Category: bicycle

Ultimate Guide To The Benefits Of Biking

Ultimate Guide To The Benefits Of Biking

Explore and consider the many benefits of bicycling from health, lowering stress, affordable transportation option to community and environmental and economic benefits.

The hospitality sector will also benefit from an increased number of tourists and this will bring further welfare in the local area.

From biking tourism will also benefit many other businesses too. First of all, the local tour operators can organize city tours by bike to attract the passionate cyclists. Secondly, bike rental and repair shops will most likely increase their sales as well.

San Diego Bike Mobility Plan

The City of San Diego City Council adopted a plan in June, 2016 targeted toward increasing the routes available to cyclists and improving safety on the road.
Part of the city’s 2035 Climate Action Plan, the Downtown Mobility Plan is supported by local businesses and will cost $62.5 million over the next 30 years. Its goal is to transform many vehicle lanes and on-street parking spaces into protected cycling lanes and pedestrian walkways.
With a limited number of bicycle paths in the downtown area, cyclists ride streets with relatively high traffic volumes and moderate vehicle speeds. Under these conditions, cyclists don’t feel safe navigating the road or have to weave their way through pedestrians on the sidewalks if they want to avoid proximity to automobiles.
This plan aims to correct oversights by city planners that years ago designed downtown streets without including safe, designated paths for bicycles. The new bicycle tracks will be their own lanes physically marked and separated from the rest of the street. Cycle tracks are typically located directly adjacent to a roadway but have a vertical barrier to exclude motor traffic, further segregating and protecting cyclists.
The new north-south tracks are planned to be on Pacific Highway, State Street, Sixth Avenue, and Park Boulevard. The east-west tracks will be on Beech Street, Broadway, J Street, and small sections of B and C Streets. The locations of these new tracks were placed in order to connect routes through the city to bicycle paths in surrounding cities and communities.

San Diego Bike Mobility Plan
San Diego Bike Mobility Plan

Cyclists will still need to be wary of traffic and share lane space on roads such as Harbor Drive, Market Street, and Park Boulevard that divert traffic flow from Interstate 5, Route 163, and Route 94. These roads will not have the new tracks installed and will still pose a danger to cyclists.
If you or a loved one were injured or killed in a bicycle accident due to the fault of another party, call the Goetz Law Firm now at 858-481-8844 as you may file a claim against the negligent party and obtain compensation for injuries incurred and resultant property damages.

S. California Cycling

San Diego bicycling and cycling throughout the southern Pacific Coast looks like it may be getting even better.

San Diego’s soon to be finalized transportation plan may greatly expand bicycle paths and work towards designing a friendlier environment for pedestrians.

Transportation planners have proposed spending $2.58 billion building bicycle paths and improving streets for pedestrians in San Diego County over the next 40 years. […] The draft transportation plan, which is nearly ready for public scrutiny, calls for a regional bikeway, some of it cobbled from the existing 1,340 miles of county roads and trails identified for bicycle use, from El Cajon to the coast and Oceanside to the border. [1]

Cities all around the USA have been improving cycling by installing bike lanes, bike safety markings, and facilities for bikes such as bike racks and commuter lockers.

Los Angeles is also pushing forward on a large bike plan.

The 2010 Plan designates 1,680 miles of bikeway facilities and proposes three new bicycle networks (Backbone, Neighborhood and Green). Additionally, the 2010 Bicycle Plan includes a Technical Design Handbook that will assist both City staff and residents in selecting and designing facilities for future bikeways that are safe and consistent with current standards and guidelines. [5]

Long Beach, already has 60 miles of bike paths. Long Beach will launch fully separated bike lanes in their down town area soon. [3] Of course, New York City already enjoys many miles of these separated bike paths. Portland, Oregon is also experimenting with a separated bike path design idea. Both the normal bike lane and the new design of the buffered bike lane are good news for cyclists. The fully separated bike lane design comes from Europe where they have had better results improving safety for pedestrians and bicyclists.

San Diego already has great bicycling but will get even better. Long Beach will open their fully separated bike paths this spring.

The fully separated bike path design idea places the bike lane next to the sidewalk instead of car parking being right next to the curb. Parked cars occupy the space between the bike lane and the car lane, and add an extra barrier of protection to cyclists. A buffered zone also exists between the parked cars and the bike lane for exiting and entering motorists. The idea is that bicyclists are not sharing space with cars nor pedestrians. Pedestrians have the sidewalk but do have to walk further to enter the roadway, which some fear may present visibility problems and lead to pedestrian accident rates increasing.

Many other cities are experimenting with similar ideas for separated bike paths. New York City has greatly increased both their bike lanes and the miles of fully separated bike paths.

Many other cities are experimenting with similar ideas for separated bike paths. New York City has greatly increased both their bike lanes and the miles of fully separated bike paths.   While bicyclists are happy, not all are enthusiastic. In New York City the fully separated bike paths are controversial [4] and are being blamed for causing increased traffic congestion and some feel that the majority are not being served, even going so far to wanting to pull out the bike paths.

Proponents of the work to improve bike paths and pedestrian safety say that in New York City, fewer bicycle and pedestrian deaths have occurred than at any other time in the city’s history.

RESOURCES CITED

1. Billions proposed for bike lanes, pedestrian-friendly streets Air quality issues factor in plan calling for more ‘active transportation’

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/feb/25/bicycles-big-part-future-transportation-plans/

2. Bike Long Beach – Separate Bike Path Planning FAQs
http://www.bikelongbeach.org/Planning/Read.aspx?ArticleId=19

3. Long Beach Bike Paths – City website on their 60 miles of bike paths

http://www.longbeach.gov/park/recreation/sports/bike_paths.asp

4. For City’s Transportation Chief, Kudos and Criticism

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/06/nyregion/06sadik-khan.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

5. Los Angeles Bike Plan

http://www.labikeplan.org/

Bike plan and maps are available here: http://cityplanning.lacity.org/cwd/gnlpln/transelt/BikePlan/B1Intro.htm

San Diego Bicycle Accident Attorney

I am a skilled and experienced bicycle and pedestrian accident attorney. San Diego personal injury attorney with experience and demonstrated results and client testimonials illustrate that I have and will fight every step of the way for my clients, and doing so has won substantial settlements for my clients. Bicycle and pedestrian accidents can be very complicated, especially if a contributing factor of your injury is the fact that the road design is itself dangerous.

I offer free consultations and contingency fee agreements. Contact me for a no obligation consultation so that we can discuss the specific circumstances of your situation and any questions you may have.

Best Bike Trails

Bike Trails
Orange County Register

Great list of bike rides…mountain bike paths, long stretches without even needing to stop.

Good stuff, but one of my favorites: “The Santa Ana River trail is a coordinated effort between three counties: Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino.
The trail is being extended and will span about 74 miles (expanded from 28)”

Like to get out on trails – or find routes for commutes that can have a trail link, or mountain bike link, adds to the fun. Of course, we’re pushing for #visionzero infrastructure like protected bike lanes, but these trails are resources we already have to enjoy.

THE RELATIVE (IN)EFFECTIVENESS OF BICYCLE SHARROWS ON RIDERSHIP AND SAFETY OUTCOMES

THE RELATIVE (IN)EFFECTIVENESS OF BICYCLE SHARROWS ON RIDERSHIP AND SAFETY OUTCOMES

Nicholas N. Ferenchak, Corresponding Author
University of Colorado Denver, Civil Engineering Department

Wesley E. Marshall, PhD, PE
University of Colorado Denver, Civil Engineering Department

This work raises concerns about the effectiveness of sharrows and highlights the 18 importance of providing adequate infrastructure for bicyclists.

The exact operational function of these markings is somewhat nebulous and seems to have evolved over time. When originally conceived, the hope was that sharrows would create distance between bicyclists and parked cars in order to avoid dooring crashes. Thus, many of the early studies of sharrows designate this avoidance of dooring as a primary objective. Similarly, the initial objective listed in the MUTCD is to assist bicyclists with lateral positioning so to avoid dooring crashes. However, this dooring objective is no longer the primary aim in some cases, evidenced by the fact that sharrows are now commonly placed on streets without on-street parking.

Federal Report: Bad Street Design a Factor in Rising Ped/Bike Fatalities

Federal Report: Bad Street Design a Factor in Rising Ped/Bike Fatalities
Streetsblog
12/11/15

[…] The investigation was ordered by U.S. representatives Rick Larsen (Washington State), Peter DeFazio (Oregon) and Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC) in response to increasing pedestrian and cyclist deaths. Between 2004 and 2013, traffic deaths dropped steadily for drivers, but inched up for people walking or biking, according to the GAO. The cause of the discrepancy isn’t clear. […]

GAO-16-06 (PDF) PEDESTRIANS AND CYCLISTS Cities, States, and DOT Are Implementing Actions to Improve Safety
November 2015

Bicycle Quick Release Recall

Bicycle Quick Release Recall

A group of bicycle companies, in cooperation with the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and the Bicycle Product Suppliers Association (BPSA), is engaged in a safety recall involving quick-release devices which, when improperly adjusted or left open while riding, may potentially come in contact with the front disc brake rotor. Watch this video to see if your bicycle is affected. […]