The Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) will hold five public input meetings in January 2009. (Coming up soon!) The purpose of these meetings is to receive public input about revisions to VDOT’s current Six Year Improvement Plan — the schedule for road construction and upgrades. As you might have guessed, this is mostly about deciding which projects will be cut due to budget shortfalls. You can read the press release about it at VDOT’s website.
Here’s your chance to lobby for the road projects that you think are most important. But since the CTB directs Virginia’s overall transportation policy, these meetings are a good place to call for policies more favorable to cyclists. [continue reading…]
If you’ve seen this decal pictured at the right, here’s what it’s about.
For several years now, VBF’s has offered the Bicycling Frendly Award for our members to give to businesses, organizations, and indviduals in their communities who have made special efforts to support bicyclists and bicycling. We finally have a page up to explain the award, and the process, along with the downloadable forms and templates.
Response to these awards has been terrific. Business owners have been very pleased with the show of gratitude and the publicity. The good PR goes all around to include the bike club giving the award.
Please encourage your bike club to give these awards to those in your community who deserve it. RABA has issued 31 Bicycling Friendly Awards so far, the BRBC in Roanoke a bunch, with a few more scattered around the state. We’d like to see a lot more. Please note the new link in our navigation, and visit the Bicycling Friendly Award page.
“Put down the cell phone, stop text messaging and get rid of the open beer cans in your car.”
That’s how dailypress.com writer Kimball Payne sums up new Virginia legislation being introduced this winter to curb drunk and distracted driving. Note that lack of cell phone restrictions caused Virginia to lose points in the Bicycle Friendly States rankings. Both drunk and distracted driving are hazards to cyclists (and everyone else), but not everyone wants laws to prevent them. This article tells who the patrons, friends, and (surprisingly) enemies of these bills are. Worth a read.
You can follow the progress of this and other new Virginia legislation at Richmond Sunlight, now using Twitter and Facebook. This winter’s Virginia General Assembly convenes January 14.
The Richmond Area Bicycling Association (RABA), upon the nomination of one or more of its members, has now granted a total of 31 Bicycling Friendly recognitions since the program was developed by the Virginia Bicycling Federation (VBF).
Of the recognitions thus far granted, a total of 14 are country stores where we make stops during rides, and in all cases are welcome to use their rest room facilities. These include (their area is mentioned, if not included in their name) [continue reading…]
This news is a few days old, but as the Fairfax Times reported, a cyclist in Fairfax was killed in a hit and run accident shortly after midnight last Wednesday.
It seems the reporter (and probably the police) wanted to emphasize that this cyclist was riding at night, dressed all in black, on a black bike. Why? Is it to send a message of how dangerous this is, and to convince people not to do it? Or is it to imply that the incident was the cyclist’s own fault, just for being out there? [continue reading…]
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