In honor of National Bike Month, we’re spotlighting how bicycles are tools for personal empowerment, social justice and community development with our “Where the Ride Takes Us” web series. Today’s post is an excerpt from a feature I wrote for the March-April issue of Momentum magazine on the impact of bicycles on local business. This section is particularly fitting as League staff is in Memphis today attending the Tennessee Bike Summit!
Pat Brown was just hoping to hang on in a tough economy. When she relocated her art gallery in 2008, it was the rock-bottom rent that drew her to a still struggling strip of downtown Memphis, TN. “We were just trying to survive,” she said.
Brown (pictured right) was betting on a small core of community members determined to transform Broad Avenue from a fast-moving thoroughfare, where traffic whizzed past boarded-up storefronts at 50 mph (80 km/h), into a bustling arts district. Little did she know that they would hit the jackpot with bicycling.
Shortly after Brown opened T Clifton Gallery, Sarah Newstok walked in. The local nonprofit Newstok led, Livable Memphis, had a vision for Broad Avenue, too. They wanted to build a protected bike lane that would pass right by Brown’s door, creating a vital connection between a popular multi-use trail and the city’s largest park. “We’re a retail business, so any time there’s a concept to bring additional traffic directly by your storefront, it’s very easy to say ‘yes,’” Brown recalled with a laugh.
In 2010, after garnering support from city officials and surrounding businesses, Livable Memphis and the Broad Avenue Arts District rolled out the idea in a dramatic way. They painted temporary bike lanes and crosswalks and invited the community to “A New Face for an Old Broad,” a celebration, complete with live music, street vendors and a kids’ bike parade down the freshly striped cycle track (photo below).
“Until then, the area had been doing art walks once a year and, at best, those were bringing in 1,000 people,” Brown said. “Our goal for this day-and-a-half event, where the street itself would be a sort of theatrical performance, was maybe 5,000 people. We had 15,000 show up. The energy level was incredible. It was a huge tipping point for us – it changed the trajectory of the revitalization efforts.”
The energy didn’t wane once the event was over and bicyclists started taking advantage of the temporary lanes. Since then, the promise of permanent facilities has drawn more than $6 million in private investment. More than 15 new businesses have opened and nearly 30 properties have been renovated. Traffic has slowed, new customers are arriving on two wheels and, suddenly the rock-bottom neighborhood is one of the hottest spots in town.
Memphis isn’t the only city where bicycling is bringing business. Increasingly leaders in the public and private sector are realizing that being bike-friendly makes good business sense, boosting the bottom line and promoting community-wide economic development. Bicycling in the United States is a $6 billion national industry and one study estimates that the spillover effects of recreational bicycling alone could be as large as $133 billion. But that’s just the beginning, barely scratching the surface of the economic impact of transportation bicycling in communities across North America…
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.
In honor of National Bike Month, we’re spotlighting how bicycles are tools for personal empowerment, social justice and community development with our “Where the Ride Takes Us” web series. Today’s post comes from Mari Ruddy, who has had type 1 diabetes for 32 years, is a two-time breast cancer survivor, founded the Red Rider Program of the American Diabetes Association Tour de Cure, and is the Director of TeamWILD Athletics.
I remember the thrill I got the first time my dad let go of the bicycle seat — and I felt the Schwinn moving 100% under in my control. My 5-year-old self immediately recognized the power I possessed. Little did I know how the bike would give me many gifts throughout my life — the most important being refuge for my health challenges.
I found out when I was 16 (like my father found out when he was 26) that I had type 1 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes requires diligent attention to balancing food, insulin, stress and exercise. It’s a balancing act that sometimes feels like I need a medical degree, an exercise physiology degree and a dietitian credential to manage.
When I was in my late 30s, after many years of poorly managed diabetes, I discovered that the key to it all was riding my bike — riding long slow distances to be precise.
I trained for and completed a 400-mile bike tour of Colorado and maintained the best blood sugar control of my life. All the while eating plenty of carbohydrates to fuel my effort climbing all those mountain passes. I finished the bike ride and, much to my chagrin, I couldn’t seem to recover. A few months later I found a lump in my right breast. I had Stage II breast cancer. I rode my bike on a trainer in my living room during chemo treatments and I rode my bike to and from the majority of my radiation sessions.
As the bike had given me hope with my diabetes management, the bike grounded me in who I was as I moved through breast cancer treatments. The week after finishing cancer treatments, I participated in my first triathlon and I loved the healing that came from being in the Survivor Wave. People celebrated and cheered for my survivorship, and that touched me.
I wanted to bring that same healing love to the world of diabetes.
I got involved with the American Diabetes Association Tour de Cure and started the Red Rider Recognition Program. Red Riders are the more than 7,000 cyclists who ride in the Tour de Cure who have diabetes. Red Riders are the heroes of the ride, for we are not victims of our health struggles, but rather we courageously get on our bikes and take charge of our wellness.
During the Tour de Cure, cyclists call out “Go Red Rider!” to those of us with diabetes who wear the Red Rider jersey. “Go Red Rider!” offers encouragement and love for the challenge it is to live well with a difficult disease like diabetes. It touches my heart deeply to hear “Go Red Ride!” It makes all I’ve survived seem not so bad.
I found out in July of 2010 that I had a second primary occurrence of breast cancer. It was the Red Rider community who supported me through those treatments. And you better believe I rode my bike through it all! I’m again cancer-free, though I still have diabetes. So, I keep riding and I keep talking about the power of riding the bike for health.
See you out there!
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.
April is National Stress Awareness month, in addition to what I call “Get Ready for National Bike Month Month.”
I don’t know about you, but when I haven’t been riding for a bit — and then get back on my bike — I realize how tense I’ve been. We all have crazy lives, and, as it turns out, bicycling is both a stress-awareness and stress-fighting tool.
“Cycling is one of the most effective treatments for stress and in many cases has been proven to be as effective as medication – if not more so,” he said. “Riding a bike is ideal because it’s so accessible and achievable – and the mountain of scientific evidence pointing towards its stress-busting properties is growing by the day.”
So, I wanted to give a special shout-out and thank you to Bicycle Friendly Communities in Washington, D.C., where I work, and Arlington, Va., where I live. These cities have made my ride to and from work pretty comfortable and relatively hassle-free.
I know I’m preaching to the choir — but it’s a reminder of how bicycling transforms our lives for the better.
So help us spread The Good Life from coast to coast this May. Bring friends and colleagues, start a team for the National Bike Challenge and get involved in National Bike Month!
Bill Nesper League Vice President of Programs
Nesper directs the Bicycle Friendly America Program, which includes the Bicycle Friendly Community, Bicycle Friendly State, Bicycle Friendly University and Bicycle Friendly Business recognition programs. Bill first joined the League as a Membership Assistant in 2002 and moved in 2005 to manage the League education programs and Bicycle Friendly Community Program.
The future of federal transportation policy may be summarized in two words: Performance Measures. Will states be required to set safety goals for people on bikes — or will we get lost in the shuffle?
The transportation bill — Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century, MAP-21 — requires states to set performance goals across several categories. The details of these goals will very likely determine transportation priorities well into the future.
Join our next Advocacy Advance webinar on Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. EDT for the first our series on Understanding and Shaping Transportation Performance Measures.
This webinar series will explore the implications of the new performance measure requirements in MAP-21. How will performance measures impact bicycling and walking investments? Can they work in favor for active transportation? What should be measured? What can be measured? Join the discussion with national experts on the topic.
First up on Tuesday, we’ll find out the latest on federal performance measure policy from two experts from the U.S. Department of Transportation and our own Caron Whitaker, the League’s Vice President of Government Relation.
Part I: Federal Context and Perspectives
Tuesday, April 23 @ 2:00 – 3:30 p.m. EDT -Register here
Presenters:
Rebecca Higgins, Transportation and Environmental Policy Analyst, Office of the Secretary of Transportation
Robert Ritter, Acting Safety Team Leader, Office of the Secretary of Transportation
Caron Whitaker, Vice President of Government Relations, League of American Bicyclists
Part II: Current Data Collection Methods and Exploring What’s Possible
Tuesday, May 14 @ 2:00 – 3:30 p.m. EDT – Register here
Presenters:
Charles Denney, Alta Planning + Design
Jean-Francois Rheault, Director, Eco-Counter
Tony Hull, Senior Planner, Toole Design Group
David Patton, Bicycle & Pedestrian Planner, Arlington County Division of Transportation
Advocacy Advance is a partnership of the League of American Bicyclists and the Alliance for Biking & Walking.
Darren Flusche League Policy Director
Flusche joined the League in April 2009 and has a B.A. in history from Syracuse University and a Masters of Public Administration with a concentration in public policy analysis from New York University.
April is National Distracted Driving Awareness Month and there are numerous national, state, and local campaigns to educate the public about the dangers of not putting down your cell phone behind the wheel.
New laws to combat distracted driving are proposed frequently, including laws against new technologies that are not even on sale yet. Despite a high level of awareness, 49 percent of commuters and 43 percent of teenagers admitted to texting or sending emails while driving,according to a recent poll conducted by AT&T.
Sharing the road is much harder when people are not looking at the road. Effective distracted driving laws and enforcement are key to discouraging this dangerous behavior.
What are they?
Generally, distracted driving can be caused by any activity that can divert a person’s attention away from the primary task of driving. Although distracted driving can take many forms, distracted driving laws are primarily a response to the spread of mobile communications devices into our vehicles. The most common distracted driving laws include bans on text messaging, bans on cell-phone use, and the required use of a hands-free device while operating a mobile communications device in a vehicle. These laws can either be primary enforcement laws, which means a driver can be pulled over solely for violating the distracted driving law, or secondary enforcement laws, which means that the distracted driving law can only be enforced if another traffic offense also takes place.
Why should you care?
In 2010, 18 percent of injury crashes were reported as distraction-affected crashes. The prevalence and use of mobile communications devices has increased dramatically in the last decade and is likely to continue to increase. Safe bicycling and safe driving requires an awareness of your surroundings that is made more difficult by the use of mobile communications devices in vehicles. Distracted driving laws are important because they encourage people to stay focused on the task of driving and can be used in legal actions resulting from collisions or other incidents between road users.
If you would like to know more about the dangers of distracted driving, particularly distracted driving caused by the use of mobile communications devices, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the US Department of Transportation (DOT) have a great site with links to research and reports on the issue. For some information about how MAP-21 provides incentive grants for distracted driving programs please see this report put together by the Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety or this press release from NHTSA.
Who has them?
Thirty-nine states ban text messaging for all drivers, and 33 states ban all cell phone use by novice drivers. Ten states prohibit all drivers from using handheld cell phones while driving. To learn more about the various laws targeting distracted driving please see the excellent information put together by the Governors Highway Safety Association.
Click on image for full chart. Credit: GHSA.
Spotlight State –New Jersey
New Jersey has some of the strongest laws in the country to combat distracted driving. It is one of only two states — the other is Delaware — that has primary enforcement laws against all cell phone use by school bus and novice drivers, text messaging by all drivers, handheld use by all drivers, and includes a category for cell phone/electronic equipment distraction on police accident forms, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association. Every year since 2008 New Jersey drivers have been issued about 100,000 summons based upon illegal talking or texting while driving. Recent studies have shown that strong texting bans can reduce fatal single-occupancy, single-vehicle crashes but that vigilant enforcement is needed and concurrent handheld bans increase the effectiveness of texting bans.
Where did they come from?
Distracted driving is a relatively new issue and has been addressed in a variety of ways by states. In 2000, only three states had laws related to cell phones in cars. Oregon was the first state to make distracted driving a priority by incorporating it into their Strategic Highway Safety Plan in 1999. Since 2000, every state has considered legislation related to cell phone use in cars or distracted driving, and almost 200 bills were considered in 2009 alone
As of the last revision to the Uniform Vehicle Code (UVC) in 2000, there are no UVC sections relevant to distracted driving.
You can learn more about distracted driving in this report: http://www.bikeleague.org/resources/reports/pdfs/distracted_driving_league_report.pdf
(Photo Credit: Alliance for Biking & Walking Photo Library)
Ken McLeod Legal Specialist, Advocacy Advance
Ken joined the League in 2012 after graduating from William & Mary School of Law. He is a licensed attorney in the state of Virginia. During law school he worked for a private law firm in Cambodia and the Washington State Department of Natural Resources. Prior to that, Ken worked at a law firm in Orange County and a legal services provider in Seattle. He graduated from Pomona College in 2007 with a BA in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics. He began using his bike regularly after college and has been car-free since February 2012.
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.
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.
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.
The “Vulnerable Road User” concept is a new and powerful tool — and it’s taking root throughout the country.
Recent legislative successes include the “Access to Justice for Bicyclists Act of 2012” in Washington D.C., the recent endorsement of a vulnerable user ordinance by the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors (read more about that campaign here) and a statewide law in Utah. While VRU protections have proliferated in the past five years, they continue to take many shapes.
So, in this edition of Bike Law University, we explore the current laws and the concept behind them.
What are they?
Automobiles provide a shell of protection for their users — creating a safety disparity between cars and other road users. This is not to say non-automobile forms of transportation aren’t safe, but simply that there is a difference between what occurs when a car is hit at 25 miles-per-hour and what occurs when a pedestrian is hit at 25 mph. While the percentage of motorist deaths has fallen, the percentage of road fatalities that are bicyclists and pedestrians has grown in recent years (from 12 percent to 16 percent).
Vulnerable Road User laws increase protection for bicyclists and other road users who are not in cars. They are relatively new and states have chosen to protect vulnerable road users in a variety of ways. This includes usually involves 1) harsher penalties for the violation of existing laws when that violation impacts a defined set of road users or 2) the creation of new laws that prohibit certain actions directed at a defined set of road users.
Click the image above for the full chart.
Why should you care?
Safety: The vast majority of VRU laws provide for increased fines or civil liability in cases where a vulnerable road user is injured or killed because of negligence or as the result of a traffic violation. These laws increase the cost of unsafe practices that impact bicyclists and provide an incentive for safer driving practices, especially around cyclists and pedestrians. In this way the laws are much like increased fines in work zones, which promote construction worker safety. VRU laws recognize that the type of simple negligence or traffic violations that may result in minor collisions between cars can have disproportionately severe results when a vulnerable road user is involved and provide ways to address those divergent results.
Ken joined the League in 2012 after graduating from William & Mary School of Law. He is a licensed attorney in the state of Virginia. During law school he worked for a private law firm in Cambodia and the Washington State Department of Natural Resources. Prior to that, Ken worked at a law firm in Orange County and a legal services provider in Seattle. He graduated from Pomona College in 2007 with a BA in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics. He began using his bike regularly after college and has been car-free since February 2012.
Well, the Smithsonian archives aren’t really very accessible on short notice, and the California Bicycling Museum and U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame is 3,000 miles away in Davis. David Herlihy’s go-to book on history of the bicycle always has good leads and is beautifully produced — but David’s history is about the bike and not so much about where the wheel took us after the glory years of the 1890′s.
The role of the League in the creation of the Good Roads Movement and everything that followed from that is excellently documented by Richard Weingroff and fellow authors at the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), of all places. I say “of all places,” but, of course, the FHWA most definitely traces it’s own existence directly back to the League of American Wheelmen and their lobbying for the creation of an Office of Road Inquiry in 1892. Colonel Albert Pope was one of the founders of the LAW and a force behind the creation of the Good Roads Movement. General Roy Stone took the idea and ran with it, including pitching the idea of The National Road, and being one of the founding members of the Automobile Club of America (which went on to be a founding member of the American Automobile Association).
The League’s influential past is more than matched on the other side of the Atlantic by the UK’s Cyclists Touring Club (CTC). Those parallels are about to get a thorough airing thanks to the extraordinary work and creativity of Carlton Reid — and the support of a lot of individuals who responded to a kickstarter campaign to fund publication of Reid’s “Roads Were Not Built for Cars.” In fact, interest was so high that the initial fundraising goal was reached in 20 hours and attracted the attention of Kickstarter staff themselves.
The League’s story is entertainingly told by Reid (and he actually did take the time and planned ahead to visit the Smithsonian!), and there are plenty of relevant Women’s History Month stories in there as well. Check it out…
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.
New research has sparked a debate about the merits of lobbying for dedicated funding for bicycling and walking in the current political climate (see Bikeleague, BikePortland).
One thing everyone can agree on, however, is that bicycling and walking projects are broadly eligible for the majority of federal funding programs in the new federal transportation law, MAP-21. These large and often flexible programs represent a huge opportunity for bike/ped projects to compete with others for a larger share of transportation funding.
Advocates in Delaware and Washington State, for example, have already had great success tapping into some of these larger funding programs for their states’ bicycling investments. They have done this by understanding two things:
How the programs work, and
The political dynamics. Through the Advocacy Advance Program, a partnership between the League and the Alliance for Biking & Walking, we urge advocates to learn the Who, What, Where, When, and How of the funding process and political landscape.
To demystify a fairly complex process, we’ve created a series of flow charts to illustrate the technical process from planning to construction — and the advocacy steps advocates can take to influence the process. Click on the links below to learn about the program, and check the back for more detailed recommendations.
Flusche joined the League in April 2009 and has a B.A. in history from Syracuse University and a Masters of Public Administration with a concentration in public policy analysis from New York University.
With more than 40 years of experience in the field, including more than two decades as an executive at Schwinn, Townley understands the business of bikes. Now a senior partner at the Gluskin Townley Group, which conducts the national American Bicyclist Survey, he also has insight on the other side of the coin — what makes consumers tick.
And his key take-away from the 2012 survey? Women are the new majority… so stop pink-washing!
This year at the National Bike Summit and the Women’s Bicycling Forum, we’re highlighting how Bicycling Means Business — creating jobs, boosting economic development and making our communities stronger. To get you geared up, we’ll explore the “Economic Impact of Women Bicyclists” on our next Women Bike webinar with Jay Townley and Elliot Gluskin on Wednesday, February 27th, at 2 p.m. Eastern.
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.
Bringing businesses aboard the bike advocacy boat can be an unsteady maneuver.
But joining forces with these powerful champions does more than provide a wind at your back — engaging businesses in bike advocacy is critical to building connected cycling networks in any community.
Understanding the importance of cultivating these allegiances, the League will get you sailing in the right direction with a workshop on “Bringing Businesses on Board” at the 2013 National Bike Summit.
We’ll have three very unique voices discussing the best strategies to get businesses on board with your local bike mission.
Kimberly-Clark’s Cycling Ambassador Rob Gusky will share what’s worked to get the bicycling program spinning at his Fortune 500 Company and new techniques to make a bike campaign irresistible from one of the most successful corporations in the world.
BikePGH’s Lou Fineberg will discuss social enterprise bike advocacy and how the organization is engaging more urban businesses while increasing bike parking, car-free Fridays, and their employer-recognition program.
Zahra Alabanza (pictured) from Red, Bike and Green will share insight from a model campaign in Atlanta to secure dedicated bike lanes in one of the oldest African-American neighborhoods in the country — by building support with local businesses.
Don’t miss this important workshop — Register for the Summit today!
Alison Dewey League Program Manager, BFB & BFU
Dewey joined the League in 2008. For four years prior to that, Dewey worked for Massachusetts- based Landry’s Bicycles and served on the board of the Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition. Dewey has a MA in International Relations and Communications from Boston University and is a graduate of St. Olaf College. She spent three years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Senegal.
For example, the 650 cyclists killed on our nation’s roads every year hasn’t been enough to make bicyclists’ safety a priority for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) — it’s only about 2% of all traffic fatalities, after all.
Similarly, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and State Departments of Transportation have done little to alter the fact that less 0.5% of highway safety funds is being spent to reduce bicyclist and pedestrian crashes — despite the fact that people who bike and walk account for almost 16% of all traffic deaths.
So why now, and why ask for a “performance measure”?
Here’s why:
MAP-21, the new federal transportation law, requires USDOT to establish safety performance measures for states to meet – but, once again, no performance measure related to the safety of people who bike and walk is currently being considered.
The number of bicyclist and pedestrian fatalities has risen for the past two years (2010 and 2011) while overall traffic deaths have gone down quite dramatically — that means the percentage of fatalities that are bike/ped has risen from 12% to nearly 16%.
MAP-21 almost doubled the amount of funding available for the Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP), a program run by state Departments of Transportation. Unfortunately, that program has woefully small investments in bike/ped safety projects: Only seven states have spent any of these funds on bike/ped projects, and combined they’ve spent less than 0.5% of the funds annually.
These HSIP funds specifically can be used to fix more than just high crash locations (which are naturally dominated by cars); they also can be used to reduce crash potential and to address systemic design issues that cause common crash types.
So to recap… The good news is that bicycling and walking are on the rise nationwide. The bad news is that bicyclist and pedestrian fatalities are also rising. Fortunately, more funds are available to fix traffic safety. But, unfortunately, there is no sign of any increase in spending on bike/ped safety. Absent any real target, focus, incentive, leadership, or guidance from the top, states are unlikely to change that unforgivable oversight.
We think it’s essential to hold states accountable to meaningful performance measures that are flexible and focused on outcomes. We know that four states (FL, CA, TX and NY) routinely account for more than 40% of all bicyclist fatalities every year, while several states have none. A good performance measure can be flexible enough to ensure responsibility for bringing down the overall number is appropriately distributed.
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.
We know bicycling is a simple to solution to many complex problems. One of the most pressing and politically prominent problems over the past few years has been the struggling economy, as states and cities compete to attract employers, workers, young people, and visitors, while tightening their budgets.
Bicycling has an important role in making communities attractive places to visit, live, and work. And we can prove it — with numbers. And we will at the National Bike Summit.
More than ever transportation decision makers and elected officials are open to the argument that balanced multi-modal transportation systems, that include safe and attractive bicycling and walking, have positive benefits for communities. But the message needs to be delivered without hyperbole and with real world examples close to home.
That’s what the National Bike Summit is all about: bringing bicyclists from all of the country to Washington, D.C., to tell stories from their own communities about the power – in this case, the economic power – of bicycling; and to do it armed with latest, local, regional, and national research and data.
Whether it’s in meeting on the Hill or closer to home, the best thing you can do is tell your personal story. Whether it’s about your own shopping habits by bike, a new bicycle business district, or your family’s household transportation savings to buy more locally produced goods, those stories build the credibility of the economic argument and show real-world impacts for the policymaker’s constituents.
But since we also live in a policy climate in which everything needs to be quantified, we need to marshal supporting data. At the Summit we will be hosting a panel, Bicycling Means Business: Getting the Facts Straight, to lay out the latest research on the economic impacts of active transportation, bicycling events, bicycle tourism, and the full range of societal benefits of bicycling.
The panel will be the very first public presentation of new research from:
Charles Brown, Alan M. Voorhees Transportation Center, presenting “Economic Impacts of Active Transportation on New Jersey’s Economy”
Kristin Dahl, Travel Oregon, presenting “The Power of the Pedal: Economic Impact study of Bike Tourism”
Jerry Norquist, National Bicycle Tour Directors Association, presenting “The Economics of Bicycle Events”
Ken Colburn, Symbiotic Strategies LLC, presenting “Analyzing and Quantifying the Multiple Benefits of Bicycling” (with Christopher James)
The results of this new work are on such super-secret lockdown that I can’t even preview them here. But in the meantime you can read all about the economic impacts of bicycling in our Advocacy Advance report. To help attendees with their Hill meetings, each presenter will identify a key talking point or two from their research that attendees will be able to use in the Congressional meetings and at home.
From Travel Orgeon’s Kristin Dahl, here’s an example of how to relate a personal story to a broad economic benefits argument:
This panel alone is probably worth the trip to the Summit, but even if you can’t make it, you can learn more about the Summit and how it will improve implementation of the new transportation bill, MAP-21, by joining our Advocacy Advance National Bike Summit webinar tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. eastern. Caron Whitaker and I will talk about:
The current political landscape
Framing the message
The Summit theme, the “ask”, and MAP-21
The outstanding lineup of speakers
The League’s Women Bike and Equity Advisory Council
And what you can do in your home district, even if you can’t make the Summit
We hope to have you on the webinar tomorrow and/or at the Summit in March. Let’s build a bicycle-friendly America!
Darren Flusche League Policy Director
Flusche joined the League in April 2009 and has a B.A. in history from Syracuse University and a Masters of Public Administration with a concentration in public policy analysis from New York University.
It’s all the buzz for bicyclists here in the capital region: The state of Maryland could be the first to pass a law mandating helmet use for all bicyclists regardless of age.
Currently, no state has such a requirement, though a good number have a similar statute to Maryland’s: mandating helmet use for bicyclists under the age of 16.
With all the discussion about helmet laws, I figured it was a good time to tackle this thorny issue in my ongoing Bike Law University series…
What are helmet laws?
Helmet laws require any person on a bicycle wear a helmet. All current helmet laws are directed at persons under the age of 18. No state requires mandatory helmet use by all bicyclists. In many states, helmet laws can be enforced against the person on the bicycle or against a parent of that person. Some states with a mandatory helmet use law limit whether compliance with the law can be considered in civil lawsuits in order to prevent their laws from limiting the recovery of bicyclists who are injured. There are many other variations on the enforcement and effect of mandatory helmet use laws, as discussed through the laws of our spotlight states.
Why should you care?
The use of helmets is perhaps the most common recommendation for safer bicycling. The League has encouraged bicyclists to wear helmets for more than 25 years, and our affiliated clubs and advocacy groups typically require their use on organized rides. However, the League does not support mandatory helmet laws because of the many potential unintended consequences.
The experience of countries with greater bicycle use than the United States tells us that safer bicycling comes from many policy decisions — especially safer infrastructure — and does not require mandatory helmet use laws. Mandatory helmet use laws may hurt bicyclist safety overall by discouraging bicycling, by promoting the idea that it is an unsafe activity or by raising a barrier to transportation choice — despite being the safest choice for an individual cyclist. We all want safer bicycling and policies that encourage more people to ride, provide appropriate facilities, and educate all road users about safely sharing the road. These are likely to be more effective in the long term.
Who has them?
Twenty-one states and the District of Columbia have laws that require persons under the age of 18 to wear a helmet. Within that, however, the age threshold varies widely. Of states that require helmet use, most (12) only require helmets for persons less than 16 years of age. Of the 15 states that require helmet use, the District of Columbia and Virginia — which does not require helmet use — maintain a law that limits the consideration of failure to wear a helmet in a lawsuit. This protects the ability of a bicyclist who chose not to wear a helmet to recover damages if they are injured in a crash. The need for and effect of such a law may be more or less necessary depending upon how liability or fault is determined in a state.
(Click on the image to view the full chart showing the breakdown of helmet laws across the country.)
Where did they come from?
The first state to pass a mandatory helmet law was California in 1986. The Consumer Product Safety Commission has had mandatory helmet performance requirements for helmet manufacturers since 1999. As of the last revision to the Uniform Vehicle Code (UVC) in 2000, there is no UVC section equivalent to a helmet law.
Spotlight States – New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania
Ken joined the League in 2012 after graduating from William & Mary School of Law. He is a licensed attorney in the state of Virginia. During law school he worked for a private law firm in Cambodia and the Washington State Department of Natural Resources. Prior to that, Ken worked at a law firm in Orange County and a legal services provider in Seattle. He graduated from Pomona College in 2007 with a BA in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics. He began using his bike regularly after college and has been car-free since February 2012.
When your community draws 100 people to a community bike forum (pictured below) to listen to presentations about transportation policy – on a Saturday night – you have some real bike culture developing.
When the staff and board of your city’s bicycling advocacy organization lock themselves in a room for two days to develop an ambition campaign to access public funding for bicycling investment, you have savvy grassroots leadership.
When your city’s assistant director for transportation planning announces a goal of becoming a top ten bicycle commuter city in the next few years – and hopes to skip Bronze and go right to Silver Bicycle Friendly Community status – you have political buy-in. And it doesn’t hurt when Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is giving your mayor a shout out for improving urban livability.
When your city council is about to vote on allocating $2.5 million from a bond to fund 15 miles of bike facilities and Complete Streets, your community may be about to put its money where its mouth is.
All of these things are true of Atlanta, Ga., where the Advocacy Advance team supported a customized Winning Campaigns Training, based on the Alliance for Biking and Walking’s signature training, and the afore-mentioned community forum.
“Last year marked a turning point for bike advocacy in Atlanta,” said Rebecca Serna, Executive Director of the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition. “Our mayor hopped on a bike and said he wanted Atlanta to be a beacon of bike-friendliness, not for the Southeast, not for the South, but for the nation. That’s a lofty goal but he’s done nothing but meet goals in his first term, so we anticipate great things to come in our city.”
The Winning Campaign Training brought together a large portion of the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition’s board and the staff to walk step by step through a campaign to respond to a recent unsuccessful transportation sales tax measure, T-SPLOST. ”The Winning Campaigns Training really helped our leadership team focus, providing the structure we needed to accelerate group genius,” ABC Board Member Jenn Graham said.
Advocacy Advance has given the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition a Model Grant to ensure that the city increases its investment in bicycling and walking infrastructure and it is paying off. Over the past several years, the city’s leaders have started to recognize the need to make Atlanta a biking- and walking-friendly community. We’ll keep you posted on their progress.
“Georgia Bikes is thrilled with the leadership and commitment to better bicycling on display in Atlanta,” said Brent Bruice, executive director of Georgia’s statewide advocacy organization. “Our state capital is leading by example and showing the way to being bike friendly for cities throughout Georgia.”
And if you are ever bicycling in Atlanta, you can use this app to track your route and send data directly to the city’s transportation planners.
Darren Flusche League Policy Director
Flusche joined the League in April 2009 and has a B.A. in history from Syracuse University and a Masters of Public Administration with a concentration in public policy analysis from New York University.
How is my state spending its share of federal transportation funds? How much is my community investing in bicycling and walking?
These common questions can be difficult to answer.
Data on federal funding is vital to understanding the range of programs that fund bicycle projects — and let you know if your state is effectively tapping into federal dollars to make biking better in your community.
Adding to the report, Advocacy Advance is also hosting a webinar next week on “Tracking Data on Bicycling and Walking Investments.” Join us on Tuesday, January 29th, at 2 p.m. Eastern as we explore sources of funding outside of new Transportation Alternatives programs and explain what’s being done to track bicycle funding. Panelists will include:
Ken McLeod, Legal Specialist, Advocacy Advance
Andrea Milne, Benchmarking Project Manager, Alliance for Biking & Walking
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.
The National Bike Summit has a long history of being the premier advocacy event of the year — and we couldn’t be more excited about the line-up for 2013.
First of all, thank you to the many people who shared great session ideas in our call for proposals. We wish we could incorporate all of them — and did our best to include at least some aspect the vast majority of your diverse submissions.
In line with our “Bicycling Means Business” theme, we’ll have specific tracks exploring the economic benefits of bicycling and how to take advantage of federal funding through the new transportation law, MAP-21.
But that’s not all.
We want to move beyond static Powerpoint presentations and engage YOUR ideas, too. So this year, you can role play effective communications tactics to engage your elected officials, sharpen your press strategy with an interactive storytelling workshop and, perhaps most importantly, help us develop a “Bicycling Agenda for 2014 and Beyond.”
The workshops compliment an exciting group of plenary speakers, as well. Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) will join Representative Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and other political leaders — and we can’t wait to hear Yolanda Cade of AAA.
Stay tuned for the announcement of more keynote speakers, four exciting pecha kuchas, and the complete Summit schedule later this week.
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.
A few weeks ago, I finally saw something I’ve been hearing about for a long while. Heading back to the office from a doctor’s appointment, I wasn’t fighting for space on the road. Instead, I was flying down bustling L Street Northwest on the new L Street cycletrack, a protected bike lane that takes up a whole lane of traffic and is protected by bollards, with green paint near intersections.
Yesterday, the Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA) hosted a formal ribbon cutting ceremony with Mayor Vincent Gray, WABA Executive Director Shane Farthing, and the Downtown DC Business Improvement District‘s Director of Infrastructure & Sustainability, Ellen Jones.
There was quite the crowd for the press conference and ribbon cutting
“We aren’t just paying lip service to alternative modes of transportation — we want to reduce the number of vehicles in the District of Columbia,” Mayor Gray said to the assembled bicyclists and media.
“These [cycletracks] are an economic asset to our city; it will make our city more resilient,” Jones added. “The business community isn’t done making this the most bicycle-friendly downtown in the world.” While D.C. has a lot of work to do before that, the opening of this 1.1-mile cycletrack in the heart of downtown is a great step forward for advocates in D.C.
Sometimes it takes a village: the ribbon is cut by many, including Ellen Jones of DC BID (far left), DC Mayor Vincent Gray (middle, with “WABA” pocket square) and WABA’s Shane Farthing (far right)
After the ribbon cutting, I called Shane Farthing to get some background on the cycletrack, a project seven years in the making. In 2005, the L Street cycletrack made it into the 2005 Bicycle Master Plan for the District, the first significant bicycle plan for the city. This plan intended to create key thoroughfares for bicyclists through downtown D.C., both North-South (with the 15th Street cycletrack) and East-West (with the eastbound L Street cycletrack). “We’re three-quarters of the way done,” Farthing said, reminding me that the westbound M Street cycletrack is still on the horizon.
After years on the agenda, the L Street cycletrack hit a major speed bump last year. In a budget hearing with the District Department of Transportation in June 2011, DDOT Director Terry Bellamy said that funding for the L Street cycletrack was off the administration’s agenda. WABA responded by activating its member base. In a just a few weeks — after thousands of phone calls, e-mails, and a bike ride with Council member Jack Evans (Ward 2)— the cycletrack was back on the agenda.
What can local advocates learn from this great success story, transforming a project from scrapped to striped in 16 months? “The grassroots effort of e-mails and phone calls, coupled with exposure to council members through rides, made it happen,” Farthing says. His advice to local advocates fighting a similar battle? “Get your supportive council members to experience [the road on a bike where the infrastructure is proposed], then get them to talk their less supportive colleagues into riding with you, as well,” he says. “The experience is a new one to them, and it’s a really helpful way to get someone supportive of transportation issues, but not seen as a top bicycling voice, to support cycletracks.”
Detail from http://1.usa.gov/VfwSUS
Hopefully, I’ll see a lot of bicyclists on that lane next time I’m taking it across town. As Mayor Gray so rightly said: “The safer you make cycling, the more people will choose to bike.” Thanks to advocates like WABA, that’s happening every day here in the nation’s capital!
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.
Whose streets work better: Atlanta or Chicago? According to the most common assessment tool for congestion — the Travel Time Index (TTI) — the answer is Atlanta.
The average trip to work in Atlanta takes 57.4 minutes, while the typical commuter in Chicago spends 35.6 minutes getting to the office. So it seems like the Windy City would be rated higher, right? Well, no. The TTI gives more credit to speed than travel time and destination proximity. Atlanta looks better because their commuters drive faster over a farther distance, even though their trips take longer on average. This example, highlighted in a recent memo from Transportation for America, reveals the challenges and limitations of our current thinking about transportation performance. And, unfortunately, this isn’t just an academic problem.
Under the law, the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) will set up Performance Measures for its largest program, the $22 billion National Highway Performance Program, that will ultimately reward and penalize states for reaching or failing to meet these targets, and
The law expands the scope of the National Highway System by 60,000 new lane miles; now it will include many roads (primary arterials) that don’t feel like highways at all.
So, unless the performance measures are set appropriately, state DOTs will treat many roads that cut through neighborhoods essentially the same way they treat interstate highways: prioritizing speed over other factors. Which roads will that affect in your state? You can find the primary arterial routes that will be added to the NHS in here.
Should the performance of this road…
…be measured like this one?
Under the new National Highway Performance Program, the performance of these two roads could be measured the same way. One is a bustling business district, the other is an Interstate highway. (Example provided by Transportation for America.)
Fortunately, the USDOT appears to recognize the challenge before it. In September, the DOT solicited input through an online dialogue, where the public contributed and voted on ideas for these performance measures.
The number one ranked idea for Highway System Performance:“Performance measures should be defined and measured in ways that reflect all of the benefits of an integrated, comprehensive system based on the movement of people, not vehicles.” One of the most popular ideas for Congestion Mitigation: “Performance measures should emphasize spatial and temporal dimensions of congestion” (translation: the measure should consider trip time, as well as distance traveled). Both suggestions would encourage communities to build infrastructure that helps people get where they are going rather than travel the greatest distance possible at the highest speeds possible.
In fact, the DOT received so much feedback that it hosted a listening session late last month. During the session, officials acknowledged the need to address issues like “vehicle vs. passenger movement,” and there was considerable discussion about how to measure people on foot and on bicycle. In the League’s recommendations to DOT, we identified Regional Household Travel Surveys, infrared counters, and traditional bike/ped counts, as possible tools, and pointed to states like Massachusetts, which is setting mode-shift goals as part of its transportation performance measures. We also passed along some of the on-goingresearch into bicycling and walking measurement.
It is good that this dialog is taking place, but we’ll be watching carefully to see what comes out these discussions. Whatever gets put into place now will likely influence transportation decision-making for years to come, so it’s critically important to keep the focus on moving people, not vehicles.
Flusche joined the League in April 2009 and has a B.A. in history from Syracuse University and a Masters of Public Administration with a concentration in public policy analysis from New York University.
As of Friday afternoon, 350,899 Alameda County voters had voted in favor of ballot measure B1, which would increase the county’s transportation tax from a half cent to 1 cent for road repair, bicycle infrastructure and transit investments. One the other side of the coin, 176,504 county residents had voted against.
Under normal circumstances, a 66.53% to 33.47% vote would have been a decisive victory for the measure and we would not be reporting the vote to the second decimal place. However, in California, when the funds from a local sales tax measure are dedicated for a specific purpose, a two-thirds “supermajority” of 66.67% is required. The vote is so close that election officials are still counting absentee and other ballots. They are not expected to have a final tally until Wednesday, November 21. The best current guess is that the measure will fall short by fewer than 700 votes. A recount is possible.
The fact that at least 66% of the voters opted to voluntarily tax themselves for better transportation infrastructure, including bicycling facilities, signals the direction many communities are headed in an era of uncertain federal funding.
“Whatever the final outcome of Measure B1 here in Alameda County, it’s clear that most residents not only want more transit options, a great network of bicycle lane and trails, pedestrian safety improvements, but they are willing to pay for them by increasing our local sales tax,” says Renee Rivera, Executive Director of East Bay Bicycle Coalition. “That is a huge testament to the appetite for active transportation here in the East Bay. If we don’t gain the couple thousand votes needed to put B1 over the top in the coming days, it will be coming back to the ballot very soon, with the same or stronger investment in bike/ped improvements.” Looking forward, the East Bay Bicycle Coalition and other transportation advocates are going to work on strengthening their campaign efforts in the less dense suburban parts of the county, Rivera says.
According to Rivera, the new revenue would be divided up in approximately the following way.
48% public and specialized transit
27% local streets and roads improvements
11% bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure
9% highway efficiency and freight development
5% sustainable land use and transportation projects
Anything jump out at you? The share for bicycling and walking is right there next to highways! One of the things that is so exciting about this measure, Rivera points out, is that it does not add any highway capacity. The Alameda County Transportation Commission recognizes that the freeway network in Alameda County is fully built. It can be improved but the County will not invest beyond making the existing system work better with HOV conversions and interchange improvements. The investments need to be made in transit, maintenance and active transport improvements.
The League, with our partners the Alliance for Biking & Walking, is supporting campaigns like the East Bay Bicycle Coalition’s to pass Measure B1. In April, we gave the bicycle coalition a Rapid Response grant through the Advocacy Advance program to fight for the measure’s passage. We hope that when the votes are all counted the measure will be successful. One eighth of a percent is excruciatingly close.
The tight vote on measure B1 comes at a time when many transportation initiatives are being passed across the country. On November 6, two thirds of the proposed ballot measures that supported transit projects passed. Campaigns like this are great candidates for Rapid Response Grants.
Darren Flusche League Policy Director
Flusche joined the League in April 2009 and has a B.A. in history from Syracuse University and a Masters of Public Administration with a concentration in public policy analysis from New York University.
The founder of the first company to manufacture and market bikes built specifically for women, she challenged the very structure and design of the bicycle. Both an entrepreneur and an advocate, Terry dared to follow her passion and ingenuity and grew a basement operation into an internationally known brand.
And on March 4, she’ll be the opening keynote at the Women Bike event at the start of the 2013 National Bike Summit. Register today!
With a theme of Women Mean Business, this all-day event will continue the momentum of the National Women’s Bicycling Summit in Long Beach this fall and once again bring together women from all aspects of the bicycle movement to learn, network and be inspired. And, when it comes to women bike business leaders, Georgena Terry is quite simply a legend.
As Susi Wunsch, founder of Velojoy and Women Bike advisory board member, sums up:
Georgena Terry began to ponder the subtleties of bicycle fit, notably for smaller women like herself, while working as a young engineer in the 1980s. Her fascination with how women’s physiology relates to frame geometry led her to teach herself how to build bicycles in her spare time. “I never liked working for a big corporation,” she says now. “I think I always knew that I would end up doing something on my own.”
That “something” turned out to be the founding in 1985 of Terry Precision Cycling, the first woman-specific bicycle company. At a time when women’s options were still limited to men’s bikes and apparel, Terry listened. She focused on problem-solving for women who, for example, couldn’t clear the top tube of a men’s frame or who suffered neck and shoulder pain from having to reach too far for handlebars. Early on, a male-dominated industry was less than encouraging. But Terry, who considers being called an “absolute maverick” the highest compliment, and who has since been widely recognized with industry distinctions, achieved success by innovating — creating women’s bicycles, saddles and apparel that enhance comfort and performance.
Terry sold controlling interest in the company to private investor Liz Robert in 2009. Today, from her base outside Rochester, NY, she continues to make bicycles, working directly with customers on measurements and specifications and having the classic steel frames manufactured by Waterford Precision Cycles in Wisconsin. “I’ve got no overhead, no rent, I don’t build a bike until I sell it,” Terry says. Perhaps that’s one reason why this petite legend estimates that she’ll log 6,500 miles on her own bike this year…
And the cycling maverick couldn’t be more excited to join us. “The National Bike Summit has a great reputation,” Terry says. “I’m honored to be speaking at the Women Mean Business event — a wonderful opportunity to share ideas and meet new advocates for cycling.”
This event will sell out — sign up today! And stay tuned for more program details in coming weeks!
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.
Before returning to D.C. this fall, I lived — and became a bike advocate — in Atlanta. Late last month, I Megabus-ed 12 hours south to help the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition and Red, Bike and Green-Atlanta (a chapter I helped to co-found) gather support for dedicated bike lanes in one of the oldest African American neighborhoods in the country: Sweet Auburn Avenue.
Atlanta recently broke ground on a Street Car Project that will increase connectivity between downtown and the King National Historic site, a top tourist attraction. While city officials are pushing the project forward, there remains some concern that shuttling tourists from downtown to the historic site would preclude those tourist from spending their dollars with local businesses along the route. Also, as a city crippled by subpar transit, the Street Car provides little benefit to local citizens. So, in order to garner more support for the project the city initially promised to put in bike lanes along the street car route.
After this proposal won the support of local residents and cycling groups the city came back with another proposal that would maintain full bike lanes on one street and leave the other with interrupted bike lanes that are less safe. Well, the street that would be shortchanged is Auburn Avenue.
The mostly black neighborhood has struggled in recent years, while seeing a parallel street become a major bike thoroughfare that has blossomed economically — proving yet again that bikes mean business. Red, Bike and Green — a group focused on encouraging more blacks to bike in their communities — partnered with ABC and SOPO Bicycle Co-Op to host a bicycle tour of Sweet Auburn showcasing this incredible historical gem and gather the support of the community to advocate for complete bike lanes along the street.
Before the tour though, it was time to get some signatures on our Letter of Support from local businesses and residents. Red, Bike and Green- Atlanta Co-Founder, Zahra Alabanza and I set out walking up and down Auburn Ave for the rest of the afternoon. Auburn Ave is lined with some of the oldest black businesses and buildings in the nation but is in the top 10 most endangered historic places in the country, as well.
The street is no stranger to bike activism either, after a 1890 ordinance segregated the original Street Cars in Atlanta, a group of black citizens and Auburn Ave business owners led a boycott to appeal the law. What was their preferred mode of travel? Bicycles.
The tour took us to several major historical spots along Auburn Ave. including Dr. Martin Luther King’s birth home; the headquarters of the Southern Christian Leadership Coalition (group founded in part by Dr. King); the oldest black barbershop in America; the Peacock nightclub, which, at one point, was the sole venue where black acts could perform; and some major black historical churches Big Bethel, Old Wheat Street and Ebenezer. Zahra provided some history about the area while Atlanta Bicycle Coalition ED Rebecca Serna pointed out the parts of Auburn that would have gotten bike lanes in the original proposal and explained the importance of connectivity to the rest of the city.
RBG-ATL Co-Founder Zahra Alabanza
ABC ED Rebecca Serna
An old ad using stereotypical depictions of black children still on the walls
Street art honoring Civil Rights Hero John Lewis
Community activist Mtamanika Youngblood, CEO at Historic District Development Corporation educating riders about keeping the community affordable for its original residents
After all that riding and learning it was time to refuel and talk about what we’d seen. As part of our outreach efforts a local restaurant welcomed us to dine with them at a nice discount. Oh and DINE we did at Mangoes Caribbean Restaurant! After devouring a delicious dinner it was off to more merriment at the historic Pal’s Lounge. The owner at Pal’s not only committed to having a bike rack installed when he saw all the bikers swarming into his spot, but he also had a drink ready for us in anticipation. If you visit Atlanta and end up at Pal’s make sure you order “The Spoke” and tell them RBG sent you.
Of course, the Sweet Auburn Ride was just my first stop back in Atlanta. Stay tuned for my next post about the Georgia-lina Bike Summit!
Hamzat Sani Equity and Outreach Fellow
Hamzat joined the League in September 2012 after working with the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition. Before working in biking, Hamzat worked with Martin Luther King Jr.’s son as a Program Associate at The King Center in Atlanta. A founder of the Red, Bike and Green chapter in Atlanta, Hamzat sees biking as a hub for change on the communal level.
When talking with people who are interested in biking more but haven’t yet overcome their reservations, one of the things that comes up a lot is the challenge of one particular intersection or stretch of road. It’s too busy, or it just feels uncomfortable and dangerous.
I often remind those folks that they don’t need to ride to their destination along the same route they would drive. Sometimes there’s an alternate route that can avoid the dicey parts, but we’re just not used to looking for it. Route selection is an important factor in encouraging more people to hop on their bikes.
How do different environments impact safety and comfort? What features are people looking for it their route? Several new studies have come out that address these questions. Knowing what routes people on bikes choose will help communities deliver more bike-friendly streets – for existing and potential cyclists.
Cycle tracks and quiet residential streets increase safety
Major streets with parked cars and no bike infrastructure had the highest risk.
Cycle tracks – bike lanes physically separated from automobile traffic – alongside major streets and residential street bike routes were the least risky.
Major streets with bike lanes and no parked cars had about half the risk of major streets with parking and off-street bike paths had about 6/10 the risk.
The authors also note that streetcar tracks, downhill slopes, and construction added noticeably to riskiness.
“The only shocking thing about this study is just how blindingly obvious the results are, and that it has apparently taken 40 years for us to figure this out!” says League President Andy Clarke, referring to reported safety benefits of cycle tracks. The lesson, Andy notes, is that poorly designed facilities in the early 1970s did tremendous damage to the reputation of bicycling infrastructure, which set back the growth of bicycling networks. Cycle tracks and bike lanes still need to be used in the right places with careful attention to detail to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past. “Fortunately, we have learned a whole lot more about good design that does work and we’re starting to see the results,” Andy says.
On the topic of route selection, the researchers compared their safety data to the results of an earlier study on the stated-desirability of different bicycling conditions. Not surprisingly, the safer routes were also the most popular:
(Source: University of British Columbia, Cycling in Cities Program)
Flusche joined the League in April 2009 and has a B.A. in history from Syracuse University and a Masters of Public Administration with a concentration in public policy analysis from New York University.
On Tuesday, I sat down with more than 20 active-transportation professionals and allies at the Moving Millennials workshop hosted by Transportation for America. The aim of the full-day session: Learn about trends in transportation for 18-35 year-olds — and figure out how to turn the decreased interest in driving into an increased energy around bicycling.
For those of you who attended the 2012 National Bike Summit, the subject may sound a bit familiar. We had a compelling keynote by Jason Ryan Dorsey, The Gen Y guy, who highlighted the distinguishing factors of this generation; many of which point to increased interest in active transportation.
The conversation was kicked-off by Phineas Baxandall, Senior Analyst at U.S. PIRG, who gave a great run-down of transportation trends across the board. A recent report from his organization, Transportation and the New Generation, put some compelling data behind what we already know: Millennials are driving less than the generations before them.
The chart Baxandall returned to again and again showed a 6 percent downturn in vehicle miles traveled since 2007 (below). “This is not a blip” he said.
So what’s the cause of the decline in driving? A lot of it stems from the millennials.
The under-35 age group is 25 percent of the transport population, and there was a 23 percent decline in VMT in that age group between 2001 and 2009. During that same span, biking rates shot up 25 percent, and walking rates rose 16 percent.
David Metz, a partner at the public policy research group Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates (FM3), shared some helpful insights into millennials’ values. Instead of donating time or effort, he said, millennials are more likely to support causes through monetary contributions. FM3′s research demonstrated that millennials value social ties and interconnectedness. They rated “success” not by how much money or material possessions they own, but by personal relationships such as a happy marriage, supportive friends, and strong family ties.
Between data, inspiring speakers, and insightful discussions, a question emerged: How do we get millennials engaged in bike advocacy? Of course, a question this big couldn’t be answered during a one-day workshop — but the conversation was energizing. Here at the League, we’re trying to get more youth involved through a consistent Facebook and attentive Twitter presence, as well as youth-rate memberships and a reduced registration fee for the National Bike Summit. We’re also planning a Club Leadership webinar focused on getting millenials involved in bike clubs.
But we also know there are miles to go before we sleep, and there’s a lot of work to be done to get millennials involved in making biking better. But the future is certainly bright. As Marc Gorton, founder of OpenPlans said in his speech: If millennials keep decreasing their VMT, “we’ll need to change the way we think about transportation.”
Do you have any insights or stories to share?
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.
Ever wonder how your local engineers determine how wide to make your bike lane? Have you pondered why your local planners made your bike path the width that it is? When it comes to these types of decision, it’s likely they looked to AASHTO for guidance.
The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) recently released their Guide for the Development of Bicycle Facilities. This long-awaited update includes many wonky measures and standards that your local engineers and planners are using to provide your community with safe bicycle facilities. Just one example? Thanks to this new fourth edition of the Guide, bike paths being designed and planned now are suggested to be at least 10 feet for bicyclists, a two-foot increase from the third edition in 1999.
This is exciting and important stuff so the League has teamed up with Toole Design Group, PBIC, the Federal Highway Administration, and AASHTO to deliver in-depth training across the country to our Bicycle Friendly America partners, local governments, and advocates.
The first training was here in the Washington D.C. region last week. The morning opened with League president Andy Clark welcoming all 35 participants, followed by Toole Design Group — a national firm that specializes in multi-modal planning and key contributors to the Guide — giving the nuts and bolts of the training. In addition to private consultants and bike advocates, seven Washington D.C. region local governments were represented!
The new AASHTO Bike Guide is a key resource for transportation professionals in designing, building, modernizing, and preserving safe and efficient bicycle facilities. Check out our Find It page to see if it is happening in your region.
Dewey joined the League in 2008. For four years prior to that, Dewey worked for Massachusetts- based Landry’s Bicycles and served on the board of the Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition. Dewey has a MA in International Relations and Communications from Boston University and is a graduate of St. Olaf College. She spent three years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Senegal.
Thanks to an Advocacy Advance Rapid Response Grant, advocates at Bike Delaware are going to find out.
As you may have read in our Election Guide released last month, Bike Delaware conducted a survey of state legislative candidates in 2010 that launched its successful Walkable, Bikeable Delaware campaign. With election day less than a month away, advocates want to ensure that voters know where candidates stand on continuing that model progress when they go to the polls.
Delaware is known for its bike-friendly governor, Jack Markell, and we’ve shared their success story of winning unprecedented state dollars for bike/ped. However, one big win is not enough. Because of the turnover in the Delaware legislature, it is critical to identify and elect champions that will maintain previous – and unprecedented – funding levels for bicycle and pedestrian programs and projects.
Bike Delaware will use the $3,000 Rapid Response Grant to conduct a survey of every candidate running for general assembly and governor and get as may state legislators as possible on record on the specific issue of authorized state capital funding for bike/ped for FY2014.
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.
The League is always working hard to create resources to advance advocacy and bicycling in communities nationwide. A recent hot topic is bicycle advisory committees (BACs) and how to create an effective group. There was a great session at the Women’s Bicycling Summit and our recent policy report. I’m already hearing great stories of how these tools are being put to use by advocates.
The Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition, for instance, has been working for more than a year to create new bicycle and pedestrian advisory committees in San Mateo County. SVBC wants to ensure local bicyclists have a voice in how their state and federal transportation dollars are spent, particularly when it comes to bike projects. The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (the region’s planning agency) also requires that counties and cities have a BAC to review projects.
San Mateo County has a county-level committee, but SVBC has argued is not enough to have just the one group. “The county-level BPAC does a great job and their staff works hard, but their review should be a second step,” argues Colin Heyne, Deputy Director of SVBC. “The cities should be engaging their own citizens who are interested in biking and walking, having a local review to ensure projects meet local needs.”
To help Colin and others make the case to elected officials and the public, we’ve created a summary of our bicycle and pedestrian advisory committee report. Use this summary when you’re attending meetings, talking with elected officials, or writing a newspaper editorial. And be sure to let us know if there are resources the League can create for your next campaign.
Do you have news from your advocacy organization? Let me know at matt@bikeleague.org
Photo by Richard Masoner
Matt Wempe League State and Local Advocacy Coordinator
Mr. Wempe joined the League in September 2011. For the three years prior, he worked as a transportation planner and Safe Routes to School Coordinator in Fort Collins, Colo. He holds a BA in Economics from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a Masters of Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
All eyes were on the economy in 2009 when the League released its report on The Economic Benefits of Bicycle Infrastructure Investments. In the three years since there’s been a steady stream of research confirming the positive impact bicycling has on business districts, jobs, and household savings. To capture this growing body of evidence, Darren Flusche, League Policy Director, has updated the report with a wealth of new data and information.
Click here to download the map and here to read the full report.
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.
After the dramatic twists and turns of bike advocacy on Capitol Hill this year and last, Congress passed a new federal transportation law that dramatically cuts funding for bicycling. Now more than ever, lawmakers need to hear from dealers that bicycling has a big impact on local economies from coast to coast.
The NBDA is giving dealers this chance.
Dealers who are members of NBDA and first-time attendees of the National Bike Summit are invited to fill out a quick online questionnaire (www.bikeleague.org/nbda12) to be entered to win one of 25 $1,000 sponsorships to attend the 2013 Summit.
“Our members are the premier dealers in the United States,” says Fred Clements, executive director of NBDA. “Perhaps more than any other attendee, dealers are able to directly connect how bicycling affects a congressmembers’s district, and why bicycling means business.”
The League is administering the program on behalf of NBDA, and promoting the scholarships to broaden the applicant and attendee pool. “Having lots of dealers at the Summit each year is a big part of our success,” says Andy Clarke, League president. “We are happy to be partnering with NBDA to ensure 25 dealers join us for the first time this year.”
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.
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