Alliance > Media center > People Powered Blog

Entries tagged: Bike Safety

Sadly, those nights of riding home from work or happy hour in the golden evening glow are behind us. For the next several months, the sun will set before quitting time and bicycle commuters will be cruising home on darkened streets.

From Alaska to New York City, many bike-ped advocates are making sure their area cyclists stay safe — and visible.

This week, the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition kicked off its ongoing “Light up the Night” program. Teaming up with the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency and the local police department, the Bay Area organization is giving away 2,400 front white and rear red blinky lights.

“The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition is proud to be a partner in helping promote safe night riding by distributing free bike lights to those who can’t afford or don’t have access to them,” Renée Rivera, Acting Executive Director of the SFBC, said in a press release this week. “Bicycle lights are a key item for safe night riding and we want everyone to use them, especially during the winter months when it gets dark earlier.”

Just the first night of the effort resulted in the distribution of hundreds of lights and bike safety brochures. But the SFBC isn’t advertising where and when its blinky ambassadors will take to the streets. According to the SFBC: “The locations are being kept under wraps in an effort to light up riders who truly need lights.”

Read more here.

According to the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition (LACBC), “LACBC has worked steadily to increase bike safety among low-income cyclists at the Carecen Day Labor center in Macarthur Park. We have distributed over 100 front and rear bike lights, taught 2 bilingual bike safety workshops and will be hosting bilingual bike maintenance workshops in July and August.  We plan to host bike rides and other events for the summer, in the hopes of expanding to another day labor center.

Learn more about City of Lights Program

For more information on LACBC, click here…

MassBike is expanding its bicycling skills classes by popular demand. The new Intro To Bicycling Skills class covers bike-safety principles, bicycling laws, guidelines for riding in traffic, and more. The Basic Bicycling Skills class is designed for adults who want to get back into bicycling, improve cycling skills, learn to ride more effectively and safely in traffic, and/or participate in a large-scale benefit ride. This half-day weekend session provides guided instruction with simple practice drills in a parking lot, easy-paced riding on local roadways for short distances, and group-discussion breaks along the way. Topics covered include bike and helmet fitting, starting and stopping your bike in traffic, shifting gears, scanning and yielding, choosing the correct lane position in the road, handling intersections, and more.

Learn more about MassBike’s safety and education efforts here…

According to Oregon’s Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA), “The BTA and partners launched this summer’s Eye to Eye campaign activities with a press conference and bike bell giveaway on Thursday, June 25, with the theme “Room to Breathe.” As more people take advantage of summer weather to bike and walk, we’re reminding everyone to give each other some extra space on our streets and paths by slowing down when necessary, increasing passing distance, using turn signals, and giving pedestrians and other cyclists an audible signal (like the ring of bike bell!) before passing.” 



For more information on the Eye to Eye PSA video and BTA’s summer calendar of events, click here…

New laws created last year in New Hampshire requiring motorists to keep a 3-foot distance when passing a bicycle are now in effect. The Bike Walk Alliance of New Hampshire (BWA-NH) has created public service announcements promoting the new law which have aired on 28 New Hampshire radio stations. BWA-NH has also participated in several radio talk shows and are selling T-shirts with “3 Feet Please” printed across the front and back. BWA-NH is also promoting the 3-foot law with the DMV via driver education instructors and is working with the NH Police Academy to ensure all the new bicyclist/motorist interaction laws are covered in their training program.

For more information about BWA-NH’s 3-Foot advocacy efforts, click here…

Mayor Hickenlooper announces bicycle infrastructure improvements, bike lanes planned in 11 new locations!

The Mile High City is making it easy to leave your car behind!

(Wednesday, June 24, Denver Public Works Press Release) Mayor John Hickenlooper today joined Deputy Mayor/Public Works Manager Bill Vidal to announce improvements to Denver’s “bikescape” or bicycle infrastructure. The goal of the upgrades is to create a comfortable, connected and safe environment for bicycling throughout Denver.

Denver Public Works will assess the need of every designated bike route in the City for increased signage, bike lanes or sharrows (pavement markings that identify lanes that are shared by both cars and bicycles) in order to create a connected and easily recognized system for residents to enjoy. To accomplish this task, a change in standard operating procedure will be implemented: when street maintenance is being performed on City streets, bike facility improvements will be made as part of this new programmed and proactive approach to increasing citywide bike markings.

This practice will allow an existing designated bike route identified by signage only to possibly be upgraded by adding a bike lane or sharrow if traffic conditions permit. Traffic volume and road width are factors that must be considered when streets with designated bike routes are assessed for bicycle improvements to ensure safety. Integrating these street assessments into Public Works’ existing work plans complements the current proactive process of routinely refreshing all bicycle oriented pavement markings.

“Our goal is to make Denver as bicycle-friendly as possible and make it easier for cyclists to commute,” said Mayor Hickenlooper said. “Improving our bicycle infrastructure is an essential component in motivating people to leave their automobiles behind and instead ride a bike; it’s an affordable, clean and simple way to get around town.” In addition to this pro-active strategy to improve Denver’s bikescape, Federal Stimulus funds in the amount of $250,000 have been dedicated to provide bicycle mobility enhancements throughout Denver. The funds are allowing new bike lane installations at the following 11 locations:

Mariposa Street - 8th Avenue to Colfax Avenue
Larimer Street - Broadway to Downing Street
Champa Street - 19th to 24th Street
Welton Street – Colfax Avenue to 14th Street
Tremont Street - 16th Street to Broadway
Stout Street - 30th Street to Downing Street
31st Avenue - Downing Street to Race Street
Martin Luther Kind Boulevard - Elizabeth Street to Quebec Street
Yale - Syracuse Way to Quebec Street
22nd Avenue - Park Avenue West to York Street
East 12th Avenue - Clayton Street to Madison Street
Public Works will be applying new sharrows to enhance the above installations, as well as applying new sharrows to provide connectivity to, and with, downtown Denver. The special arrow markings alert cars to use caution and allow cyclists to safely travel in these designated lanes.

“Traveling by bicycle is quickly becoming the preferred form of alternative transportation for Denver residents, and to encourage this trend we are committed to implementing new standards for bike routes throughout the City,” said Vidal. “Ongoing bicycle facility and roadway maintenance is essential to improving the safety and accessibility of roads and shared-use paths to bicyclists”

Released late last year, the Strategic Transportation Plan (STP) provides a proactive approach to addressing Denver’s imminent transportation needs with solutions that are consistent with our City’s goal to be multimodal in our approach to solving our transportation challenges. This commitment to bicycle connectivity is essential to the success of changing transportation behaviors.

Another project that supports the foundation provided in the STP is the joint planning effort between the Denver Public Works and Parks & Recreation departments on the Multimodal Access and Connectivity Plan. This endeavor is scheduled to kick-off this fall and will assess the on-street bike and pedestrian facilities as well as the trail system and the interface between the two systems. One of the central products of this plan will be a prioritized list of implementation projects to support alternative modes of transportation in Denver and aid behavioral changes.

The largest impact we make on the earth through our personal lifestyle decisions is the extent to which we drive an automobile. Bike riding is a smart choice with its synergistic combination of multiple benefits, both to society and to the rider. As Denver strives to advance the quality of life in our City by encouraging safe bicycling as a viable means of transportation and physical activity, we challenge everyone to do the same: by improving bicycle access to your building or event, you can help reduce traffic congestion and air pollution which benefits the environment as well as the health of the community.

From Bike Texas - “We’re here to pump up bike safety!” was the common refrain at each legislator’s office at the Texas State Capitol on Wednesday, March 4, 2009. BikeTexas volunteers and staff dropped off 181 Planet Bike Pumps (donated to BikeTexas) to “pump up” support for the 2009 Safe Passing Act effort (Senate Bill 488 and companion House Bill 827). Attached to each lightweight plastic pump was a flyer explaining the Safe Passing Bill, showing the bill language on back, listing the authors in both the Senate (Rodney Ellis and John Carona) and House (Linda Harper-Brown), and listing BikeTexas contact information for follow-up questions.

For more information and to see the bill language, click here…

Congratulations to Robbie Webber of BikeWalk Madison for ushering through an ordinance in Madison that requires checking for traffic before opening ones car door. The Madison City Council passed the “Dooring Ordinance” by a 19-1 vote. The Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin is currently working on getting a similar state law passed, as well as eliminating a Wisconsin requirement that bicyclists ride 3 feet from parked cars, as no other vehicle operator has this requirement.

For more information, click here…