Sharing the Road: Optimizing Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety and Vehicle Mobility

If you've got a few hours to spare, check out Sharing the Road: Optimizing Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety and Vehicle Mobility a report released by MDOT late in April. At 197 pages it's a pretty wild ride. I haven't been able to get through much more than the executive summary in Part 1 and the Best Design Practices in Part 6, but from what I have been able to glean, roundabouts are objectively awesome. Here are some choice cycling facts from the report:

Youth (ages 5-15) involvement in bicycle crashes in Michigan is higher than national statistics: 32.4% compared to 26.8%.That means nearly one-third of all young people in Michigan are involved in a bicycle crash and one-forth of those (25.3%) are fatal/serious.

In all other age classifications, Michigan’s rate is lower than the national data, except for those 65-74 years old.

Men are involved in 81% of all fatal bicycle crashes in Michigan. Bicycle crash locations are nearly evening spilt between intersections and non-intersections (49% to 51%).

Despite the perceived safety of a signalized intersection, almost half of all fatal and serious injury bicycle accidents (48.9%) took place at signalized intersections.

More than half of all fatal/serious injury bicycle accidents took place on two-lane roads (56.6%), followed by five-lane (13.8%); four-lane (12.9%) and three-lane (9.7%).

Together, 25 and 30 mph streets (neighborhood and downtown streets) accounted for 75.5% of all bicycle crashes, but the majority of fatal bicycle crashes took place on streets/roads with a speed limit of 45 mph or greater even though they comprised only 19% of the crashes.

Between 3:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m., 27.2% of fatal and serious bicycle crashes took place, followed by 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. (21.8%); and 12:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. (18.5%).

The day of the week made almost no difference for fatal and serious injury bicycle crashes in the 2005-2010 time frame, ranging between a low of 151 on Sundays to a high of 220 on Wednesdays. The average is 192 and the weekday average is 205.2.

More than two-thirds (71.2%) of all fatal and serious injury bicycle accidents took place during daylight hours and 89% where when the pavement was dry.

Alcohol was not involved for the motorist or bicyclist in 70% of the fatal and serious injury crashes.

Pretty interesting. Here are some of the proposed solutions for improving bicycle and pedestrian safety:

Another mustachioed sign

First the umlauted signs now this. When will the madness end?

Primary election time

Gentle readers, the August Primary Election is just over a week away. If you live in Ann Arbor (in any but the Third Ward) you have a contested democratic primary to vote in! Here's a breakdown of the candidates for each race with links to their campaign websites.

First Ward:

Sumi Kailasapathy
Eric Sturgis

Second Ward:

Tony Derezinski (inc.)
Sally Hart Petersen

Third Ward:

Christopher Taylor (inc.) is running unopposed in the Third Ward but may have challengers in the race to replace Carsten Hohnke as most handsome man on City Council this fall.

Fourth Ward:

Margie Teall (inc.)
Jack Eaton

Fifth Ward:

Vivienne Armentrout
Chuck Warpehoski

Over on the Ann Arbor Chronicle, there is a great article breaking down campaign donations for the Ann Arbor City Council primary race. The article has tons of great maps plotting the address' of campaign contributors for each race on a map of the city's 5 Wards.

Check out the above map (courtesy of the Chronicle). It's of campaign contributions for one of the city council races. Each dot represents a contributor's address. Based on the clustering of the contributions, can you guess which race is being mapped?

David Zinn and Sluggo

I finally met Sluggo creator, David Zinn, last Friday. "You're the guy from sluggoonthestreet.tumblr.com." I said attempting the most awkward introduction possible. "Wow, someone actually follows that?" David responded. "I'm one of the 10."

It was pretty cool to see David in action and to see my first drawing of Sluggo in real life.

Previously:

David Zinn, the man behind Sluggo

U of M Solar Car in Ann Arbor

In case you missed it, here's a cool video of the U of M Solar Car team as they passed through Ann Arbor during the American Solar Challenge.

Water Hill Garage Sale today

Looking for a good garage sale? There are 50+ in the Water Hill neighborhood today.

Slick tandem bike

Anonymous food blogger, A2GastroBoy sent in this picture of a sweet tandem cruiser from vacation in Goodhart, MI. Little does he know, this could compromise his nom de plume. Has anyone in Goodhart seen a man riding this bike?

Ask and it shall be given you

You know that problem of when you are at a crowded bar, drinking a beer and have no table or other surface upon which to set aforementioned beer when you have to use the restroom? Personally, I usually end up taking my beer with me to the restroom and then placing the beer precariously on the gently sloping porcelain top of the urinal while I take care of business. This always feels a little uncomfortable because: 1) what if the beer slips off the urinal? and 2) I like to keep my bodily outputs and bodily inputs separated.

Thankfully, Corner Brewery is responding to the requests of its patrons/bathroom vandalizers and installing an above urinal shelf so that people can safely stow their beer during urinal usage. Well done Corner Brewery!

Hat Tip: EJ

Swimsuit at Mark's Carts

Swimsuit, an indie band hailing from Ypsilanti is playing a free show tonight at Mark's Carts. The show runs from 7-9 pm. Here's a little preview of Swimsuit's music which I am really digging at the moment:

Mayer Hawthorne preforms The Walk live at Sonic Lunch

In case you missed it yesterday:

Take Notice

Yesterday evening while I was driving down Wagner I saw a lot of signs written on sheets. They were hanging on the fence M-DOT put up after they evicted Camp Take Notice from their land last month. The pictures aren't great because we almost got rear-ended when we slowed to take them, but you still get the picture.

Show me the way to the next whiskey bar

Ann Arbor finally has a whiskey bar. Mash, opens tonight in the basement of Blue Tractor. Anyone planning on hitting up the opening?

From the looks of the menu, it looks like Mash will be slinging standard priced upscale cocktails. But you don't have to take my word for it:

Mash Menu

Great Lakes surface currents

It's just what you've always wanted: real time visualization of the surface currents on the Great Lakes. Check it out, it's pretty hypnotic.

Hat tip: Dan Katz

Sonic Lunch at the Michigan Theatre today

Due to the inclement weather, today's Sonic Lunch has been moved to the Michigan Theatre. This also might be the most epic concert of the series featuring hometown hero Mayer Hawthorne and indie darlings Lightning Love. I'm pumped. See you there at 11:30.

Exploring Allen Creek

Allen Creek is a tributary of the Huron River that runs more or less along the Ann Arbor Rail Road tracks. Much of Downtown Ann Arbor, Central and South Campus and the west side of town fall within the Allen Creek Watershed. The creek was a major driver of industry in early Ann Arbor. Tanneries, breweries and foundries used Allen Creek for its water. A flower mill located at the mouth of the creek (just below Argo Pond) used the creek to turn a water wheel for power.

Allen Creek became quite polluted because of the industrial activity and open sewers located along its banks. In the 1920s, after floods sent filthy water into nearby neighborhoods, residents petitioned the city to inter the creek. Since 1926, the only place where you can see the Allen Creek is where its cement culvert empties into the Huron River.

One good thing about the drought we're in is that water levels in the Huron River and Allen Creek have been quite low. I took this as a sign from on high that I should go poking around inside Allen Creek. Here are some pictures:

The River is the lowest I have seen it in my life. This makes it easier to approach the mouth of Allen Creek. There are some pretty deep spots still, and reports of northern pike.

Inside the creek's culvert it's quite dark. The culvert starts out about 4m tall and about as wide. The water was about ankle deep but was flowing quite briskly.

A2 Non-moto

The city has a new tumblr highlighting non-motorized transportation in Ann Arbor. Check it out.

Mayer Hawthorne tomorrow at Sonic Lunch

Mayer Hawthorne with special guests Lightning Love. Does it get much better than that? I think not. Details here.

Is this a dragon?

Self avowed Damn Arbor lurker sent in the following picture saying:

Saw this thing hanging outside of Eastern Flame on Ashley--is it a doll?

Well Sam, we sent the image down to our forensic tech team. They just finished enhancing the image and this is what they found:

So it looks like a dragon, or more specifically a dragon-doll.

Supporting both Ward 5 candidates

I know much is made of Midwesterners being polite people, but I really got a kick out of seeing signs supporting both Ward 5 democratic candidates in the same yard. You can find out more about the candidates on their websites. Here's Vivienne's and here's Chuck's.

Stop mustaches

Could someone really be so opposed to mustaches? I doubt it. Maybe this is a prototype of a more hirsute stop sign for deployment in Ypsi.

Cactus Pantry takes on the Art Fair

Wow.

Shadow Art Fair in pictures

So EJ and I made it to our first Shadow Art Fair yesterday. It was pretty freaking great. I finally got to meet a lot of people I've known from the internet in real life. Here's Vinnie Massimino at his Green Screen Improve Troupe booth.

Can't wait to see the final Green Screen Theater Troupe video. If EJ and I are lucky, hopefully, we'll make the final cut. Stay tuned.

I also got to meet the Patrick Elkins. Here he is right before taking the stage with the Rainbow Vomit Family Band.

Shadow Art Fair Today

Gentle readers, are you as excited for Shadow Art Fair as I am? I hope so. I also hope to see you there, at the Corner Brewery.

Potential Shadow Art Fair poster submission by Brian Walline.

Candid Art Fair photos

Local photographer, Philip Painter, has been posting some great candid shots of people at the Art Fair on the tumblr. Check it out.

People never notice anything

I noticed this! Prize please.

Shadow Art Fair: Exquisite Motion Corpse

Here's another preview of some of the bizarre stuff you'll be able to find at Shadow Art Fair tomorrow: Exquisite Motion Corpse. The dudes behind it are also Kickstartin' to raise funds to make an app. Check that out here. Also, there rumors that Corner Brewery will unveil a special Shadow Brew tomorrow.

Previously:

Shadow Art Fair preview

Pretty Fire at Mix Studio Theater

Is Washtenaw County experiencing a golden age to theater? Seems like we are getting press releases from a different theater companies every few weeks. Anyway, if you are looking to take in a play this weekend, or get out of Ann Arbor, you can check out Threefold Production's Pretty Fire. The play, which was written by Tony nominee Charlayne Woodard, and follows a woman's struggle to find her voice in a small suburb of New York during the Civil Rights era. You can read more here. Pretty Fire runs from tonight through the 4th of August at Mix Studio Theater.

Texting for homeless

Quack!Media is teaming up with the Shelter Association of Washtenaw County to run a text to donate campaign. You may have seen some of their posters around town:

You can find out more about the program by checking out this interview on BlogThis!

90's night at Live?

Yes please!

My house!

Under the Radar Michigan featured the Durant a while back. I'll be leaving Flint in a couple weeks, and this is only one of the many things I'll miss.