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The National Highway System (NHS) needs to be safe for bicyclists. Most bicyclists will never ride on what they consider a “highway,” but the National Highway System includes many arterial streets where bicyclists regularly ride. In 2013, 157 of the 743 bicyclist fatalities (21%) reported by NHTSA were on the National Highway System despite the National Highway System accounting for only about 4% of all public roads. Please join us in supporting the efforts of the National Complete Streets Coalition to ensure that the Federal Highway Administration provides engineers with the proper tools to ensure that the National Highway System is safe for everyone, including bicyclists. Learn more about the need for action in the blog below.
New technology is coming for our roads, but what does that mean for you? It is hard to know what to think of self-driving cars, connected cars, and new safety technologies that augment the abilities of vehicle drivers. Last year, we asked on social media whether automated cars will increase or decrease safety for people who bike and walk – and most people said they didn’t have enough information to know. Thankfully, Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-IL) has introduced the “Future Transportation Research and Innovation for Prosperity Act” or Future TRIP Act. The Future TRIP Act directs the Secretary of Transportation to establish an Automated and Connected Vehicle Research Initiative.
One of the most frequently asked questions we get these days is whether our work at the Congressional level is relevant and valuable to local cyclists. Tuesday evening in the House of Representatives we got an important part of the answer to that question. Without any warning, there was a vote to eliminate funding for projects that make new transit systems safer and more accessible for bicyclists and pedestrians.
Where did your city get the money for the bike lane on Main Street or the PSA campaign to educate motorists about the rights of bicyclists? It very well could have come from the federal transportation bill. And that funding is running out. The federal transportation bill is the source of a hundreds of millions of dollars that municipal, county and state governments use for biking and walking projects in their communities. Where do those federal dollars come from? The Highway Trust Fund, which relies predominantly on the federal gas tax. But the Trust Fund is in trouble. We’ve been spending more than we’ve been bringing in.
Scores of you have already declared: I Bike, I Vote. With Election Day just a week away, join us in recognizing that bikes bring us together, uniting us across political lines for a common bipartisan goal: Building a bicycle friendly America for everyone. Whether or not you bike to your polling place on election day, you are a citizen cyclist — and your values for safer streets makes a difference no matter who’s on the ballot.
Under current law people who drive to work get almost twice the parking benefit as transit riders get for transit. It’s time for Congress to respect ALL commuters. Starting this past January, transit benefits slipped from $245 a month to $130, and parking benefits increased from $245 to $250. Meanwhile, the bike benefit stayed at $20 a month — but under a current bill in the U.S. House of Representatives, the bike benefit would be repealed all together.
Even when you ride alone, you’re part of something bigger. Every time you get on your bike you make your community — your country — better. Bikes bring us together, uniting us across political lines for a common bipartisan goal: Building a bicycle friendly America for everyone. Whether or not you bike to your polling place on election day, you are a citizen cyclist — and your values for safer streets makes a difference no matter who’s on the ballot.
Our campaign for a national bicycle and pedestrian safety goal got an important boost last week in the House of Representatives, thanks to Congressman Mike Quigley of Illinois. Representative Quigley is not only a bike commuter in his hometown of Chicago and his adopted town of Washington, D.C., but he also sits on the important Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) Appropriations Committee.
Your comments and visits are making a difference on Capitol Hill. At the National Bike Summit this March and throughout the spring, you’ve helped to push the U.S. Department of Transportation to create a national goal to reduce bicyclist fatalities. If you’ve haven’t added your voice to this important campaign, please take action today!
The U.S. Department of Transportation has just released proposed safety measures that have no goal, no accountability and no attempt to reduce the 16% of all fatal crashes that include people who walk and bike. Your comments count: Tell US DOT that we can’t turn a blind eye to the 45,000 bicyclists injured and 5,000 cyclists and pedestrians killed on our roadways each year — we must have a national goal to make biking and walking a safe transportation option.