(From left) League president, Andy Clarke, prepares to introduce Secretary Ray LaHood at the 2013 National Bike Summit (Photo by Brian Palmer)

On behalf of the entire bicycling movement, let me say a heartfelt thank you to [US Transportation] Secretary [Ray] LaHood for his remarkable and inspiring leadership of the US DOT these past four years — not the least of which has been his hosting of these two regional bike safety summits. The Secretary has set us on a new course for transportation policy in this country: a course that is built on a foundation of smart local decision-making and investment that results in solutions that serve everyone in our communities; a foundation of safety that demands responsibility from all those who use our roads; and a fundamental belief that transportation isn’t an end in itself – it is a tool to improve the lives of people across our nation.

I also want to thank administrators Strickland, Rogoff and Mendez  for their leadership of NHTSA, FTA and FHWA respectively – and, as we are in Minnesota, it would also be remiss of me not to acknowledge the huge debt of gratitude we have to three Minnesotan members of Congress who have had a profound and beneficial role in improving conditions for cyclists over the last 25 years – Representatives Vento, Sabo and Oberstar.

Mr. Oberstar complained a few years back that I had lost some credibility and authority by virtue of having lost my native English accent. To redress that, I want to draw this audience’s attention to a document released last week in the UK Parliament called “Get Britain Cycling.” The result of a lengthy parliamentary enquiry into cycling, the document has some critical lessons that are extremely relevant in the US context.

First, the document makes it very clear that despite nagging deficiencies in data and disagreement over some of the precise numbers in question, there is overwhelming evidence that cycling is a good thing for any number of pressing reasons; that we would be better as individuals, communities and a nation if more people rode more often; and that the perception that cycling is less safe than it really is significantly stifles the considerable potential to get more people riding. Exactly the same thing can be said in the United States.

Second, the recommendations of this enquiry were divided into five broad topics.

1. A new priority for investing public funds in cycling should establish a cycling budget equal to $16 per person per year…rising to $32 per person per year over time. We are currently at around $3….for both bicycling AND walking.
2. We must redesign our roads, streets and communities to make cycling safe, easy and convenient using the best available design standards and operational techniques.
3. Safe driving and enforcement of lower general speed limits and good driving behavior – including the widespread use of 20mph speed limits in urban areas.
4. Bike education should be provided at all elementary and middle schools; and adult classes should be made widely available
5. Political leadership can make this happen – the report calls for a national cycling action plan, the appointment of a national cycling champion, and specific performance measures and targets for cycle use and safety.

We have to adopt the very same priorities for action to achieve ZERO deaths on our streets – or as close as we can possibly get to zero.

Minnesota also points the way forward for us at the national level as it is actually doing many of these things already, albeit on a slightly smaller scale.

The League is delighted to report that Minnesota is our most active state for delivering bike safety education thanks to the leadership of Bike Minnesota and their partnership with the state DOT and health community. Five years ago, there were barely a handful of certified League Cycling Instructors in the state to teach bike safety – by the end of this year there will be close to 150.

MnDOT’s leadership of the statewide “Share the Road” campaign over the years has been exemplary, as has the participation of the state Department of Health and Blue Cross Blue Shield Minnesota. The health community has enabled Bike Minnesota to not only teach bike safety to kids and adults but also to truck drivers, schools, planners and engineers, and law enforcement agencies, all of whom have a profound impact on the safety of cyclists and for the most part have been operating without a lot of bike specific education or experience. The state legislature also deserves considerable praise for insisting on continued funding for the Safe Routes to School program and full funding for the Transportation Alternatives program.

Whether we look at the United Kingdom, the United States or Minnesota there is an important realization that bike safety is inextricable linked to overall traffic safety. That’s why I am so glad the League has a growing relationship with AAA at the national level, and that we are sharing the stage today with AAA locally. Eliminating distracted, drunken, drowsy and drugged driving benefits everyone who walks, rides or drives our roadways. We have common cause in so many of these areas, and there is so much opportunity for technology — from photo enforcement to in-vehicle technology — to improve safety and not simply enhance the performance of cars. There remains much to be done together in the realm of driver training (and re-training) that benefits cyclists as much as anyone, and we must not be afraid of removing the driving privilege from people who are irresponsible and dangerous behind the wheel of a car.

None of this is exactly rocket science. Even with advancements in technology and research, we know what to do to make our roads safer. We know what works. Two weeks ago in Tampa, this forum heard from a community that has suffered an awful sequence and a long history of bike fatalities – many of the same suggestions were made for improvements. Here in Minneapolis we can see considerable progress being made to encourage bike use and improve bike safety where those measures are being implemented. What makes the difference? Why is Tampa and Florida not able to address these issues as effectively as Minneapolis and Minnesota, and what lessons can we learn from those differences?

Ultimately, we believe it boils down to a couple of simple things:

One, there must be clear performance measures for bike safety and traffic safety that are set at the national, state and even local level. Without performance measures there is no accountability and no incentive to act. 650 people were killed last year on bicycles in the United States – on the way to ZERO such tragedies in the future, we must set targets to reduce this toll by half in 2020 and by half again by 2025.

Second, there must be an effective and broad partnership of groups and interests working together to improve traffic safety and increase bike use – none of us can do this alone, no one group or constituency is either responsible alone or capable of solving this issue alone. In Minnesota and the UK we can see how transportation, health, and education departments are pooling resources and working together to get the job done.

Third, effective and visible political leadership is essential. We have been blessed with Secretary LaHood attention to these issue these last four years and hope that the new Secretary, Mayor Foxx will continue along that path. The leadership of MnDOT and Mayor Rybak  at the state and local level is critical, and as user groups we must be committed to working with those leaders – as Bike MN is doing so admirably here in Minnesota.

We hope these summits result in a clear national action plan for increasing cycling and cyclist safety, backed up with specific performance measures, and the commitment of time, attention and funding to make it happen.

Bicycling is safe, it is fun, and it is healthy. Let’s make sure people can do it safely, for all our benefit.

Click here to read a recap from the first Bike Safety Summit in Tampa, from the League’s Alissa Simcox.

Carolyn Szczepanski
Communications Director

Carolyn joined the League in March 2012, after two years at the Alliance for Biking & Walking. In addition to managing the League's blog, magazine and other communications, Carolyn organized the first National Women's Bicycling Summit and launched the League's newest program: Women Bike. Before she crossed over to advocacy, she was a professional journalist for nearly 10 years.

Veronica Davis, co-founder of Black Women Bike DC, wanted to engage her local elected leaders in National Bike Month. Her goal: Get all female members of the D.C. City Council out on bikes. She didn’t write a formal letter, or send an email to their overloaded inboxes. She simply invited the policymakers to join BWBDC on Bike to Work Day — on Twitter.

Within a few hours, Council members Mary Cheh, Yvette Alexander and Muriel Bowser had all committed to get in the saddle.

Yep, there’s power in that little bird.

Understanding that social media has become a critical advocacy tool, we created a new resource for National Bike Month this year: a social media toolkit with plenty of sample Tweets and Facebook posts to help you engage, encourage and get folks talking about bikes in your community this May. We also created an official National Bike Month Facebook timeline cover you can use, as well.

Click the image to view / download

But a good social media strategy is much more than cutting and pasting 140 characters. At the 2013 National Bike Summit, we brought together a panel of social media experts to share their insight on how to use these new (OK- maybe not so new) tools to compliment and enhance bicycle advocacy efforts. Watch the videos below for ideas and guidance from Barb Chamberlain, Mathilde Piard and Mary Madden.

How have you used social media to engage folks in your community? Let us know in the comments. And stay tuned for more ideas during National Bike Month.

(Summit videos courtesy of Russ Roca, www.pathlesspedaled.com)

Carolyn Szczepanski
Communications Director

Carolyn joined the League in March 2012, after two years at the Alliance for Biking & Walking. In addition to managing the League's blog, magazine and other communications, Carolyn organized the first National Women's Bicycling Summit and launched the League's newest program: Women Bike. Before she crossed over to advocacy, she was a professional journalist for nearly 10 years.

During Lobby Day, advocates urged their elected officials on Capitol Hill to visit one of their district’s bike projects. These ‘Show Me’ events work to showcase for elected leaders what bicycling means to their home district constituents. We’re excited to see advocates following up on these requests and getting their elected officials on bikes! Earlier this month, advocates in Georgia got their local lawmaker’s staff on a bicycle, and they also helped secure a city resolution declaring the need for better bicycle infrastructure.

And this past weekend, we were delighted to hear that advocates in Indiana hosted Rep. Larry Bucshon (R) at a 10K bike ride and benefit. Darlene Wefel, of the Evansville Bicycle Club, invited Bucshon, who is a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, to Saturday’s Evansville Rockin’ River City Ride.

Wefel and Bucshon pose at the Rockin’ River City Ride in Evansville, Indiana

There were 605 riders, with routes ranging from a 5K family ride to a 100K ride, and the event raised money for the Junior League of Evansville and the Evansville Morning Rotary Club.

“The morning was very cold for the time of year with temperatures starting in the mid-30,” says Wefel. “Mayor [Lloyd] Winnecke introduced Congressman Larry Bucshon who spoke about health and being active and how important it is to the youth of our city, state, and country — that cycling and walking are great ways to keep active and healthy. He officially started the ride with an air horn. Congressman Bucshon was joined by his wife and their children to ride the family 10K route.”

Rep. Bucshon speaks at the event on Saturday.

Congratulations to Wefel and the other advocates in Indiana for their work on this event and ongoing efforts! In fact, as Bike Month nears, it’s perfect timing for you to encourage your elected officials to events in your communities! Learn more about Bike Month here.

The Sunshine State has had 534 cyclist fatalities between 2006 and 2010, and since 1998, Hillsborough County has averaged 8 bike-related deaths every year.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced USDOT would host two Bike Safety Summits at our 2013 National Bike Summit in March. He hosted the first of those bike safety summits in Tampa, Fla., last week. The summit connected engineers, safety experts and law enforcement from state and local levels to find ways to improve cycling safety.

But that wasn’t all. The call for better biking came from beyond the traditional fold, too. It was so great to hear Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn — not someone who would identify as an avid cyclist — say the revitalization power of bikes is evident, and active mobility is essential to creating quality of life.

Bicycle Friendly Communities come in all shapes and sizes – there are currently 242 BFCs in 47 states. These cities show that through bicycling, communities can become destinations for people who want to work, live and retire. Having grown up in Florida myself, I never considered riding a bike for transportation until I moved to Washington, D.C. It was exciting to be surrounded by so many bike enthusiasts whose goal for the state is the same as the League’s – get more people on bikes.

While there were many suggestions on how to get more people riding, one thing was common in every discussion – education. Everyone agreed that it’s not just the people who are riding that need it: motorists need education on how to share the road and law enforcement need to know how to implement bike laws. Here at the League, we’re taking a comprehensive approach to get everyone involved.

We help cyclists become confident and safe on the roads through our education program. We’re working with city officials — and law enforcement — to improve conditions for bicyclists and make sure our rights are respected. And, yes, the National Bike Summit plays a role, too. Just a day after Secretary LaHood announced the Bike Safety Summits, AAA presented its new PSA, highlighting the need for all road users to safely share the road.

As for me, it made me even MORE excited about our new library of free education videos that we’ll be debuting during National Bike Month. Stay tuned!

(Photo: LaHood speaks with Buckhorn at the Florida Safety Summit).

Alissa Simcox
League Director of Education

Simcox joined the League in July 2011. For the 5 years prior, she worked with the Congressional Youth Leadership Council and the National Association of Home Builders. She holds a BA in Education and Recreation and Leisure Administration from Florida State University.

Guest post by the Griffin Bicycle Coalition.

Congratulations to the Griffin Bicycle Coalition and Georgia Bikes! for a successful ‘Show me event’. We believe this is the first follow up district event since the National Bike Summit. At the Summit, the League encouraged advocates to urge their lawmakers to visit a bicycle project or event to see the positive effects of bicycling in their communities.

Griffin, Georgia, held a Bike to City Hall event in chilly weather with occasional snow flurries last month to mimic the Atlanta-based “Ride to the Capitol” led by Georgia Bikes! earlier that day.

Tracie Sanchez, Michelle Cannon, Ian Flitcroft, and Bruce Reid of the Griffin Bicycle Coalition organized bike trains from four points across the city: a university, church, high school, and city park — and invited citizens to ride along, including Matt Brass from Rep. Lynn Westmoreland’s (R) office — who all joined a regularly scheduled City Commission meeting.  At the meeting, the following recently approved resolution was read out loud and presented to the more than 30 cyclists. The cyclists stated their names and addresses as part of the permanent record of support for the resolution.

2013 COG Bike-Ped Resolution

The Griffin-Spalding Area Transportation Committee Bicycle and Pedestrian Subcommittee is working in collaboration with the Griffin Bicycle Coalition to increase and enhance infrastructure, including the installation of sidewalks, bicycle lanes, multi-use paths, routes, signage, bicycle parking, and storage facilities. In addition, they are working to encourage walking and bicycling as viable modes of transportation, in order to reduce the dependence on the use of automobiles and improve air quality.

This is a great example of involving your Congressional office. Not only did the Congressman’s staff come out to a bike ride, but he witnessed the local government voicing their support of biking and walking!

“We are going to address bike safety head on… and we are going to pull from all our resources to do it.”

At the National Bike Summit earlier this month, Secretary Ray LaHood announced that the U.S. Department of Transportation would focus on bike safety by holding two Bike Safety Summits — and today DOT announced the dates and locations:

• April 11: Tampa, Florida
• April 29: Minneapolis, Minnesota

The Safety Summits will feature an expo in the morning with resources on bike safety, education, Safe Routes to School, and creating Bicycle Friendly Communities, Universities and Businesses, as well as hands-on safety training. The afternoons will include policy discussions on the built environment and planning, enforcement and education.

In announcing these Summits, Secretary LaHood said DOT would bring to bear all of its resources — including policy experts from DOT, research experts from the National Highway and Transportation Safety Administration and engineering experts from Federal Highway Administration.

So what would we like to see as results?

Policy: A non-motorized safety performance measure (a national goal to reduce bicyclist deaths)

Engineering: Innovative bike design standards endorsed by US DOT

Research: Better data overall bicycling data- including data on the what, where, why, when and who of bicycling crashes and best practices on buidling safe, accessbile bike friendly infrastructure.

Beyond that, though, we hope the Summit in Tampa shines the national spotlight on the spate of tragic fatal crashes involving bicyclists in the area over the past several months and helps to identify some solid, practical suggestions to improve traffic safety for all road users in the region. In Minneapolis, we expect the leading efforts of local officials, advocates and Mayor R.T. Rybak to turn their city into a Gold-level Bicycle Friendly Community will clearly showcase the many benefits of making biking a safe and enjoyable means of transportation and recreation.

We thank Secretary LaHood for his continued leadership on biking and on safety — and we look forward to seeing what the Bike Safety Summit brings. Learn more, including how to register, on the Fast Lane Blog.

Photo: Secretary Ray LaHood at the 2013 National Bike Summit, credit Brian Palmer

Caron Whitaker
Vice President of Government Relations

Prior to joining the League of American Bicyclists in 2012, Ms. Whitaker served as the Campaign Director for America Bikes where she coordinated and implemented America Bikes federal policy agenda. Before that, she worked for the National Wildlife Federation on smart growth, international policy, and community engagement. In addition, Caron served as a Community Land Use Planner for the State of North Carolina Division of Coastal Management, providing technical assistance to local governments and staffing a stakeholders’ council responsible for revising state planning regulations. She has a Masters in Environmental Management for Duke University, Nicolas School of the Environment and a Bachelors of Arts from Williams College.

What did attendees take away from their experience? Plenty of new ideas, a-ha moments and excitement about the future of the movement…

Although it was my eighth summit, it felt really new and fresh. Jim Sayer (pictured, left, with April Economides), Executive Director of the Adventure Cycling Association, shared his Top 5 Takeaways from the Summit (also included: a picture of a red, white and blue folding bike!).

If I were an investor in ideas or social movements, I would put a lot of money into bicycling right now. Jonathan Maus of BikePortland has a great wrap-up and gorgeous photos on his re-cap list.

The bike summit armed us with the tools we need to get businesses on board. BikeArlington‘s Zanna Worzella posts on  how the facts and figures presented at the Summit make the case for bicycling.  She’s pictured with the rest of the BikeArlington team and Janette Sadik-Khan, Zanna on the far right.

And StreetFilms captured the voices and perspectives of a number of speakers and attendees on how Bicycling Means Business for their communities.

• Bike Easy from New Orleans has an “aha”-moment on how biking makes sense and cents.
• Bike Texas gives the Lone Star perspective.
• Consider Biking has a links page to a radio show and other info on the Summit.
• Bike Delaware has a Top 3 Takeaways, which happen to not include the 5 from Adventure Cycling.
• The Greater Valley Forge Transportation Management Association gives a succinct wrap-up.
• Bicycle Garage Indy has a nice personal narrative from Summit presenter Connie Schmucker.
• Georgia Bikes! deserves that exclamation point; they won the Alliance for Biking and Walking‘s Advocacy Campaign of the Year award!
• LACBC joined 70 other Californians at the Summit.
• Bicycle Retailer and Industry News have a number of good articles on the Summit.

Reading your recaps has us excited about Summit 2014 already! Want to relive the experience or get a glimpse of the fun? Visit the Summit page to check out the photo collections, watch the keynote addresses and download the workshop presentations.

And stay tuned for an exciting announcement on Monday…

Katie Omberg
Events and Outreach Manager

Katie joined the League in April of 2010. For the two years prior, she worked at the Corcoran College of Art + Design as a programs coordinator. Katie has a BA in Religion from Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Mass. She enjoys biking to work.

For women, the social aspects of bicycling are often a key motivation and inspiration, making rides and races particularly important in engaging and empowering more female bicyclists. At the National Women’s Bicycling Forum this month, we explored ways to break down the road blocks and turn cycling events into gateways for participation.

Sarai Snyder (L) and Nicole Preston (R) shared their insight on the “Engaging More Women in Rides & Races” session (Credit Brian Palmer)

Moderated by Sarai Snyder, founder of Cyclofemme and Girl Bike Love, the panel touched on charity and social rides, as well as racing and charity events.

Nicole Preston, national campaign director for the Tour de Cure, discussed best practices from one of the nation’s largest charity rides — which engages nearly 25,000 women of all ages and abilities. Tara McCarthy, Race Director Certification Manager for USA Cycling, announced the work of her organization’s new “Women’s Committee” to increase the number of women members and riders from its current 13 percent. And the ever-inspiring and outspoken Jacquie Phelan shared some of her unique insight as a mountain biking champion and founder of the Women’s Mountain Bike & Tea Society.

As a take-away for Forum participants and folks around the country, the group also created a hand-out with 11 tips to engage more women in your cycling events. See below.

Carolyn Szczepanski
Communications Director

Carolyn joined the League in March 2012, after two years at the Alliance for Biking & Walking. In addition to managing the League's blog, magazine and other communications, Carolyn organized the first National Women's Bicycling Summit and launched the League's newest program: Women Bike. Before she crossed over to advocacy, she was a professional journalist for nearly 10 years.

During the National Bike Summit this month, advocates met with their representatives and staff, asking them to sign on to the ‘Dear Colleague’ letter to Secretary LaHood. Sixty-nine of those representatives said yes. Now that’s what I call a successful Summit Lobby Day! Thank you to everyone who participated in Hill meetings on March 6th — or tweeted or e-mailed from home. You clearly made a difference. (Click here for a list of all Reps who signed on.)

Certainly, now is the time to bring some focus to bicycling and pedestrian safety. Biking is booming, as mayors and community leaders around the country are turning to bicycling  as both an important transportation choice and an economic boost. To keep this trend going, we need to ensure that safe and accessible bicycling and walking are factored into future transportation plans and projects.

MAP-21, the transportation bill passed in 2012, requires U.S. DOT to act now to establish goals — performance measures — to guide traffic safety policy and funding at the national and state level for years to come. Without a specific performance measure for non-motorized safety, bicyclists and pedestrians will remain firmly in the blindspot of traffic safety.

The letter sent today shows that Members of Congress agree. This is exactly the time to establish meaningful national goals and performance measures to tackle bicyclist and pedestrian safety as part of an overall, comprehensive and multi-modal traffic safety program.

But we’re not done yet. Today Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Mark Kirk (R-IL) are circulating a similar ‘Dear Colleague’ in the Senate, asking the U.S. Department of Transportation for specific performance measures to gauge and improve bicycle and pedestrian safety. Please ask your Senator to sign on as well.

Did your member sign on? If so, please click here and send them a thank you! Or better yet post a short article thanking them in your advocacy organization or neighborhood newsletters and send them a copy.

Caron Whitaker
Vice President of Government Relations

Prior to joining the League of American Bicyclists in 2012, Ms. Whitaker served as the Campaign Director for America Bikes where she coordinated and implemented America Bikes federal policy agenda. Before that, she worked for the National Wildlife Federation on smart growth, international policy, and community engagement. In addition, Caron served as a Community Land Use Planner for the State of North Carolina Division of Coastal Management, providing technical assistance to local governments and staffing a stakeholders’ council responsible for revising state planning regulations. She has a Masters in Environmental Management for Duke University, Nicolas School of the Environment and a Bachelors of Arts from Williams College.

“I was struck by the impact the transportation culture had on my experience of biking,” she says. “And I also started noticing how race and class distinctions played out in transportation and how, even though I was biking in a built environment really similar to Portland, other road users didn’t respect my way of getting around.”

In the “Community-Based Bicycle Advocacy” session at the National Women’s Bicycling Forum, Lugo explained some of her research into L.A.’s transportation culture — and her work co-founding CicLAvia and City of Lights (now Multicultural Communities for Mobility), both campaigns that have broken new ground and succeeded at empowering communities that are underrepresented in traditional bicycle advocacy.

For Lugo it all led to a new and critical frame to engaging more people in biking: “human infrastructure.”

What does the phrase mean? Well, human infrastructure is the existing social networks, community groups, and shared ideas about transportation that affect how people think of streets — and what is possible in them. And underlining this concept is a critical and optimistic question: “If we respect present differences, can we create future consensus?”

Too often in bicycle advocacy, we equate opposition with ignorance or misunderstanding. We jump to the conclusion that people opposed to bike lanes just don’t get it, or don’t have all the compelling facts that clearly show the merit of our positions. Lugo has been a strong voice — and has set a clear example — for shifting that thinking and, instead, actively working with community leaders to understand the cultural and community dynamics that shape perceptions of bicycling and transportation.

That’s the basis of human infrastructure. As Lugo showed at the Women’s Forum, the concept is based on two important pillars:

• Research: Recognizing the multiple cultural meanings of transportation
• Community-based advocacy: Starting from a respectful understanding of community concerns

One way she’s putting that concept to work is with the Seattle Bike Justice Project — an effort to aimed at “questioning the idea that bicycling is a luxury for a privileged group, or a burden for a marginalized group.” Over the course of several months, Lugo interviewed nine leaders from communities of color — folks outside bicycle advocacy circles — to better understand their ideas about biking and public spaces.

She’s also spearheaded the creation of Bicicultures, a network of scholars who study bicycling as a social and cultural phenomenon, aiming to shed light on the many bicycling cultures taking place alongside each other in our cities and towns. (Learn more and register for the group’s first event: Bicicultures Roadshow on April 16-17 in Davis, Calif.)

So how do you start these conversation and build this type of human infrastructure in your community? The panelists for the Community-Based Bicycle Advocacy session put together some key questions you can consider in your work.

• Jenna Burton on Creating Black Bike Culture
• Megan Odett on Empowering Moms to Ride

And stay tuned for more ideas, recaps and resources in coming days…

(Photo of Lugo by Brian Palmer)

Carolyn Szczepanski
Communications Director

Carolyn joined the League in March 2012, after two years at the Alliance for Biking & Walking. In addition to managing the League's blog, magazine and other communications, Carolyn organized the first National Women's Bicycling Summit and launched the League's newest program: Women Bike. Before she crossed over to advocacy, she was a professional journalist for nearly 10 years.