Dave writes in…

Have you noticed how the bike lines on Trinity and Ponce de Leon between Trinity and Scott are used as turn lanes or passing lanes? I’ve lost count of the number of times I was turning left off of Ponce onto Drexel and a long line of cars would go around me in the bike lane. My step son rides his bike from DHS home along Trinity and Ponce, and is constantly telling me stories about how there are people using the bike lanes as turn lanes into one of the churches or worse, just parked there while they wait to pick somebody up, depriving him the use of the bike lane.

By “bike tattoos” I actually mean “sharrows”.  What the heck’s a sharrow?  That’s a sharrow! —>

Diane sends in details about Clifton Road’s (from North Decatur Road to Briarcliff Road) newest bike-provement from Kathleen Sobush at the CDC…

There is a plan slated for implementation this summer to mark sharrows on Clifton Road and to install Bicycles Allowed Full Use of Lane signage (in accordance with Georgia code). A sharrow is an on street marking of a bicycle and two chevrons indicating the direction of travel as depicted below. There are standards guiding the placement of sharrows. They should be no more than 250 feet apart and no less than 4 feet from the curb. Within those standards there is room for adjustment based on the roadway conditions.

Read the rest of this entry »

A new bike advocacy group in the city of Decatur, “Bike Decatur“, recently sent a list to the Decatur city commission of ten action items they hope to see funding for in the 2010/2011 city budget.  According to member Thomas Stuart, membership is open to all Decatur residents with completion of a short survey, which can be found on their Google group site.

1. Church Street Bike Lanes – Install bike lanes on Church Street from downtown to city limits.
2. Gateway Signs – Install “Decatur Supports Bicycling” or similar signs at city limits on major arterials (e.g., Columbia, Candler, Ponce/Scott, Clairemont, Church, College, etc.).
3. Ponce de Leon Ave Bike Lanes – Completion of Ponce de Leon & W. Trinity bicycle lanes with TE grant funding.
4. Bicycle Parking – Install 25 city-funded bicycle racks throughout commercial districts;
5. Shared-Lane Markings (also known as “sharrows”) Implement a Shared-Lane Marking (“sharrows”) pilot project along a central artery used regularly by bicyclists Read the rest of this entry »

The AJC reports on the death of avid Clarkston cyclist Richard C. Baker (nickname “Chris”), who was killed on Othello Ave outside of Clarkston this week.   DeKalb County says that Baker ran a stop sign, but friends find that hard to believe.

This is very close to where we used to live before moving closer intown a few years back.  From my recollection, Othello is a residential road.  So how fast was the car going?  Apparently fast enough to kill someone.  Yet no mention of that in the article.

Perhaps this is a good time to mention the Confident City Cycling Class being held at the Rec Center tomorrow.  231 Sycamore has all the details.  UPDATE: KC says that the class has been cancelled due to lack of interest.

A few more folks became familiar with Critical Mass last month after the AJC did a feature story on the monthly congregation of hundreds of cyclists that clog Atlanta intersections to promote bike awareness. Well, apparently this level of publicity didn’t sit well with the APD, because after months of a peaceful coexistence between the police and bikers, this past Friday the cops descended upon the helmeted en masse. Tickets were handed out for those that ran stop signs and red lights.

Shelbinator has the first hand account which includes a video with lots of flashing lights…

Not surprisingly, this monthly event is somewhat controversial, even within the biking community.

Even though those that participate in CM argue that it has nothing to do with showing how cyclists will willingly break traffic laws, many of those opposed see it that way. However, for anyone that’s ever had a car push you into a ditch, you begin to understand the concept (and admittedly built up animosity) behind CM. You nearly break my arm, I break a traffic law once a month to remind you that I exist.

Just another nasty symptom of our car-based infrastructure that treats the bicyclist as an afterthought.

Thanks to David O. for the heads up!