ASCE Human Powered Transportation Committee
September 1997 Update

From: Mac Elliott, Vice-Chair, mac.elliott@home.com
6616 North 14th St. Phoenix, AZ 85014 Tel & Fax 602/265-6712
or 2530 San Elijo Ave., Cardiff, CA 92007 Tel 760/944-7324

To: All ASCE Human Powered Transportation Committee (HPT Com) Members & Friends.

1. Kirk Barrett put together new HPT Committee Website and is serving as Webmaster. Email to kirkbarrett@bigfoot.com or phone/fax to 617/224-0563 or snail mail to Kirk R. Barrett, PhD, PE, 58 Jordan Ave. 1st Flr, Wakefield, MA 01880. Pending permanent URL, our acting URL is: http://www.ascehpt.homestead.com
Can also access thru link in ASCE Urban Transp Div Website: http://www.asce.org/peta/tech/ut_home.html
Committee looking forward to wider and more rapid exchange of info, and we very much appreciate Kirk's interest and hard work getting website on line.

2. Bill Moritz 206-543-6049, moritz@ee.washington.edu , completed Nat'l Survey of Adults Who Bicycle Regularly, (update of '75 Kaplan Survey). Scheduled to present at Transportation Research Board annual mtg Jan 98. Contact Elliott for Prelim Results.

3. Jeff Davis, HPT Com Chair, received PhD from Georgia Tech & accepted teaching post at The Citadel. Congratulations, Jeff ! Tel 803-953-7687 (o), fax 803-953-6328. Jeff Davis, PhD, PE., Dept of Civil & Environmental Engineering. The Citadel. 171 Moultrie St. Charleston, SC 29409. E mail to jeff.davis@citadel.edu

4. John La Plante, Chair of AASHTO's Bicycle Facilities Guide Task Force Subcommittee, presented Subcommittee's recommended revisions of '91 Guidelines to full AASHTO Greenbook Task Force (on Geometric Design) this July. La Plante's Subcommittee now incorporating that Committee's input, adding all drawings, aiming at mailing completed document to full AASHTO membership by Oct '97. Balloting scheduled to be completed by Spring '98. Full Greenbook Task Force Committee will again review those results in July '98. Hope to recommend final draft of Bike Facilities Guide for print & issue in Fall '98.

5. Charles Zegeer, 919-962-7801 reports FHWA Bike & Ped College Courses back on track. By Jan 98 hope to have package to present during TRB annual meeting.

6. Harborview Medical Center reported study of 3,390 injured cyclists from 7 western Washington hospitals during 1992-1994. Using only emergency room records, (not counting crashes where injuries were not severe enough to go to emergency room), numbers show helmets reduced risk of head injury by 69%, brain injury by 65%, & severe brain injury by 74%. Harborview estimates if all bike crashes could have been included in study instead of only those involving emergency rooms, helmets would have reduced head injuries by 85% & brain injuries by 88%, (based on their '89 study). Helmet fit important, with "Strong Suggestion" that lack of fit contributes to increased head injury by factor of two. Retention very important. Cyclists whose helmets came off during crash were 3 times as likely to have head injury as those whose helmets were snugly fastened. Harborview developed 5 Step Helmet Fit Test. Contact Elliott for copy of Fit Test, or Snell Fndn, 916/331-5073 for copy of full Report.

6a. Recent incident of cyclist NOT wearing helmet created serious threat to cycling in Arizona. Small Arizona town paid $3,500,000 to settle claim of cyclist who, after being urged by friends to wear helmet, ignored advice, rode new bike fast downhill, struck uneven patch in pavement, hit head on pavement, has severe brain damage. Backlash from settlement caused town, once a strong bike supporter improving cycling conditions, to discourage cycling. State legislator from town introduced bill to change wording of present law which requires roads to be, "reasonably safe for all road users", to instead require Arizona roads only to, "meet reasonably safe standards for motor vehicles." Would permit bikes to be disregarded in road construction & maintenance, & would easily allow such items as raised pavement markers, wheel trapping drainage grates, rumble strips, etc.. Contrary to AASHTO statements that "Bicyclists can be expected to ride on almost all roadways", and "All new highways except where bicyclists will be legally prohibited, should be designed & constructed under the assumption that they will be used by bicyclists". Could allow agencies to say that, since their roads were not maintained safe for bikes, they could reasonably exclude bikes from those roads. Only with much effort was bill defeated this session. It could return.

6b. Regarding Item 6a above, Seattle attorney Andrew Cooley (205) 623-8861, opined in Aug 94 Update that NOT wearing bike helmet should be legally declared an act of contributory negligence. Cooley felt at that time that public agencies would be more apt to support cycling if they didn't feel so vulnerable to costly care of head injuries, and that this approach should help whether or not bike helmets were mandatory. 6c. Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute, the best present source of helmet info, has web site at www.helmets.org , and 24 hr interactive fax on demand service at regular phone 703-486-0100. Also dedicated fax line 703-486-0576. Randy Swart, Director.

7. Arizona DOT looking at Shoulder Rumble Strip bike problem, (see previous Updates for discussions). Installing test sections of ground-in grooves, 8" wide perpendicular to edge stripe, 4" long in direction of edge stripe, about 1/2" deep at center, spaced 12" o.c. and located on white edge stripe to maximize shoulder space for cyclists.. Also a test section of several different rumble strip configurations in one location. Will observe strips over time. Per Richard Moeur 602-866-3554. (Ground-in grooves are being used to overcome alignment control problem of rumble strips rolled into hot asphalt shoulders. Arizona's rolled-in strips wander all over the shoulder, often rendering shoulder useless to bikes.)

7a. AAA study (conducted with TRB & Roadway Safety Fndn) states: "Properly placed rumble strips have been effective in some cases in reducing crashes at sharp curves". They go on to say that the most certain fix is gentler curves. They do not include general use of shoulder rumble strips among their recommendations. This consistent with Florida DOT shoulder rumble strip guidelines, which also specify minimum of 4 ft clear between rumble strip & edge of shoulder.

8. Traffic Calming not applicable everywhere, but gaining acceptance. Nat'l Hwy Traffic Safety Admin estimates 2/3 of the 42,000 road deaths last year were related to "Aggressive Driving", which looks to be joining drunken driving as major road hazard. Ever-intensifying time pressure & increasing traffic volumes are making drivers more combative. (See Bicycle Forum Issue No. 45, June 97, for further discussion)

8a Traffic Calming Measures in Seattle go thru following steps: (a) Staff completes studies & hearings. (b) 60% of residents must vote FOR 6 month trial period using temporary structures, sandbags, etc, (c) After trial period 60% of residents must vote to KEEP. To date they've always voted to keep. Per John Moffatt, Director, Washington State Traffic Safety Commission.

8b. Moffatt also pointed out that traffic police want to have to deal with no more than 1% or so of motorists, cyclists, pedestrians, etc. Engineering & education, must cause the remaining 99% to function safely & effectively. Regarding education, Moffatt stresses it must be aimed at adults as well as children . Children can learn physical skills but have poor retention and forget safety when dealing with traffic. (Moffatt an excellent resource for practical solutions of pedestrian problems. Crosswalks, intersection designs, etc.)

9. Many current Bike and Ped Facility Planning & Design Guidelines available now. A few listed below.

AASHTO. Guide for Development of Bicycle Facilities 1991 (This Update Item 4)
The Netherlands. Sign Up For The Bike 1993
FHWA Selecting Roadway Design Treatments to Accomodate Bicycles 1994
North Carolina DOT. Bicycle Facilities Planning & Design Guidelines 1994
Colorado DOT Colorado Bikeway Design Guidelines 1995
Oregon DOT. Bicycle & Pedestrian Plan 1995
Florida DOT. Florida Bicycle Facilities Planning & Design Manual 1995
New Jersey DOT.    Bicycle Compatible Roadways and Bikeways.   Planning & Design Guidelines 1996  
New Jersey DOT.  Pedestrian Compatible Planning & Design Guidelines 1996

10. ASCE Conference: Innovative Civil Engineering for Sustainable Development Minneapolis, Minn. Oct 5-9, 1997. Kirk Barrett moderating session on "Sustainable Transportation Concepts", Tues Oct 7, 10:30 - 12:00 noon. 1-800-548-2723 for info.

11. ASCE Conference on Transportation, Land Use & Air Quality, May 17-20, 1998. Portland, Ore. 1-800-548-2723 for info.

12. Jeff Davis planning meeting of this ASCE HPT Committee during TRB annual meeting in Washington D.C. Jan 11-15, 1998. All committee members & friends are encouraged to attend. Contact Davis. (See Item 3 for phone, address, e-mail, etc.)

13. Demitri Kolokotronis again points out common problem of including both Bikes & Peds in same seminars or courses or guidelines, or of using term "Bike/Ped" or similar expressions, all of which reinforce public perception that bikes & peds are similar and belong together off the roadway, when in fact bikes & peds are very different. He feels engineers must make distinction clear.

14. Elliott has red face. TRB Pedestrian Committee Chair is Ann Hershfang of the Massachussetts Turnpike Authority, 617-248-2815. Ms. Hershfang assumed that key post in Jan 1997. ASCE HPT Update of Feb 97 mistakenly reported Dorothea Haas as chair. My apologies to both.

Mac Elliott

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Last Updated October 10, 1997