Monday, September 16, 2013

Drunk driver hits three cyclist in the Tour de Farms

From WCAX.com
SHOREHAM, Vt. - A Shoreham man will be arraigned from his hospital bed Monday in connection with an alleged drunk driving crash that also injured three bicyclists.
The incident happened around 11:30 a.m. Sunday. Police say Brian Miller, 54, crossed the center line on Route 74 and struck a group of cyclists. They were participating in "Tour De Farm," an organized 30 mile ride.  Police say Martin Veit, a 35 year-old cyclist from Moretown suffered head and internal injuries after he went through the windshield.  A 15 year-old girl from Williamstown, Massachusetts suffered a fractured pelvis.

State Police say there was already a warrant out for Miller after he failed to appear for an unrelated DUI charge. Police say an immediate response from other riders may have saved a life.

"It was determined that there were also three doctors that were in the area, either at the Douglas Orchards behind me, or riding their bikes -- that applied immediate first aid and potentially saved the lives of the critically injured people," said Vermont State Police Trooper Justin Busby.

Martin Veit and the juvenile cyclist were both transported to Fletcher Allen for further care. The third rider received minor injuries. Miller was also hospitalized.

Monday, September 9, 2013

Take the Survey for a Statewide Walk/Bike Summit in the Spring 2014

The VT Bicycle & Pedestrian Coalition, Local Motion, VTrans, the City of Burlington and the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission, will be co-sponsoring a statewide Walk/Bike Summit in the spring of 2014.  In order to plan an engaging and useful event, we're asking members of the bike/ped community in VT to take a few minutes to respond to this survey by Friday, September 13:


Friday, September 6, 2013

Route 2 in Islands: Better Shoulders, No Rumble

From LocalMotion
We've heard from a number of folks expressing concern about the Route 2 repaving project from Colchester out into the Islands.  People asked whether the shoulders would become narrower or get rumble strips as part of the project. We did some investigating, and are happy to report that the Route 2 project is being designed specifically to improve conditions for bicycling!
 
Here's what we learned from our contact at VTrans:
  • The road will have 11 foot lanes and 4 foot shoulders throughout
  • A portion will be paved this fall, with the remainder to be paved in the spring
  • Temporary striping will go down this fall, with the same lane widths (4'-11'-11'-4') as the permanent striping
  • Rumble strips will be installed ONLY in the  centerline, NOT on the shoulders
  • Even then, rumble strips will go in primarily where there is a history of crashes, and will specifically NOT be installed at intersections, in densely developed village/commercial areas, in areas where the speed limit is below 45 mph, or in places where there is a lot of turning traffic
Thank you, VTrans, for using bicycle-friendly design on the repaving of this key route!  If you like to bike in the Islands, send a quick note of thanks to Erik Filkorn, VTrans' public outreach manager, at Erik.Filkorn@state.vt.us.