Study: Protected Bike Lanes Reduce Injury Risk Up to 90 Percent

That’s what the study folks say …

Study: Protected Bike Lanes Reduce Injury Risk Up to 90 Percent

They found that wide streets with parked cars and no bike infrastructure were by far the most dangerous for cyclists. Compared to that type of road, streets with bike lanes had injury rates 50 percent lower, while the risk of injury on protected bike lanes was a whopping 90 percent lower. Interestingly, multi-use paths — or off-street trails where cyclists, pedestrians, skaters, and other non-motorized modes mix — were found to reduce injury by a comparatively modest 60 percent. >> Read Full Story

Green Lane Project

Read the scoop from the source Green Lane Project – protected bike lanes that even pedestrians and businesses enjoy!

How economic growth sold Portland landlords on a bikeway

[...] But that’s exactly what just happened here in Portland — and the result is the city’s newest separated bikeway, backed by a coalition of nearby businesses in Portland’s job-rich Lloyd District that, for various reasons, saw green lanes as better for their bottom line than auto lanes. [...]

[...]  So Lange’s firm, which had blocked bike improvements on nearby Holladay Street as part of its work on a 650-unit apartment proposal and a major new convention center hotel, embraced the green lane plan on Multnomah, one block north. [...]

Protected bike lanes in Portland – for bicycle riders – for pedestrians – even businesses enjoy them

January 7, 2013

Portland, Oregon

Business Leaders Help Win Protected Bike Lanes in Portland

[,,,] “Multnomah was an underutilized street,” said Wade Lange, vice president of property management for Langley Investment Properties, a real estate firm that does big business in the area. “I’d stand out there at 8:10 in the morning and I wouldn’t see a car east or west.”

[...] “It just becomes a more active street than it ever was before,” Lange said. “A place where pedestrians want to spend their time.” [...]

Streets Blog – love you folks!!

Bike folks – there is progress!

As found on Streets Blog:

December 12, 2012 “Number of Protected Bike Lanes in America Nearly Doubled in 2012”

[...] But on-street bikeways that give cyclists some measure of physical protection from traffic have been more or less unheard of in American cities — until recently. After New York City implemented a protected bike lane on Ninth Avenue in 2007, the treatment began to spread. Now, through their Green Lane Project, Bikes Belong is on a mission to make this type of bike lane an unremarkable sight in the United States. And cities are making real progress on that front. [...]

Read the FULL STORY:  

Number of Protected Bike Lanes in America Nearly Doubled in 2012

Bicycle Pedestrian Transportation Funding Victory In Idaho

Idaho is a great destination bike ride state – and to make it even better they’ve organized and fought for continued bicycle and pedestrian transportation planning and development.  Boise, Couer d’ Alene and towns all around Idaho have more and more planning to help bike riders and pedestrians, joggers, and kids stay safe while being able to walk, run, or ride bikes.

Victory In Idaho Speaks To Power Grassroots

5/13/2013 — If the higher-ups in state transportation agencies decided to preserve TAP funds, small towns and cities would get the chance to access valuable dollars to make neighborhoods safer for kids and adults walking and biking. If state officials decided to nix the funds, the tiny pool of dollars that would build sidewalks, crosswalks and bikeways in small towns could be redirected to large highway projects. [...]

“When we started this, they were saying ‘biking and sidewalks? There’s no money for that, we don’t have the funds,’” said Cynthia. “That’s not what they were saying five months later. Now they were concerned with money coming in to local communities. They picked up information and saw things differently.” [...]

Read The Full Story
Victory In Idaho Speaks To Power Grassroots

Male dominated engineers behind our bad road design and unsafe bike planning?

Huh what?

Seriously – a new study out of Harvard suggests that women bicycle riders prefer protected bike lanes – well who doesn’t honestly!?

The study suggests that it is gender bias – men dominate engineering fields – OK – true enough…they design the bike paths and city planning for bike and car traffic sharing the road.

Get the scoop straight from the sources for yourselves:

Link to good story coverage from DC Streets Blog – with links to the primary source.

A study published in this month’s American Journal of Public Health finds that highly influential transportation engineers relied on shoddy research to defend policies that discourage the development of protected bike lanes in the U.S. In their paper, the researchers point out that male-dominated engineering panels have repeatedly torpedoed street designs that have greater appeal to female cyclists.

The research team, led by Harvard public health researcher Anne Lusk, examines four engineering guides published by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials between 1974 and 1999. All of these guides, treated like gospel by engineers across the country, either discourage or offer no advice about protected bike lanes, despite the fact that research has shown that women, in particular, are much more likely to bike given facilities that provide some separation from vehicle traffic.

So what do you all think?

Bike Rentals, Bayou Trails, And Now Safe Passing Zone For Bicycles

It’s coming – safe passing law for bikes – improving pedestrian safety, they often go together.

April 22, 2013 Editorial in The Houston Chronicle

Growing reality of shared roads
Put reality of shared streets into law.

Unlike every other major Texas city, Houston does not have any explicit law to codify just how bikes and cars should interact.

The current proposal at City Hall wouldn’t just protect cyclists, but other law-abiding, yet vulnerable road users, such as pedestrians, stranded motorists and construction workers.

Get more bicycle riders onto the roads and everyone is safer!!

It’s the debate anyway – safety in numbers, the presence of bicycle riders on the roads ways helps car drivers get used to driving around bikes and bikes group think helps train bikes the rules of the road.

So in Houston – they are advocating for a bike share – bike rentals to help improve bike safety for all!

April 4, 2013,
Why More Bicycle Rental Stations Could Improve Houston’s Bike Friendliness

During the official launch of the completion of Phase II of the “Houston B-Cycle” bike sharing program, Mayor Annise Parker says less than a year ago, there were many who questioned the wisdom of offering the program here. [...]

“The week prior, when we had only three stations, we had about 150 check-outs. In the last week, since we added all of these new stations, we had 650 checkouts. So we’ve seen a huge increase, and we know it’s only going to grow as more and more people hear about it.”

Wow. From 3 stations to 18 – now that is civilized.

Safe Distance Passing Laws – Even In Houston

Bikes are here – cyclists are everywhere in more and more numbers.

Even Houston, Texas now has now begun considering an ordinance to enforce safe passing of bike riders on the roads – no buzzing cyclists!

And of course, there seems to be a bit of public discourse over the idea of a law enforcing the safe passing space of cars to bikes on the road – here’s a little bit of what people are saying:

I’ve never almost hit a cyclist who was following the laws but I can tell you numerous stories about cyclists who were breaking laws that I almost hit. [...]

Bicyclists endure a lot of hazards in Houston and I respect their right to the road. However, in general, I find them a rude and lawless group. [...]

We cannot ride on sidewalks, so we must ride in the road. Does that give a driver the right/okay to zip past us in anger, nearly clipping us with their mirrors?[...]

Yep, in Houston too, no bicycles allowed on sidewalks apparently, we have been hearing a lot of that too especially on roads that don’t have bike lanes or safe room for bikes and cars to co-exist.

And The Houston Chronicle in writing about the potential new ordinance for the safe bike passing law, and asking their audience what they think, says, we’re sure without bias, “Houston’s built for cars, so do you think this is a good idea?”

Go Texas.  In fact, even some law enforcement agencies in Texas are using bikes for their patrols, and Houston is late to get a specific ordinance on the books according to the Houston Chronicle coverage of this story:

“Though it boasts a growing biking culture, Houston is the only major city in Texas without a safe-passing law requiring motorists to share the road with cyclists and others. City leaders now want to change that. [...] Fourteen other Texas cities, most using BikeTexas‘ proposal, have approved safe-passing laws since Gov. Rick Perry’s 2009 veto of a bill that would have required drivers to keep a minimum distance from cyclists. Nationwide, 39 states have adopted safe passing laws.

Hey, where ever you ride – where ever you roam, gotta know your basic bicycle road way laws.
Here’s a couple different good sources for Houston and Texas.