fast while taking up very little space. At the same time, having to build momentum from a hard stop vastly reduces the efficiency of cycling. Taking into consideration speed, reduced mass, and strong preference to keep moving, it is easy to fathom situations where cyclists can take aggressive risks while overestimating the impaired visibility that our reduced mass imposes on those within immediate proximity.

 

This is exactly the sort of risk I took on the morning of October 20th. While I was not in the wrong on the day of my accident, I’m willing to admit that I’ve used the factors mentioned above to the detriment of those around me many times before. A constant in making these risky decisions was always an underlying assumption that anyone who needed to see me, should and did see me.

 

If a car was pulling out of a parallel spot into the bike lane, I assumed the driver would see me and wait. If a pedestrian was attempting to cross the street in front of me, I would assume they saw me coming and would wait. I had many close calls as a result of my decision to keep moving and the assumption that others always knew I was there. I routinely made decisions that sacrificed my safety (and the safety of those around me) in the name of sustained movement.

 

This desire to keep moving and to arrive at a destination as quickly as possible is not unique to cyclists. This is an inherent trait of anyone in transit. If you don’t believe me, try standing on the left side of any escalator in the DC metro area during rush hour. As cyclists, though, the risks borne of a desire to keep moving can be disproportionally consequential. In the competition between a bike and a car, I don’t like the bike’s odds.

 

Pre-Meditate Safe Behavior

As conditions for cyclists in urban areas (especially in DC) continue to improve, there is still a ton of progress to be made. In the mean time, there is ample of opportunity for cyclists to embrace an increased awareness of the insufficient conditions we are presented with - and to do our part to make the transition to a safer culture smoother for everyone.

 

It starts with pre-meditating safe and conservative behavior before even setting feet on the pedals - each and every time. For me, this was a struggle more often than not. There were countless days that I arrived at my destination frustrated for making a questionable decision or potentially putting myself and others in harm’s way. This frustration would transition with me into the other tasks and activities of my day. That’s no way to live, is it? 

 

It’s easy to allow the selfish nature of being in motion to take hold, and it can be compounded by the lack of respect we, as cyclists, receive while sharing the road with drivers and pedestrians. There were many occasions where I felt a chip on my shoulder as a result of this lack of respect. This leads to rash and aggressive decisions that, at the end of the day, only put myself in more danger.

 

Over time, I became better at taking a few moments to transition into a safe and unselfish state of mind before hopping on the bike. On days I was able to do this, I found my cycling experience to be consistently positive and enjoyable. On days I struggled, I found the complete opposite.

 

Look To Other Cultures

Ever since learning of Copenhagen's ubiquitous bicycle culture through the documentary Urbanized, I was obsessed with visiting the city. In 2012, I made the trip.

 

In Copenhagen, half of the population commutes via bicycle, and there are more bikes than people (source: denmark.dk). To make the most of my experience, I did what any logical tourist would do: spend a significant amount of my time there exploring the city on a bike. As I gained first-hand experience with life on a bike in Denmark, it was easy to see some of the vast contrasts with cycling culture in the United States.

 

By nature of the sheer number of people riding bikes through the city, the etiquette and behavior is much more formalized. Other cyclists consistently signal, and the ebb and flow of bike traffic is almost an afterthought. 

 

Our culture could learn a thing or two from this. We are always so pressed to get to our next location and task, that our safety takes a back seat to speed and efficiency. Biking works so well in Copenhagen because of the density and mutual respect cyclists have for those sharing space with them. As both a cyclist and a pedestrian in DC, I witness examples each and every day where mutual respect falls by the wayside. I am no exception to this myself. We can all improve with a little more pre-meditated behaviors and a more humbled mentality to being on a bike to begin with.

 

Final Thoughts

Lots of progress still needs to be made in DC (and the United States in general), to build safe bicycling infrastructure and further ingrain cycling into our culture. There is no doubt that a paradigm shift in public perception is needed to enable more widespread understanding and expectations regarding the existence of bikes and shared public space. With this macro cultural shift will come a micro shift within the cycling community, as cyclists adjust to sharing spaces with more users. In the mean time, individual cyclists can view the current state of affairs as a mandate to help change this perception through taking pride in not just being on a bike, but in being as safe and considerate as possible. A widespread mentality of safe biking habits will further unite the cycling community, while slowly helping to change the perception of those we share space with. Everyone will benefit. 

Bills in 2016 Maryland session could make cycling safer and easier

Lifted from WABA

HB 214: Three foot passing law amendment—Currently, Maryland has a law requiring motorists to pass bicycles with at least three feet. However, under the “narrow lane” exception to this law, drivers do not have to pass with three feet where the lane is less than 14 feet wide. Most of the lanes in Maryland on which a person would want to ride a bicycle are narrower than 14 feet, making the protections of the law close to meaningless.  This bill would remove the narrow lane exception from the three foot law, so that vehicles have to give three feet when passing on all roads. Of the 28 states that have three foot passing laws, Maryland is the only one with this self-defeating exception.

HB 426: Repealing the mandatory use of bicycle infrastructure—Maryland law currently requires a person on a bicycle to use a bike lane if one is available, instead of riding in traffic lanes. This may have been a reasonable law ten years ago, but it does not make sense today, given the wide variety of skill and comfort level of people who bike, and the new types of protected infrastructure being built.  For example A 30 mph paceline should be on the roadway, not the protected bike lanes that are often used by slower moving commuters.  Protected bicycling infrastructure is a wonderful amenity that encourages folks to ride who might not feel safe doing so otherwise, but it is not for everyone. Marylanders should have a right to use their own best judgement in choosing the routes that are most appropriate for their style of riding.

SB 302/HB 864: Punitive Damages for Aggressive Drunk Driving— This bill creates a cause of action for the victim of drunk driving or her family to sue for punitive damages, something current case law precludes. Over the past five years, there were approximately 325,000 violations of driving under the influence of alcohol, 59 of which were vehicular homicide while under the influence. Victims and their families deserve the right to seek compensation for the harm they suffer when drivers make the decision to drive drunk.

OTTO Bike tuning tool

I got a free sample of the OTTO tuning system a few months ago and I finally got around to trying it out. In short, it's pretty cool but it's not really for me - and thus I can't speak for how well it works.

The tool involves two hard plastic gauges and a phone app. Set-up, what little there is, takes only a few minutes and then you're quickly using it. I got through the check portion rather quickly - though holding the camera to see the targets can be a bit frustrating as the app tries to see them just right and keeps telling you to "Show me the targets." [I'm trying to!] But for me, the part where I try to make the adjustments quickly got intimidating - even with all the videos and support. When I made the first adjustment it told me it didn't see anything happen and told me to do a more complicated adjustment. I don't do a lot of repairs and tuning, so when it told me to prepare to dis-assemble my barrel nut (or whatever) I balked. Which probably explains why I kept putting off trying it for so long.

But having a tool that can guide you toward a precision adjustment - and work as a second opinion on the correct settings - could be a great aide to someone more comfortable with such work. And the mathematics of how it works is pretty fascinating. 

So, if you're a little more used to adjusting your drive train and more comfortable with this kind of work, I could see the OTTO being a great tool (assuming that it works) but it may not be for idiots like me. I may not be able to give it to someone else, because the app requires a unique code, but if you'd like to try it - and let us know if it works, email me at [email protected] and I'll try to get it to you.

DDOT takes first steps toward Hopscotch Bridge replacement.

DDOT released a Request for Qualifications for consulting services for the Design/Build of the replacement of the Hopscotch Bridge (aka H Street, NE Bridge over the railroad tracks north of Union Station), which likely means they are getting closer to actually replacing it. The inclusion of bicycle-relevant requirements give reason to hope for a bike-friendly design.

The civil design shall be performed according to the provision of pedestrian and bicycle access

The design work is to be completed in accordance with current design practices and requirements of the NACTO - Urban Bikeway Design Guide, Second Edition and the AASHTO Guide for Development of Bicycle Facilities, 4th Edition

Data collection will include peak hour intersection bicycle and pedestrian counts.

Etc...

I don't have reason to bike over it very often, though I bike under it quite a lot, so I don't have strong feelings on the bridge itself. But, in addition to thinking about how E-W cyclists should use this facility, it would be great if they could create quicker connection between the bridge and the Metropolitan Branch Trail both at 1st and 2nd St NE. I just recently used the new staircase from the bridge down to 2nd Street - which was useful for getting to the CaBi station there - and I don't recall if it had a bike trough or not, but even stairs like that can help.

Arlignton to host Snow Forum on Feb 24

Arlington County will host a snow forum from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Wednesday, February 24, 2016 at Francis Scott Key Elementary School 2300 Key Blvd. Arlington, VA 22201. 

The public is invited to share their experiences during and after the blizzard with County Board Members, the County Manager and senior County staff, and to offer suggestions on how to improve our efforts to quickly recover from these large-scale events. The discussion also will examine the challenges of responding to short but potentially dangerous events such as the evening rush hour snow-and-ice event on Wednesday, January 20, that coated many County streets with a thin layer of ice and snarled traffic.

“We’re asking people to tell us about their experiences during and after Snowzilla, and to offer suggestions for how we can improve our efforts to quickly recover from snow and ice events,” said Arlington County Manager Mark Schwartz.

Before the event, or if you cannot attend, please take a few minutes to fill out our online Snow Survey. We plan to share the survey results at the forum and post them online afterward. The survey is open through February 19.

This is a great opportunity to talk about how bike facilities were handled.

Hatem Bridge to open to cyclists, closing gap in East Coast Greenway

This is good news

Like all Maryland toll facilities, the Thomas J. Hatem Memorial Bridge between Perryville and Havre de Grace has long prohibited cyclists. State officials said they were responding to bicyclists’ complaints that their lack of access to the Hatem Bridge, in particular, interfered with using Maryland’s section of the East Coast Greenway and the September 11th National Memorial Trail that connects memorial sites at the Pentagon and in New York City. The bridge now has signs telling bicyclists to call a taxi if they want to cross.

Because the bridge has no shoulders, cyclists will have to share the right travel lanes with vehicles. State officials said they are still working out details about tolling rates, safety signage, and any restrictions.

I hope they do keep a token toll for cyclist (a nickle or something) just as a counterpoint to the "cyclists don't pay anything" argument. Of course an even better development would involve a bike/ped crossing built as part of the replacement Amtrak bridge. Or maybe they could build a new facility on the old abutments next to the current railroad bridge.

Bay Bridge next?

Sparks said the authority isn’t considering allowing cyclists to use any other Maryland toll facilities because state law prohibits riding a bike on any road where the posted speed limit is above 50 mph. With a posted speed limit of 45 mph, Sparks said, the Hatem Bridge is the only toll facility with a speed limit below 50 mph.

Awww....No fair.

Crosstown Traffic, And I'm tryin' to get on the other side of town

DDOT hosted the first meeting of the Crosstown Multimodal Traffic Study earlier this week. The presentation and boards are all available at the project website. There's not much in the way of breathtaking images or data here, beyond some existing conditions.

The Vision Zero Board shows a lot of the crowd-sourced information, including the areas where cyclists have issues. There's no explanation on the board for each of these, but I agree with what I see. Irving and Michigan are terrible near the hospital. I think the info is pulled from the interactive map.

The existing facilities map drives how just how few bike facilities there are in this area.

The next meeting is scheduled for April.  

Apex Building site - 16' wide Capital Crescent Trail and 10k sq.ft. of bike parking beneath

The sketch plan for the Apex Building/Purple Line Station site has been completed and county staff are recommending that it be approved on Thursday, which will allow for development of the preliminary plan. This plan includes some details and ideas about what the section of the Capital Crescent Trail through the site will be like.

The Apex building currently sits above the Air Rights Tunnel in Bethesda, through which the CCT currently passes. The original plan for the Purple Line had been for it to share that tunnel with the CCT, but when engineers looked at it, they realized that there wouldn't be room for both, so it looked like the trail would be forced out of the tunnel. The county approached the owners of the Apex Building about possibly redeveloping the site - allowing for construction of a better/cheaper Purple Line station with a full CCT - in exchange for some development rights, and long story short the owners are making plans to do that now.

The Montgomery County staff had comments on the sketch plan, some of which relate to the CCT. One of the main criticisms is about the alignment of the trail which isn't straight enough for them. I believe you can see what they're talking about in the image below where it makes a small s-curve under the gray area between the Residential Lobby/Amenity and the Office Lobby.

If that is the trail, then it looks like it will be a separate tunnel (which the language supports too) and that it will diverge significantly south on the east side.

They add that the preliminary plan should include a trail that is at a minimum of 16 feet wide and

• Coordinate a smooth transition to the trail at the western property line
• Show the future eastern limits of the tunnel under Wisconsin (to the eastern ROW line on MD 355)
• Consider an art component in tunnel
• Work to minimize vertical change for the Capital Crescent Trail.

Elsewhere they state that "Bicycle access to the site will be via the CCT running through a lower level of the building, with access to Georgetown and Silver Spring.  The Sector Plan recommends the construction of a 10,000 square foot bicycle storage facility in the building next to the trail." I take that to mean that cyclists could pull off the trail, park in the facility and access the building from beneath, which would be awesome. 

I'd like to see the design include the use of some kind of sun tunnel-like devices that could bring natural light into the tunnel, but that is admittedly a pipe dream (see what I did there). And the more I think about it, the more I'd like to see the tunnel continue under Woodmont and Bethesda Avenues to connect to the current CCT. I realize how hard that would be, and it would need an access to Woodmont for people wanting to go to destinations there, but at the very minimum they could set up a break-out wall or something that would avoid precluding it in the future.

Arlington's Pershing Drive as a Complete Street

Last summer, the Arlington Division of Transportation began to study N. Pershing Drive between N. Barton and N. Piedmont Streets in order to develop a preliminary concept plan for the Pershing Drive Complete Streets Project, which they have since developed and are accepting comments on. 

The project consists of installing high priority spot improvements along N. Pershing Drive from N. Barton – N. Piedmont Streets to improve safety for all street users.

The project has several elements that should lead to a better pedestrian experience and even add traffic calming, but from a cycling standpoint it is basically limited to sharrows (which is not nothing, but it's not protected bike lanes either. Below is the typical changes proposed at each intersection.

(though I prefer the other alternative to this one in which the weird stub road on the NE side is made into greenspace)

An exception is that on the Cleveland to Danville section. It currently has bike lanes (as does the Barton to Cleveland section), and those would remain with more solid lines in places where they are currently dashed. 

I can count on one hands the number of times I've been on Pershing and probably not in years, so I can't really weigh in. Perhaps, as some suggest, a bicycle boulevard on 5th makes more sense - especially when coupled with an improved Arlington Boulevard Trail. I see these proposals as an improvement, even if only a small one. 

You can sit your comments at the county's website.

Eastern Dowtown Protected Bike Lane meeting do-over much less contentious

On Saturday, DDOT held a 2nd meeting on the Eastern Downtown Protected Bike Lane Study in which they offered a formal no-build option and had a more controlled meeting than the last. I missed the first half, which consisted of an open house and then a presentation, but I was there in time for the public comments. DDOT brought moderators, had a sign-up for speakers and posted rules which kept it from turning into the raucous meeting that the October one turned into.  You can see the presentation boards from the meeting here, and the media coverage at these links (WAMU, WJLA, NBC4, City Paper, and WTOP). This is, in my opinion, the most important slide showing the impact to be about 10 lost spaces on Sunday.

My thoughts are that, in addition to being a boring (that's good) and civil meeting, this was a demonstration of strong and wide-ranging support for some kind of bike facility here.

I sat next to someone who was counting the pro vs. con comments and it was running strongly in favor or Pro. Perhaps 2-1 or 3-1. To be fair, it appears that many of the people who supported the Con side chose not to speak - perhaps choosing to allow the church leadership to speak for them, so that's not necessarily indicative of the crowd's opinion. Nor is the crowd's opinion indicative of public opinion - being able to organize better means that you win a lot, but it doesn't necessarily mean that you should. I believe that everyone opposed to the bike lanes were somehow affiliated with one off the neighborhood churches, while those in favor lived in, worked in or biked through the neighborhood. At least a few also went to traditionally African-American churches in the area. 

The speakers from the churches often spoke of their church's history and the contributions they made to the neighborhood before jumping to a statement about how they would not allow their church to be destroyed. Usually they skipped the step about how the bike lanes would do that. At least one person did mention that the parking made it possible for elderly suburban members to continue to go to a church that was in their community - even if it wasn't in their neighborhood. The most memorable line, based on the response (both pro and con) and the media coverage, was from UHOP's Apostle Robert Price who said that "We're not going to let someone's pastime destroy our lifeline." Many people pointed out that biking was not a pastime for them, and that safe roads were as much a lifeline as convenient parking. Price also argued that they were not going to give up what they had for the convenience of others, which several speakers pushed back on as well. William Lamar IV, pastor at the Metropolitan AME Church was the only person to speak specifically of gentrification and how "the city is being made over for the convenience of newcomers." Another opponent claimed that there was no problem with bike crashes until the city started building bike lanes "go ride in the parks"  she said "that's what they're there for." UHOP recommended the no-build option.

Those in favor of bike lanes tended to speak more about safety and the benefits of cycling. One woman in support of the bike lanes pointed out that her church lost parking when the nearby Convention Center was built, but that they were still there and that they weren't going anywhere. Many talked about how they biked because it was the only form of transportation they could afford. People told stories of crashes or near misses.

In general, I think that the meeting showed that support of the protected bike lanes is pretty broad while the opposition comes almost exclusively from a handful (perhaps 2-4) of churches, and perhaps not even a majority of predominantly African-American churches in Shaw. It remains to be seen which side made the more compelling argument.