{"id":419,"date":"2012-05-22T15:30:00","date_gmt":"2012-05-22T15:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wabikes.org\/2012\/05\/22\/washington-retains-top-ranking-as-most-bicycle-friendly-state\/"},"modified":"2013-01-05T00:31:26","modified_gmt":"2013-01-05T00:31:26","slug":"washington-retains-top-ranking-as-most-bicycle-friendly-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wabikes.org\/index.php\/2012\/05\/22\/washington-retains-top-ranking-as-most-bicycle-friendly-state\/","title":{"rendered":"Washington retains top ranking as most Bicycle Friendly State"},"content":{"rendered":"

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For the fifth year in a row, Washington leads the nation as the most Bicycle Friendly State.\u00a0 The 2012 ranking of Bicycle Friendly States was announced by the League of American Bicyclists<\/a> in honor of National Bike Month.<\/span><\/div>\n
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\u201cWe\u2019re encouraged to see significant progress in top states like Washington, Minnesota, Colorado and Massachusetts,\u201d said Andy Clarke, president of the League.\u00a0 \u201cBut, as the scores clearly highlight, there\u2019s much work to be done in critical areas like infrastructure and funding.\u00a0 Overall, we see states\u2014and especially state Departments of Transportation and state legislatures\u2014lagging behind cities and the expectations of local cyclists, despite the many well-documented benefits of a more active lifestyle.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The 2012 Bicycle Friendly States Ranking marks the launch of an updated and improved evaluation process.\u00a0 Throughout 2011, the League held Bicycle Friendly America listening sessions across the country to understand the successes and shortcomings of the program.\u00a0 Based on public input, the Bicycle Friendly State survey was revised to give a clearer picture of a state\u2019s accomplishments and next steps towards becoming more bike-friendly.<\/span><\/div>\n

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Even with a revised survey, Washington once again set a high bar in 2012.\u00a0 The state scored 4\u2019s and 5\u2019s (5 is the highest score) on the League\u2019s report card, receiving top scores for Education and Encouragement, and Evaluation and Planning.\u00a0 The report also makes recommendations for improvement.\u00a0 One recommendation for Washington includes developing a comprehensive strategy for working with law enforcement on bicycling issues, including training for officers and targeted enforcement of bike safety laws.\u00a0 Other recommendations are to continue to increase bicycle ridership and to fully fund and implement the state bicycle plan, which was adopted in 2006.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Strong and active bicycle advocacy at the state and local levels contribute to Washington\u2019s top ranking.\u00a0 An improved distracted driving law<\/a> and a vulnerable user law<\/a> were passed due largely to the efforts of Washington Bikes, Cascade Bicycle Club, and other bike groups. <\/span>The Bicycle Alliance has also been instrumental in expanding bicycle skills training in schools around the state with its Safe Routes to School program.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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\u201cThanks to the League of American Bicyclists for this award. This honor comes with much responsibility for the state, bicycle advocates and others to continue to strive for complete streets ordinances in every community and Safe Routes to every school,\u201d stated Barbara Culp, Executive Director for Washington Bikes.\u00a0 \u201cThis is a call to anyone who rides a bike to hold your city, county and state officials accountable to an even more bike-friendly state.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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The Bicycle Friendly State announcement was preceded last week by the League\u2019s announcement of its latest Bicycle Friendly Community designations.\u00a0 Tacoma and Snohomish<\/a> are the newest Washington communities to receive this designation.\u00a0 In all, ten Washington communities have earned a Bicycle Friendly Community designation.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Click here<\/a> to see how Washington scored in the five evaluation categories.\u00a0 Learn more about the League\u2019s Bicycle Friendly State program at www.bikeleague.org\/states<\/a>.<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the fifth year in a row, Washington leads the nation as the most Bicycle […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[27,20,45,13,44,29,21,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","category-encouragement","category-bike-funding-policy-wa","category-bike-infrastructure-wa","category-bike-issues-advocacy","category-wa-bikes-news","category-safe-routes-to-school","category-transportation"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWashington retains top ranking as most Bicycle Friendly State - 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