Bikemore Statement About Street Attacks

As we posted earlier today, another person was attacked while riding his bicycle this past weekend on Guilford Avenue in Greenmount West. Attacks like this have been reported sporadically over the past few years — not just on people riding bicycles, but people walking as well — usually along Guilford Avenue and Charles Street between Mount Royal Avenue and 25th Street.

These incidents do not represent the actions of all Baltimore City youth. Many City youth ride bikes for transportation or otherwise get around Baltimore peacefully, and many engage in positive after-school bicycle activities like the Baltimore Bike Experience at Digital Harbor High School and Baltimore Bike Party.

The only way to know what motivated the specific group of youth who appear on the video is to ask them, but we suspect that if Baltimore had more productive adult supervision and more safe places for youth to learn and engage in positive activities, this incident would not have occurred.

Obviously, there must be consequences for assaulting another human being, but we should also use this unfortunate event as an opportunity to teach young people the impact of their actions and address the underlying causes of the assault.

Bikemore is actively engaging with the police and community leaders to ensure the neighborhoods along the Guilford Avenue Bike Boulevard are safe for commuters and residents alike, regardless of one's chosen mode of transportation. We hope this incident promotes a constructive dialogue about increased after-school and evening opportunities for youth in our city.

If you would like to be part of this dialogue, please feel free to contact us.

Beware on the Guilford Bike Boulevard

You may remember last April, there were a number of assaults on cyclists around the Copycat Building on Guilford Ave. This author was among the riders who was threatened but escaped physical injury. Mark Brown, former blogger at Car Free Baltimore, wasn't so lucky and incurred physical trauma.

According to this YouTube video and its accompanying Facebook post, these assaults are back. Here's the report from the victim:

[Video above] recorded on 4/12/14. Attacked by a group of teenagers on the bike route on the 1600-1700 block of Guilford Ave. You can hear when they threw a bottle at me from behind and then see when I try to grab my lock as a last resort as they started to attack, but dropped it. Grabbed it before they did. Only damage was to my thumb when they stomped it. Took punches, but they must have hit my helmet, because I don't have any marks. Camera cuts out at the end around this time. On the ground I started yelling "help help help". Residents started coming out and a distant siren scared them off. Called 911 after and met with an officer a few minutes later.

Please exercise extreme caution in this area. If you experience or witness an assault, report it to police and send them a video (if possible) to see if any faces can be made out. Feel free to contact BIkemore and we will initiate contact with our main people at the BCPD.

Be safe out there.

Seeking Witnesses To Catonsville Car-Bicycle Crash on March 13 - Please Forward Widely!

On March 13, sometime in the late afternoon or early evening, Bikemore's treasurer Tim Adams was riding his bicycle home from work when a car hit him at the intersection of Wilkens Avenue and South Rolling Road in Catonsville, near UMBC. (Interestingly, the Google Street View image of that intersection features someone on a bicycle.) He suffered severe injuries to his hip and his head, and had to undergo multiple surgeries, although he is slowly regaining his health.

Tim’s family is seeking eyewitness accounts of the accident. If you have any details that could aid the investigation, please contact info@bikemore.net and we will put you in touch with the family.

Delivering Meals and Good Will by Bicycle

Top row (L-R):  Ashley Beam, A.R. Rahmaan

Middle Row:  Mark Stephen, Eloise Hardy

Bottom Row:  Dale Johnson, Nick Lamb

Guest Post for bikemore.net by Susan Glenn

On a brisk March morning, Dale Johnson zips through the streets of Hampden on a classic green Bianchi road bike. Stopping on the porch of an insurance agency on Roland Avenue, he opens a cooler and loads up his bike basket and backpack with prepared meals destined for five home-bound Baltimoreans. In minutes, Dale and Meals on 2 Wheels are on the road.

Dale is the driving (or rather not-driving) force behind a small but growing band of volunteers who deliver meals by bicycle throughout Hampden, Waverly, East Baltimore, and soon even in Columbia. A retired geographer and now active volunteer, Dale charts bike-friendly routes through Baltimore streets, back alleys and “bike-likely” suburbs; recruits and guides cycling volunteers; and personally delivers meals twice a week with only the occasional “vehicular time-out” for snow storms.

It all began in September 2012 when Dale was looking for volunteer opportunities. “Meals on Wheels is a great organization and, checking their website, I saw this tiny notice for delivering meals by bikes. But that program had actually kind of died when the previous volunteer leader moved out of state. When I contacted Meals on Wheels about resurrecting the program, they were very enthusiastic.”

So with MOW’s blessing, Dale equipped his bike with a basket and Meals on 2 Wheels signage and hit the streets, delivering food and generating good will from clients, people on the street and in their cars.

“For the folks I deliver to, I may be the only person they see all day or all week. Riding up to their doors, just opens up the conversation. They see you out there on your bike, doing this on a winter day, and they just give you a lot of credit.”

"Take Ms. LaRue, for example.  She’s 97 years young and still so sharp and witty. It’s a joy listening to someone with almost a century of life to share. I still smile when I think about her asking me to make sure I tell my wife that she thought I have nice looking legs. At 61, I have to take those compliments when I get them. "

Dale loves the reaction he gets from drivers, too. “I pull up to a stop sign with my bike and Meals on 2 Wheels basket and drivers pull up beside me, roll down their windows, and tell me what a great thing I’m doing. Sometimes they’ll tell me stories about how Meals on Wheels helped their families. And you just feel like you’re out there doing something to help and having a great time doing it.”

From his initial “bike party of one”, Dale has grown the program to six cycling volunteers. And he’s planning new routes and looking for more recruits. As Dale explains, “You can volunteer just once a month, two times a week, or just during fair-weather months—whatever fits your schedule. Most routes only take 30 to 45 minutes, but you can get in a good training ride from your house to the meal pick-up point.”

If you love to cycle and want to help people who truly appreciate your effort, contact Dale at dale.johnson99@gmail.com or 443-841-4372. Donations of cycling equipment for volunteers are also needed and appreciated.

Meals on Wheels:
Founded in 1960, Meals on Wheels of Central Maryland is a nonprofit organization that enables homebound seniors and disabled individuals to eat well and remain in their own homes in Baltimore City as well as Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Harford, Howard, Montgomery & Prince George’s counties.  In FY 13, a dedicated staff and volunteer core prepared and delivered over 1,000,000 nutritious meals to homebound seniors. www.mealsonwheelsmd.org

Bikemore’s Recommendations for the Downtown Bicycle Network

The Baltimore City Department of Transportation (BCDOT) has committed $3 million in 2014 to build a series of bicycle infrastructure projects collectively known as the Downtown Bicycle Network. We offer the following recommendations, based on BCDOT’s presentation of February 4, in the spirit of constructive input and ongoing collaboration. A letter nearly identical to this post was sent via email and snail mail to BCDOT leaders on March 27, 2014.

In this post, “Maryland Avenue Cycletrack” refers to the entire protected bicycle lane along Maryland Avenue, Cathedral Street, Liberty Street, and Hopkins Place between 29th Street and Pratt Street, while “Downtown Bicycle Network” refers to the Maryland Avenue Cycletrack plus proposed standard bicycle lanes on Centre, Madison, Monument, Biddle, Preston, and Dolphin Streets.

The proposed Downtown Bicycle Network to be constructed in 2014, plus the Mount Royal Avenue Cycletrack and the Guilford Avenue bicycle lane.

Assuming that, in the short term, pedestrian crossing signals are to be used as bicycle crossing signals along the Maryland Avenue Cycletrack corridor instead of bicycle-specific signals, BCDOT should install pedestrian crossing signals at every signalized intersection along the corridor that is currently missing any pedestrian crossing signals. If it were built today, northbound bicycle traffic at several intersections along the corridor would not have a clear signal of when to proceed without a pedestrian crossing signal.

Signalized intersection without pedestrian crossing signal at Maryland Avenue at 27th Street.

Add a 5-second leading interval for all bicycle/pedestrian signals and ban all turns on red in every direction at each signalized intersection that the Downtown Bicycle Network touches:

• Maryland Avenue / Cathedral Street / Liberty Street / Hopkins Place at Pratt, Lombard, Baltimore, Fayette, Lexington, Saratoga, Mulberry, Franklin, Centre, Monument, Mount Vernon Place, Madison Street, Read, Eager, Chase, Biddle, Preston, Mount Royal, Oliver, Lanvale, Lafayette, North Avenue, 20th, 23rd, 24th, 25th, 27th, 28th, and 29th

• Dolphin Street at Fremont, Myrtle, Pennsylvania, Druid Hill Ave, McCulloh, Madison Avenue, Eutaw, and Howard

• Preston Street at Cathedral, Maryland, Charles, Saint Paul, Calvert, Guilford, Greenmount, Ensor, Aisquith, Harford, Central, Caroline, Broadway, Wolfe, and Washington

• Biddle Street at Cathedral, Maryland, Charles, Saint Paul, Calvert, Guilford, Greenmount, Ensor, Aisquith, Harford, Central, Caroline, Broadway, Wolfe, and Washington

• Madison Street at Paca, Eutaw, Howard, Park, Cathedral, Charles, Saint Paul, Calvert, Guilford, Fallsway, Greenmount, Ensor, Aisquith, Harford, Central, Caroline, Broadway, Wolfe, and Washington

• Centre Street at Paca, Eutaw, Howard, Park, Cathedral, Charles, Saint Paul, Calvert, Guilford, and Fallsway

• Monument Street at Greenmount, Ensor, Aisquith, Harford, Central, Caroline, Broadway, Wolfe, and Washington

• Guilford Avenue at Pratt, Lombard, Baltimore, Fayette, Lexington, Saratoga, Mulberry, Franklin, Centre, Monument, Mount Vernon Place, Madison Street, Read, Eager, Chase, Biddle, Preston, and Mount Royal

This means that people on foot and on bicycles get a 5-second head start at every intersection, thus increasing their visibility and calming traffic by reducing potentially aggressive maneuvers from people in motor vehicles stopped at red lights. For example, as shown in the image below, a left turn on red is presently allowed from westbound Preston Street onto southbound Maryland Avenue; people in cars trying to make a left turn on red will be looking to their right for southbound car traffic here, which means they are less likely to see people on bicycles traveling northbound on the Maryland Avenue Cycletrack. Banning all turns on red would simply reduce the amount of things that people on foot and on bicycles would need to worry about.

Facing west on Preston Street at Maryland Avenue.

An existing leading pedestrian interval at Pratt and Light Streets.

Extend the Maryland Avenue Cycletrack from Hopkins Place across Pratt Street and along the east side of Sharp Street under the Convention Center, and create a high-quality connection across Conway Street to Sharp Street.

This view, looking north from Sharp Street across Pratt Street to Hopkins Place, shows in red the route that an extended Cycletrack should take.

Install wayfinding signage at major bicycle intersections:

• Maryland Avenue / Cathedral Street / Liberty Street / Hopkins Place at 27th Street, 24th Street, Jones Falls Trail, Oliver, Biddle, Preston, Madison Street, Centre, Lombard, and Pratt

• Dolphin Street at Pennsylvania, Druid Hill Ave, McCulloh, Madison Avenue, and Eutaw

• Preston Street at Maryland, Guilford, Central, Caroline, Broadway, Wolfe, and Washington

• Biddle Street at Maryland, Guilford, Central, Caroline, Broadway, Wolfe, and Washington

• Madison Street at Eutaw, Park, Cathedral, Guilford, Fallsway, Central, Caroline, Broadway, Wolfe, and Washington

• Centre Street at Eutaw, Park, Cathedral, Guilford, and Fallsway

• Monument Street at Central, Caroline, Broadway, Wolfe, and Washington

• Guilford Avenue / South Street at Pratt, Lombard, Centre, Madison Street, Chase, Biddle, Preston, and Mount Royal

Existing bicycle wayfinding signage on Guilford Avenue (photo courtesy of BCDOT).

Increase the door zone buffer to three (3) feet along the entire Maryland Avenue Cycletrack corridor. Three feet is the NACTO Design Guide standard for door zone buffer width, and the Cycletrack plans currently only call for two feet. The door zone buffer delineates the space where people should not ride because of opening car doors.

A 3-foot buffer on the 15th Street Cycletrack in Washington, D.C., cited by BCDOT as a model for the Maryland Avenue Cycletrack.

Install a reflective bollard at the north side of each block along the Maryland Avenue Cycletrack corridor so that southbound automotive traffic cannot enter the bicycle lane.

Cycletrack in Vancouver with bollard. Photo courtesy of velotraffic.com.

Install traffic separators on the door zone buffer along the full Maryland Avenue Cycletrack corridor to increase the awareness and feeling of separation and to simulate curb for parallel parking.

Traffic separators on a bicycle lane in Barcelona. Photo courtesy of pedalforward.blogspot.com.