Royal Oak is tops in Oakland County, but this time it’s not a good thing.

For 2007, Royal Oak had the most reported bicycle and pedestrian crashes in Oakland County. For bicycle crashes, it wasn’t even close. We had 50% more than second-place Troy. For pedestrian crashes, we were second to Pontiac.

m-bike provided copies of these crash data charts to Royal Oak’s City Commission yesterday. After a couple failed previous attempts, we’re hoping this time there’s enough resolve and momentum to pursue our recommended first step: a non-motorized transportation plan for Royal Oak.

The 2007 bike and pedestrian crash results for the four counties in the MDOT Metro Region have just been added to our on-line database.

In summary, while pedestrian crashes have dropped, bicycle crashes increased by over 13%. As noted by SEMCOG, “traffic crashes involving bicycles are more severe than overall crashes.” In other words, they cause a much higher percentage of injuries. Bikes don’t have bumpers, crash cages, and air bags.

The only “good” news is there were 6 bicycle fatalities this year, down from 13 last year. Still, 23% of all traffic related fatalities in the Metro Region were pedestrians or cyclists.

These numbers only provide more justification for road agencies (like Wayne County and the Road Commission of Oakland County) to begin implementing best practices for safe biking. Agencies and municipalities need to create and implement non-motorized plans on how to reduce these crashes.  Road projects that increase bicyclist safety should be rewarded, not penalized as they can be today in Oakland County.

SEMCOG has released their 2007 Traffic Crash Report. The Michigan State Police should be releasing theirs sometime this month.

Unlike car dealerships, most bike shops don’t take in used bikes towards a new one.

Those with nice bikes in good working condition often sell them at swap meets, in on-line classified ads, or on eBay. For older, used bikes, you’re usually better off donating it to a friend or a group.

Back Alley Bikes

There are at least a couple good groups looking for bikes in the Metro Detroit area. The first is Back Alley Bikes. They offer programs where kids can refurbish a used bike by themselves then get to keep it. They also offer bicycle repair training for adults.

If you have a kids bike or anything with fat tires, this is a great place to donate it. They are also looking for bicycle parts, too.

Back Alley Bikes is located on Cass at Martin Luther King. The entrance is from the alley behind the building. Just look for the painted sign.

Re-CYCLE for Kids

The Oakland County Sheriff’s office has developed a program as noted in this Detroit Free Press article, Bike recycling gets a push in Wixom:

[Lighting Supply Co.’s Wixom store] is a drop-off location for the Oakland County Sheriff Office’s bike rehabilitation program, Sheriff’s Re-CYCLE for Kids. The program takes in bikes from donors and then has low-level offenders at Trusty Camp, a correctional facility, fix them up. The bikes then go to needy children.

Lighting Supply is the only private business in all of Oakland County that has volunteered to be a drop-off site for the 2-year-old program, according to the sheriff’s office. For volunteering to be a drop-off site, the company received a community award from the City of Wixom in late February.

The Lighting Supply Company has stores in Ferndale and Wixom.

On Wednesday, Oakland County hosted an Urban Trails Meeting for the communities within the four geographic township boundaries of Royal Oak, Southfield, Troy, and Bloomfield. The meeting’s purpose was “to discuss the possibilities and opportunities for enhancing and promoting non-motorized connectivity in an urban environment.”

The southeast quadrant of Oakland County is arguably the most developed area within the county. However, it is heavily used by bikers and pedestrians for travel and recreation, demonstrating the desire for non-motorized facilities that are safe and connected. The infrastructure is already in place for a multi- use, interconnected urban trail system in your community – lets build on what exists and help market this area as a great place to walk and bike!

The turnout was very good. Most of the invited communities were in attendance and gave brief summaries of where they are at this their biking facilities.

Next, Oakland County described their potential services, including GIS and planning. They also mentioned possibilie of service grants so communities could apply for this help from the County. With Michigan’s strong home-rule design, the County really can’t force bike networks and municipal cooperation. At best they can encourage and show the way. But at the end of the day, it’s local government’s job to get this done.

And as most area cyclists will tell you, they are not getting the job done with a few exceptions (namely Ferndale, Madison Heights, and Troy.) This is despite the fact that there is very strong support for biking facilities among the public. And, in some cases, these bike networks are even specified in community master plans.

Money is often a given excuse, yet 1% of the state road funding these communities receive must be spent on non-motorized transportation. In addition, M-DOT awards transportation enhancement and CMAQ (Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality) grants for non-motorized facilities. This is not an excuse.

What appears to be true is there is internal opposition within local governments, primarily from older, auto-centric, stuck in the mud individuals.

Some have suggested we wait until these roadblocks retire. I disagree. Cyclists shouldn’t be expected to forgo safe facilities until then. We’ve been patient so far while the rest of the country (and world) move forward.

MDOT recently announced their most recent Transporation Enhancement (TE) grants. TE money comes from the federal government and it requires a local matching from the grant recipient. TE grants are a major funding source for on-road and trail development.

In conjunction to the announcement, Governor Granholm added, “Michigan’s trails are gateways to recreation and tourism opportunities that grow our economy by attracting residents and visitors alike. Not only do they provide transportation and recreation options, but they make many areas of our state more livable and desirable places to do business.” (more…)