BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

I just want to punch everything.

At least now something might happen...

But in all seriousness:

1. WHAT THE FUCK.

2. I hope the officer is okay. I'm glad to see the report that he is in stable condition.

this would make a really good letter to the PG publicly thanking the police. nudge nudge.

Or one could let them know semi-directly, if so inclined.

http://www.pittsburghpa.gov/police/contacts.htm

I'd really like to see wreckless drivers be sentenced by a magistrate to stand at a Penn Avenue intersection with a sandwich board which reads, "Speeding to my destination is more important than your life."

A good public shaming sends a clear message through a thick skull. At least that's what I saw on Maury.

Also, the motor officers roll out of Zone 6 in the west end. I guess you could send or drop off stuff directly?

I'd like to see (and participate in) a group ride recognizing the officer for getting injured while trying to improve our safety. It's (1) completely appropriate and (2) the best bridge-building we're ever going to do with those folks.

Two other questions, please

B. Any ride or ghost bike details re Mr. Green?

C. Any status on the Swissville bicyclist?

TIA, V.

It's always an SUV driver, no?

I drove past this today. It happened barely one block inbound from where James Price was killed.

The stretch of Penn Ave is becoming a poster child for itself.

This is terrible. All of this injury and death is unnecessary.

is there something in the water?

what the **** is with all the accidents on that stretch of road?

reading the public comments on past pg articles, i'm wondering how many on this are going to be about how the officer was a bad driver breaking all the laws and should have been in a car?

Reports say the driver of the SUV was elderly. Wonder if he or she was unfit to drive? As mentioned by others before, there are people who should not drive. If epileptics can be denied a license, why not others who are potentially dangerous? And how do we make sure these people don't drive anyway? Does big brother have to be the solution? Do we need to put devices in cars to make sure only proven safe people drive? Life is stupid sometimes and it just makes my head hurt.

Echoing orionz06... maybe someone will start listening. We all are well aware that this stretch of Penn is horrible, but let's not forget that Liberty / 34th / Ligonier could also use some attention.

"I just want to punch everything."

+9001

Wow, that is crazy. At least it sounds like the officer is not in danger of becoming yet another fatality, hope his injuries are not serious.

+1 quizbot. This is but one crappy stretch of road among many. Liberty around 29th, Forbes near the off-ramp, most of 2nd ave, Washington Blvd., just to name a few off the top of my head. Even on my relatively tame commute which is entirely on 25mph roads I am regularly passed by cars doing 40+. It is madness, especially given the chance of death in a crash is nonlinear with impact speed.

I like the sawhorses idea for traffic calming. We could have those up in an afternoon. See if it doesn't have the immediate effect of eliminating the stupidity. If they already have the curb lane blocked with the Your Speed Is trailer, just start right there, every 200 feet, put a sawhorse.

On reflection, orange barrels might work as well if not better than sawhorses - they'd much more clearly leave room for the bike lane.

I think the city could deploy these immediately without PennDOT coordination in light of the safety imperative and recent events.

Don't think they'd have any problem with that after a police officer has been struck.

Given the random on-street parking that occurs around the Evergreen Cafe, and the "guess whether it's two or one lanes!" section before the railroad track viaduct in Wilkinsburg, Penn Ave. from 5th all the way to the parkway needs some serious re-thinking.

People see four lanes and they automatically think they should go 55 MPH. The whole thing is probably made worse by the fact that people who normally wouldn't drive on the road are taking it as a detour (I understand that because of construction, accidents, or whatever other reasons, the Sq. Hill tunnel was unusually jammed at rush hour this week, versus the 'normal' jam that takes place.)

This spate of bike accidents is just a symptom of the problem.

Has anyone read the book TRAFFIC by Tom Vanderbilt? If not, I recommend it - it's a very interesting book on the subject of managing traffic.

People see four lanes and they automatically think they should go 55 MPH.

5th is 4 lanes and 55 mph isn't the norm there...

+a lot Vannevar.

I think if I was an officer on the scene of that incident, I'd be tempted to cut the vehicle's radiator hose and put a brick on the accelerator, while slowly and casually writing a citation for unsafe driving. 15 minutes at 6,000 rpm should do it, Toasted engine a la Penn. Season to taste. Then tell the driver the have 2 hours to get their paperweight off the street or get another citation.

I have heard that shopping bags with bricks in them have a slowing effect on cars as well.

man, I hope he's ok. Just submitted this to the online form that JZ posted above:

"I'd like to send a get well message and note of thanks to the officer who was injured on Penn Ave on August 2nd. I ride in that area on my bike all the time, but I'm afraid to even drive down Penn in my car (I biked on it once, by the old Nabisco factory... never again). The events of the past week have scared me even more off that street. Promoting safety for ALL road users, as he demonstrated, is an uphill battle that is sorely needed (and very appreciated!!)

Anything and everything you guys can do to introduce a little more sanity onto our roads is wonderful and very welcome. I realize your organization is stretched to the max dealing with all manner of other issues in the city, but at least among the cyclists I know, you've got a cheering section for increased traffic safety efforts.

I hope the officer has a speedy and full recovery, and thank you all for your service to the community"

I just keep thinking, if an easily identifiable authority figure with hi-vis vehicle markings promoting safe driving can't navigate that road, what hope do the rest of us have in any vehicle?

I want to see an accidents per vehicle mile traveled statistic for PADOT designed roads vs. local (county/city) roads.

I drive through this area at 7:45 this morning. I saw three motorcycle officers on the stretch of road near the accidents, and even saw an officer pull a car over at a light in front of me. Not sure what they did... There was also a news van in the parking lot near the ghost bike. It will be interesting to see how long the increased enforcement will last.

Now that one of their own took a direct hit, on top of two fatalities in a week, I'm guessing this will get a lot of scrutiny AND a proper resolution.

I drove through around 8:40. It may have been my imagination, but traffic seemed to be moving at a more reasonable pace and there didn't seem to be as much chaos. I definitely saw someone getting pulled over.

Hey, guess what? We did something.

@Stu, exactly my point.

@rice rocket: That's a good point, and it may be interesting to examine why (probably the fact that it 'looks' residential, more pedestrians crossing, perhaps red lights more regularly spaced.) There are plenty of counter examples. (Bigelow Blvd. from downtown to Baum leaps to mind. Speed limit is allegedly 35.)

And how do you make those cool quotation marks???

And how do you make those cool quotation marks???

[shift+comma] blockquote [shift+period] before,

[shift+comma]/blockquote [shift+period] after.

(bbpress won't let me make visible the actual angle-brackets, i.e. < >, around an html code, but shows them here. go figure)

I doubt any of these incidents are coincidences. Instead of riding a bike to work yesterday, I walked across that stretch of road. I felt like it might be a safer option to travel more slowly, and that I should try it out. Unfortunately, I was almost hit by a car on my return trip around 8:30 last night - while walking across Penn Ave at Lexington with the cross walk signal on! The last lane driver (outbound) skidded to a stop in the middle of the intersection, passing several cars and a truck that had stopped with their red light. The driver threw her hands up in the air, shocked as well (clearly, there had been some distraction), and apologized. I was in disbelief, shook my head, got onto the sidewalk and looked back when I heard the truck driver screaming profanities at her. I didn't see any cops around, but that would've been very appropriate.

Has anyone read the book TRAFFIC by Tom Vanderbilt? If not, I recommend it - it's a very interesting book on the subject of managing traffic.

FWIW, local libraries have several (dozen) copies, and most are available: http://catalog.einetwork.net/search/o213495274

velomuse's experience illustrates the impact road design can have on driver behavior. Roads can be designed to keep drivers alert and safe, or they can be designed to create dangerous auto-pilot speeders. That driver clearly didn't intentionally endanger herself and everyone else. I'm not excusing distracted driving, merely suggesting that road design can play a large enough role in driver psychology that manipulating it can have a huge impact. One can design a road that drivers can't help but focus intently on and navigate safely.

Because at the end of the day, the cops have robbers and murderers to catch. Headlines fade. Memorial flowers get swept up. PSAs become background noise. These are temporary stopgaps.

Relatively, pavement lasts forever.

This morning when I stopped at the intersection of Tuscarora and Braddock to wait to cross North Braddock on my bike like I do every morning I was unbelievably greeted with an empty street that I could cross!! no speeding cars, no blockade of cars up to the traffic light, nothing. I rode across the road in disbelief. Are drivers staying away from the area? I did see lots of cop lights flashing and what looked to be a car pulled over in the intersection of Penn and Braddock at about 8 AM this morning.

Fifth Ave's lights seem to stop you at every intersection where you can beat a few of Penn's by racing to get to it or by going slower. You can't drive Penn and have a wave of greens.

As a cyclist, I hate the timed greens n oakland, as I can't go that fast and always have to stop, but they do wonders for traffic calming. Go the speed limit, and you get through. Speed, and you get stuck. Run a red, you get stuck. They really do lull drivers into a safer pace. At least from what I've seen.

ejwme: cycle faster.

I live on that stretch of road, it's become a good challenge for me to train on after all my rides. If you make the light at McKee, you're golden for Halket and Craft (as long as some ped doesn't push the 4-way walk button at Carlow).

I was more referring to 5th in Shadyside/Sq Hill though, where it isn't mad dash chaos like it is on Penn, yet still has 4 lanes and no shoulders.

With that said I've been forced out of the way on fifth more than enough times to completely cut it out of any bike trips unless I am coming or going from Wilkins. It never mattered how fast I was going or how many lights were holding people up.

WTF! Obviously something needs to be done beyond just "avoiding Penn Ave." There needs to be a huge crackdown to retrain drivers along that stretch of road. This is simply unacceptable. There have been too many injurys and too many deaths which could easily be prevented if people would simply allow an extra ten minutes to get to work or whatever. It's a city street FFS, not a highway. WTF is wrong with people?!?!

Has anyone read the book TRAFFIC by Tom Vanderbilt? If not, I recommend it - it's a very interesting book on the subject of managing traffic.

Also available used on Amazon for .01 (1 cent) plus $3.99 shipping. That's used paperback.

I sincerely hope that the officer is ok – but why didn’t the article mention if he was wearing a helmet or not?

@Marko. The PG article in the paper said he was responsive and suffered minor injuries.

I just went back out to the intersection I previously mentioned almost being run over as a pedestrian. I made an error - it is actually Carnegie Place where the crosswalk is and I was walking last night. Not that it changes anything, since its only a matter of feet closer to Braddock. But, in the event that anyone is compiling all these incidents... I took some photos, just not sure which thread to post them in.

@Vannevar I have a bike that I will be prepping this weekend to lock up on Penn to memorialize Mr. Green. However, I am waiting to hear from Scott after he get in contact with the family.

When possible, I think it's always a good idea to talk to the family before putting a ghost bike out.

Sigh. When will it end?

Driver flees scene after striking child on bicycle

http://triblive.com/home/2338860-74/driver-girl-police-child-scene-200-alter-authorities-available-bike

That hit-and-run law hasn't taken effect yet, right?

@Stu not sure what you're talking about -- there has been a hit and run law in PA for a long time.

BTW, the 6-year old girl was not seriously injured. Still a rotten thing to do, though.

The hit and run loophole has been signed by Corbett but I don't know when it goes into effect.

That stretch of road is 100% mental. I sat at the corner of Penn & Braddock for around 15 min watching cars.

Its as though as soon as drivers cross braddock its free reign to floor it.

Also, on average there were atleast 2-3 cars running the red light (on penn) because they were already going to fast to stop.

The active Your Speed sign does slow most drivers down, its underneath a Speed Limit sign near the site of Mr. James's memorial.

jonawebb, the new law is Act 93.

It increases the penalty for hit and run.

http://www.legis.state.pa.us/WU01/LI/LI/US/HTM/2012/0/0093..HTM

Gov. Corbett signed it on July 5th, and it says it goes into effect in 60 days. That's September 3rd.

July 5 + 60 days is Sept 3, ironically enough the day of the Ride of Silence.

BTW not to make a big point of this but I don't think the law applies to the little girl -- it seems to target accidents involving death.