Author: Rahman Law PC

Study Confirms Cyclists Feel Safer in Bike Lanes

Posted on by Rahman Law PC

 

Protected-Bike-Lanes-Mean-Business-e1398201572990

(Source: http://www.sfbike.org/news/protected-bike-lanes-mean-business-in-sf-and-around-the-country/)

This June, the National Institute for Transportation and Communities released the final report of the first intensive study conducted on “Evaluating Protected Bike Lanes in the U.S.” The growing presence of various bike-friendly communities around the U.S.  and consequently  increasing bike traffic undoubtedly led the institute to compile and evaluate data that will aid in developing safer biking communities.

The study included data that examines protected bicycle lanes from five cities: Austin, TX; Chicago, IL; Portland, OR; San Francisco, CA; and Washington, D.C. This study purports to indicate the effects of protected bike lanes through surveys, video observation of ridership and interaction between bicyclists, motor vehicle drivers and pedestrians. The study gives strong indication that the vast majority (approximately 91%) of residents in a particular city support the presence of bike lanes: “residents and bicyclists indicated that any type of buffer shows a considerable increase in self-reported comfort levels over a striped bike lane…”  The following are few of the various data revealed in the report:

  • Nearly all cyclists (92%) who used the intersections with separate bicycle signal phases agreed that they felt “safe” when riding through the intersection. This exceeded all other intersection designs and is the only design evaluated where the protected lane carries all the way to the intersection.
  • Designs with more physical separation had the highest scores for cyclist comfort. Buffers with objects (e.g. flexposts, planters, curbs, or parked cars) had higher comfort levels than buffers created only with paint
  • Nearly every intercepted bicyclist (96%) and 79% of residents stated that the installation of the protected lane increased the safety of bicycling on the street. These strong perceptions of improved safety did not vary substantially between the cities, despite the different designs used.
  • Three in four residents (75%) said they would support building more protected bike lanes at other locations. This support was strong even among residents who reported “car/truck” as their primary commute mode —69% agreement).
  • Overall, 91% of surveyed residents agreed with the statement “I support separating bikes from cars”. This includes primary users of all modes (driving, walking, transit, and bicycling).

The report is full of data that generally indicate one clear message: Protected bike lanes are good and wanted by not only bikers, but also by pedestrians and motor vehicle drivers. This report is extensive in its research and, fortunately, includes surveys conducted on our very own San Francisco residents, solidifying the reasons why this city’s movement for a more bike-friendly environment is not for nothing.

 

(Source:  http://ppms.otrec.us/media/project_files/NITC-RR-583_ProtectedLanes_FinalReportb.pdf)

Vision Zero

Posted on by Rahman Law PC


Slow-Watch-Pedestrians-Sign-K-5169

Despite campaigns such as “Be Nice, Look Twice,” which encourages pedestrians to always be aware of the presence of automobiles and take caution, the statistics of accidents in San Francisco is still frightening- vehicles struck more than 800 people resulting in the loss of 21 lives in 2013.  Walk San Francisco reported that despite the city’s A+ grade score in walkability, pedestrian safety remains a D+. However, Walk San Francisco recognizes the city’s efforts in improving street safety, giving San Francisco an overall score of C+.

Vision Zero is one of San Francisco’s efforts to improving street safety. Vision Zero originated in Sweden in the late 1990s, and assumed that accidents are the “result of human error that can be lessened, if not eliminated, through better engineering, education, traffic law enforcement and analysis of data.” San Francisco is one of three cities in the United States to adopt this plan, which aims to completely eliminating pedestrian fatalities by 2024. By analyzing accident “hotspots,” which the city transportation agency and health department stated tend to be “wide, one-way streets that drivers tend to treat like freeways,” Vision Zero advocates purport to work with various agencies to make the streets of San Francisco safer.

As a member of the Board of Directors of Walk San Francisco, Shaana Rahman is committed to reducing the number of pedestrian collisions.

If you ever need a pedestrian injury attorney in San Francisco, Paso Robles, or the surrounding Central California Coast area, contact us for a free consultation.

(Source: http://www.sacbee.com/2014/07/06/6537106/san- francisco-works-to-improve.html)

Increase in Traffic Citations

Posted on by Rahman Law PC

There seems to be a profound effort to finally work towards making San Francisco a truly pedestrian-friendly city and get its name off the list of 20 least safe cities for drivers and pedestrians. Police Chief Greg Suhr reports that from January 2013 to February 2014, there was a 53 percent increase in citations citywide. The police department has given officers orders to prioritize transit safety; all 10 police stations now emphasize catching traffic violators.

In the past month alone, a total of 10,989 citations have been handed out, most of which were given for speeding and failing to yield while making a left or U-turn . Police officers are watching out for the five traffic violations that are the leading causes of collisions: 1) running a red light 2) failure to halt at a stop sign 3) violating a pedestrian right of way 4) failure to yield making a left or U-turn 5) speeding. However, keep in mind that not only drivers are subject to receiving citation tickets, but also pedestrians and bicyclists who fail to abide by city traffic codes.

The efforts by various organizations, such as Walk San Francisco, to make San Francisco’s streets safer is paying off through the City’s recognition of the fatal consequences of weak traffic patrol and prioritization of securing and reinforcing traffic codes.

As a member of the Board of Directors of Walk San Francisco, Shaana Rahman is committed to reducing the number of pedestrian collisions.

If you ever need a bicycle accident attorney in San Francisco, Paso Robles, or the surrounding Central California Coast area, contact us for a free consultation.

(source: Kwong, Jessica. “Cracking Down on Traffic Scofflaws.” The Examiner 14 Mar. 2014: 1. Print.)

Be Nice, Stop Collisions

Posted on by Rahman Law PC

On Tuesday, December 31, 2013, what were you doing?

Universally known as New Year’s Eve, you most likely used this day to review the good and the bad of 2013, remembering what you did right and noting things that could have been done differently. Perhaps you were trying to fit in some last minute fun before the New Year.

However, Sophia Liu, 6, and Zhen Guang Ng, 86, did not share this agenda. Sophia Liu was hit by a car in a crosswalk at Polk and Ellis. Zhen Guang Ng was run over by a car in a crosswalk at Rolph and Naples. Both were killed as a result of the accident the day before the New Year.

Collisions caused by motor vehicles that result in the deaths of pedestrians are common in San Francisco- an average of 900 pedestrians are hit by automobiles annually. These collisions have focused attention into making San Francisco a pedestrian-friendly city. These efforts include the previous Mayor Gavin Newsom’s executive directive that called for significantly reducing the number of fatal injuries in half by 2021 and the current Mayor Ed Lee’s $17 million contribution throughout the next five years to “various pedestrian safety improvements.”

Despite the city officials’ efforts to improve the safety of pedestrians and reduce the number of fatal collisions, it seems the efforts are slow in motion. Nicole Schneider, executive director of Walk San Francisco, states that all the planning to improve safety is great but the action behind the planning is lacking.   As a member of the Board of Directors of Walk San Francisco, Shaana Rahman is committed to reducing the number of pedestrian collisions.

While city officials work to turn San Francisco into a truly pedestrian friendly city, let us, drivers and pedestrians, contribute by taking part in Mayor Lee’s “Be Nice, Look Twice” public awareness campaign.

If you ever need a bicycle accident attorney in San Francisco, Paso Robles, or the surrounding Central California Coast area, contact us for a free consultation.

(Source: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/In-S-F-pedestrian-deaths-shine-light-on-street-5146884.php#photo-5729337)

Bay Area Bike Share Coming to Life

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The Bay Area Bike Sharing Program set to launch in August is slowly, but surely coming to life. The company that is managing the program, Alta, and the SFMTA recently released a series of infographics containing a wealth of information about the system including information about the bikes, the pricing and the structure of the stations. The release of information coincided with the New York City bike-sharing launch. New York’s 6,000 bike Citi Bike program, managed by the same company handling the Bay Area’s system, has been an early success. The Bay Area’s 350 bike program will be starting at a much smaller scale, but advocates hope that it will expand quickly. For now, advocates of the system and potential patrons can prepare for the August launch by commenting on the initial launch sites and providing input for future expansions and additional stations at the SF Bike Share Sites website, by getting all of the detailed information about the project in this online PDF Guide, and by attending the June 14th SFMTA Public Hearing on the Station Approvals to voice their opinions.

If you ever need a bicycle accident attorney in San Francisco, Paso Robles, or the surrounding Central California Coast area, contact us for a free consultation.

Source: http://sf.streetsblog.org/2013/05/31/meet-bay-area-bikeshare/

Section of Market Street to Receive Much Needed Repair this Weekend

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This weekend starting today, Friday June 7, at 7:00pm the Department of Public Works will re-pave a section of Market Street between Van Ness Avenue and Sixth Street. The DPW estimates that the work will last 24 hours.

This much-needed repaving, the first in about 30 years, is the first in a series of re-pavings on Market Street. The next section scheduled to get a much-needed makeover is between Steuart and Third streets. Then the section of Market between Third and Sixth. The repairs are tentatively scheduled for June 21-22 and mid-July respectively.

“This will be a major improvement to the city’s most important bicycling street,” said SF Bicycle Coalition Executive Director Leah Shahum in a statement. “For the growing number of people biking on Market Street — whether traveling to work or connecting to regional transit or visiting neighborhoods connected by our city’s main artery — this repaving could not come soon enough.”

Logistics:

The repaving will only be to the outer lanes of Market Street (those used by cyclists). According to Sfstreetsblog, ‘During construction, bikes, automobiles and trucks will be detoured off of Market. Muni and other public transit vehicles will still run in Market’s center lanes, and all boardings will take place on the center islands.’

If you ever need a bicycle accident attorney in San Francisco, Paso Robles, or the surrounding Central California Coast area, contact us for a free consultation.

Source:

http://sf.streetsblog.org/2013/06/05/dpw-to-re-pave-a-major-stretch-of-market-street-this-weekend/

Bike to Work and Improve Your Health and Well-Being

Posted on by Rahman Law PC

Biking to work has numerous health benefits. Most people are aware of this fact, but few people can visualize what this really means. America Bikes, the nationwide cycling advocacy group, has compiled a series of graphics to really put biking into perspective. Here are a few of the most powerful (for the full article and all of the infographics go to AmericaBikes.org):

Support Pedestrian Safety Projects at Today’s Land Use and Economic Development Committee Meeting

Posted on by Rahman Law PC

In April we blogged about Mayor Ed Lee’s new plan to support pedestrian safety in San Francisco in our New Pedestrian Safety Plan Outlined on Walk to Work Day post. It is the unfortunate truth however than many of the promised projects and improvements will  be tied up in bureaucratic red tape for years and that those that are lucky enough to make it through the maze even partially intact end up costing much more than expected.

To circumvent the bureaucratic quicksand, Supervisor Scott Wiener has introduced a four-part pedestrian safety legislation. The legislation will create a centralized Street Design Review Committee, a resolution calling for city agencies to modernize street code provisions, better coordinate their efforts around public projects, and formulate clear procedures, an ordinance making it easier for developers to build pedestrian safety projects and gift them to the city, and an ordinance amending the Fire Code to ensure that pedestrian safety projects are not unnecessarily impeded by the code’s definition of minimum street width.

Join Walk SF in supporting these ordinances by attending the Land Use and Economic Development Committee Meeting, Monday, June 3 at 1: 30 p.m. at City Hall in Room 263. 

If you ever need a pedestrian accident attorney in San Francisco, Paso Robles, or the surrounding Central California Coast area, contact us for a free consultation.

Source:

http://walksf.org/

Muni’s Shortfalls Cost the City and Encourage Private Services

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A new study of Muni’s shortcomings, conducted by the City Controller’s office, shows that Muni delays and disruptions caused by  breakdowns and maintenance repairs during peak commute hours cost the City (and its people) approximately 4.2 million dollars in April alone and an approximate 50 million dollars a year. This quantification of the frustration many Muni riders feel everytime they are stranded at a Muni stop waiting for the next bus, serves as ammunition for Ed Reiskin, the transportation director for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, to use in his campaign to get the City to invest more in the dilapidated agency.

In the meantime however, private services like the ride-sharing companies discussed in an ealier post, continue to expand to fill the widening gaps in Muni service. Leap Transit, with its fleet of bright blue private shuttles that can be seen in the Marina district, is only the latest company to provide its serivces to San Francisco’s commuters. The company takes the technological aspect of the ride-sharing companies (an iPhone app that acts as bus pass and payment method), the luxory of a private car serivce (spacious seats, air conditioning and wifi) and the convenience of a bus (designated stops – oftentimes Muni stops- and designated times- only during peak hours), all at a price of $6 per ride.

The company’s founder, Kyle Kirchhoff, insists that the price tag means that the private service is not competing with Muni, but rather complementing it. The price was chosen to reflect the services offered and to be more expensive than Muni, but cheaper than a taxi. To illustrate the relationship between Leap Transit and Muni as his company sees it, Kirchoff even made the amusing analogy of comparing Leap Transit to FedEx and Muni to the U.S. Postal Service, an anaology most likely less amusing to Muni officials given the Post Office’s ongoing struggles to stay relevant and in business.

Muni officials may be upset by the lack of regulation on this private service industry, but until the City give Muni the funding it needs and the funding Reiskin has been campaigning for, unregulated private companies like Leap Transit will continue to fill the gaps. “Mario Tanev, a spokesman for the passenger advocacy group San Francisco Transit Riders Union, said the emergence of Leap is a clear sign of Muni’s failure.” This connection is especially clear since Leap Transit’s routes are duplicates of Muni lines, yet the new company continues to increase its client base as more and more commuters become more and more frustrated with Muni service.

Source:

http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/transportation/2013/05/muni-delays-cost-economy-50m-year-study-says

http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/transportation/2013/05/new-san-francisco-shuttle-service-offering-route-similar-muni

BART Approves Additional Test Period for Bikes

Posted on by Rahman Law PC

Thursday night the BART Board of Directors shied away from lifting the ban on bikes during rush-hour, voting 6-3 to instead implement a 5 month testing period starting July 1. The vote means that between July 1 and December 1 bikes will once again be allowed on all but the first 3 BART cars during rush hours. However, the move appeases the opposition more than supports the cyclists and leaves the Board with an easy way out.

The test period will include “careful monitoring and a review in October”. This review will determine whether or not the ban is lifted permanently. The six Board Members who voted to implement the test period instead of permanantly lifting the ban argued that the two 5-day test periods in 2012 and 2013 did not provide enough data to make an informed decision.

The legions of bicyclists who filled the boardroom and the overflow room disagreed. They spoke of the hardships posed by the ban and the benefits of lifting it. The two test periods, especially the most recent week-long test in May 2013, produced overwhelming positive results. A large marjority of BART riders supported the lift of the ban and a very small percentage reported problems with cyclists or disruptions in their daily commute as a result of the bikes.They argued that the blackouts during rush hours deter many cyclists from taking public transportation at all in the Bay Area since they often get stranded in San Francisco during the evening rush hour. A lift on the ban will likely increase the number of people commuting by public transportation as it will allow those who would prefer to ride their bikes, but can’t work around the blackout times, to again ride BART to and from the city.

The test period will be an important indicator of the negative impact of bikes on the trains during rush hours. The success of the program will largely depend on ridership numbers and whether the positive numbers observed during the week-long test periods (“about 25 percent of those surveyed said they would be more likely to ride BART if they could take their bikes along, while 11 percent said they were less likely to ride if they had to share the trains with bikes, six percent of those surveyed brought their bikes on BART during the experimental period, and 3 percent said they avoided BART because of the test”) are proved accurate.

Cyclists in the Bay Area can help make the lift of the ban permanent by taking advantage of the test period. Take your bikes on BART, participate in the experiment, but be courteous to your fellow BART passengers. Its true that right now the burden of proof is falling on the shoulders of the cyclists. For the next five months cyclists will have to make the extra effort to ensure that the ban is lifted permantly. In the meantime, brush up on your BART etiquette. Refresh your memory by participating in a cycling etiquette class or simply reading the BART Bike Rules. It might be a bit tedious, but in the end it will benefit all cyclists in the Bay Area.

Bart Bike Rules: http://www.bart.gov/guide/bikes/bikeRules.aspx

If you ever need a bicycle accident attorney in San Francisco, Paso Robles, or the surrounding Central California Coast area, contact us for a free consultation.

Source:

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/BART-plans-another-test-for-bicycles-4544867.php