Boston Bicycle Programs Director To Head Maine Non-Profit

Getting several reports that Nicole Freedman the head of cycling programs in Boston has been hired as the head of head of Maine Huts & Trails

The Associated Press

KINGFIELD — A former Olympic cyclist has been hired as the new executive director of an organization that’s developing a backcountry network of huts along 180 miles of trails in Maine’s western mountains.

Nicole Freedman begins this month as head of Maine Huts and Trails.

A member of the 2000 Olympic cycling team, Freedman has served as director of bicycle programs for the city of Boston the past five years.

Maine Huts and Trails was formed with the long-term aim of building 12 overnight shelters and non-motorized trails stretching from near the New Hampshire border to the Moosehead Lake region. Each shelter has a main lodge, private rooms with beds, hot showers and home-cooked meals.

So far, the organization has built three huts along 50 miles of trails.

No word yet on if this means she is leaving Boston, more when I get it. Freedman has been a power house of change in Boston these last couple years, and if she is leaving it will be a sad day. More here, and here.

EDIT: got an email from Nicole, she is moving, I wish her the best on her new journey.

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Paris Adopts “Idaho Stop” Law

Seems we will finally get some data on a major metropolitan area trying out the Idaho Stop law. I have long been waiting for an area with a lot of traffic to try out something like this.

A new government decree has just authorised cyclists in the French capital to go through red lights, after road safety experts deemed the measure would cut road accidents.

It follows a fierce three-year campaign by cyclists’ associations.

Under the new system, which will be first tested on 15 crossroads in the East of the French capital, cyclists are allowed to turn right or go straight ahead even when the lights are red.

They must, however, make way for pedestrians and incoming traffic on the left and will be held responsible in the event of an accident.

Red and yellow signposts posted on traffic light poles will inform cyclists that they can ignore the lights in designated 30km per hour zones. If judged feasible, the scheme will then be rolled out to 1,700 crossroads in Paris.(via)

This would be applicable to places like New York and Boston, if they find that this doesn’t cause serious problems it could be implemented in other major cities…then again many Boston road users already follow their own “Boston stop” guidelines, so perhaps we do have years of data to draw upon. What do you think? Would Boston streets run red with the blood of a million dead cyclists if we adopted this law here?

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MassBike Continues To Shepherd Vulnerable Road Users Bill Through State House

Last tuesday the Vulnerable Road Users Bill had its first hearing (more info here about the bill), from the MassBike website. I am impressed with this bill, and hope that it will help to continue on the 2009 bike law that MassBike passed. Once cyclists are fully integrated into the law structure it will be much easier to continue to push to make the streets better for cyclists.

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On Tuesday, the Joint Transportation Committee held a public hearing on MassBike’s Vulnerable Road Users Bill. Executive Director David Watson had the opportunity to deliver testimony to the committee, where he described the need to have better laws protecting bicyclists, pedestrians, and other vulnerable users of the road. You can read David’s written testimony here. The committee does not make a decision about the bill on the spot, but expressed interest in learning more about it.

A big thanks to those who came to the hearing and signed in to testify, even though, as feared, the bill was called very late in the day. Even if you couldn’t wait the whole time, by simply signing in, in support of the bill, and submitting your written comments, you sent a strong message to the committee that this bill provides much-needed protection for bicyclists and pedestrians.

It is not too late to submit written testimony. If you or someone close to you has been injured by a motorist while bicycling in Massachusetts, and the motorist was not held accountable, please consider sending an email or letter as explained in our Action Alert.

Now, MassBike will follow up with the Joint Transportation Committee to report the bill favorably and move on to the next step toward making it a law.

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Welcome To The Revolution

Just so you know, the bicycle revolution is now in full swing…do your part and get out there and ride!

Drivers clear a lane, bicyclists are taking to the road in record numbers in Massachusetts.

In Cambridge ridership has soared 70 percent in five years, the MBTA is launching a “Bike Coach” to let riders bring their bicycles to beaches this summer and across the state bicycle shops are struggling to keep up with demand.

With gas prices hovering near $4 a gallon, the surge shows no signs of slowing.

During a recent bike-to-work week, activists hoped to get Massachusetts riders to pledge 50,000 commuter biking miles. Instead they got 125,000 pledged miles — more than half the distance to the moon.

For bicycling enthusiasts — once a subculture of bike messengers, car haters, cash-poor students and eco-activists — it’s beginning to feel like a tipping point.

“People are coming back to the cycle in a big way,” said Shane Jordan of the nonprofit Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition. “There’s a whole lot more people out on the street around this time than there were last year.”

Read the rest here.

We of course are at the perfect apex of a variety of events that make bicycling more fun/smart/worth it than ever. Global warming, obesity, congestion, smog, asthma, high price of gas. You name it, it all points to one thing, get on your bike people!

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