[Macomb-Cycling] [S-Smith7 at wiu.edu: cyclist hit in Macomb this weekend]
Jeffrey R. Calhoun
jeff at outfitters.com
Wed Jul 2 09:22:04 CDT 2008
Well put Mike. I encourage you all to look at the materials on the
League of Illinois Bicyclists website (www.bikelib.org). They have
lots of iformation regarding encouraging communities to be more bike
friendly. They also have materials for presentation to law enforcement
agencies to help them become more 'bicycle aware' in their duties.
Perhaps we should get those materials into Chief Galloway's hands.
Here are a few historical items that many of you may not be aware of:
1. Macomb HAS bike routes stated in its city ordinances.
These date back to the 1970's and were originally signed and marked
lanes. Their lack of upkeep has more to do with legal issues than
with lack of need or concern (see 2). The bike routes as found
in Section 15-289 of the municipal code (taken from http://www.cityofmacomb.com/pdf/MunicipalCode2007.pdf):
Sec. 15-289. Bicycle routes.
The following streets and portions of streets are hereby designated as bicycle routes in
the city:
Adams Street, on its north side, from Sherman Avenue to Western Avenue.
Adams Street, on its south side, from Western Avenue to Normal Street.
Calhoun Street, on its north side, from Lafayette Street to Sherman Avenue.
Carroll Street, on its south side, from Normal Street to Lafayette Street.
Linden Lane, on both sides, for its entire length.
Maple Avenue, on both sides, from Grant Street to the south city limits.
Normal Street, on its west side, from Adams Street to Carroll Street.
Riverview Drive, on both sides, from Western Avenue to Wigwam Hollow Road.
Sherman Avenue, on its east side, from Calhoun Street to Adams Street.
University Drive, on both sides, from Western Avenue to Wigwam Hollow Road.
Western Avenue, on both sides, from Adams Street to Riverview Drive.
2. An Illinois supreme court decision from 1998 (Boub v. Wayne) greatly
increased the liability and maintenance costs for municipalities that
maintain marked bike routes. Though not explicitly stated, the
ramifications of this decision is that municipalities must maintian
bike lane marked streets to a higher standard - or risk lawsuits when
a bicyclists hits a pothole. Most cities (macomb included) cannot
afford to maintain their regular streets to a minimal standard - let
alone a higher standard for marked bike lanes (http://www.bikelib.org/boubcase/hb4907.htm)
3. GOOD NEWS: Macomb is getting a bike path. The state of illinois passed
a new law in October 2007 requiring consideration of walkways and bikeways
in all urban projects funded by IDOT. As a result, the expansion
of S. Ward street will include a multi-use pedestrian/bike path.
http://bikelib.org/political_state/idotupdate20071010.htm
-jeff
On Tue, Jul 01, 2008 at 08:18:53PM -0700, Michael Coplan wrote:
> REPLIES TO THIS EMAIL WILL GO TO THE WHOLE LIST
> -----------------------------------------------
> Let's not condemn Macomb drivers or the Macomb City Police too quickly. I
> commute thru the city of Macomb 3 to 4 days a week and find most drivers to
> be courteous and go out of their way to be polite. While one officer may not
> have realized what his duties were, I suspect most would have responded
> correctly without any prompting.
> I do hope the city of Macomb takes this incident to heart and takes a
> serious look at marked bike lanes. Most university towns I have visited are
> much more proactive at promoting biking as a viable means of transportation.
> If the City and University could cooperate on bike lanes,similar to the way
> they have cooperated on local bus service, they could go a long way toward
> promoting bike safety.
> We also need to ask ourselves "what can we as cyclist do to promote safety
> and good relations between ourselves and local motorists"? If we look at
> this incident as a chance to learn and work together we can all benefit.
> Let's also give thanks no one was seriously injured.
> Mike Coplan
> Bike commuter
>
> On Mon, Jun 30, 2008 at 6:02 PM, Jeffrey R. Calhoun <jeff at outfitters.com>
> wrote:
>
> > REPLIES TO THIS EMAIL WILL GO TO THE WHOLE LIST
> > -----------------------------------------------
> > The chief of police (Michael Galloway) was contacted late today
> > via Alderman Dave Dorsett (former local bicycle shop owner). The
> > Chief has assigned a Lieutenant to look into this matter.
> > We should expect a response tomorrow or Wednesday at the latest.
> >
> > -jeff
> >
> >
> > On Mon, Jun 30, 2008 at 05:04:20PM -0700, Maggie Rosol wrote:
> > > REPLIES TO THIS EMAIL WILL GO TO THE WHOLE LIST
> > > -----------------------------------------------
> >
> > > Jeff,
> > >
> > > Keep us posted of the facts, since I would gladly write a letter of
> > concern to the Macomb Police Department.
> > >
> > > Maggie
> > >
> > >
> > > --- On Mon, 6/30/08, Jeffrey R. Calhoun <jeff at outfitters.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > From: Jeffrey R. Calhoun <jeff at outfitters.com>
> > > Subject: [Macomb-Cycling] [S-Smith7 at wiu.edu: cyclist hit in Macomb this
> > weekend]
> > > To: cycling at macomb.com
> > > Date: Monday, June 30, 2008, 10:25 AM
> > >
> > > REPLIES TO THIS EMAIL WILL GO TO THE WHOLE LIST
> > > -----------------------------------------------
> > > This email came in this morning to the bike club website email address.
> > > I thought you should all be aware of it. Note - I responded to and
> > thanked
> > > Scott for the email and have placed a call in to the Macomb Police
> > > Department to see if I can get more details. I will try to keep you all
> > > updated as I find more info.
> > >
> > > Thanks,
> > >
> > > -jeff
> > >
> > > ----- Forwarded message from Scott Smith <S-Smith7 at wiu.edu> -----
> > >
> > > Delivery-Date: Mon, 30 Jun 2008 09:04:05 -0500
> > > Date: Mon, 30 Jun 2008 09:02:58 -0500 (CDT)
> > > From: Scott Smith <S-Smith7 at wiu.edu>
> > > To: mabc at macomb.com
> > >
> > > Normally I support our law enforcement personnel but the story I heard
> > from the
> > > cyclist who was hit makes me angry. Basically the cyclist was stopped at
> > a 4 way
> > > stop waiting her turn to proceed through the intersection when she was
> > bump from
> > > behind by a car. Thankfully the car was not traveling fast enough to
> > injure the
> > > cyclist but injury was mainly avoided because she was able to get off the
> > bike
> > > before it went under the vehicle. The bike was damaged (frame and wheels
> > were
> > > bent) and could not be ridden from the scene. What make me angry is that
> > the
> > > Macomb police did not want to write up the incident. The cyclist had to
> > insist
> > > upon the police doing their job. To make matters worse, MPD apologized to
> > the
> > > car driver for having to write him a ticket for hitting a bicyclist. As a
> > > cyclist myself, this is not an attitude I want from local law
> > enforcement.
> > > There will be more and more cyclists around with gas prices rising and
> > maybe
> > > the officers need a session or two to become famil!
> > > iarized with the cycling world a bit. A TREK bike is not some trinket
> > that can
> > > be replace everyday. Giving prominent Macomb citizens a by just because
> > it was a
> > > bicyclist they hit is not right either. Just thought the bicyclists of
> > Macomb
> > > should be aware.
> > >
> > > ----- End forwarded message -----
> > >
> > > --
> > > Jeffrey R. Calhoun McDonough Telephone Cooperative
> > > jeff at mdtc.net Infobahn Outfitters
> > > jeff at outfitters.com P.O. Box 248
> >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Cycling mailing list
> > > Cycling at macomb.com
> > > http://mailman.outfitters.com/mailman/listinfo/cycling
> >
> >
> > --
> > Jeffrey R. Calhoun McDonough Telephone Cooperative
> > jeff at mdtc.net Infobahn Outfitters
> > jeff at outfitters.com P.O. Box 248
> > (309) 836-3706 Macomb, IL 61455
> > _______________________________________________
> > Cycling mailing list
> > Cycling at macomb.com
> > http://mailman.outfitters.com/mailman/listinfo/cycling
> >
> _______________________________________________
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--
Jeffrey R. Calhoun McDonough Telephone Cooperative
jeff at mdtc.net Infobahn Outfitters
jeff at outfitters.com P.O. Box 248
(309) 836-3706 Macomb, IL 61455
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