Report Street Hazards – Persistence Can Pay Off

By Louise McGrody | Published June 8, 2010
Potholes, cracked pavement, and drain grates–oh my!  Not only are these street conditions annoying, they can be hazardous to your cycling health.  So what’s a bicyclist to do about these street hazards?  Report them!

I know of two websites that are designed to report street hazards:  Bicycle Watchdog and Bikewise.  The first site limits its services to Washington State, the second claims to serve the world. Both sites require you to create an account in order to submit a report and both promise to forward your report to the responsible jurisdiction.  It’s difficult to tell how successful either of these reporting sites are, but it’s always worth submitting a report as both of these sites serve as hazard databases.
The surest way to eliminate a known street hazard is to report it to the jurisdiction yourself.  Where to start?  You need to find the department that handles street maintenance–usually called Public Works, Roads or Transportation.  Bicycle Watchdog has a list of jurisdiction contacts so this might make a good starting point.
Some communities make it easy to report quick-fix hazards like cracks and potholes.  Spokane has a Pothole Hotline, 509.625.7733.  In Yakima you can report a pothole by calling 509.575.6005.  You can report street hazards in Seattle, Vancouver and Everett by using an online submission form.
I live in Seattle and, in the past 5 years, I have reported several street problems along my commute–a linear pavement crack, a pothole, and a traffic signal that didn’t detect my bike.  The pothole was filled in a few days; the other two problems required additional follow up on my part before getting fixed.  But they did get fixed within 4-6 weeks.
Have you reported a street hazard in your community?  Tell us your story.
Posted in Infrastructure, Safety | Comments Off on Report Street Hazards – Persistence Can Pay Off

Give me money

By baw_admin | Published June 7, 2010

“Your bike plan gives me such a thrill,
But we can’t build it if you don’t pay the bills.
Give me money, that’s what I want…”

(With apologies to the Beatles)

Aspirational goals are great. Plans are even better. But best of all is actually accomplishing what you set out to do.
Which brings us to the Seattle Bicycle Master Plan.

The plan, unveiled to much fanfare in 2007, had lofty goals: triple the amount of bicycling in Seattle within ten years, reduce bike crashes by one-third during the same period, and “make Seattle the best community for bicycling in the United States.”

Problem is, the plan is woefully underfunded. According to a February story in Seattle’s Publicola news blog, funding was projected to fall about $165 million short of the $240 million required—a shortfall of nearly 70 percent. The City’s Pedestrian Master Plan is similarly short of money.

In response, a coalition of citizens’ groups has formed under the banner of “Streets for All Seattle.” Their aim: Work with City officials to find $30 million in annual revenue to make the bicycle and pedestrian plans a reality, and to fund Metro transit service.

Specific sources for the money have been discussed but final decisions haven’t been made. Instead, a Streets for All spokesperson said, “We want to have a conversation with the council, the mayor, with all of our partners to see what really works [for stable funding].” Possibilities include things such as a motor-vehicle licensing fee or an increased commercial parking tax.

The Bicycle Alliance has endorsed Streets for All’s efforts, and we’ll keep you posted as the campaign unfolds. Meanwhile, you can find out more about the coalition at http://www.streetsforallseattle.org/.

Posted in Advocacy, Funding/Policy, Seattle | Comments Off on Give me money

Rules of Thumb

By baw_admin | Published June 4, 2010
I’m a new contributor to the Bicycle Alliance blog, so I should probably introduce myself. The basic facts:
Name: Dave Shaw
Residence: Capitol Hill, Seattle
Age: 64
Cycling since: 1973
Number of bikes: 2
Number of cars: 0
I was involved in the formation of the Northwest Bicycle Federation (NOWBike) the predecessor of Washington Bikes. I attended the first BAW auction, and I still own a NOWBike T-shirt. Currently I volunteer, mostly as the resident geek. I have participated in most of the varieties of cycling – recreational, racing, long distance touring, utility – and have worked in the sport as a race and event promoter, and publisher of The Bicycle Paper. Many years, many miles.
Out of all those miles some rules of thumb have emerged:
• A split second is the time between when you unclip your foot from the pedal and when the light changes.
• If you ride south in the morning, the wind will blow from the north in the afternoon.
• Twelve miles an hour is about the best speed you can make through city traffic however fast you sprint between traffic lights.
• The optimal seat tube length for your road bike is equal to the circumference of your head less 2 cm. (Credited to Bill Ferrell, developer of the Fit Kit, in the catalog of The Third Hand of Ashland, Oregon.)
• The sum of the weight of your bike and the lock you would use to secure it on a college campus is a constant.
• When you take a long trip, plan only half of it and leave the other half open for enjoying surprises.
• Pace lines are fastest with 4 to 6 bikes. Fewer is not enough horsepower, more riders increases the chance of a pace-breaking disruption.
• The batteries in your lights never go flat when the bike is at home.
• Add an hour to your usual check-in time at the airport if you are bringing a bike.
• A bike shop will take twice as long to true your wheel if you have worked on it first.
• If there are n types of tires in your group, there will be n-1 types of spares. The nth person will get a flat.
• For in-town trips less than about 3 miles, a bike will be faster than either a car or the bus door-to-door.
• Soon after you first adopt cleated shoes, you will have a “falling down story.” It happened to all of us.
• Saddles don’t “break in,” butts do. If your saddle hurts after 20 or 30 miles, get one that fits you. You’ll know it’s right if it doesn’t hurt.
• When a local person gives you directions like “Just down the road a mile,” it won’t be either down or a mile.
• Maximum heart rate is 220 minus your age. Optimal training rate is 80% of that. It will hurt to go that fast.
• A “quick stop” on a group ride is 5 minutes times the number of people. Double that if it’s raining.
• Often is better than long. Five 10-mile rides each week will do your training more good than a half-century every Saturday.
• No matter how many bikes you have in your basement, at least once a year they will all have a flat tire simultaneously.
• Bikes go faster when they are clean. (That’s my excuse for going slow.)
• No matter how many times you check the list, you will forget something. The best you can hope for is that it will be something you can replace at your destination.
• Starting about March, all the hills in the world flatten out slowly. Somewhere around November they start getting higher and steeper again, reaching a peak just before your first ride of the season. This is a known physical fact.
Who else has a favorite rule of thumb?
(If you are seeing this in Facebook, please return to the Bicycle Alliance blog to post comments.)
Posted in Bike Culture, Go By Bike | 1 Comment

Ding-a-Ling, a Heavenly Sound

By baw_admin | Published June 3, 2010

As cyclists, we hear plenty about motorist-bicyclist friction, possibly because one-ton hunks of metal hurtling around us seem like the greatest threat to our safety. In reality, bicyclist-motorist collisions comprise a mere 17% of all bicycle crashes. The largest cause, according to the League of American Bicyclists, chalk 50% of all crashes up to operator error. We are perfectly capable of bringing ourselves to the ground all on our lonesome. The final 33% of crashes cover everything else: Bicyclists hitting (or being hit by) animals, other bicyclists, or something other than a car.

It’s this last category that interests me, since during Bike to Work Month, the number of bicyclists on the road — and thus the likelihood of colliding with another bicyclist — increased dramatically. This means that lots of people who normally only ride on weekends hop in the saddle during normal commuting hours and start working on logging those miles.

What did this wonderful increase in cycling mean for me personally? More than anything else, I experienced a dramatic increase in stealth passing, usually by bike path racers. Innumerable times on my commute, I would be blithely pedaling along and suddenly find another cyclist next to me, often much closer than was safe, ghosting by with nary a word or ding-a-ling. Not only did this discourtesy irritate me, it endangered me unnecessarily.

I love to see more people bicycling, and I dream one day of living in a society where nobody bats an eye at biking for transportation because it’s as normal as driving is right now. But I hope that when that day comes — and you can be sure it will come — it comes with a good dollop of on-bike courtesy, too. Let’s start making that dream a reality: take a moment to politely call “On your left” or ding a bell next time you pass somebody.

Posted in Bike Culture, Commuting, Gear/Maintenance | 2 Comments

I Bike: Tell Us Your Story!

By Louise McGrody | Published June 2, 2010

Washington Bikes wants to put a personal face on bicycling when we talk to elected officials, corporate supporters and the general public.  We’ve dubbed this effort the I Bike project.

Would you like to tell us your story so we can share it in support of our mission?  We may tell your story on our website and other forms of electronic media, in our print publications, or at presentations and outreach events.  Email me at LouiseMc@wabikes.org with the following information:  your name, city, occupation/what you do, your bike story (why you bike, where you bike, why biking is important to you, etc.), and a photo of yourself.

Today I’d like you to meet Denise Jones.

I Bike: Denise Jones

Denise Jones lives in downtown Bellevue and works at the Microsoft office in Seattle’s Pioneer Square.  She bikes to work 2-5 days per week.  While her job can be very stressful, Denise has her commute to mellow her out.

“I cycle because it’s the greatest freaking sport on earth.  What other sport can combine your workout and your commute at the same time?” points out Denise.  “I love my bike.  I pledge allegiance to my bike,” she adds.

Another bonus of biking has been weight loss.  Denise dropped 30 pounds and now wears a size 6.  Her husband thinks that’s pretty cool. Denise is also an international traveler and sent us this photo of her biking in Vietnam.

Posted in I Bike, People | Comments Off on I Bike: Tell Us Your Story!

Hang Up or Pay Up!

By Louise McGrody | Published June 1, 2010

A few weeks ago, as I was walking to the West Seattle Farmer’s Market, I was forced to back pedal in the crosswalk as a left-turning motorist breezed through–oblivious to my presence as he chatted on his cell phone.  Sound familiar?

Beginning June 10, motorists in Washington State can be ticketed for using a handheld cell phone or sending and receiving text messages while driving.  For drivers younger than 18, even the use of a hands-free cell phone while driving is off limits.  The fine is $124.

The passage of this law comes too late for Gordon Patterson of Vancouver.  In September 2009, Patterson, a teacher, was biking home after work when he was struck from behind in a bike lane and killed.  The motorist fled the scene and was later caught.  Evidence showed that the driver, 18-year-old Antonio Cellestine, was sending and receiving text messages when he hit Patterson.  In January of this year, he was convicted of vehicular homicide and sentenced to five years in prison.  Read the article in The Columbian for more details.

The campaign to pass this law was spearheaded by the Driven to Distraction Task Force of Washington State, of which the Bicycle Alliance is a member.  We rallied cyclists across the state to contact their legislators in support of the bill.  As bicyclists, we are more vulnerable on the roadway to inattentive drivers than folks enclosed in vehicles.

This law won’t ensure our safety on the roads but, if this law is enforced, it will help.  I, for one, will continue to watch out for the other guy.

Posted in Issues & Advocacy, Legal, Safety | 4 Comments