Following the deaths of two pedestrians who were hit by bicycles last month, Philadelphia police are putting new emphasis on traffic laws for bike riders in downtown Philadelphia.

Police Capt. Dennis Wilson says increasing complaints about bicyclists blowing through red lights and stop signs and riding on sidewalks also prompted the crackdown.

Wilson says officers will be working with the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia to educate riders about the enforcement effort.

Two men died last month after being struck by bicycles. A 40-year-old paralegal was in a coma for two weeks before dying after an Oct. 15 accident and a 78-year-old man died of injuries following an Oct. 8 accident. No charges have been filed in either case.

Editor’s note – this is why bicycling is against the law in New York. There is one excepction. “except that it shall not include such a device having solid tires and intended for use only on a sidewalk by pre-teenage children.” I also understand from friends in Philadelphia that the police have also been told to ticket motorists who abuse the use of bike lanes or other bike related offenseses.

The Asheville Citizen-Times reports that 42-year-old Charles Alexander Diez was sentenced Thursday to 120 days in jail. Diez shot at cyclist Alan Ray Simons after stopping his car to confront Simons about the safety of riding his bike on a busy road with his child on the back.

Police say that when Simons turned to walk away, Diez fired at his bike helmet, narrowly missing his skull.

Diez served with the Asheville Fire Department for 17 years.

I have to say, I cannot make any sense of how one human could be first worried about the safety of another with it ending in trying to shoot them. But this also makes about as much sense as many of the comments on the recent stories on cycling on LoHud. Of course the recent California court case were a medical doctor pulled in front of two cyclists and slammed his brakes on causing some of them to run into the back of his Mercedes injuring both of them. This makes no sense to me either. How could an emergency room doctor take an action like this.   Here’s a link to the LA Times story.

Ride safe and smart out there.

MEDFORD, N.J. (AP) Police say a man who drove his car into a New Jersey cyclist had been sending a text message about a drug deal.

Authorities say 42-year-old Lisa Granert of Cherry Hill was riding her bike and wearing a reflective vest in Medford after 6 p.m. Monday night.

Police say 28-year-old Robert Sharrer of Pemberton told them he was texting when his vehicle drifted onto the shoulder and crashed into Granert. Police say she suffered head injuries and was flown to a trauma unit. She was in stable condition Tuesday.

Police say Sharrer’s text was about a drug deal.

Authorities say they found unauthorized prescription drugs in Sharrer’s car and charged him with drug possession. They say he’ll also be charged in the collision. Police did not know whether Sharrer had an attorney.

Should motorists be required to give bicycle riders a 3-foot buffer when driving past them?
Two state legislators — Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assemblywoman Amy Paulin — say yes, and plan to gather support for bills to introduce in January.
The idea was spurred by the Nov. 6 death of Greenburgh cyclist Merrill Cassell. The proposal was praised by cyclists, while others said it would be an obstacle for motorists.
“This is great news,” David Wilson, president of the Westchester Cycle Club, said Tuesday. “It just establishes a certain right for the cyclists to have this position on the side of the road and that the cars have to accommodate that.”
Several motorists said — mostly in e-mails and an Internet forum — the rule would be unworkable and cyclists should not be barred from some roads. On many roads, they said, there isn’t room for a 3-foot buffer.
“If I’m going to give them a 3-foot buffer, I’m going to be pushed into oncoming traffic,” Jennifer Oliver of Mahopac said in an interview.
Paulin and Stewart-Cousins said the idea fits with efforts to get more people riding bicycles to benefit the environment.
“But we’ve obviously got to make things safe,” said Stewart-Cousins, D-Yonkers.
Paulin, D-Scarsdale, said people may be frightened to cycle on the roads after hearing about Cassell, who was sideswiped by a bus.
“We need to do something so people have confidence again,” she said.
Motorists and cyclists sometimes clash over the use of roads, each pointing to bad behavior on the part of the others.
Oliver said she was stuck driving 5 mph this summer behind 10 to 15 cyclists on Croton Falls Road in Mahopac. They saw her but did not pull over for some two miles, she said. When they did clear a way, one cyclist shot in front of her just after a light turned green, she said.
“I could have hit him,” she said. “I never saw him coming. It was just ridiculous.”
Wilson said such behavior bothers him, too.
“I get very upset at some cyclists who don’t stick to the side of the road,” he said. “If there’s a car behind you, you have to get to the side of the road and let the car get by.”

Today Assemblywoman Paulin announced the introduction of a bill that will require motorists to remain at least three feet away from cyclists on the road. This clearance will give motorists a margin of error when passing cyclists in case either the motorist or the cyclist is suddenly required to change course.

The need for this legislation was highlighted last week when Greenburgh resident and cyclist Merrill Cassell was crushed under the wheels of a Westchester Bee-Line bus.  Merrill, a tireless advocate for making cycling a realistic transportation option, was traveling in the same direction as a Bee-Line bus on Route 119 in Tarrytown.

“We don’t want people to fear for their lives while bike riding” said Assemblywoman Paulin, “It’s common sense that we pass bills that encourage cycling, an act that encourages good health and helps the environment.”

Enacting a three-foot rule will help increase public awareness that cyclists have a right to be on the road as well as educate motorists about safe practices with cyclists on the road.

“Making roads safer for cyclists is essential in our car-centric world,” said David Wilson, president of the 1,400-member Westchester Cycle Club and co-founder of the Westchester-Putnam Bike Walk Alliance. “The three-foot rule will create a safety buffer between cars and cyclists.”

According to Jennifer Clunie, executive director of the New York Bicycle Coalition, at least 17 states have passed laws requiring motorists to give cyclists a three-foot buffer, including Connecticut.

“Cyclists may have the need-as well as the legal right-to move further into the travel lane due to hazards such as potholes and gravel, and to be more visible to drivers,” said Clunie, “Enactment of a three foot minimum safe passing law is a step in the right direction toward reducing the high number of bicyclist and pedestrian injures and fatalities that occur each year. The bill will make our roadways safer for everyone.”

www.LoHud.com is asking for your thoughts on the proposed law. Please click here to voice your opinion.

We’ll keep you posted on the progress of this law that could make New York the 18th state in America tohave the law. Our neighbor’s in Connecticut enjoy it now.

Added American professional cyclist Christian Vande Velde, winner of the 2008 Giro team prologue stage, “that’s just plain cool.  Opening a European grand tour in the Nation’s Capital and racing past all the monuments, memorials, and buildings that you see on television every day would be something of Olympic proportions.”

The proposed prologue course would pass such famous landmarks as the Lincoln, Jefferson, and Washington monuments as it works its way to the National Mall past the many Smithsonian museums. It would then head down Pennsylvania Avenue passing the White House. This would be a fast flat course that would be a spectators dream.

“The course promises to be one of the most spectacular prologues ever used in a grand tour,” said Sommers.  ”It seems very appropriate that the prologue for the first US start of a European grand tour be held in the heart of the Nation’s Capital.”

“We have looked at some comparables on the potential economic impact of bringing the US stages of the 2012 Giro d’Italia to Washington,” commented Greg Odell, CEO of the Washington Convention Center Authority.  ”It is clear that this event could provide the District and surrounding metropolitan region with a tremendous economic boost and spike in tourism, as well as increase the City’s profile as a destination for a wide range of sporting events, activities, and related conventions, meetings, and vacations. As such, we are eager to help bring the start of this great international sports event to DC.”

Stage one would be a circuit in the Washington DC area and would finish down Pennsylvania Avenue with the US Capitol in the background. This course would be suited to a fast sprint finish.

“It would be an honor to have a such a prestigious US city selected as the first non-European host of a Grand Tour stage,” said USA Cycling CEO Steve Johnson.  “The consideration is a testament to the growth of American cycling and the progress of the U.S. in becoming a true destination for the top level of cycling.”

Merrill Cassell, the cyclist who was sideswiped by a Westchester Bee-Line bus and crushed under its wheels last week, was an advocate for integrating cycling with mass transit. This spring he worked on a campaign to get bike racks on county buses and bike storage lockers at transit hubs, in an effort to make cycling a more realistic transportation option even for those with long commutes. His loss is a tragedy that will be felt by more than just his family and fellow riders.

“It’s just so ironic that he was killed by a bus,” David McKay Wilson, a founder of the advocacy group the Westchester Putnam Bike Walk Alliance, told the Editorial Board. Wilson was one of a couple of dozen cyclists who rode with Cassell’s casket in a mournful funeral procession from the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Elmsford to the Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale. Among the cyclists were some wearing bright yellow and black jerseys that looked a lot like roadway caution signs. They read, “3 Feet Please.”

The reference is not just some cycling slogan: Three feet is the minimum berth that conscientious motorists give cyclists when passing them. The buffer provides a margin of error in the event either the motorist or cyclist is upset; perhaps by a pothole or some other sudden, course-changing event. Merrill Cassell was traveling in the same direction as a Bee-Line bus on Route 119 in Tarrytown when he was sideswiped by the bus. “He could have hit the curb. He could have lost his balance. We don’t know,” Greenburgh police Capt. Joseph DeCarlo told a reporter. No charge had been filed against the driver, who was cleared to return to work.

Three feet, please

Nationwide, at least 17 states have passed laws requiring motorists to allow cyclists that 3-foot buffer, said Jennifer Clunie, executive director of the New York Bicycle Coalition. Connecticut passed a 3-feet rule last, and New Jersey is now considering adopting one.

New York, where clogged and broken roads are very much the norm, would do well to follow the lead of Connecticut and the other states. Such a law would go a long way toward educating drivers about safe practices and increase public awareness that cyclists have a right to the road, too.

Such a law would doubtless also help save the lives of cyclists, whose numbers are increasing in this age of high energy costs and smaller paychecks.

Clunie said that related legislation has been proposed many times in New York, without any progress. The efforts should be renewed, while images of the sad procession from Elmsford to Hartsdale remain fresh in people’s minds.

Please click to go to the editorial and comment. Also vote in our new poll.

Cassell touched many lives through his work with the UN and UNICEF. Early in his career he taught over 10,000 Sri Lankans how to swim. He loved to ride his many bikes and became an advocate for cycling locally. For more information about Cassell please read his personal blog, The Merrill Pages.

For more coverage please check back to LoHud.com and tomorrow’s Journal News.  Click here to view more photos.

They also voiced concern of the headline in today’s Journal News, “Cops say cyclist fell under bus.” Which is taken from this police quote, “He could have hit the curb. He could have lost his balance. We don’t know, Capt. Joseph DeCarlo said.

This quote caused Steve to comment, “I was taken aback by the Journal News coverage of the investigation in this morning’s paper. When I read the article it was clear that Mr. Cassell fell under the bus after being sideswiped by the bus, and perhaps forced into the curb. In other words, if the bus driver had allowed a reasonable distance of at least three feet between the bus and Mr. Cassell when overtaking him, then Mr. Cassell would still be alive. Yet the headline on the JN article said simply that the cyclist had fallen under the bus. It was reminiscent of Dr. Thompson’s defense in his California road rage trial that the cyclists he injured just fell down because bicycles are inherently unstable.”

He also asked, “Is anyone else shocked to learn that the bus driver is already back behind the wheel of a bus? While his actions might not necessarily have been criminal, someone who allows his bus to brush against another vehicle as he passes it is at best negligent, and needs to be retrained.”

Rita added, “I agree with you, entirely. You’ve stated exactly what I was going to assert.
Driver negligence? Positively. Criminal act? Perhaps less clear, but a collision that results in death or even injury says loud and clear that the bus driver was neither in control of the vehicle nor driving safely.”

To read the whole story