D.C. Bicycle Advisory Council

The next Safety, Education, and Enforcement Committee meeting will be Tuesday, December 13, 2011 at 6:30pm. The location will be Teasim at 400 8th St  NW.  The committee will meet in the basement. The agenda for the meeting will be: - Report on MPD outreach and education campaign (Lt. Breul) - Follow-up on Police Complaints Board report and Council hearing to-do items (Jameel) - Safety at the tweed ride (Randall) - City budget development around safety programs For more information about the meeting, please contact Jameel Alsalam , committee chair and Ward 4 representative.

The Facilities Committee of the Bicycle Advisory Council will meet Tuesday, December 6, 2011 from 6:00-8:00 PM at RFD, 810 7th St. NW (near Gallery Place  Metro). This will be one of only two sit-down meetings during the calendar year. Topics on the agenda include: -2012 bike lanes -Bicycle parking -Effective means of communicating input from rolling meetings -Effective means of assuring DDOT designers involve bike/ped office in  planning -Budget issues including getting routine maintenance of all bike trails and bike lanes For more information about the meeting, please contact Jeanie Osburn Ward 5 Representative and Facilities Committee chair you plan to attend or if you have other topics that you'd like addressed.

The map below shows road-related fatalities in the Washington region for pedestrians, bicyclists, motorcyclists, and vehicle occupants. The data is provided by ITO World , a United Kingdom-based organization that produces mapping and visualisations that help people understand and analyze complex transportation data. According to the ITO World website, the map contains road fatality information from several countries, including the United States. The US map shows virtually every fatality that occurred on roads as a result of a collision involving a motor vehicle between between January 1, 2001 and December 31, 2009. By using the zoom bar on the left of the map, the "key" button and the search bar on the right, basic details of each incident are available including the general location, person's age, sex and the year in which the crash took place. While the data does not allow for the separation of crashes by transportation mode in a particular area, it does provide

dcbac , a set on Flickr. These are pictures of the new commercial / residential development at the Rhode Island Ave - Brentwood Station. Although still under construction, there does not seem to be any area designated for bike parking.

The National Park Service  (NPS) requests public comment regarding the installation of Capital Bikeshare stations on the National Mall. This represents a change from the previous NPS policy, which did not allow bike stations on NPS land.  In an  article  published September 22, 2010 by  Lydia DePillis  of the Washington City Paper, the reason for Capital Bikeshare restrictions was based of partly on concession contracts with companies that had the right of first refusal for services.  This appears to have changed as a result of demise of the Tourmobile operator.  In addition, Six members of Congress recently sent a letter to NPS urging them to follow through on its plans to allow Capital Bikeshare stations on the Mall. In changing its position, the NPS Planning, Environment and Public Comment website further states that, " Participating in this bikeshare system would fulfill the goal of enhancing bicycle use at the park, as envisioned in NAMA's 2008 National Mall Visitor

Pennsylvania Avenue intersection via Mike Goodno (DDOT) Mike Goodno , Bicycle Program Specialist within the Policy, Planning and Sustainability Administration of the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) would like to know what bicyclists think about the proposal to remove the flexible protective white posts (safety bollards) near the ends of each intersection along the bicycling lanes in the center of Pennsylvania Avenue during snow season. DDOT is planning a strategy to clear the bike lanes on Pennsylvania Avenue because the bollards ensure that cars do not encroach into the bike lanes, especially when making left turns. This information my also be considered useful as for other bike lanes and cycletracks.   Mr. Gooodno posted the following message on the BAC group page: ...with the flexible posts and the center traffic lights, there is not enough space for a snowplow. We are considering removing the posts within the next few weeks and re-installing them in the spri

As a public service, below are bicycle-related comments/questions issued to Robert Thomson on his Monday midday Dr. Gridlock chat on the Washington Post website, unedited. Sign in question via Washcycle, photo by xosfan This week, just one comment about bicycling this week, this time in Virginia -  " Angst because of a lack of enforcement of bikes restrictions on the GW Parkway south of the beltway ..." While the discussion is focused on the south of I495 section in Alexandria, VA, the National Park Service also restrict bicycle usage on a small portion on Clara Barton Parkway in the District. Feel free to post your thoughts.

2011 DC Tweed Ride , a group on Flickr. On a great fall day, Dandies and Quaintrelles hosted its annual Tweed Ride around the District, Sunday, November 13, 2011. Events like this show how excited people are about bicycling for fun and points to the future biking has in the District. If you took pictures, Dandies and Quaintrelles asks that you post them on their Flickr page .

Below is a letter sent by BAC member Jeanie Osburn (Ward 5) regarding concerns associated with bicycle accessibility near and within the consolidated Department of Homeland Security Headquarters (DHS) at St. Elizabeths - East Campus. 

Below is a letter sent by the BAC Safety, Education, and Enforcement Committee.  The letter addresses some of the areas of concern discussed in the Office of Police Complaints (OPC) report released September 29, 2011, " Improving the Safety of Bicyclists and Enhancing Their Interaction with Metropolitan Police Department Officers ".

We are making some minor changes to the site today, some items may not be available for viewing or not be formatted properly.

Below is video of last week's hearing on the Enforcement of Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety; and Bill 19-475, Assault of Bicyclists Prevention Act of 2011 , Public Oversight Hearing held November 2nd at 11:00am in Room 412 of the John A. Wilson Building. To see what people thought about the hearing, please see the twitter responses .

As a public service, below are bicycle-related comments/questions issued to Robert Thomson on his Monday midday Dr. Gridlock chat on the Washington Post website, unedited. This week, just one comment about bicycling this week -  " who is responsible for enforcement against parked cars in the bike lane ..."  Feel free to post your thoughts. Parking in Bike Lanes Question. Is there any effort to increase enforcement against cars double parking in bike lanes. I was riding up 14th street Saturday night and a couple of restaurants have decided that the bike lane is actually a valet parking waiting area. They had the lane occupied for a whole block with empty cars waiting to be parked. Something tells me that should be illegal. Answer. Robert Thomson . Yep. That would be illegal. Have you called the D.C. police about it? With regard to this question, Randall Myers, DCBAC representative will send the following message to Dr. Gridlock: Regarding the question about the Metr

Below are twitter updates from today's Committee on the Judiciary hearing on Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety regarding Bill 19-475, Assault on Bicyclists Prevention Act of 2011. Feel free to add to the conversation using the application below.