The first bill, sponsored by Dan Squadron in the State Senate and Brian Kavanagh in the Assembly, creates an intermediate charge — a traffic violation called careless driving — which prosecutors can use in cases where criminal convictions seem unlikely. Motorists found guilty of careless driving will have to complete a driver education course and face fines up to $750, jail time up to 15 days, and license suspensions up to six months — or a year for repeat offenders.

Under the second law signed by Paterson, any driver who causes serious physical injury to another person while committing a traffic violation will automatically have his or her license suspended for a period of six months by the DMV. Drivers who have been involved in any similar incidents within the previous five years will have their licenses suspended for a full year.

Read the complete article on these bills in StreetsBlog: Paterson Signs Two Traffic Justice Bills Into Law

I wonder: if a bicyclist rides the wrong way on a one-way street and runs into someone causing injury — would the bicyclist have his drivers license suspended?

Steve,

I’m from the UK but I’m in a hotel in Long Beach California.  I want to go find an apple store and buy an iPad.

So I search on the web for the nearby apple stores and that works well and for each one it says “click here for driving directions.”  I travel with a great folding bike called a Bike Friday tikit. There’s a GREAT metro here.  Obvious way would be jump on the metro to the nearest station to a shop then cycle from there to the shop.  Does the apple web tell me where the nearest Metro station is ? Nope.  It gives me only driving directions. That’s c..p.  It means to cycle it I would have to do a lot of work on the web to find the nearest station and the line to get there.

Whenever I talk to Americans and ask them what their local public transport is like they tell me its very bad or non-existent.  My experience however, in *every* city I’ve been to in the US (quite a lot) is that its EXCELLENT.  Its MUCH BETTER than ours in the UK – its clean, cheap and goes to the right places.  You know why they don’t know about it ? Because they drive everywhere and everyone who has money for marketing (like Apple) doesn’t tell them about it.

Come on Steve, you can do better. Bill Gates might produce a rubbish product but at least he’s giving something back now.  Americans need to lose weight and the future of the planet needs some consideration. You *do* try to sell to education I think so maybe you could actually do some.

I think its great that you have the guts to talk to some customers directly — how about supporting real needs here not just mistaken wants leading to early death of people and the planet.

Best wishes

Walk+Roll works to encourage and remind people to walk and bicycle in their daily lives by:

• - Organizing human-powered neighborhood events that combine fun with active living, learning and participating.
• - Advocating with politicians and community leaders so that they consider cyclists and pedestrians in public policy.
• - Promoting biking and walking through press releases and outreach to the media.

Walking and cycling rather than driving – particularly for short distances – saves money, improves physical and emotional health, decreases smog, improves neighborhood safety and encourages social interaction which builds community.

Most of their ideas are things we’ve kicked around here in Ithaca as well; some of their events are worth emulating. All in all, much food for thought.

As this report shows, where bicycling and walking levels are higher, obesity, high blood pressure, and diabetes levels are lower. Higher levels of bicycling and walking also coincide with increased bicycle and pedestrian safety and higher levels of physical activity. Increasing bicycling and walking can help solve many of the largest problems facing our nation. As this report indicates, many states and cities are making progress toward promoting safe access for bicyclists and pedestrians, but much more remains to be done.

Check out the report on their website: Benchmarking

In May of 2009 the City of Ithaca installed sharrows (aka Shared Lane Markings) along most of Cayuga Street. Over this past year, the Engineering Office has been conducting a study on the effects/benefits/design of the  markings. We are just about finished with our study and are looking for  input from bicyclists and motorists about their feelings about the markings. I have attached a VERY short questionnaire – please take a few minutes to fill it out and return it to me.

If you would like additional information about this project (or other projects), feel free to contact me anytime. If for any reason you prefer to fill in the questionnaire on paper and mail it to me, there is a downloadable pdf of it: sharrow questionaire

Thank you very much,

Kent

Questionnaire

[form 2 "Sharrow Survey"]
Kent Johnson
Junior Transportation Engineer
Office of the City Engineer
City of Ithaca
108 E. Green St.
Ithaca, New York 14850
(607) 274-6528, (607) 327-0316 (cell), (607) 274-6587 (fax)
kjohnson@cityofithaca.org

Adding vitality to the group this year were some 7 or 8 youngsters whose energy was a bit more than the  slow pace of the ride could fully engage. But, they coped with their impatience by riding back and forth within the peloton and found time to agree that the scene was truly beautiful.

Following the official Waterfront Trail loop, most of the group continued on toward the Commons. We emerged as an enormous-seeming train of bicycles with bright front lights and blazing rear blinkies, easily holding our place in the very light traffic of State/Martin Luther King Street. At the Commons, we all dismounted and walked across to Aurora Street to get some hot beverages at College Town Bagels.

It felt like a good Ithaca tradition was being set in place.

• Rt 79, 13A, Elm Safety – Oct 14 2008 Meeting Notes
• 13A-79 Option A
• 13A-79 Option B_1
• 13A-79 Option_B_2
• 13A-79 Option B_3_ with mid-block ped signal
• 13A-79 Option C

The options are full of fine details and apparently meant to be printed on very large format printers. But, after staring at it for a bit, it became clear what was intended.

Meet at about 7:45 pm near the Cass Park Turtle.

After getting acquainted, adjusting our lights, blinkies, and reflectors, and checking in on why we’re doing it, we will take a leisurely ride around the Waterfront Trail. When we get back to the Turtle, those who want to extend the evening (and who have lights and skills for riding at night through the city) will take the path over to State/Martin Luther King Street, and ride to the Commons. There, we’ll assemble for some more schmoozing and beverages — the precise location TBA.

Earth Hour 2010 printable flyer.

Last Year’s Ride

Well, it was a year ago that we did our first Earth Hour Night Ride. Steve Powell shot a bit of video of us all riding out of the parking area, but I never figured out how to post it. So, here goes. By the way, as far as I can tell, everybody has a light. Let’s get a lot more people out there this year!