MyWHaT

Last year, Ann Arbor passed a crosswalk ordinance that become the model Traverse City used for its recent crosswalk ordinance (TC’s Uniform Traffic Code Section 410.03). It requires all vehicles (including bicycles) to stop for pedestrians in unregulated crosswalks that are marked and posted.

If you haven’t noticed, it is in effect. Any reports from the streets?

Front side of a postcard campaign by Washtenaw Bicycling and Walking Coalition

Driver Behavior Remains the Issue

Ann Arbor has had issues with compliance of their law as the privilege associated with driving a car is difficult to change. People behind the wheel are still not readily stopping and there has been an uptick with fender-bender rear ends when someone stops too quickly. Ann Arbor is attempting to improve that with stricter enforcement, enhanced warning systems and perhaps with a slight clarifying of the ordinance language to clarify that a stop is only required if “a pedestrian is stopped at the curb or ramp leading to a crosswalk.” It avoids the vague term of “when approaching” a crosswalk.

Still, authorities in Ann Arbor are discovering that the biggest obstacle to compliance has nothing to do with the ordinance or pedestrians; the biggest issue remains driver behavior. Namely, distracted driving and driving too fast. There is state law to help reduce the former and the latter requires that the city focus on design of the streets to restrict speeds, but also to protect pedestrians with greater use of bump-outs, medians and narrow streets. It appears from the comments by council members, that Ann Arbor’s council is supporting continued improvement in street design guidelines to achieve those ends. Ann Arbor is also attempting to raise the awareness of the ordinance through postcard and ad campaigns, as well as continuing to provide video footage of the experience on the street.

Want to Help

Forces are coming together in Traverse City to begin a PR campaign for our new ordinance, both through the City Planning office and through citizen effort. If you’re interested in lending a talent, an idea or being filmed as you navigate the streets, you can send me a message or contact the planning department to be plugged in. TC resident Marya Tyler is also interested in putting together some short PR videos that will air online and public access. If interested, email at: maryawashingtontyler@hotmail.com

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The following video was effective in helping to get A2′s ordinance passed. (If you need a bit of a pick-me-up in your attitude before your daily walk commute, watch this video).

“We can have a community where we no longer feel invisible as pedestrians– where motorists stop to allow children to cross the street.”

Related Articles:

• Go Team! Policy Changes Need Love Too
• A Stop at Crosswalk Ordinance is Only One Needed Treatment
• Word of the Day: Crosswalk Creeping
• City May Pass Ordinance Requiring Stops at Crosswalks

Graphic Friday

Each dot = A life ended on U.S. roads

In total, 369,629 people died in crashes between 2001 and 2009.

49,827 of those deaths were people on foot, bicycle or some other non-motorized vehicle.

Dangerous by Design

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Get to zero

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* Graphic: Screen grab of the The Guardian’s interactive US road accident casualties: every one mapped across America using data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Announcement

The snow hasn’t started to fall yet, but there’s no better time to begin thinking about winter commuting than mid-November. Not that it takes that much preparation or consideration. In reality, pedaling around in the winter isn’t that different from a walk in the winter. If you dress sensibly and stay dry, you’ll be fine. Winter bicycling around town is not a sport, it is simply a means to get somewhere. Most of the season, the streets are clear and the weather is more mild than you might imagine. You’d be surprised how ho-hum the experience actually is.

Ho-hum moments aside, there are some wintry nights when the ride home is almost transcendental…there is a crispness in the air and the sounds of the city soften with freshly fallen snow. Often you only hear the gentle hum of your own wheels…it can be beyond blissful.

Call 231-941-4300 for info

However, there are other wintry nights where you might find yourself cussing the name of whomever turned you on to it. Stating the obvious, it can be cold. There is also the occasional slipping and sliding on hidden ice. It’s like anything we do in the winter, it takes a bit more caution and there are certainly tricks of the street that can increase comfort levels.

Next Thursday, TART Trails and Brick Wheels are hosting a panel discussion covering some of those tips. The free workshop titled “Winter Bicycling: How to pedal through winter” begins at 6pm. They’ll have free hot drinks and bakery treats, both of which help with any winter commute.

Once we have some snow, I’d like to see a skills course set up an icy parking lot somewhere as I’m a firm believer that the only true way to learn how to fall is to fall. And, it can be fun.

This is MyWHaT’s second winter online and we have written about winter riding before. Those archive posts remain relevant:

• A Quick Lesson In The Art Of The Two-Wheeled Winter Commute
• This Is How They Bike Winter In Minneapolis
• Once Again, Cyclists From Copenhagen Showing Off
• Winter Scenes: Behind the Bars
• It wasn’t that long ago when you were young & there was snow

Have fun, stay upright (mostly).

by Teppo via Flikr

Related articles

• Top U.S. Cities For Winter Bicycle Commuting… (rcmc467.wordpress.com)
• Drivers ‘should take care in snow’ (autonetinsurance.co.uk)
• Rain, shine, or snow, bike commuters to gain traction this winter (Concentrate)

According to AAA, for people ages 5-14 deaths from collisions are 4 times higher on Halloween night…you’d think people would be hyper-aware knowing the witches, goblins, zombies are out…if you must drive, slow down, look-out and chill-out. 

Happy Halloween!

by David Carmack Lewis

Parking Calming: nobody is speeding down this street.

(…and, that is a beautiful thing)

On-street parking on Washington St., Traverse City. (photo GLHJR)

Traffic planners and engineers aren’t making this up, narrowing the streets with on-street parking slows drivers down. A combination of factors are at work: 1) when we drive through an area like the one shown above we feel a sense of enclosure and 2) because there is likely to be more human activity of people present as people get in and out of cars and then walk to their destination, we also slow down due to context.

In Traverse City, one of the major issues over the last 30 years has been cut-through and speeding traffic through the neighborhoods. The number of cars on the road is another long-term fix all together, but narrowing the streets with a sense of enclosure and getting more people walking and bicycling is the quickest solution to increasing the cost of driving through the neighborhoods.

A more strategic use of our streets, and other infrastructure, for parking is needed.

CAUTION: When bicycling next to parked cars, be safe: avoid the door. 

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The content of this blog is well researched, but the writer could still be totally off his f***ing rocker–if you think so, let him know…then click through to make a contribution. 

Keep the Wheels Turning

Announcement

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Wednesday, October 5th at 7:50am & 3:13pm

Central Neighborhood Route:  Corner of 9th St. & Wadsworth (departs at 7:50am) to Glenn Loomis Elementary & back.

The Walking School Bus runs every Wednesday & Friday morning (7:50am)  and afternoon (3:13pm) through the rest of the school year.

Why? Safe Routes to Schools are important for everyone because:

• Healthier little people, means healthier big people
• Increased health lowers healthcare costs for everyone
• Active living increases productivity at school & work
• More people walking or biking to school reduces traffic congestion and pollution
• It is fun

 Graphic via Bikes Belong

Volunteer Walking School Bus drivers and riders WANTED! Contact Glenn Loomis Walking School Bus Coordinator Angela Stricker at StrickerAn@tcaps.net or 231.933.7860

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EDITOR’S NOTE:  Guest contributor Lee Maynard is the trail planner and program director for TART Trails, an underwriter of MyWHaT. You may discover more about the Walk to Schools program or contact Lee through the TART Trails website. 

I received my annual insurance newsletter from Liberty Mutual recently. On the back page is a spread touting the safety of roundabouts. It is a reminder that it will be increasingly difficult for local politicians to fight consideration and ultimate construction of modern roundabouts as the insurance industry becomes increasingly involved.

In the end, it’s not about what one elected official likes or dislikes, it is about what saves lives and, particularly for the insurance industry, reduces payouts.

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The MyWHaT Roundabout Resource Page Continues to be updated.

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Video Tuesday

via markenlei

Cut down the conflicts, minimize the ones remaining and improve the roadway experience for everyone involved.

Seems like sound advice for any number of intersections.

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Here in Traverse City, we haven’t even attempted carrying a bike lane through the intersection. Almost every bike lane we have ends at a minimum 20 feet plus before the intersection and the one that does go to an intersection, on Woodmere at 8th St., bicyclists are pinched between a curb and turning automobiles with nowhere else to go…(advice: take the lane or cross as a pedestrian).

We can do better, the models are out there. 

mocked up Google Streetview of Woodmere Ave.

Graphic Friday

Adapted from a San Diego’s DOT Slide

* The Complete Streets Coalition forming through the Grand Vision held a public primer on road conversions this past Tuesday. Resources requested out of that presentation will be hosted at the coalition’s webpage. Local streets discussed at the meeting were Garfield Ave. (a prime candidate for a road conversion) and TC’s 4-lane section of 8th Street between Woodmere Ave. and Lake St. (a candidate with challenges). 

Graphic Friday

Why does it matter?