States with the lowest levels of biking and walking have higher traffic fatalities and chronic disease
Read on…
Traffic Skills 101 for cyclists in mid-February
The next Traffic Skills 101 course taught by League-certified Cycling Instructors (LCI’s) is scheduled for February 17 and 20. You need to register in advance. The February course will meet at CSULB Pyramid Annex, (Atherton, between Bellflower and Palo Verde).
For details and to register online, click EDUCATION at the top of the longbeachcyclists.com web page.
Reading Group discusses cycling issues Sunday, January 31
January 31st at 6:00 pm, join us at Portfolio Coffee House on Fourth at Junipero for an additional opportunity to discuss interesting ideas found in Jeff Mapes’ book Pedaling Revolution.
The Long Beach Cyclists Reading Group, organized by Kevin Flaherty, meets monthly to discuss books and news of interest to the local cycling community.
Click EVENTS at the top of the page, and scroll to the January 31st calendar entry to view a map pointing to Portfolio.
Bicycle Advisory Committee in Long Beach?
Click on this must-read letter. It’s from Russ Roca. Russ writes to friends and to all those who look forward to Long Beach becoming an even better city than it already is.
Charles Gandy is the City of Long Beach Mobility Coordinator. Gandy is a nationally known cycling advocate who for the next year or two has made Long Beach home while contracted to assist the City of Long Beach in its efforts to make Long Beach a better, more livable city for all.
A League Certified Instructor (LCI) leads traffic skills courses for cyclists and other road users. Several members of Long Beach Cyclists are LCIs. Long Beach offers Traffic Skills 101 at CSULB Pyramid Annex. Click EDUCATION at the top of the longbeachcyclists.com web page for more details and to find out how to sign up for an upcoming course.
Russ Roca and Laura Crawford have been on a cross-country cycling adventure called Path Less Pedaled since August of 2009. They send us updates, this time from Arizona. For several years, Russ made a living here in Long Beach as the Eco-Friendly Bicycling Photographer. Daily, Russ was seen cycling here and there around Long Beach and beyond on his cargo bike—a long bike with an enormous rack to carry lots of specialized photo equipment. Many of Russ’ photographs have been featured in the District weekly and other publications. Both Russ and Laura were active participants in Long Beach Cyclists and cycling advocacy when they lived in Long Beach.
Russ and Laura, we send you a ‘hello’ from Long Beach, California! We miss you. We wish you continued safe travels and more wonderful adventures!
Cycling Through Intersections
One type of potentially dangerous situation concerns right turns. Wherever motor vehicles make right turns, the cyclist needs to position himself/herself in a safe location, and be aware of appropriate, legal behaviors that can help avoid conflicts.
MAKE YOUR DESTINATION PREDICTABLE
The notion of destination lanes can be helpful. All road users are safer if they position themselves in a lane that makes clear their destination. A cyclist who wishes to continue straight ahead through an intersection should not drive in the right turn lane. It is safer, and more useful to motorists, for the cyclist to signal his/her intent to continue straight ahead by driving in the same lane that the motorist would also be expected to use to do the same maneuver. In that way, vehicles behind the cyclist can see and reasonably predict what the cyclist intends to do.
LANE POSITIONING COMMUNICATES YOUR INTENT
Note that in the ‘Incompatible Destinations’ image, a cyclist who drives in a right turn lane or bicycle lane who intends to continue straight ahead risks being struck by a right-turning motor vehicle. Traffic engineers are getting better at understanding how to design each lane to make them safer to use. The cyclist, for his/her part, needs to drive safely and predictably. The cyclist is safer if he or she is visible, driving safely, legally and predictably, and if his or her destination is made clear. Lane positioning is an effective way to communicate one’s intent.
SIDEWALK CYCLISTS ARE LESS VISIBLE, AND IN GREATER DANGER
A beginning cyclist may mistakenly believe that driving on a sidewalk makes him or her safer. A major problem of driving on a sidewalk, besides the fact that cycling on many sidewalks is illegal, is that the sidewalk cyclist is less visible to the motorist. This is critical at intersections. A right-turning motorist may not see the cyclist. The consequences of not being seen by a motorist can be disastrous.
Right turns are common vehicle maneuvers. The educated cyclist is safer when visible, when not swerving, and when his/her destination is clear to motorists approaching from behind.
The cyclist who positions himself/herself in the motorist’s ‘blind spot’—to the right, slightly to the rear, but not visible to the motorist through the right mirror—is unable to communicate anything to the motorist at that moment. As soon as practical, the aware cyclist should attempt to position himself/herself once again in a place where he/she is visible and can communicate as necessary with other road users.
The City of Long Beach, which is committed to helping Long Beach become increasingly bicycle friendly, will want to encourage traffic skills education of all road users—cyclists, motorists, pedestrians. Also, City engineers will want roads, lanes and intersections to be as well designed as possible.
Cycling Through Intersections text by Michael Bos. Thanks to Dan Gutierrez for forwarding us the CABO ‘Incompatible Destination Lanes’ graphic, copyright 2004-2007, www.DualChase.com.,
BikeTalk, on radio station KPFK-FM, December 29th
BikeTalk can be heard any time by scrolling through the KPFK Pacifica Radio Audio Archives of recent, previously-aired programs and clicking BikeTalk.
Tune in Tuesday evening, December 29, 11pm, for the first live broadcast of BikeTalk on KPFK, 90.7 FM. Bike culture, politics, technology, sport and friendliness. BikeTalk has been a weekly internet show for several months already, and Tuesday evening will be its first on-air broadcast.
BikeTalk celebrates bike rides, bicycle collectives, activists, artists, commuters, enthusiasts, professional cyclists, inventors and repairers, and, of course, the bicycle itself as an alternative human-powered mode of transportation. Hosted by Nick Richert and guests, including Jim C of Orange 20 Bikes, Steve Bowers, and Jim Bledsoe and Eric Potter of Bicycle Kitchen.
The first live broadcast is Tuesday evening, December 29, 11pm. You can hear BikeTalk live every Saturday, 10am-Noon, at www.killradio.org. And you can download all nineteen previously recorded shows at www.kpfk.org. Click Programs at the top of the page, then click Audio Archives, and scroll for BikeTalk. Or click List of Programs, All Programs in the left margin to find the BikeTalk general description and contact information. Click on Program Highlights this week to see the announcement and details about the December 29th broadcast.
Naples Island Bike Lane
Cars Allowed?
There has been a lot of buzz regarding the new bike lane treatment on the Eastbound side of 2nd street that runs through Naples Island. This could prove to be a successful facility, but in the meantime, I think we need some bold traffic signage for our motorist friends!
These pictures were taken by LB Cyclist Justin McKeever on his way home from work today
The Cyclist Reading Group Meets December 20
The Cyclist Reading Group meets monthly so that cyclists and book lovers can sit down for an hour of literary discussion in a public space.
Sunday evening, December 20, at 7:17 pm, meet with us at Portfolio Coffeehouse to talk about Pedaling Revolution by Jeff Mapes. Whether you have read the book already or not, you’ll enjoy meeting with us to talk about cycling issues.
The Cycling Reading Group comes together to engender growth of knowledge in the area of cycling research. Each month’s literary selection is discussed for one hour. Also, a book or article is identified for future reading and discussion.
Part 1: Cyclists Eye View
We’re ready for your questions and concerns, please ask!
Bike Art Dedication
And a little extra.
“Long Beach, the most bicycle friendly city in America” (It may be possible, with the correct steps taken)
Today’s dedication will commemorate Long Beach’s future goal to be the bike friendliest! We commend the spirit of Long Beach city officials in setting fourth this future achievement, and believe that it could happen, eventually. I also want to add that the art that will be unveiled is quite stunning, thank you to the artist Patrick Vogel for such a beautifully crafted piece!
Now, for the facts… Yup, I’m diving right in!
Most of you will agree on one thing, Long Beach is far away from being viewed as “The most bicycle friendly city in the country,” Many steps need to be taken still. A person wrote into us this morning and shared a story about the lack of friendliness he received from a Long Beach’s police officer while riding his bicycle in the downtown area.
[Yesterday evening, my girlfriend and I were cycling westbound on 3rd St toward Alamitos Ave. As we were nearing the light a LBPD officer pulled up behind us and got on his loudspeaker and said that we needed to move farther to the right and get out of the lane. We were in the right westbound lane, he was in the left westbound lane and there was no other traffic in the area at the time. We were riding in the middle of the lane, to be outside of the door zone of all the parked vehicles along 3rd St and were riding in the exact same location that we would be if we were on the Belmont Shore Sharrows.After he told us to move to the right, I looked back at him and motioned to him that I wanted to talk. He pulled up along side me and rolled down his window. I told him that it was incorrect that we needed to be farther right because that would put us in the door zone. He said we could stay out of the door zone but still needed to be farther to the right. I said that I wouldn’t because it would be unsafe. The officer became noticeably mad and said, “Don’t argue with me or I’ll give you a ticket.” I said that I had documentation that stated that I was allowed to ride in the lane. He didn’t ask what that documentation was, but I was referring to a pamphlet that I have that contains sections of the California Vehicle Code that pertain to cycling. I received the pamphlet during the Long Beach Bicycle Festival from the City’s BikeLongBeach.org booth. I also have another version of the pamphlet that was issued by the Los Angeles Department of Transportation and Metro. The officer then said that he didn’t want to catch us riding in the middle of the lane again. I reiterated that it was the safest place for us to ride. The light at Alamitos had turned green by this point and he said to ride safe and we all proceeded through the intersection.
Both of us have taken the Traffic Skills course that is taught by local League of American Bicyclist instructors and I’ve read over the sections of the California Vehicle Code that I mentioned above (CVC 21202) and sections of the Long Beach Municipal Code. I know we were not riding improperly and was more bothered by the officer getting angry and threatening me with a ticket when I challenged his information than I was by him telling us to move over.
Today there is an art dedication and photo shoot at Long Beach City Hall for what appears to be a self proclaimed, “Long Beach, the most bicycle friendly city in America.” I know that this wasn’t the first time a cyclist had an interaction with an officer about riding in the lane. I would imagine that there was a lot of discussion about cycling and where cyclist should ride or are allowed to ride after the implementation of the Belmont Shore Sharrows. So I’m wondering, since Long Beach is such a bicycling friendly city, what is being done to educate the officers of the LBPD and the general public about proper bicycling and following the rules of the road? I’m frustrated that I continually see cyclists riding the wrong way on one way streets, not paying attention to stop signs and riding on sidewalks while I get threatened with a ticket for riding in the lane. We ride this route frequently when going downtown and will continue to do so even though we are now at risk of getting a ticket from this officer if he sees us cycling in the lane again.
I know there are many projects in the works to help make Long Beach a more bicycling friendly city and I want to make sure that education are part of those plans.
Thank you for your time,
Scott Casey ]
This is the reality, as frightening as it may be some and not at all surprising for others. Scott and his girlfriend’s experience is just one example of many I have heard personally, in fact, a similar situation happened to me a couple months ago. Just so we are all clear, I shared this information not to b*#ch and complain and stomp my feet, but to start the dialog with our community about where we need to begin in hopes of becoming (one day) the most bicycling friendly city.
The answer: EDUCATION
Several LB Cyclists members are League Certified Cycling Instructors (LCI’s) under the League of American Bicyclists certification. They hold monthly classes in Long Beach to teach anyone who will listen the rights, rules, safety and regulations of bicycling.
If the City of Long Beach’s Bicycling authority, officials and/or Legislators would like us to run a program for the LBPD, (for starters) we would welcome that dialog!
For now, enjoy the art this afternoon, but attend with a sense of responsibility and don’t get swept away from the reality of the “most bicycle friendly city” declaration.
