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LETTER TO MDOT FROM THE SAFETY AND EDUCATION COMMITTEE
As
you know, the Michigan House of Representatives overwhelming approved
the Complete Streets legislation (HR 6151 and HR 6152). It is
imperative that MDOT take into consideration the Complete Streets
initiative in its designs and construction. To help in those efforts
the Cherry
Capital Cycling Club urges MDOT to consider the following:
Read Letter: Click Here
MICHIGAN CYCLING FATALITY: On June 20th a young cyclist (19) was struck and killed by a hit & run intoxicated motorist. One of his fellow cyclists was seriously injured. Here is the link to the local TV station’s website with the story (article only, no video):
Link >>
Hello,
Thank you all who attended the city commission meeting last week. There
was a lot of positive energy that did not go unnoticed. I am sure the
process will be changing at the city, and we shouldn’t be surprised
again with a tunnel vision street design.
However, positive changes to 8th
Street still hang in the balance. As you may know, there has
been positive progress in that Mayor Bzdok and City Manager Bifoss will
be meeting with MDOT Director Steudle and our local Senator Allen and
Representative Schmidt next Thursday, 2/25, in Lansing. TART has put out
an e-mail to our e-mail list asking people to contact our
representatives to tell them how important it is that we build this
project right the first time. I
believe these contacts are critical, and this is another plea to you
good folks on the Complete Streets list. A few talking points
and contact info regarding 8th Street follow below:
- Many of us in Traverse City are hoping the 8th Street
reconstruction project slated for this spring can be re-designed to more
closely meet the City Master Plan and the guiding principals of the
Grand Vision. The GV principals include “expand transportation
infrastructure serving pedestrians and bicyclists.” The current city
design does not meet this goal.
- To have a chance to implement the Grand Vision, right in the
middle of Traverse City, right out of the gate, will really give the
Grand Vision some traction.
- Federally mandated public hearings on 8th Street were held in
January and April 2009 at the Grand Traverse County Road Commission.
There were no public at the meeting, and no public comment received.
- People care about this issue, if they know the details. Nearly
300 letters and e-mails were received by the Traverse City commission
before last weeks study session on 8th Street, and over 100 people
attended the meeting. There was almost unanimous support for a Complete
Street approach to the design.
- We are all concerned with the inflexibility expressed in MDOT’s
February 8, 2010 letter. We’re hoping there is room to encourage
flexibility for making a design change that could tweak the design to
add traffic calming, bike lanes and better pedestrian crossings – make
it a Complete Street.
- The street will be completely torn up, and new curbs will be
poured. These curbs will be there for 30 to 50 years. We have one chance
to build this street correctly.
- Let’s still build it this spring, with the contractor already
under contract, just tweak the design.
- MDOT has been a financial supporter of the Grand Vision, and MDOT
staff from Traverse City, Gaylord and Lansing have spent 100’s of hours
on the study.
- Please work with MDOT and FHWA to help our community work towards
implementing the Grand Vision when 8th Street gets reconstructed this
spring. We are optimistic that we can all work together towards our
common goals.
Please send letters, call, or
send an e-mail to MDOT and our representatives:
Michigan Representative Wayne Schmidt <mailto:WayneSchmidt@house.mi.gov>
S-1388 House Office Building
P.O. Box 30014
Lansing, MI 48933
Phone: (517) 373-1766
Toll Free: (800) REP-1046
Michigan Senator Jason Allen <mailto:senjallen@senate.michigan.gov>
Post Office Box 30036
Lansing, MI 48909-7536
Office Phone: (517) 373-2413
Office Location: 820 Farnum Building
US Senator Carl Levin <http://levin.senate.gov/contact/>
269 Russell Office Building
U.S. Senate
Washington, DC 20510-2202
Phone (202) 224-6221
Cars Kill
Deaths from Cars. Car emissions kill 30,000 peopleand car collisions kill 46,000 each year in the U.S. (2) Ofthese, 25,136 were a result of road departure, 9,213intersection-related, and 4,749 were pedestrians. (FHWA)
Motorists usually at fault. The NYC group Right ofWay says: "After NYC cycling fatalities increased twofold in1999, police rushed to cover their, er, reputation byclaiming (without analysis or supporting data) that cyclistsare to blame in 75% of cycling deaths. Right of Way took acloser look. Surprise! The truth is just the reverse, aslisted in our report, TheOnly Good Cyclist (PDF)." According to Right of Way,over90% of cyclist deaths in NYC are the fault ofdrivers.
Most at-fault motorists who kill cyclists andpedestrians get off the hook. A studyby the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition shows that threeout of four at fault drivers were never evencited for hitting and killing pedestrians. 22% of fatalpedestrian crashes involved hit and run drivers, yet, noneof the runaway motorists were found or charged. In New York,70-92% of drivers were at-fault in killing pedestrians andcyclists, but 74% didn't even get a ticket. (RightOfWay.org,1999) The story in Austinis similar.
First Car Crash killed a cyclist. The firstautomobile crash in the United States occurred in New YorkCity in 1896, when a motor vehicle collided with abicyclist. (1)
SUVs. An average SUV or a pickup is more thantwice as likely as a car to kill the driver of the othervehicle in a collision, and an SUV is four times as likelyto roll over in an accident. (3)
SUV's deadlier to child pedestrians than passengercars by about 18%. (NTSA,2003)
Big pickups kill even more than SUV's. When theaverage large pickup truck collides with a second vehicle,people in the second vehicle die at a rate of 293 for every100,000 crashes, according to federal crash statistics. Bycomparison, large sport utility vehicles kill people in thesecond vehicle at a rate of 205 per 100,000 crashes;minivans kill at a rate of 104 deaths; and large cars at arate of 85 deaths. (NYT,July 31, 2003)
Auto crashes is the leading cause of deathfor people age 6-27, males age 6-23 & 26, and femalesage 4-6 & 8-28. (4)
Red Lights. This July 2000 articlein USA Today has a lot of statistics about cars runningred lights (which kill about 800 people a yearnationwide).
Where cyclists die or crash
U.S. cyclists are three more likely to be killed thanGerman cyclists and six times more than Dutch cyclists,whether compared per-trip or per-distance traveled.(Reuters, Aug. 28, 2003, by MaggieFox)
Safety in numbers. Worldwide, the greater theconcentration of cyclists, the lower the fatality rate. Thatis, the more cyclists, the safer it is to cycle. Byconverse, the fewer cyclists, the more dangerous it is tocycle. This is a main reason why cyclists oppose helmetlaws, because they're shown to reduce the number ofcyclists, and that makes cycling more dangerous for thosewho remain (whether they wear a helmet or not). The Safetyin Numbers principle was proved even within this country, asNYC has a similar rate of cycling fatalities per capitacompared to the rest of the country, but nearly fourtimes as many people bike or walk to work in NYCcompared to the rest of the U.S. (BicyclistFatalities and Serious Injuries in New York CityPDF,1996-2005)
Cyclist fatalities occurred more frequently in urbanareas (66%), at nonintersection locations (67%), betweenthe hours of 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. (30%), and during the monthsof June, July, and August (36%). (NHTSA,2004)
89% of fatal bike crashes in NYC occurred at or within25 feet of intersections. ("BicyclistFatalities and Serious Injuries in New York City",PDF,NYC government, 2005)
The most common bike-car collision is a driver failingto yield at a stop sign.(BicyclingLife, 1995)
Study shows the most common kinds of bike-carcollisions. (BicyclingLife, 1995)
Riding the wrong way (against traffic) is three timesas dangerous as riding the right way, and for kids, it'sseven times as dangerous.(BicyclingLife, 1985-89)
Riding on the sidewalk is several more times moredangerous than riding in the street.(WilliamMoritz, 1998) Anotherstudy says it's twice as dangerous.(BicyclingLife, 1985-89)
Most deaths on major roads. Fifty-seven percent ofbicycle deaths in 1999 occurred on major roads, and 37percent occurred on local roads. (6)
Streets with bike lanes have a significantly lowercrash rate then either major or minor streets without anybicycle facilities (38 and 56% respectively). (WilliamMoritz, 1998)
Streets with bike lanes are safer than thosewithout. Article also has information about the safetyof bike paths. (BicyclingInfo.org,2004)
