The Bicycle Advisory Committee is, technically, a sub-committee of the Transportation Board. Both have the mission to advise City Council on transportation issues and policy. The following, extracted from the November 18 minutes of the Transportation Board, includes a T-Board discussion of the BAC work plan.
You can read the complete minutes here by clicking here.
6. BICYCLE ADVISORY COMMITTEE (BAC) – David “DK” Kemp, Bill Jenkins
The BAC is a subcommittee of the Transportation Board. They bring issues the Transportation Board for forwarding to City Council.
DK shared the Bicycle Advisory Committee’s Work Plan. The Plan cmes out of the City Bike Plan. The BAC began operating in March 2009. The first thing they worked on was a Work Plan based on the major recommendations of the Bike Plan. The next step is to get into each of the five identified goals. FCBikes is dialed into the Work Plan, and is working collaboratively with the BAC.
Encouragement, Education, Engineering, Enforcement, Environment, Economy, and Community are elements of the Bike Plan.
BAC Work Plan Goals for 2010:
1. Bicycle safety.
2. Bicycling encouragement.
3. Bicycle-related economic development and affordability.
4. Bicycle facilities
5. Bicycle performance
Jenkins: Bicycle safety is the most important, and the other items feed into that. One person moved to Fort Collins because of the Bicycle-relate economic development and affordability
Miller: Has the BAC reviewed studies about automobile speeds and bicycle mortality?
DK: No, but that is a great suggestion. The Transportation Master Plan Update project is coming up, so those ideas can feed into that.
Miller: I saw some information on bicycle accident rates in the paper. I was interested in the percentage of injuries and deaths that occur in wrong way accidents versus same way accidents. It appears that the risk of an accident would be higher going the wrong way. There seem to be fewer fatalities in wrong way accidents. Have there been studies showing the actual risk? Has the City of Fort Collins looked outside itself for contest or mortality rates for the different types of projects? Statistical probability of dying in an accident is what I’m referring to.
DK: We haven’t had a great number of fatalities, fortunately.
Jenkins: We can take that back to the BAC.
Robert: We would welcome a more comprehensive perspective on bicycle safety.
Duvall: Are there rules or laws about bicycles being required to have lights/signals to be more visible?
DK: They are required to have front and rear lights and reflectors at night.
Duvall: Perhaps the rules and laws should be more strictly enforced. Drivers are frustrated by bicyclists who ignore the rules of the road.
DK: The mission is to get bicyclists to be seen, make eye contact, be safe.
Steen: Have you considered a bicycle license? We expect them to share the road and obey the traffic, but there is no licensing requirement.
DK: Traffic skills courses are being operated and educate new cyclists. We’d have to look at feasibility.
Miller: If you’re going to test and license you need to educate beginning in grade school. Today, as I was cycling south on Shields, a car turned in front of me. Had I not taken evasive action, I would have been injured or killed. The car made the error. In the case of a cyclist turning in front of the bus, the bus passengers could have been injured if the bus took evasive action.
Robert: 9th graders are now in high school and are subject to peer pressure discouraging bikes. Are we doing anything to encourage them to continue to use bikes?
DK: Yes, we’re actually getting more high school teachers asking us to come to the schools to teach bicycle safety.
Robert: The motor vehicle drivers test doesn’t have any questions on bicycles.
DK: The do now. It is one of the things that brought us up into recognition as a Bicycle Friendly State.
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