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    “Bike Bills” Update (and then some)


    September 21st, 2010 | Categories: Programs | 2 comments

    Last night the Baltimore City Council moved forward on 3 of the “Bike Bills”:

    Tonight, the Mayor’s Bicycle Advisory Committee meets in the city’s Planning Department (8th Floor, 417 E. Fayette St.) at 6pm for the September meeting.  All are welscome to attend!

    Tomorrow, September 22nd (Carfree Day) Bikestravaganza: Off the Chainring Tour comes to Baltimore for 2 gigs!   Elly Blue and Joe Biel bring an interactive, multimedia traveling roadshow bike summit with bikes, movies, zines, books, debate, and problem solving.

    From 1pm – 2pm Rangos Building (855 North Wolfe St), Room 490 on the Johns Hopkins Medical Campus

    From 6pm – 8pm at The Windup Space, 12 W North Ave ($3-10 sliding scale at the door)


    • Jessica

      I know this is a “done deal” but I wanted to take a moment to vent. When I served as Chief of Transportation planning for the DOT, I opposed the 3-foot passing bill because it is unenforceable AND because technically speaking it has the potential to slow cars on 10′ roadways to a halt. Across the City, I supported lane reductions to slow cars that ultimately would make the roadways safer for all users. With the passing of the 3-foot bill, technically speaking, the presence of a bicyclist on a 2-way 10-foot lane roadway would prohibit passing at all whenever there is a solid double line……what I did NOT consider at the time was that bicyclists using the bus/bike lanes would take the lane and slow down the buses (do we need the buses to be any slower?). I have experienced this twice on Pratt Street and the law isn’t even official yet. I support a balanced transportation system and see the law working against a balanced system.

    • http://twitter.com/jedweeks Jed Weeks

      I don’t know how well it translates to Baltimore, but the bus speed averaging done in DC shows buses averaging about 5-10mph on major roads. I doubt cyclists are really the hold up. And of course they take the lane–getting passed in a standard size lane by a bus is way worse than getting passed by a car, especially when the bus slams on the brakes and cuts you off 20 feet later. What else did you expect cyclists to do in share bike/bus lanes?I do agree the 3′ law is unenforceable to a degree, but at least reckless drivers CAN be cited, even if it will rarely happen.

     

     


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