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Big Bike Questions You Want Answered?
The Federal Highway Administration is seeking input into which critical areas of research they should invest their limited Surface Transportation Environment and Planning (STEP) Cooperative Research Program funds – and one of the focus areas is bicycle and pedestrian research. The comment period closes November 10, so get your comment in quickly using this FHWA website. This isn’t the place to suggest researching improvements to the bicycle itself, but the environment in which bicyclists operate and the way in which they operate is fair game. The level of interest in bike-related topics is important to the final allocation of research funds, so even if you don’t have a fully-formed research problem statement to submit, please throw your ideas into the hopper.
Andy Clarke
League President
Andy Clarke was appointed to the position of Executive Director in April of 2004 after successfully leading efforts to create, interpret and implement the various transportation programs that are available to improve conditions for bicycling and walking as the League’s State and Local Advocacy Director. Before joining the League in February 2003, Clarke was on contract to provide technical assistance to the highly regarded Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center on site at the Federal Highway Administration. He is on the Board of Directors for America Bikes, and a member of the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycling Professionals.
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November 2nd, 2011 at 11:19 am
Comment link to FHWA website not working.
November 2nd, 2011 at 5:09 pm
[...] Big Bike Questions You Want Answered? » [...]
November 2nd, 2011 at 6:30 pm
Andy, what ideas is the LAB submitting? Seems to me it would be good to collect ideas in a central place (like this) and then formulate a very strong proposal. Frankly, I feel quite out of the loop and would hate to waste bandwidth on the FHWA site without some peer review of ideas here.
From the standpoint of my current “second job” on the Transportation Board, I wonder if we need to spend some money to synthesize and critically re-evaluate all of the previous work done on facility type vs. safety, “safety in numbers”, public health benefits of cycling, and other ongoing discussions and plot a path forward towards what future work remains to be done to fully understand programs in facility engineering, public education, and public health benefits of cycling. Especially given the attacks on Federally funded programs that are ongoing, having a clear and lucid understanding of the cost-benefits of different efforts would be nice in setting priorities.
November 3rd, 2011 at 8:52 am
I agree with floating ideas here first. What about projects to standardize data/information gathered from accidents? It seems judging the safety improvement of any facility change depends on having good data. Is there already something like this?
November 4th, 2011 at 5:20 am
wow i agree with some of these ideas..But it will take alot of convincing to let people know that bikes are a grat form of transport close to home
November 4th, 2011 at 11:01 pm
Thanks this really helped me.
November 8th, 2011 at 12:57 am
I would like to see an independent review of the safety of bikeboxes (vs. other design solutions) and bicycle lanes on the left side of one-way streets (vs. putting them on the right side of the roadway).
I think policies are being written and authorized that include these facilities based on only on speculative hypothesises and studies performed by certain professionals who are too professionally invested in seeing these facilities become standard vs. other solutions.
November 8th, 2011 at 1:00 pm
Cannot connect with FWHA website. Studies need to project safety results 10 or 20 years ahead comparing projected deaths/injuries caused to bicyclists by automobiles with or without improved bicycling facilities (bike lanes, etc.). Stricter laws on speeding, road rage and buzzing bikers needs to be developed and enforced. Greater emphasis on bikers and drivers rights needs to be spelled out in drivers handbooks and tests for obtaining drivers licenses and to find a means of getting this information to the general public.
November 9th, 2011 at 9:53 am
I’d like to see federal involvement in standardizing bicycle right-to-road laws/responsibilities throughout the 50 states’ DOT legislation.
November 9th, 2011 at 1:07 pm
Here’s a new topic that you never thoght of studying: the relationship between car-related noise in residential neighborhoods and academic performance by students in those communities.
When I lived in the suburbs, wy home was a few blocks away from the nearest highway, and the only cars on my street were driven by people who lived on my quiet street. This makes for good study conditions for suburban students. (Many suburban school districts have graduation rates of 95% or greater).
I have lived a major city for the last five years, and find it hard to read and/or concentrate during hours of the day when lots of cars are either whizzing past my apartment, or are gunning the engine to accelerate when the red light turns green. This makes for poor study conditions for urban students. (Many urban school districts have dismal graduation rates). Noise level in cities is one of the major reasons why urban students struggle, and automobiles are the #1 source of noise. If, let’s say 25% of trips by car were to be replecad by more trips by bike, then students in these urban areas would have less backgreound noise, and thus better study conditions. Why not study car noise vs studemt performance?
November 11th, 2011 at 1:19 pm
I’ve been site for a while but this is the first time left a comment. Just wanted to say that I really like reading here and look forward to future posts.