Bicycle Friendly State

The League of American Bicyclists have released their 2010 rankings of U.S. states based on their bicycle friendliness.

Michigan dropped one slot to 16th. This slip appears due to other states passing legislation which gives them additional points.

Here is Michigan’s rankings within the six categories:

• 37th – Legislation
• 12th – Policies and Programs
• 5th – Infrastructure
• 4th – Education
• 38th – Evaluation
• 27th – Enforcement

America’s Fittest Cities

American College of Sports Medicine has released their 2010 American Fitness Index report.

Washington D.C. is the top Metro area for the third year in a row.

The nation’s capital is also a well-endowed city when it comes to community recreation centers, ball fields and other places to exercise. Washington has the second-highest rate of people walking or biking to work, aided by 60 miles of bike lanes. [Ed. emphasis ours]

On the other hand, just because there are a lot of parks and bike lanes being built doesn’t mean that everyone uses them. And by giving points simply for having infrastructure, the index might favor wealthier cities or those with bigger governments. “It’s a fair point,” says Brenda Chamness, who gathers the data for the index. Chamness points out that research has found that fitness levels rise along with the building of new facilities. “If individuals do not have access to safe, convenient and affordable places to exercise, they would be less likely to exercise.”

Where’s Metro Detroit? We’re near the bottom, 47th out of 50. Metro Detroit was 44th in 2009 and 41st in 2008. The trend is apparent.

Today the Michigan State Senate gave a Special Tribute to the Michigan State Parks Advisory Committee, which replaced the now-defunct Citizen’s Committee for Michigan State Parks. The latter was a victim of the DNR and DEQ department consolidation.

The Committee received the White Pine Award for Environmental Excellence for over five years of work to make our state parks better. This work culminated with the recent passage of the Recreation Passport.

The White Pine Award is actually a white pine — Michigan’s state tree — which will likely be planted in a Michigan state park. Senator Patricia Birkholz, Chair of the Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs Committee presented the award and hinted that the tree could be planted in her district.

As a member of the committee, it was very rewarding getting this recognition on the Senate Floor. My Senator John Pappageorge was on hand and was a key supporter of the Recreation Passport. We spoke briefly about the recently passed texting-while-driving legislation. He said he helped push that those infractions to be a primary offense — something we certainly agree with.

— Todd Scott

(Photos by Lori Rhodes)

Distracted drivers are a major source of traffic accidents. According to the US DOT’s distracted driving web site, “Nearly 6,000 people died in 2008 in crashes involving a distracted driver, and more than half a million were injured. (NHTSA)”

Pedestrians and cyclists make up a significant portion of road fatalities, so this is a major problem in our eyes.

The Michigan Legislature has been working on a texting ban — a good start to addressing this issue. Today the House passed a bill making texting while driving a primary offense, just as the Senate recently did.

It doesn’t sound ideal, but according to mlive:

Matt Bolger, a Michigan State Police legislative liaison, said distracted driving is reckless driving. The texting ban is another tool in the traffic safety toolbox officers will use when observing driver behavior on Michigan roads and highways.

And according to the Free Press, this legislation just needs a companion bill before it can head to the Governor.

A main sponsor off the bill Rep. Lee Gonzales, D-Flint, said the law would take effect July 1.

“We’re not going to put the hammer down on people,” Gonzales said, adding that it will take time for the public and police to be come accustomed to the law and how to enforce it. He said the law will make Michigan roads safer.

Given the carnage, we say go ahead and put the hammer down now. Keep the points and keep it on driver’s records.

From what we can tell, this legislation does not apply to bicyclists that text. The bill was written for motor vehicle operators as opposed to the more generic vehicle operators.

Both Crain’s and the Detroit News are reporting on the Michigan Climate Action Plan.

According to the News:

The report by the Center for Climate Strategies said a plan devised last year for battling global warming in Michigan would help limit the state’s heat-trapping gas emissions over the next 15 years.

But more than the environment would benefit, the nonprofit group said. It projected gains of 129,000 jobs, a $25 billion uptick in the gross state product and lower prices for home energy sources such as electricity, oil and natural gas.

“This study validates our commitment to energy efficiency and renewable sources of fuel,” said Steven Chester, director of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. “It’s the right thing to do for a healthy environment and a healthy economy.”

So what does this report say about biking?

It actually says quite a bit as shown below — but of course it’s easy to make recommendations. Getting MDOT, SEMCOG, county road commissions, local governments, and others to adopt the implementation mechanisms to reduce green house gas emissions is the herculean task. (more…)

Bicyclists in Idaho have enjoyed a law that other states are now trying to adopt.

In Idaho, bicyclists can legally treat stop signs as yields under many conditions when it won’t adversely affect others, including pedestrians.

The benefit for bicyclists is threefold:

• It conserves momentum, making bicycling easier
• It conserves time, making bicycling quicker and more convenient
• It adopts the common existing practice, making bicyclists more law abiding

Bicycle advocates in Oregon recently tried to get the same law in their state. Spencer Boomhower made a great animation that explains the proposed law.

Bicycles, Rolling Stops, and the Idaho Stop from Spencer Boomhower on Vimeo.

Unfortunately the effort was for naught. The bill died in the Oregon House.

Could we get this law in Michigan?

It would be an extremely valuable law change for those living in older communities that improperly use stop signs as neighborhood traffic calming. It would be equally valuable in Detroit where traffic levels have dropped dramatically since the 1950s yet the old traffic control devices remain in place.

Unfortunately there are obstacles.

Sign photo from BikeJax

In speaking with the League of Michgian Bicyclist staff, they don’t see this as a priority.

And, since this Idaho law is not in the Uniform Vehicle Code (upon which most states based their road laws), it would take considerable effort to get this passed in Lansing much less supported by the Michigan State Police.

One alternative idea is to post some signs along popular or designated bike routes with modified stop signs. This modification could indicate bicyclists would only need to yield whereas others must stop. It’s unclear how easy this alternative signage would be to implement. Regulatory signage has to be in the Michigan Manual on Traffic Control Devices before it can be installed on a road. The bike yield sign shown on the right is not in our Manual.

Piloting this short term signage solution may provide enough data to justify changing the law.

So there are no easy answers, but they’re rarely are. We need to continue to push for changes that making bicycling an easier, safer, and more convenient mode choice in Michigan.