An Open Letter to Mayor Bronin and City Council: Isn't it time for 20mph streets and Vision Zero in Hartford?

The amount of shattered glass and car wreckage on the streets of the City of Hartford is back up again. It seems to happen every year at this time. 'Tis the season for raging through the city, a practice seemingly shared by everyone in Hartford, including suburbanites driving the streets. Speed is always a factor on Hartford streets, as anyone who lives here can attest.

The aftermath of a Christmas Day 2015 fatal crash near Pope Park West on Hamilton Street.


Car crashes happen all the time, we read about them in the paper or hear about them on the news, but usually we fail to link them and recognize a trend. In fact, we're trained to think about them as unfortunate, disconnected "accidents." If a person is involved in a crash crash or killed in one, it's merely bad luck and we're quite slow to place blame. The penalties for injuring or killing someone with a car are notoriously light.

This spring has been a bloody one on Hartford's roads and in its cars. Here are just a few of the lowlights from this year:

On March 25th of this year multiple people were killed in two separate crashes on the same night. This past Christmas Day, 2015, Luis Fajardo was killed in a grisly multi-car crash on Hamilton Street near Pope Park West.

On May 8th, Luis A. Maldonado was struck and killed by a car at the quiet intersection of Preston and Campfield Streets in the South End. Apparently he was changing a tire on his car in the early AM. The motorist that hit him ran and left him to die in the street.

Driving home from work this afternoon (5/22/16), I saw the aftermath of a daytime crash that sent at least one person to the hospital at Hillside and Flatbush in the Behind the Rocks neighborhood. In 2011, a 10-year old girl was killed after being struck on her bike near this area of Flatbush.

Other cities around the country are starting to wake up to the carnage and treat road violence and the injuries and deaths it causes like the public health issue that it is.

These cities, which include NYC, are starting to question the supposition that road injuries and deaths are a fact of life and something we cannot avoid. The goal of the Vision Zero programs these cities are implementing is the elimination of all traffic injuries and fatalities. This may seem like an impossible goal, but how can doing nothing continue to be possible? They seek to achieve this through new infrastructure, education, and in many cases lowering city street speed limits to 20mph. Cars traveling more than 20mph are much more likely to kill a person that they strike than if they are traveling 20mph or less.

In Hartford our streets are populated, social, and exciting. Why should we default to treating dense, narrow pathways for all people--whether in cars, on bikes, or on foot or wheelchair--as speedways for cars alone? At any public meeting in Hartford the conversation is often dominated by the risks posed by illegal ATVs and dirt bikes. These vehicles are a nuisance and are dangerous. However, it is peculiar that we ignore the risks and very real carnage caused by the much more ubiquitous operation of standard cars and trucks on our streets.

Gun violence is a big problem in our city. Drug overdoses and drug-related violence are big problems too. But so is road violence, and we need to stop thinking of it as just part of the cost of doing business and living our everyday lives. If we can have a shot spotter system, why can't we step up speed traps and move toward enforced, lower speed limits on all of our roadways?

This summer would be a perfect time for Mayor Bronin and the City Council to get serious about a Vision Zero program to reduce the destruction and violence on our roads.

As we continue to improve our roads and make them safer with better infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists (along Bushnell Park, on Zion Street, on Albany Ave to name just a few) we have to make sure we address the bigger cultural hurdles as well--driver behavior and driving culture. As long as Hartford's streets continue to feel unsafe and lawless our city's growth and reputation will continue to be held back.

The Mayor's Office and the Council should work with our police department, with DPW, and with nonprofits in the City and State that work to improve the health and safety of residents to implement a program to reduce the carnage on our streets now. We shouldn't have to wait any longer for something so basic.

- Justin Eichenlaub, South West
eichenlaub@gmail.com

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Crashing is Okay

It's that time of year again when folks at work look at the bicycle commuter with a head tilt and ask, "You didn't ride in today, did you?"  I'm toying with escalating ridiculousness in my response.  "No.  Actually I decided to ice skate."  Or, "Riding a bicycle in the winter is the stupidest thing I've ever heard of.  Do you think I'm an idiot?  I stole my neighbor's car today."  I'd be interested to hear responses from other year round commuters when this perennial question returns each winter.

As an experienced user of the bicycle, my own two feet, transit, and even the occasional car, I should be patient in my treatment of those that ask seasonal and weather related questions that can seem repetitive.  The asker of the question doesn't realize they aren't asking a novel question and therefore don't expect or deserve my impatience.  In truth the question is welcome.  If I can find a way to twist the answer in a way that catches the person's attention or makes them think, perhaps they too will look critically at their rampant single occupancy vehicle trips.   As a friend of mine likes to remind me, clever assholes don't change many minds.

On the topic of changing trends, I've seen several more winter bicycle commuters at Pratt & Whitney.  Studded tires even.  Tomorrow will be a good test of these hardy souls with the low teens and 2-4" of snow predicted.  I received several email from co-workers disappointed that the bicycle racks near their building had been removed.  Curious,  I've dropped a note to our Facilities department who may not have realized that bicycles work in cold weather too.

The CT DOT seems to forget each year that the bicycle and pedestrian crossings adjacent to the Connecticut River highway bridges also need to be cleared of snow and ice.  Eight lanes of highway can be bone dry the day after a storm, but the eight feet of multi-use path can be left for weeks unless pestering ensues.  The level of clearing doesn't match that of the highway lanes.  For example the Charter Oak Bridge was plowed, but a 1" deep layer of dense and icy remainder was left along the entire length of the crossing.  No salt or grit in sight.  There is a tight downhill turn on this crossing, and even with studs the ice can be tricky to navigate.

That brings me to my final topic.  Crashing.  I crash.  On Saturday I spent several hours riding with Salem on my Kona with studded 700x35 Nokians.  They are a bit slow and noisy, and klunky for handling on dry pavement, but they significantly reduce my crashing in the winter.  We hit the perfect level of snow on the ground, smoothing out the trails and quieting my tires.

Later in the afternoon I thought it would be fun to take my fixed gear Schwinn out for an in town trip.  It was fun, and I got to practice locking up the back tire.  Feeling pretty good about my traction and having leaned turns all morning I headed into an intersection.  The slick tires didn't do any good at all in a hard right turn on a 1/2" of packed street snow.  Sliding sideways on my hip, I sprung up and did a little "I'm okay.  Enjoy the show!" dance for the concerned onlookers.  A friendly fellow picked up my fractured rear reflector and made sure I wasn't injured.  Fortunately I've entirely given up on pride, so no other damage was sustained.  When crashing on snow you typically slide, a good way to bleed off the forward momentum.

Crashing is okay, and it can be fun.  If I didn't do it often, it would probably hurt more when it happened on rare occasion.  Falling down is part of the human condition.  It's how you get up that matters.

More hardy P&W bicycle commuters confusing their co-workers this year.

Salem leads the way

Hopefully South Windsor's Bissell Bridge will be cleared more regularly this winter 

This is what happens when you forget you're not on snow tires.

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Can't mountain bike with glasses on

On Saturday, I went mountain biking briefly over at Cedar Mountain. The trails there aren't that difficult, but I kept crashing. It was mess. I'm very bad at mountain biking, but I'm not this bad. The difference between this time & all other times was that I was wearing my new glasses. Apparently, the change in focus screws up my depth perception, my balance and timing just enough to crash a lot. I rode the next day with no problems and no glasses. I Googled this problem and nothing came up.

It'd be nice to wear glasses while mountain biking, so that I can see the beautiful vistas of Connecticut, but I'd probably just fall off of them.

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Ice event

It wasn't good for finishing my criminal procedure homework, but I decided to go ride around on the snow and ice, because it is finally possible. The Wethersfield Cove is nicely frozen over and I rode out on to it with the ice fishermen. It's great, except a gust of wind blew me over. Then, I rode through the ice-rut laden meadows, which was a lot of fun, too. I was surprised that while riding my chubby bike that I didn't see any fat bikes, because I thought they were everywhere now.

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Fallsy Downsy

When I pointed out the "fallsy downsy" house up in East Granby, Ken remarked that "fallsy downsy" sounded like a technical engineering term.  I agree.  Fallsy downsy is the state of being just prior to falling down completely.

 

Winter cyclists are a bit fallsy downsy too.  Well, at least I am.  I have a pair of grippy studded tires, and I'll often rave about them.  They are a bit sluggish though, so I keep swapping them out for slicks right before it snows again.  Slipping on some ice is curiously fun, particularly if you see it coming.  No yard sales yet this winter, but I had a couple wagging dabs in the last storm.  The two chuckling pedestrians caught my squealing "Wheeee!" as I somehow kept the rubber side down.

Was surprised by the two other commuters who braved winter storm Helen (who didn't deserve a name really) to catch the IceBike to Work breakfast in East Hartford.  Chris tried to organize a parallel event in Hartford, but it looks like P&W employees once again whupped the risk averse insurance analysts.  We'll do this again in February.  Symbolically throwing a gauntlet down and farting in the general direction of Travelers Tower.  We'll see if we can ride on the frozen Wethersfield Cove this weekend.

If you're looking for an excuse to drink some beer, socialize, and gab about bikes in February, look no further.  Reveal the Path movie screening at the Wadsworth on Tuesday, February 5th.  Movie starts at 7:30pm, and is preceded by happy hour at Arch St Tavern.  Get your tickets ahead of time.  Last year's screening of Bicycle Dreams sold out at the door.  See you there.  The movie is presented by Bike Walk CT.

And I found this very snazzy "burner" down by the CT River near Charter Oak Landing.  Thought you might like it as well.

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Diminishing returns

It's another one of those transitional periods when I start to neglect the beat bike blog. Sorry, beat bike blog.

Limed fields in the meadows look like summer snow.

In other news, I have become quite terrible at riding a bike. I went down to the Blowhole Monday afternoon and crashed five times! Really, five times! I also almost lost my pump. Maybe it's 'cross bike overload or something. I rode out to Penwood last week and double flatted. The bike is definitely trying to tell me something.

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Ghost Bikes Return

Put back up a couple of ghost bikes on Burnside Avenue in East Hartford.  The CT DOT removed the originals last winter before one of the snowstorms, which was understandable.  The only irritating thing was they took them down the day before I headed over to get them myself.  So.... we painted a couple more bikes and replaced the memorials.  Lots of bicycles on the road in May, and everyone could use a reminder that we need to ride and drive safely.

Odd thing, when I was placing the first bike in front of the little grocery store I was immediately approached by "The Press."  It was odd because I'd told no one that I was placing the memorials today.  A friendly reporter from the East Hartford Gazette, who is also a cyclist, had seen me riding down the street with the ghosts in tow.  Recognizing them from last winter, he stopped and got the scoop.  I expect to see something show up in the Gazette in the near future.

With that in mind, the surviving partner of William Laramie, Linda Piotrowicz, is working with friends and family to organize the First Annual William Laramie Memorial Benefit Concert.  The event is Saturday, June 17th at the East Hartford Cultural Center from noon to 4PM.  The band lineup is amazing and entry donations will go to East Hartford school music programs and Bike Walk Connecticut.  Spread the word about the event with this Facebook invite.

On a totally different note, and I think a positive one, I have a P&W intern moving in late tonight for 10 weeks. He doesn't have a car, and I'll be setting him up with one of mine and showing him the routes to and from work.  The intern is actually in my group.  Either this is just a happy coincidence, or there is actually a wave of young college grads that don't automatically think they need a personal automobile.  I've read a recent article to that effect, and know of another friend that is housing a carless intern.  If the baby boomers and gen X'ers can't kick their car addiction, at least we can look to future generations to adapt as we pass from the scene (AKA die off). Read more!

Justice sandwich

CT Transit buses don't like bikes despite those front racks. Or at the very least, they don't like bikes in Hartford. Maybe they think bikes are taking their business. Who knows?

Anyway, back in September I was riding to work and dealing with a particularly unfriendly bus. I passed it around South Green's bus stop and then it passed me, then I passed it again. I guess the driver got mad about this, because when he passed me at Main and Buckingham, he slammed on the brakes in the middle of the intersection right after he passed me. I was force to switch lanes to avoid the bus, but there was a Rav 4 waiting for me in the other lane that had stopped because a bus had pulled out in front of it. I hit the Rav 4 and broke its taillight and dented the rear quarter panel. I was contrite and apologized. The driver was very concerned that I was going to take off.

Called 911, etc. The cops were initially nice. I admitted fault for hitting the car. They gave me a warning and right before I was about to leave, they changed their minds and decided to write a ticket for following too closely. I thought that was unfair, but despite being a fellow City employee, I avoid arguing with cops.

My renter's insurance (Liberty Mutual, they're good!) thankfully covered the Rav-4 damage, because the repair bill was almost $1000. I plead not guilty, because I figured taking evasive action to avoid an angry bus shouldn't warrant a $170 fine. My court date was today and I won! The State's attorney at first thought I was operating a motorcycle, but when I told her it was a bicycle she questioned how I could even receive a ticket for failure to signal a turn ((C.G.S. §14-242) which is what the ticket ended up being for, not sure why the cops told me something else). She also told me to be careful.

Anyway, thank you CT Judicial Branch for being lenient with me. Watch out of buses. Read more!

Starting 2010 late

So, I guess I'm done with my hiatus. I rode my bike to work yesterday and went mountain biking after work (and as long as they haven't changed, the conditions are awesome for riding a bike in the snow). Those are pretty run of the mill things for me, leading me to believe I'm inching back to normal. Some people seem to bounce right back from car altercations, but I suppose I'm emotionally fragile. The Surly, on other hand, isn't going to recover from the event. Johanna and I went to South Carolina between xmas and new years, which was nice because there are bike paths and beaches, for people like me who are temporarily terrified of riding on roads.


Last year around this time I wrote some reflective stuff about 2008 and what would happen in 2009. In terms of riding a bike, 2009 was pretty good. I met some new people to ride with: Dario, Salem & Peter and rode in interesting places. I seemed to also have become better at riding a bike, or at least faster in my amateur races. In the races I entered, I finished on the podium in all but three. D2R2 was a big a disappointment for me, but there always this year. I'm better aware of my shortcomings and ignorance, so hopefully I'll ingest some electrolytes this year.

Hartford 'Cross was a veritable success and I'm excited about putting it on again. There was good feedback on how to make it better, but also many people who were excited about it happening again in 2010.

One sad result of this year seems to be the I've alienated a lot of people who used to ride with me. Chiefly, Johanna has no desire to ride with me any more. So, resolution #1 is to stop being a jerk.

What's your plan for 2010?

Oh, and in political news, I like Merrick Alpert's walking style.

I walked here, not Merrick.

And further, I really hope that I can get the police report from Farmington. I don't want to be stuck in insurance hell.

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KAPOW! Car accidents

Monday evening, I got out of work a little after 6 pm and was riding my usual route on Tolland St. in East Hartford. I was thinking about how I should replace my blinkie batteries soon for the upcoming time change, and also how in the twilight it was difficult to see since it was still too light for the street lights to be very effective. All of a sudden, about 50 feet or so behind me, I heard some really startling sounds:

*CRACK!*
Crunch.
Scrrrraaaaaaape.

I quickly put on the brakes and spun around just in time to see the end result of a pretty substantial rear-ending of two cars. As far as I could tell, I think someone merged onto Tolland from the weird S-curve on Burnside and just didn't see the car in front of him. My first reaction was that oncoming traffic might not see the lead car resting in their lane, so I immediately used my corking skills and started signaling for those cars to slow down and use caution.

Being pretty mobile on my bike, I also realized I was the closest person on the scene to check on the condition of both drivers, so I turned back to do just that. The lead car's entire rear bumper was lying in the street. That driver was on her phone, and had a passenger who was also talking. Both people were wearing seat belts and signaled to me that they were OK. The striking car was about 30 feet or so in the other lane, and had a really smashed up hood. About this time, a woman in a 3rd floor apartment (corner of Tolland and Ann) started shouting out to me asking if everyone was OK. I shouted back that I was checking and that I had a phone to call the police. She responded by saying she had already called 911 and just wanted to let them know if anyone was seriously hurt. As I approached the 2nd car, I noticed that a tow truck had come up from behind and had parked (probably seeing a business opportunity) with its flashers going right behind, thus alerting oncoming traffic to the accident. The driver of the 2nd car was just getting out of the vehicle, and verbally told me he was OK. I stuck around until the police arrived on the scene...probably another minute or two. The officer asked me what I saw and I told him that I didn't see the impact because it was behind me, and he thanked me and told me it was OK for me to go.

So it wasn't a serious accident or anything, but a couple of things went through my mind: 1) being mobile on a bike is a pretty quick way to negotiate the scene of an accident and 2) wow, that was close. If those cars were 50 feet behind me, a little different timing or whatever could have had that sliding car completely taking me out. Being aware of cars which are in control of some strangers is one thing...cars coming at us when they are not in control of the driver is something else.

At first, the thought occurred that maybe the first car was reacting to seeing me and my reflectors/lights on the road, and the 2nd car didn't expect that reaction. Seeing where the cars ended up, I determined that this wasn't the case. I've never actually seen an accident happen in real life, but now I've heard one at close proximity, and it's pretty unsettling. Read more!

Three idignities in the last 24 (or so) hours

The first indignity is entirely my fault. I was hungry yesterday before I wanted to go mountain biking, so I decided to cook myself a quick meal. I started making tabbouleh, but realized it wouldn't be ready for a few hours. I had a really big craving for it, so much so that I didn't read the entire recipe. Making tabbouleh didn't satisfy my hunger, so I moved on to the left over couscous. I wasn't sure what to eat with it, but I knew that the jar of tamarind paste that's been sitting in my refrigerator for year was going to factor in. Day after day I've been questing to figure out what the hell you do with tamarind paste. I knew once, because I bought it. No wait. Johanna bought it for me. Anyway, I googled "tamarind paste couscous" and found a recipe for a real simple vegetable curry that goes on top of couscous. Since I had been thinking so hard about the tamarind paste, I decided to put on a heaping tablespoon. It looked pretty edible when I put it on the table, and it almost was. Clearly, tamarind paste is powerful stuff. I washed it down with a couple of miller lites and headed for the reservoir.

Needless to say, the 90 degree heat and that stuff sloshing around in my stomach made me feel bizarre and unable to correctly operate my bike.

I guess this is how they make biodiesel.

My second indignity was this morning. I was riding to through the Farmington Ave Asylum merge and starting to go down the hill. I watched this rumbling Rabbit coming off 84 west turning into my direction. He clearly wasn't paying attention, because he almost ran me off the road. Riding behind him, I noticed a bumper sticker that indicated that his car was fueled by vegetable oil. I guess it was really hard to see me through all that smugness.


The last indignity happened on the way home. I left work slightly early, so I decided to go ride across the river to East Hartford. Nothing much happening until I was about to get on the Charter Oak Bridge to get home. I hit a groundhog by the 5/15 entrance and crashed into the guardrail. I wasn't going that fast, so it wasn't that big of a deal, only a bruise on my butt and a cut on my finger. The upside was I learned the unique grunt made by a groundhog when you run one over with a bike. At first I was mad at the groundhog, because it ran at me and made my crash, but in retrospect, I see it had a tough decision to make. I startled it and it went to run away, but it only had two choices: risk getting hit by a bike or run on to the highway entrance and probably get hit by a car. I hope he's ok. Read more!

Drunk Drivers!

So while we like to keep a humorous air to the blog it becomes necessary at times to take a more serious tone. A friend just passed this story along to me which is posted on CNN. It reminded me of another incident, previously unmentioned on the blog, in which a friend and co-worker (we'll call him Joe Biker) was involved in a hit-and-run by a motorist right on Route 4 in Unionville. After running a red light and running over Joe, the driver took off. A passing motorist checked on Joe, made sure he was alive, and chased down the driver! After getting his plate number the police found him and discovered he had been drunk!! As far as I know the case is still pending but little more than a slap on the wrist can be expected. Despite actions that potentially could have killed Joe it is doubtful that charges to this effect will be applied. The repercussions of the accident have left Joe unable to walk for the last month thus forcing him to back out of buying a new house and cancel an epic backpacking trip to Alaska. The good news is his doctors hope Joe will be back on the bike by next summer.

The moral of the story friends is not just to be careful as there is only so much you can do, but also to be aware of everything around you and to take initiative when you see motorists acting in a hostile manner towards cyclists. We have rights! Make sure to grab plate numbers, and id cars breaking traffic laws. Acts as simple as speeding or running a red light may not seem as dramatic as Joe's case and not nearly as tragic as the incident in Mexico but they can have huge implications. We aren't hiding behind two ton metal shells, so ride safe, take the lane, and be confident.

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