Quick Release Bill Hearing on Thursday

It's the bill that never dies. No need to explain it, just type in "quick release" in the search box.

Bicycle Quick Release Bill Hearing A1251 - June 4th, 2009
10:00 AM Committee Room 14, 4th Floor, State House Annex, Trenton, NJ

If you can make it I would suggest that you attend and provide testimony asking for a total rewrite of this bill. Read through it and check out lines 40-42.

Bicycle Advocate John Waltz has suggested this change for lines 40-42:
exclude/exempt all adult bikes with wheel diameters 20 inches and larger and specialty adult bikes with wheel diameters 20 inches and smaller.

Wake Me Up - Am I Really In New Jersey?

Ocean City NJ - So let me get this straight. There is a place in New Jersey where people a) live on a bicycle boulevard and b) paint murals in the street?


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Sunnyside Piazza in Portland Oregon

The famous flower in the street at SE 33rd and Yamhill in Portland Oregon was the inspiration for a street mural recently completed on New Jersey's first bicycle boulevard Haven Avenue in Ocean City, NJ.




These strategies which have taken hold in a progressive resort community can also be applied to inner city streets. Imagine if Camden or Newark decided to make their streets seem friendlier with bicycle boulevards and street murals.

DEP Will Be Reconnecting the Canals This Spring

In the 1950's the Delaware and Raritan Canal Towpath was severed by the construction of US 1. The canal at the time was seen as a blight and it's course was in the way of "progress". Now NJ DEP will begin construction this Spring in Trenton on the D&R Canal by connecting the only remaining gap, from Perry Street to Mulberry Street! This will create a continuous 60 mile trail from New Brunswick to Milford in Hunterdon County via downtown Trenton.

North of Milford on the Pennsylvania side PA DCNR is continuing its flood damage repair of the Delaware Canal towpath which when reopened will extend trail connections into Easton PA and the Lehigh Valley network of trail.

New Jersey Bicycle Coalition Goes Online

Our friends at the New Jersey Bicycle Coalition have launched their website http://www.njbike.org/.

The Coalition's Mission is to encourage and promote cycling, provide a collective voice for cyclists, and improve access for cyclists on New Jersey's roads, highways, and trails.

Our Goals and Objectives are to:

* Advocate on behalf of cyclists before public bodies, including elected officials and government agencies
* Focus attention on cycling-related issues which may transcend the interests and abilities of local bicycling clubs
* Sponsor public events, both independently and in partnership with other organizations
* Promote cycling as a healthy, enjoyable, efficient, and environmentally sustainable means of transportation and recreation

NJBC's main focus will be to address bicycle issues in North Jersey which in the planning world can be defined as the NJTPA region spanning from Sussex County down to Ocean County. But their work on the safe passing bill already shows that their presence will have an effect statewide.

WalkBikeJersey has a broader scope as we aspire to be a statewide bicycle and pedestrian organization. We are working closely with the New Jersey Bicycle Coalition and the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia as well as other local advocacy organizations such as Bike Montclair and the West Windsor BPA to make sure that we speaking with a unified voice.

Driver charged with vehicular homicide in hit-and-run of Old Bridge resident

The only caveat here is that the crash happen and is being prosecuted in the Pittsburgh area.

You may have read via the New Jersey Bicycle Pedestrian New Digest an article that recently appeared in The Star-Ledger concerning a Old Bridge man killed in a hit-and-run accident that also left another woman critically injured. A local Pittsburgh NBC affiliate covered the crash in a bit more detail. The suspect, Derek Powell faces numerous charges including:

• aggravated assault,
  
• accidents involving death or personal injury,
• homicide by vehicle

I'm quite sure leaving the scene of an accident and tampering with evidence is also on the list but was not mentioned in the article. But what you DON'T see on this list of charges here is DWI or any other charge indication that Powell was intoxicated during the accident.

All too often in New Jersey drivers get off with little more than a 2 point moving violation for failing to yield to a pedestrian (slightly more if they are unlucky) if they kill a pedestrian and are clearly at fault (but dead men tell no tales) and are not drunk or fleeing from police.

I'm glad to see that there is a prosecutor somewhere that understands the harsh realities of vehicular violence and just doesn't dismiss such crashes as mere "accidents."

Okay, admittedly there are some occasional exceptions to the lax prosecution of vehicular violence against bicyclists and pedestrians here in New Jersey but this is all too rare.

Bike Helmet Laws by State

via Insurance Institute of Highway Safety

Tom Vanderbilt, author of Traffic, pointed out in his blog this map of bicycle helmet laws from the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety. I thought it was interesting because I didn't know that most states have no helmet law whatsoever. You have to wonder how the states came up with the different ages - from 11 in Pennsylvania to 17 in New Mexico and California. Is it based on crash incidence and severity, or, more likely, just a committee of legislators playing pick a number?

3 Foot Passing Bill Introduced in the NJ State Senate

A safe passing bill has been introduced into the NJ State Senate, look for more information as we get it. In the meantime contact your State Senator and ask them to co-sponsor S2737 sponsored by Senators Oroho and Stack.

Bill No. S2737

Sponsors
Oroho, Steven V. as Primary Sponsor
Stack, Brian P. as Primary Sponsor

AN ACT concerning the operation of motor vehicles in certain cases and supplementing Title 39 of the Revised Statutes.

Requires motorists operating vehicles to maintain minimum three foot safety distance when overtaking bicycles.

AN ACT concerning the operation of motor vehicles in certain cases and supplementing Title 39 of the Revised Statutes.


BE IT ENACTED by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. The driver of a vehicle overtaking a bicycle proceeding in the same direction shall leave a safe distance between the motor vehicle and the bicycle of not less than three feet until the motor vehicle has safely passed the bicycle. Any person violating the provisions of this section shall be subject to a fine of $100.
2. This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

This bill would require motorists to maintain a distance of at least three feet when overtaking a bicycle that is travelling in the same direction. The bill provides for a fine of $100 for violating the three foot minimum distance requirement while overtaking cyclists.

Requires motorists operating vehicles to maintain minimum three foot safety distance when overtaking bicycles.