How do you feel about Bike Ambassadors / CPD safety outreach efforts?

For a Streetsblog Chicago post, on Thursday I interviewed staff from the city's Bike Ambassadors and the Chicago Police Department while they were doing an outreach event at Armitage/Milwaukee. The ambassadors were handing flyers to motorists and bicyclists reminding them not to use cell phones while driving and to obey traffic signals while biking. The police were flagging down adult cyclists who were riding on the sidewalk or who ran a red light and giving them (seemingly polite) warnings that what they did is illegal. For the Streetsblog post, what are your thoughts about these kind of outreach events? Do you think they're helpful in encouraging safe behavior by drivers and cyclists?

Thanks,

John Greenfield

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Permalink Reply by Bob Kastigar on August 2, 2013 at 8:23am



Crazy David 84 Furlongs said:


Actually Bryn Mawr runs well past Harlem.  It ends after Cumberland at the Forest Preserve.   Something has to be done between Western and Damen, but its a lot better choice than Foster. 

Bryn Mawr is also interrupted between Pulaski all the way west to Milwaukee Ave. as well so something would have to be done for this section as well.
Permalink Reply by Crazy David 84 Furlongs on August 2, 2013 at 8:27am

Bob Kastigar said:

Bryn Mawr is also interrupted between Pulaski all the way west to Milwaukee Ave. as well so something would have to be done for this section as well.

My comment
Uh, no. Not really. The stretch from Pulaski is actually one of the best stretches. It is certainly "closed to cars", but Bikes can ride right through. It cul de sacs at a bike trail head, but keeps right on going (albeit under other names). It is a great route. The best part is after Pulaski.

Permalink Reply by Bob Kastigar on September 29, 2013 at 2:40pm

Crazy David 84 Furlongs said:


. It (Bryn Mawr) cul de sacs at a bike trail head, but keeps right on going (albeit under other names). It is a great route. The best part is after Pulaski.

But Bryn Mawr doesn't go where most people want to go, and the wandering around the various streets makes it a difficult route.

A simple plan:  add a bike lane to Foster, from the lake to Harlem Avenue.  One road, a simple route.

On Lawrence, repaint the bike lanes, they're all but worn out between Western and Milwaukee.

Permalink Reply by Crazy David 84 Furlongs on September 30, 2013 at 3:30am

We will have to agree to disagree.   I think that anyone riding on Foster is fool-hardy and that trying to take Foster away from the cars will result in a horrific backlash.   Adding a bike lane won't solve anything.  All it will do is create another clusterF--k like that one Lawrence in which the Bike Lane is used by the very aggressive drivers to pass on the right, cut around cars turning left, and the like.   I don't bicycle on Lawrence or Foster and have no problem going from less than a mile to the lake all the way out past Harlem. 

We need to make bicycling acceptable for people outside of the 2%.

And Bryn Mawr is a route that could be used to do this.... not Foster which will simply make enemies.   Adding a bike lane to Foster is about as realistic a plan as eliminating Cars from LSD and the Lake Front.  



Bob Kastigar said:

Crazy David 84 Furlongs said:


. It (Bryn Mawr) cul de sacs at a bike trail head, but keeps right on going (albeit under other names). It is a great route. The best part is after Pulaski.

But Bryn Mawr doesn't go where most people want to go, and the wandering around the various streets makes it a difficult route.

A simple plan:  add a bike lane to Foster, from the lake to Harlem Avenue.  One road, a simple route.

On Lawrence, repaint the bike lanes, they're all but worn out between Western and Milwaukee.

Permalink Reply by globalguy on September 30, 2013 at 5:01am

+1

Cameron 7.5 mi said:

Lawrence is an absolutely terrible place to ride, smack in the middle of several bike friendly neighborhoods ...

Permalink Reply by S on September 30, 2013 at 5:38am

I've been riding on Foster daily for about a month now and I have to say that between ravenswood and the lake, Foster is really not bad at all.  There's traffic in the morning and evening rush hour periods but the cars certainly give cyclists enough space to ride comfortably and are fairly courteous. 

Crazy David 84 Furlongs said:

We will have to agree to disagree.   I think that anyone riding on Foster is fool-hardy and that trying to take Foster away from the cars will result in a horrific backlash.   Adding a bike lane won't solve anything.  All it will do is create another clusterF--k like that one Lawrence in which the Bike Lane is used by the very aggressive drivers to pass on the right, cut around cars turning left, and the like.   I don't bicycle on Lawrence or Foster and have no problem going from less than a mile to the lake all the way out past Harlem. 

We need to make bicycling acceptable for people outside of the 2%.

And Bryn Mawr is a route that could be used to do this.... not Foster which will simply make enemies.   Adding a bike lane to Foster is about as realistic a plan as eliminating Cars from LSD and the Lake Front.  



Bob Kastigar said:

Crazy David 84 Furlongs said:


. It (Bryn Mawr) cul de sacs at a bike trail head, but keeps right on going (albeit under other names). It is a great route. The best part is after Pulaski.

But Bryn Mawr doesn't go where most people want to go, and the wandering around the various streets makes it a difficult route.

A simple plan:  add a bike lane to Foster, from the lake to Harlem Avenue.  One road, a simple route.

On Lawrence, repaint the bike lanes, they're all but worn out between Western and Milwaukee.

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