H.R. 4722: Active Community Transportation Act of 2010
by JFS_PGH on Apr 10, 2010 12:59 PM EDT
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PrintTo direct the Secretary of Transportation to carry out an active transportation investment program to encourage a mode shift to active transportation within selected communities by providing safe and convenient options to bicycle and walk for routine travel, and for other purposes.
Links to status, cosponsor list and full text here.
I'm trying to bring up this bill (intrinsically a political act, I suppose, though one hopes not intrinsically partisan) without violating the sites "no politics" guidelines. Help me keep it all within the spirit of the PdC rules. If you are of a political flavor that does not want federal money spent on [whatever], please content yourself with telling that to your congresscritters, rather than starting a political discussion here. If you are of the flavor the does want federal money spent on bike and ped-friendly streets / infrastructure...same deal.
Let's focus, here, on what sorts of changes, give most bang for the buck, in terms of getting the greatest number of people to make the greatest number of short, practical trips, safely and comfortably, on a bike or on foot. Please, if you are a US citizen and/or resident, and you have strong preferences as far as safe street design vs. marking bike lanes.... safe intersections / bike specific lights at intersections... shared bike/ped vs. bike/car vs. "low speed" routes... bike parking, racks, storage... if you care enough to post it here, pass it along to your representative as well. And if you're not from the US, but from someplace where bike-ped travel is well planned-for, you could write something in a way that is clear even to a non-cyclist, and then this page could be a resource. Sure, we've done this sort of thing before, but this time, there's an actual bill in play. Feel free to dig through the archives for older posts that are relevant. Ideally, boil any big suggestions down to something a busy congressional staffer will be able to read and understand in a few minutes.
You can find your congresscritter contact information here and here.
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I am completely behind the fed govt spending money on transportation alternatives
Now living and riding in Europe, I can definitely see the benefits. Even though I live out in the backwoods of Germany and ride on one of the most dangerous roads you can possibly imagine, I have no problems or fears about being hit. I don’t think it is so much the physical improvements that can be made that will do it, but the mentality that needs to change in the US. But making it difficult/impossible to drive in city centers and completely separated bike paths may be the best bet. Other than that, I got nothing.
If I just had one more gear, I...
P.S.
I don’t care about politics at all and they have absolutely no place on PdC.
If I just had one more gear, I...
well, on a basic level,
“politics” could be defined as the process that we use whenever we take money from point, person or process A, and use it for point, person or process B.
The problem is the making deals part
Also the notion that politics is a career. It’s shouldn’t be a career, it should be a calling. When you have accomplished something in the outside world and proven leadership abilities and a wide breadth of knowledge, then and only then should you be entrusted with the power that politicians wield. Most in Washington have no real leadership experience or a broad knowledge base that says they should be running anything, but that’s just my opinion. That’s why I dislike politics and mistrust most of them.
If I just had one more gear, I...
yep. My latest pet peeve?
cars that are so polite that they are afraid to pass and keep tailing me. Life ain’t so bad. People respect cyclists on this side of the pond.
The Anglo (US, OZ, UK) mentailty indeed needs to change.
Ideas? I love unused rail tracks turned into cycle paths. Any new city road should be required to have a cycle path. Road signs that encourage respecting bikes are worthwhile not just for the explicit message but for the implicit message that cycling is indeed legal on roads.
Zero tolerance for cyclist intimidation by cars …. it’s a deadly weapon.
Tickets given to cyclists that blow through lights, etc.
Tax breaks for people that don’t commute long distances by car. Policy should encourage public transport, walking, cycling, etc … but also living close to job (of course often impossible in big cities – but still a laudable goal).
etc.
1.5 metres = roughly 5 feet
moo
These bumper stickers
are all over the place around here:
Points out the law and helps to reinforce the sense of community. Still, there have been a few cyclists killed by cars in the last few years, including a real bizarro one recently where a car flew off a road and hit a biker riding on a separated bike trail.
Really?
Over what? Did the Democrats park bicycles in such a way as to block the entrance to the Republicans’ offices or something?
Democrats were for it
so . . .
(I’ll see if I can’t find a summary of what Del. John Cosgrove (R-Troglodyte) had to say when he was leading the charge to kill it, and link it here.)
That's very unfortunate
on a tangent, though, come to think of it, I don’t actually know the law myself. If it’s not 3 feet, what is it? I don’t recall this ever being mentioned in driver’s ed or being on the test (both taken in CA, in my case). I have to confess, I was unaware there was such a law, though I think it makes sense.
Check out
(One of the benefits of moving VA’s requirement from 2 to 3 feet would have been the associated driver education that would have been required.)
This is a great bill.
And I was happy to help gather support for it prior to introduction. I urge all of you to take a look for yourself (to confirm that it is, in fact, everything we’re telling you it is) and then spend a few minutes calling your own representative* and asking them to support this bill. Combine this with Ray LaHood’s recent statements about putting cycling and walking at parity with automotive transportation, and we’re on the edge of being able to secure some fantastic changes.
*Unless you’re a DC resident. Then it’s just too damn bad.
I like the idea behind the bill. A lot.
But I don’t think calling your representative is going to do all that much good. Better perhaps to donate to an advocacy or lobbying group that makes contributions to lawmakers. Lawmakers are, in my opinion, more likely to pay attention when someone comes with donations than they are when their umpteenth constituent sends them an email or calls.
Before moving overseas I commuted by bike almost every day of the year. Fortunately I lived in a part of N. VA that had ready access to the W&OD trail. What I would like to see is more dedicated bike trails – not bike lanes that are just an extension of the road, but actual lanes, physically segregated from the road. I don’t think it’s very easy to get motorists to change their behavior (certainly not in that cesspool of driving douchebaggery known as the DC area). It would be better in my opinion to just separate bike roads from roads for motorized traffic.
I'll eliminate you like I eliminate gluten from my diet.
by tehGrindCrusher on Apr 15, 2010 1:59 PM EDT up reply actions
Disagree
Bike-friendly bills don’t suffer because there aren’t enough contributions coming in, they suffer because reps simply don’t hear from enough constituents who care. This is true from the lowest local politics level on up (having been told this, personally, by both local electeds and a congressman). In any event, the bike lobby will never have a contributions/fundraising influence of any effective size. That said, yes, it’s great to materially support LAB, Bikes Belong, etc. But a phone call, talking to your rep when you see her, etc., is helpful.
As to cycletracks, you’re going to see a couple in DC proper, soon (on Pennsylvania Ave, in fact). But I think – culturally – we’re a long long way from being in a place where you can dedicate space like that to cycling transportation.
Been meaning to reply to this but, you know, blah blah blah
I think the problem is that there probably aren’t enough cyclists to go around. Even if cyclists were more proactive about contacting their representatives (and I wouldn’t be surprised if cyclists weren’t, as a group, more politically engaged than the average citizen) there still wouldn’t be enough numbers to make that much of a difference. I could be wrong – that’s just my guess.
One advantage I think cyclists do have is that we are, by and large, more educated and affluent than the average citizen. I would think that this would make organizing and funding action groups a more effective way of getting the message out than trying to get more people to contact their reps.
Actually, I think the DC area is fairly bike friendly as far as American cities go. It could be a lot better, obviously, but it could be a lot worse, too.
I'll eliminate you like I eliminate gluten from my diet.
by tehGrindCrusher on Apr 21, 2010 5:00 AM EDT up reply actions
"that cesspool of driving douchebaggery known as the DC area"
heh, very apt description. That’s why I stick to dedicated trails as much as possible here.
so, "rec" it already, if you agree it's important.
Cause it’s not going to stay up here very long otherwise, now that the races are coming fast and furious.
not from the US
But agree attitude is important and I’m not sure how you can legislate for that. The attitude change has two aspects: first is getting cycling treated with respect on the road (passing with a wide berth etc.) the second is making it a normal way to get around, both are important.
On the second I think built infrastructure is only part of it. I live in London and since I moved have always commuted by bike. Over that period – 6 years – the uplift in cycling has been astonishing but frankly there have been very few improvements to bike facilities except maybe a few more places to park bikes. Something else has triggered it but whatever it is it seems to have had a multiplier effect – as more people do it it comes to be seen as normal and more people take it up. (And as a result it becomes safer).
That said better facilities have a place and a key thing here is design. Local government here gone crazy with the road paint to meet targets on bike lanes and put in place all kinds of ill though out cycle lanes which are frankly useless (stick crap cycle lanes into Google and you’ll find many examples). They’d be better off thinking out how to improve a few tricky junctions.
A second risk with separated bike facilities is that they make getting about by bike slower making it less attractive. If I have to get off my bike at every junction or wait for the lights to let cars and pedestrians cross being on a bike ends up looking pretty pointless; I might as well (a) ride on the road (and be told by angry drivers to get in the (useless) bike land; or (b) drive or take public transport instead.
Ultimately I think the best place for cyclists is on the road (which seems to be the case in most cycle-friendly places) but quite understand for the waverers you might want to coax onto the road that may not be an attractive proposition
i agree with your second risk
(not that i don’t agree with the other ones also) i hate separated bike lanes. any time a drive way crosses it to get on the main road, you run the risk of getting run over by someone who (understandably so) doesn’t come to a full stop at the lane, then another full stop 10 feet later at the street. even bike lanes on the actual road way leave me unimpressed. there’s always people parking in them, or massive grates, and the amount of crap (rocks, glass, pieces of metal…) that accumulates there can be dangerous.
i’m all for wider lanes (wide enough for a car, a bike, and a few feet). having cars sharing the pavement with us means that the crap on the roads will get either swept out of the lane by the cars, or get stuck in their tires. it also means that anyone approaching the road will treat it as such, and therefore extend the same precautions they take when entering a car lane to the cyclists present.
"Ants don’t worry, they operate like a fantastic team, they accept obstacles and deal with them in a positive manner, they don’t complain and remain positive. An ant doesn’t work on emotion, is proactive and always chooses the ant role."
Culture culture culture
Decent bike facilities help, yes, but as noted above, the culture is what really makes a difference. And on that note, I’d not trade my “cesspool of driving douchebaggery known as the DC area” for Atlanta’s in a million years. Not even if you promised me cycletracks.
Wow! Atlanta's worse than DC?
That’s hard to even imagine. Sounds like I haven’t missed much for never having been…
really?
never ridden in DC, but ATL seems pretty nice to me. granted i do most of my riding in the evening and on weekends, but i’ve never had a problem with cars.
"Ants don’t worry, they operate like a fantastic team, they accept obstacles and deal with them in a positive manner, they don’t complain and remain positive. An ant doesn’t work on emotion, is proactive and always chooses the ant role."
Atlanta must really suck
When it comes to drivers at least. Because I’ve been to a fair few cities in the U.S. and never seen drivers as piss-poor as those in the DC area.
I'll eliminate you like I eliminate gluten from my diet.
by tehGrindCrusher on Apr 21, 2010 5:01 AM EDT up reply actions
drivers in atlanta can be pretty bad
not sure how they compare to other cities’ drivers, but i would assume it’s more or less the same. traffic here is mostly an interstate problem. surface streets usually flow pretty well, except for rush hour. the sprawl makes riding better imho. there are tons of neighborhood streets one can take to get from one place to another, with light and slow traffic.
"Ants don’t worry, they operate like a fantastic team, they accept obstacles and deal with them in a positive manner, they don’t complain and remain positive. An ant doesn’t work on emotion, is proactive and always chooses the ant role."
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