Archive of past newsletters

WBWC August 2002 Meeting
The next meeting of the WBWC will be held on Thursday, August 1st, 2002, 7pm at the Ecology Center, 117 N. Division in Ann Arbor (just north of Huron). The meeting will last for 1 to 1-1/2 hours. Limited parking is available in back of the Ecology Center as well as next to Tios restaurant. Everyone is welcome to attend. WBWC meetings are normally scheduled for the first Thursday of every month.

Ann Arbor Alternative Transportation Coordinator
In the late Spring of 2002, the Ann Arbor City Council agreed to create a full-time position in the City government for an Alternative Transportation Coordinator. This is a very positive development and the City Council is to be commended for their actions. As you may be aware, the WBWC was encouraging the Council to maintain the part-time Bicycle Coordinator position or to create a full time Non-Motorized Coordinator.

While again the news about the Alternative Transportation Coordinator is very welcome, the WBWC is encouraging individuals to contact members of the Ann Arbor City Council asking them to insure that the Alternative Transportation Coordinator will concentrate heavily on bicycle and pedestrian tasks and projects.

While calls, e-mails, and letters to the Ann Arbor City Council from Ann Arbor residents will have the most impact, letters from anyone in Washtenaw County who visits the City are useful. After all, people who live outside Ann Arbor certainly visit the city and contribute to its economy. Also, any example set in Ann Arbor will certainly be felt in surrounding areas.

Points to make in your letter/e-mail/telephone calls ¦

· Thank the Ann Arbor City Council, and the Mayor, for creating the position of a full-time Alternative Transportation Coordinator.
· Urge the Council/Mayor to insure that the Alternative Transportation Coordinator tasks heavily involve bicycling and pedestrian issues and projects.
· The Coordinator should also insure that Ann Arbor will obtain, and spend appropriately, the federal, state and private-source non-motorized transportation grants the City may be entitled to.

Letters can be sent to the Ann Arbor City Hall in care of the Mayor or specific City Council member (Ann Arbor City Council Member/Mayor, 100 N. Fifth Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48107-8647). Also, names and home addresses of the Mayor and City Council members are available on the WBWC website at www.wbwc.org. The website also contains e-mail addresses, telephone numbers as well as a sample letter.

Ann Arbor Cyclist Ticketing Incident Continues On
From Ken Clark, WBWC Board Member - I have tried to avoid talking about my "biking to work" ticket much here. Frankly, I've hoped since I received the ticket the day before Thanksgiving last year that the whole thing would go away. I need to update everyone on what's going on, however, because it could end up affecting cyclists state-wide.

First, what happened. As I was biking to work, a police officer told me through her open cruiser window that "This part of Plymouth Road isn't safe enough for a cyclist, you have to use the sidewalk". I kept my cool and replied that state law and Ann Arbor ordinances say a cyclist has a right to use the road. She repeated that I had to use the sidewalk, so I pointed out that we were holding up traffic and offered to talk with her up ahead wherewe could pull off the road.

We all know roads like Plymouth Road. Four lanes with a left turn lane, fast traffic, just-barely-wide-enough-to-share curb lanes (13-13.5'), lots of cars/trucks with a good number of semis and buses. It's an intimidating road for many people, but an experienced cyclist can handle it just fine. The particular part of the road I was on is a bit unusual. The road curves to the right with a sidewalk and retaining wall on that side. Motorists hug the inside of the curve, running over the space a cyclist would use. Visibility is bad at that point, and motorists drive faster than they can see around the curve.

What's a cyclist to do? From my experience, if there isn't enough room to share the lane, for whatever reason, you make it clear to motorists that there isn't room to pass in the lane. Further, I make sure that motorists can see me when it is humanly possible. Having biked that curve daily for many years and recently every day for the ten months before the officer mentioned it, I move left one foot.
That's right, one foot further into the lane has been enough for motorists to see me in time to realize they have to do something. Most motorists slow down, look for an opening in the adjacent fast lane, and pass safely. When a motorist gets caught behind me and can't move over, I move back to my usual lane position, which works out to about 2' into the lane, so they can pass safely.

I tried using my usual lane position for the rest of Plymouth when I started working on Plymouth again. Around that curve, dozens of motorists came around fast, saw a cyclist at the last second and made panic maneuvers. No
crashes, but lots of hard braking, horns, and occasional tires squealing. Moving that one foot further into the lane cleared those problems up like magic. Since it only takes me about a minute to get around this curve, very few people even have to slow down.

The officer pulled into a parking lot and I stopped next to her. I read her the relevant ordinances (I always carry a copy), including the ones that say a cyclist has a right to use the road and has to stay as close as practical to the right-hand side of the road when they do. She pointed out that from her point of view a car, her example was a police car, speeding around the curve would likely hit me, so I have to use the sidewalk. Never mind that I was in the slow lane and speeding police cars have indeed passed me on that curve, in the fast lane, without problems. She wrote me a ticket for "Blocking Traffic, Impeding Traffic".

I found out in court later that this officer has not had any bicycle-related training for 16 years. The ticket makes that clear, since the charge of "impeding traffic" can't be used against a cyclist. It only applies to parked cars. Since a bicycle isn't, legally speaking, a car and I was moving the whole time, the City had to drop that ticket and write another one weeks later. They eventually changed the charge to failing to be as close to the right as practical, which is one of the ordinances I read to the officer and she didn't say was a problem.

Until May 28th then, this whole ticket thing was just a local police officer without adequate training who made a bad call and wouldn't back down. On the 28th my lawyer and I went before the judge and it became clear that the
Ann Arbor City Attorney intended to challenge both the legality of the City ordinance and most of Effective Cycling, the award-winning, and Ann Arbor city government endorsed, League of American Bicyclists safe cycling course. You can read the testimony of longtime cycling advocate (and League of American Bicyclists certified instructor) Reuben Chapman at www.ameritech.net/users/kenclark/deposition.pdf. The section where Ann Arbor City Attorney Kristen Larcom questions Reuben will give you a feeling for the City's argument.

The City Attorney is arguing first that the Ann Arbor ordinance wording of "as near as practical" is not legal, since the State law wording of "as near as practicable" is so similar. A former legal advisor to the LMB who has
been helpful to this case found a good definition of the difference between "practical" and "practicable": "While it would be practicable to transport children to school by hot-air balloon, it would not be practical." Or in this case, while you could risk your life to allow motorists to pass you unsafely without seeing you until the last second, it wouldn't be practical or practicable.

In essence, to help the city prosecute this ticket, the City Attorney is asking the judge to rule that no local unit of government can write an ordinance similar to, but different from, a state law. If the judge agrees with the City Attorney on this point, this ruling will be based on the state law, which means the ruling will apply to all of Michigan's cyclists.

Second, the City Attorney is arguing that the law does not allow for cyclists to use more of the lane than absolutely necessary to avoid obstacles on the side of the road. That would mean no moving left for: narrow lanes, car doors, visibility problems, wider lanes, intersections, faster biking, biking as fast as traffic, etc.

Interpreting the law as the City is attempting to do would also require that cyclists base their lane position on the distance from the side of the road, not from the side of passing motorists, as Effective Cycling teaches. In
this particular case, the City is specifically asking the judge to rule that a cyclist cannot move over even as little as one foot (the officer agreed on the witness stand that I was where I say I was on the road, three feet into
the lane), even for sight-distance safety reasons on a low visibility curve.

The final problem is that my lawyer has advised me that even if the City loses this case, given the amount of effort they've put into it, they will probably appeal.

By now I've spent about 150 hours of my time and over $3000 fighting this ticket. If you've tried to contact me over the past 6 months, please accept my apology if I haven't replied promptly. This ticket has really shattered my idea of how cycling is thought of in Ann Arbor, as well as what the roles of the police and City Attorney are supposed to be. I certainly hope no one else in the State has to put up with this, though I know that other cyclists have paid for bogus tickets in the past.

What can we learn from this? First, it is absolutely vital that we all work with our local police departments to make sure that officers are trained and periodically retrained on what is reasonable cyclist behavior. One badly trained or untrained police officer can ruin your week! Second, we could really use legal help for cyclists, or some kind of joint fund for legal defense of bad tickets. I promise to write the first check! On second thought, perhaps I already have? Finally, this ticket might be a useful tool to talk lawmakers into improving our laws. If the laws are being interpreted to give cyclists no leeway whatsoever, it may be time to change those laws.

On my lawyer's advice, I have started a legal defense fund. Since the City is spending so much effort prosecuting this ticket, my lawyers think appeals are likely, they advised that both I and the League of Michigan Bicyclists (LMB) should solicit contributions for future costs. I would hope the LMB would consider helping with the legal costs. Any extra in my legal fund when this is over will go to the LMB legal fund. Please send contributions to either the LMB Legal Fund (see the LMB website at www.LMB.org for the address), or the Ken Clark Legal Defense Fund, 497 Larkspur St. Ann Arbor, MI 48105.

Ypsilanti Township Plans Continue
In an e-mail to the WBWC from Ypsilanti Township, it was noted that the Township Administration is staying very focused on non-motorized transportation corridors. Developers in the Township must abide by a local ordinance that requires the installation of non-motorized paths, with new paths appearing soon on Whittaker Road (by a new Kroger) store and on Hitchingham Road. Additional connector paths are planned to tie Huron River Drive to the new Ypsilanti District Library and Ford Heritage Park. Also, the Township repaved Huron River Drive with bike lanes, making a route that was once unsafe for bicycles into an ideal bike-lane route.

Vote For Trails On August 6th
Proposal 2 is going to be on the August 6th Michigan primary ballot and would mean hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to the states major sources of money for conservation. It must be passed by a majority of voters because it will require a change to the State's constitution. This would mean no increase in taxes ¦ it is simply a new way for the state to invest the money they already are getting.

The Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, Michigan United Conservation Clubs, the Michigan Chamber of Commerce and the Michigan Recreation & Park Association have joined with other organizations to form the Funds for the Future Committee to educate voters about Proposal 2. Others that have endorsed the proposal are: The Nature Conservancy, Michigan Municipal League, Michigan Oil and Gas Association, Michigan Chemistry Council and the Michigan Environmental Council.

If Proposal 2 passes on the Aug. 6 primary ballot, the Trust Fund could gain more than $500 million over the next 20 years with no cost to taxpayers. Without it, state and local conservation programs could lose at least $15 million annually. Specifically, Proposal 2 would adjust the cap on the Trust Fund from $400-$500 million and allow up to one-third of the Trust Fund revenue to be spent annually. It would also allow half of the money that goes into the Michigan State Parks Endowment Fund every year to be spent on state park improvements.

Since 1978, the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund has provided more than $532 million for community outdoor recreation areas, both on land and in water. It has provided more than $21 million to acquire and develop some rail-trails. Without the passage of Proposal 2 some of the already acquired trails may not be developed and some planned acquisitions will never happen.

Federal Segway Legislation
Not content to just obtain legislation in all 50 state legislatures allowing the motorized Segway device on non-motorized paths and sidewalks, the manufacturer of the device is now seeking legislation that would allow Segways to be used on non-motorized facilities (i.e. bike paths/lanes) that are constructed or maintained with Federal aid highway funds. Among other groups, the American Council of the Blind has urged that any Federal Segway legislation be put aside until it can be demonstrated that the device is safe on public walkways.
The Federal Segway legislation is currently in the U.S. Senate, under bill S. 2024. The draft legislation speaks in glowing terms of the Segway, saying that "The electric personal assistive mobility device employs advances in technology and energy efficiency to fully and safely integrate the user with pedestrian transportation; the device enables individuals to travel farther and carry more without use of traditional vehicles; and the device promotes gains in productivity, minimizes environmental impacts and facilitates better use of public ways. Also, the proposed Federal legislation allows Segway to speed along at speeds up to 20 miles-per-hour, whereas most State Segway legislation was seeking only a 15 miles-per-hour speed limit.
Calls to Senators Levin and Stabenow are encouraged asking them to oppose any and all Segway legislation, including S.2024. Individuals can call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard toll-free at 877/389-7321. Ask the operator for either the office of Senator Levin or Stabenaw and when connected with their office simply state you want to voice an opinion.

State Segway Legislation
In early July, Governor Engler signed legislation allowing the Segway motorized device on public sidewalks and non-motorized paths. The legislation treats non-tandem electric scooters basically the same as bicycles. They can be used in any street or public place open to pedestrian traffic, except, they may not be used on a street posted above 25 m.p.h. (except to cross the street).

They are subject to local ordinance and Department of Natural Resources regulations that can ban them from pedestrian spaces, docks, trails, and historic districts. They are outlawed on Mackinac Island. They are restricted to 15 m.p.h., and must have headlights and reflectors. The complete Segway law can be accessed at http://www.michiganlegislature.org/documents/2001-2002/billenrolled/senate/pdf/2002-SNB-1016.pdf.

2002 Natural Resource Trust Fund Exceedingly Competitive
The last Natural Resources Trust Fund Board meeting on Wednesday, June 19th revealed some startling statistics for this year's grant cycle.

First of all, the Trust Fund is in a low cycle this year, which resulted in only $20 million of available funds instead of the $38 million that was given out last year. This is a normal swing for the oil and gas revenues. What is different this year is that there are a couple factors which are making grant dollars for new projects extremely scarce. First, there are hardly any lapsed funds carried forward this year because grantees are gradually getting better at using their grant funds. Second, the last phase of the Keweenaw peninsula acquisition has already been promised $7 million. Add to that the usual $3 million allocation for administration of the trust fund, and the balance left in available funding for new projects is $6 million for development projects (using the usual 2/3 acquisition and 1/3 development split) and $4 million for acquisition. There are already $96 million in total grant applications received, and this does not count any new applications which could come rolling in at the late deadline of August 1st . Needless to say, this will probably be a disappointing year for many non-motorized trail construction applicants.

Walkability, Highway Access Important to Home Buyers
According to a recent survey conducted by the National Association of Home Builders and the National Association of Realtors, walkability showed up as an important home buyer preference. While a desire for a larger home was the top choice (64%), 27?% said they wished they could walk to more places from home; 23% said they wished their home was closer to work; 17% wanted to be closer to shopping and restaurants.

According to Gary Garczynski, president of NAHB, "This survey demonstrates that home buyers are quite conscious of the tradeoffs they make when buying a home." "They are willing to live further from the city in order to have a larger home, and the quality of the community is more important then the length of the commute. A better understanding of these tradeoffs enables us to develop planning and growth policies that take into account home buyers' preferences."

When asked about the importance of 18 community amenities, the highest ranking features were (with percent ranking as important or very important): highway access, 44 percent; jogging/bike trails, 36 percent; sidewalks, 28 percent; parks, 26 percent; playgrounds, 21percent, and shops within walking area, 19 percent.

Summing up the survey, Garczynski said "The survey responses suggest a vision of smart growth that home buyers are prepared to embrace.". "A majority of consumers want single-family detached homes in a pedestrian-friendly community that has shopping within walking distance. They want a mix of open space, including parks, recreational facilities, playgrounds, farms, nature preserves and undeveloped areas. They want traffic minimized on neighborhood streets. To the extent that we - builders, developers, planners, elected officials - can create high quality, walkable, mixed-use communities, we will deliver a version of smart growth that is more likely to be accepted in the marketplace."

Driving As An Addiction
The Scottish government is preparing to wage a propaganda war against motorists, using the same tactics to demonise them that have been employed against smokers. Television ads will use the same psychological techniques targeted at drink-driving and smoking to portray unnecessary car use as an addiction. It marks a significant escalation of the government's anti-car campaign and comes in the same week as a powerful committee of Members of Parliament demands tougher penalties for speeding drivers.

The government has accepted the advice of an advertising agency that a successful campaign to change drivers' entrenched behavior will take at least five years and as many as 10, with little success predicted in the early years. The first TV ad in the campaign is already on Scottish screens, showing a self-help group of drivers sitting in a circle and being urged by a counselor to let go of their steering wheels.

The next stage in the campaign will be two poster campaigns promoting the use of buses and trains. Future
ads are expected to highlight the environmental consequences of excessive car use. The Edinburgh City Council has also unveiled its radical solution to the problem of too much in-town traffic, a charge for motorists who cross either one of two toll-gates to be thrown around the city by 2006. The plan, which has angered motoring organizations and local businesses, is expected to raise funds for public-transport projects. Transport analysts predict gridlock in Edinburgh within 10 years and serious problems in other Scottish cities unless congestion is tackled.

A Scottish government transportation committee wants a huge expansion in road humps bends and speed cameras so as to slow drivers down. It will also recommend that the 60mph speed limit on rural roads be reduced to 40mph, and 30mph through villages. The recommendations are in response to a report that showed an increase in road deaths in the United Kingdom from 3,409 in 2000 to 3,443 in 2001; 1,200 were linked to speeding. The committee also proposes better education for learner drivers and public campaigns to remind all motorists of the dangers.

Mary Williams from Brake, an anti-speeding pressure group, said: "Motoring groups say tougher penalties are an attack on the freedom of drivers but what about the freedom of children, cyclists and pedestrians to stay alive?" A spokesman for the Association of British Car Drivers said: "The government is not really interested in improving road safety, it is only interested in making life hell for drivers."

Thinking Outside The Envelope
The Bicycle Access Council of Pennsylvania has successfully petitioned the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to include a "Share-the-Road" message on the agency's official envelopes. The council says this is an important step in convincing the general public to recognize bicyclists as legitimate users of the road.

Monthly Reminders & Requests

WBWC Membership Applications Available
WBWC membership applications are available through the WBWC website (www.wbwc.org) and in the literature racks of most Washtenaw County bike shops. Basic membership is $10 a year with. Also, those joining after September 1st, 2002 will have their membership extended through December 31st, 2003.

WBWC Volunteers Needed
Volunteers are currently needed for the following WBWC Committees...
Publicity - Send out meeting and special event announcements, mail out printed version of E-News
Education - Help plan and staff educational efforts (i.e., Earth Day, Bike To Work Day/Week)
For details on any of these jobs, please contact Bob Krzewinski at 487-7058 or wolverbob@cs.com.

School Bicycling Volunteers Needed
In cooperation with the Washtenaw County Sheriffs Office, volunteers are needed to help with bicycling educational efforts at local elementary schools. No special skills are needed and a time commitment of 30 minutes at a school would be needed. Items to be discussed (basic traffic laws, how to wear a helmet, etc.) would be included in a written handout for volunteers. If interested, please call 734/487-9058 or e-mail wbwc@topical.com.

Member Discounts
Ann Arbor Cyclery has joined the WBWC and agreed to offer a 10% discount on purchases by WBWC members showing their membership cards. A hearty "thank you" goes to Ann Arbor Cyclery for helping promote bicycling in Washtenaw County. And if you are in a shop that is not a member of the WBWC, a friendly word urging them to support bike advocacy though WBWC membership would be appreciated.

Sidewalk Inventory Continuing
The WBWC continues to solicit recommendations for areas where there is heavy pedestrian traffic and either there are no sidewalks or those that are available are in very poor condition. Suggestions should include as much specific data as possible and can be e-mailed to wbwc@topica.com. An added help on any sidewalk suggestions would be photographs which can be mailed to the WBWC, c/o Ecology Center, 117 N. Division, Ann Arbor, MI 48104 or dropped off at the Ecology Center during weekday business hours. Suggestions will be inventoried with follow-up to the appropriate governmental body.

Ecology Center Library
It should be noted that the WBWC has a small, but growing, library of bicycling and walking advocacy publications for checkout at the Ecology Center in Ann Arbor.

Mark Your Calendar....
August 1 WBWC Monthly Meeting, 7pm, Ecology Center, Ann Arbor
September 5 WBWC Monthly Meeting, 7pm, Ecology Center, Ann Arbor