Other Local Advocacy Groups:

• Centre Region Bicycling Advisory Committee (CRBAC)

Want to go out on longer recreational rides on roads or mountain bike trails?
➡️ Check out our Local Bike Groups and Clubs page.
➡️ CentreBike’s Happy Valley Ride with GPS.
➡️ Purple Lizard Maps
➡️ Local Bike Shops
➡️ Local Government

State Transportation Information

• PA Department of Transportation
• PA Driver’s Manual (pdf)
• PA Vehicle Code (html)
• PA Vehicle Code (pdf)
  Parts of the vehicle code relating to pedalcycles:
  3301(b), 3301(c), 3303(a-3), 3307(b-1), 3331(e), 3336, 3353, 3364(b-2), All of section 35, 3711(b), 4303(a), 4303(c),4537
• PA Bicycle Driver’s Manual
• PA Rails to Trails
• PA Highways Bike Routes

State Bicycling Links

• Allegheny Cycling Association
• Bicycle Access Council
• Bike Pittsburgh
• Blair Bicycle Club
• Coalition for Alternative Transportation
• Lancaster Bike Club
• Lebanon Valley Bicycle Coalition
• Lehigh Valley Velodrome
• The Montour Trail
• PA Interscholastic Cycling League
• Pennsylvania Cycling Association
• Philadelphia Bicycle Coalition
• Western Pennsylvania Wheelmen

Regional Bicycling Links

• Potomac Pedalers Touring Club (D.C.)
• Washington Area Bicyclist Association (D.C.)
• Delaware Bicycle Council (DE)
• Bike Maryland (MD)
• One Less Car (MD)
• New York Bicycling Coalition (NY)
• Bicycle Long Island (NY)
• Transportation Alternatives (NY)
• Ohio Bicycle Federation (OH)
• Bike Miami Valley (OH)
• Virginia Bicycling Federation (VA)

National Bicycling Links

• Adventure Cycling Association
• Cycle America
• Dirt Rag Magazine
• East Coast Greenway
• International Mountain Bicycling Association
• League of American Bicyclists
• National Bicycle Greenway
• USA BMX
• NORBA
• People for Bikes
• Rails to Trails Conservancy
• USA Cycling
• US Bicycle Route System News
• VeloNews

Bicycle Commuting Resources (type “Commuting” in this page’s search box to find local articles)

• Bicyclesource.com Commuting Guide
• Paul Dorn’s Commuting Tips
• Bicyclecommuters.com
• Bicycling Life Commuter Guide

Bicycle Safety Resources

• Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute
• Federal Highway Administration Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Research Page
• Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center

News out of Jefferson County, Colorado is that the Jefferson County Commisioners are hoping to propose state legislation to allow individual counties in that state to ban bikes from roads they deem unsafe for cycling.

As the term “ban” is rather incendiary, they are choosing instead to refer to it as “regulating” and going on to state “We need to look at (laws) that make certain roads in the county (unusable) by bike traffic.” In short, banning bikes from said roads.

An article in the Columbine Courier gives some context for this action:

Griffin said conflicts between cyclists and motorists are a statewide problem and need to be addressed. She added that the scenery along some Jeffco roads, coupled with the technical challenges cyclists love, means the county needs more authority for the sake of safety.

“I can understand that they’d love to have a bike tour in the mountains because of the beauty,” Griffin said. “But they have to understand — we have stacks and stacks of e-mails from citizens that live there (opposing cyclists).”

Griffin’s right — numerous Deer Creek Canyon residents wrote to the commissioners opposing the proposed cycling event. But a lot of supporters also live in the area and wrote to the commissioners, according to a sample of e-mails submitted.

Griffin acknowledges that many county residents are also cyclists who pay to maintain the roads, and that barring them from some roads might not go over well. But safety concerns are paramount for her.

“We want to have people enjoy our mountains and our roads, but we don’t want to have someone killed doing this.”

Of note is the fact that Commisioner Faye Griffin never mentioned what might cause these fatalities and whether or not regulating the cyclists is truly the answer.

Denver’s ABC affiliate has video online regarding this story. Bicycle Colorado is urging some level of restraint on the part of its membership while they and Bike Jeffco work with the commissioners on this issue.

Boulder County saw a “clash” just over a month ago in which a cyclist reportedly spewed obscenities at a driver and his seven year old daughter, then proceeded to punch the driver’s truck. A witness stated otherwise, but greater detail was not available in the Daily Camera article of the event. What was mentioned, however, is that Colorado is set to enact its 3 feet passing law in August.

Beginning Aug. 5, a new state law will require drivers to give cyclists three feet of space when passing, while at the same time giving riders more leeway to cruise in the middle of roadways and ride two-abreast in most situations.

Sheriff Joe Pelle has warned for weeks that tensions between drivers and cyclists have been on the rise, especially in the mountain communities, where the law will almost certainly force drivers to give cyclists more room on the road.

Pelle said that while the weekend incident “doesn’t amount to a crime wave,” it is a sign of the kinds of tensions that he worries about.

“It is indeed troubling, but I don’t know that it is the result of anything new and different,” Pelle said.

The Copenhagenize blog provided commentary on this measure along with what they contend is the flawed logic behind the helmet crusade.

It still boggles the mind how The Socialist People’s Party didn’t bother to do their research. It’s rare to see laws proposed on such a fantastically thin background. The backbone of their proposal was rhetoric and fearmongering. And this from a party that claims to work for increased cycling in Denmark.

Copenhagenize also calls into contention the idea that helmet use promotes cycling, instead showing evidence that the opposite is true.

The Danish Minister of Transport, together with the Ministers of Transport for all the EU countries [The European Council of Ministers of Transport], published a report in 2004 [National Policies to Encourage Cycling] wherein it says, among other things, that:

“…from the point of view of restrictiveness, even the official promotion of helmets may have negative consequences for bicycle use, and that to prevent helmets having a negative effect on the use of bicycles, the best approach is to leave the promotion of helmet wear to manufacturers and shopkeepers.

The report entitled ‘Head Injuries and Helmet Law for Cyclists’ by Dorothy L. Robinson, Bicycle Research report No. 81 (March 1997) shows that the main effect of the introduction of the general helmet law for cyclists in Australia was a drop in bicycle use.”

The balance presented here is one of perceived or actual safety versus the number of active cyclists. If forcing helmet use decreases the number of cyclists, is that requirement actually beneficial? Just a short while ago, we posted a press release stating that helmet use by children could prevent 90,000 head, face, and scalp injuries, but fails to detail the severity of the injuries that typically occur. Would it be worth it to reduce ridership while also reducing injuries or is it better to increase the number of riders while letting people determine their own level of risk aversion?

So what are Australian cyclists in for when in violation?

• $284 or seven days’ prison if property is damaged by a cyclist and the rider does not immediately stop and offer assistance
• $13,610 or prison for 12 months, or both, for dangerous riding
• $681 for careless riding
• $68,052 or five years in prison if a person is killed or seriously injured by a cyclist and the rider does not immediately stop and offer assistance

A report released today by the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health reveals that in areas where no bicycle helmet laws exist, nearly one-half of children, ages 4-17, never wear a helmet.

“These statistics underscore the importance of helmet laws to help prevent death and injury from children not wearing helmets while riding their bikes,” says Matthew Davis, M.D., director of the National Poll on Children’s Health. “Yet only twenty one states have helmet use laws for children.”

Data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration indicate universal bicycle helmet use by children, ages 4-15, would prevent about 40,000 head injuries and about 50,000 scalp and face injuries every year.

While the poll shows helmet use is better in areas where helmet laws exist (54 percent of parents report their children always wear a helmet while riding a bike), the poll also measured adults’ awareness of helmet laws in their communities and whether or not they would support new laws if none existed.

Forty-one percent of parents said they were unsure about helmet use laws in their communities. Overall, 86 percent of respondents would support helmet laws for children in their communities.

The poll also shows that other barriers to helmet use exist for some parents whether or not laws exist in their areas. Among parents who report their child never wears a helmet, 32 percent believe they are too expensive. One in two children in the lowest income families making less than $30,000 per year never wear a helmet.

As children age, self concept and image may play a role in their decisions about whether or not they will wear a helmet. Among children who never use helmets, 59 percent of parents report that their children do not like wearing helmets.

“Wearing a bicycle helmet is essentially a health behavior,” Davis says. “It is not yet a fashion statement. For many kids — especially older kids — there is a tension between this healthy behavior and being seen as cool or acceptable by their peers. There is a challenge here for health care providers and public health officials to communicate that wearing a helmet is actually the cool thing to do besides being the healthy thing to do.”

The poll also finds:

• 78 percent of parents report children ages 4-17 ride bicycles.
• 27 percent never wear their helmets while riding their bikes.
• Among children ages 4-11, 53 percent always wear helmet while riding bikes, while only 29 percent of children ages 12-17 always wear helmets while riding bikes.
• In states and communities that have bicycle laws, 54 percent of children 14-17 always wear a helmet, while only 24 percent of children always wear a helmet in places without a bicycle helmet law for children.

“To try to increase helmet use across the country, there are at least three ways we can proceed. One way is to pass more helmet laws,” Davis says. “There is also a group of parents out there who really want their children to wear helmets but can’t afford them. We should be better at sharing information about the very successful state and local programs that provide free or cheap helmets for kids. The third opportunity here is to change how families view helmets in terms of how important it is to use them regularly. That is going to be perhaps the toughest because it involves communicating the benefits of the health behavior and really trying to make a longstanding difference in the attitudes of parents and in the communities that may not yet be on board with the use of bicycle helmets.”

Source: C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health

The initial report states that extension will feature an off lane bike path (likely similar to the existing Science Park Road path). Also noted was that Benner/Spring rail-trail and Millbrook Marsh bikeway projects were also in consideration.

FERGUSON TOWNSHIP — The township has captured a $3 million state grant to extend Old Gatesburg Road from Science Park Road to Blue Course Drive.

The money, the full amount applied for by the township, is the 80 percent state match of the estimated $3.7 million it will take to extend the two-lane road for the additional three-fourths of a mile. The township pays the rest.

The new township road will go through land owned by John Imbt that is in the planning stages for development into a mixed-use commercial and residential neighborhood. A traffic study is now in the works, and the township expects a master plan next month.

The undeveloped land north of the Imbt tract between Science Park Road and Blue Course Drive is Circleville Farm, for which development plans are less advanced.

Township public works director David Modricker said the Old Gatesburg Road extension is scheduled to be bid early next year and completed by year’s end.

The $3 million award to Ferguson was one of 80 transportation projects valued in all at $76 million announced across the state by Gov. Ed Rendell in the Pennsylvania Community Transportation Initiative and Safe Rides to Schools programs.

The award was one of four projects awarded in a 12-county central region of the state. The other three awards were valued in all at $1 million. The Ferguson project is

one of 12 projects in Centre County that were candidates for PCTI money, according to a Centre County Metropolitan Planning Organization list of candidate projects.

The other Centre County projects, according to the MPO list, included a $3.4 million application from State College for downtown streetlights and expansion, a $2 million application from Philipsburg for a downtown streetscape project, $2 million for a rail-trail project in Benner and Spring townships, and Penn State applications for a Millbrook Marsh bikeway and a University Park Airport control tower valued together at $3.8 million.

Modricker, asked to explain the township’s success, said the township, in applying five months ago, got letters of support from state Sen. Jake Corman, RBenner Township, and state Reps. Scott Conklin, D-Rush Township, and Mike Hanna, D-Lock Haven.

He said the program requirements included a con-text- sensitive design, quality-of- life improvements, town center development and an enhanced road network.

“As soon as I heard what the criteria were for the grant, I immediately thought of Old Gatesburg Road,” he said. “It just fit with everything they were looking for.”

PennDOT spokesman Rich Kirkpatrick said the projects were picked on merit. “Ferguson Township had a good Smart Transportation project and that was why they were picked,” he said.

Modricker said plans for the new road include at least one bus stop with a pulloff area and shelter. A sidewalk will parallel the road on one side and an off-lane bike path on the other. Curbing and a road spur for the extension were built into Blue Course Drive during construction six years ago.

I am often asked, “Why do you love bicycles?” For a few reasons, but mostly because I am in love with self-propulsion and self-motivation. I love finding solutions to problems and I want to leave the world in better condition than when I arrived. For too long we’ve behaved as if the resources of our world are infinite. They are not. They are finite. The disappearing species around the globe should be a canary in the coal mine for all of us.

Have you ever been witness to a baby’s first steps? The open mouth smile and the parents, with arms outstretched, as the child wobbles into their waiting arms. With each step the child builds confidence and ventures further out into the world. I don’t remember my first steps, but I remember the first time I found my balance and pedaled away from my father as he let go of the seat of my first bike. I remember. My heart seemed to stop and I gasped for breath. Balance. More than just a word, a metaphor.

The bicycle provides a greater sense of self-propulsion because it can carry us further and faster than our feet. At some point during the mid 19th century, during the height of the industrial revolution, the love of two-wheeled transportation began to catch hold in different corners of the world. Since that time there have been countless shapes and forms. But each design provides the rider with the same freedom that the first model gave its operator, the ability to get from one place to another quickly and in style.

Sometimes I feel like I am flying when I ride my bike. It’s exciting to turn a corner and suddenly find myself in a sea of other bicyclists. They seem to share this feeling of self-empowerment. In love with the knowledge that, as they pass through the air that surrounds them, they are not polluting what we all share and breathe. Bicyclists are free from the petroleum products that have compromised our global environment. They don’t have to worry about paying for parking, tipping valets, car insurance, car inspections or car maintenance. And this makes them smile. And, as an added bonus, bicyclists are less tense than the people belted into their metal, four-wheeled boxes.

The statistical truth is that 90% of trips made in cars are less than five miles from our homes. A very comfortable journey made on a bicycle. In addition to saving the aforementioned automobile expenses, riding a bike–just a couple hours a week–will reduce a person’s risk of heart attack and stroke by 50%, not to mention reduce the risks of obesity and diabetes, two of the biggest killers in the United States. The more people that ride bikes, the safer it gets to share the road with pedestrians and cars.

Perhaps the best part of choosing a bike instead of a car is what you are saying by pedaling. You are saying to yourself, your friends, your family, and the cars that clog our roads and highways, that you care about the air we breathe and that you care about the environment. You’re saying you want to do something to reduce carbon emissions and that you want to improve your health. This personal and environmental awareness is the legacy that you want to share with your friends and family. You are a person that wants to pose beside your new bicycle instead of a new car. Not to mention how much fun it is to ride. The Zen of bicycling is way cooler than the art of motorcycle maintenance.

Our country has had a long love affair with the automobile. Since its invention, the automobile has provided us with the freedom and liberty we yearned for since we took those first baby steps. The automobile took us further and faster than we could have ever done by self-propulsion. But that speed and distance has brought the world to the edge of extinction. We must now look at the automobile with an understanding of what it really is. We must look at the movies and songs that celebrated the automobile with a new consciousness and awareness. We must look at the automobile as a cigarette–a cancer stick–a nail in our collective coffin. The sexy lifestyle that the tobacco industry sold to us contains the same advertising lies and poison which the automobile industry sold and continues to sell to the world. Look at the ads for automobiles and you’ll begin to recognize the lies. You’ll see open roads with happy smiling drivers. Ask yourself, When was the last time I was NOT stuck in traffic? When was the last time I was not pissed off and stressed out after just a few hours spent driving behind the wheel of a car? The automobile ads always present cars in a setting that is free of traffic and the drivers appear powerful, happy and liberated behind the wheel. Yeah, like that ever happens in the modern world.

Just as tobacco has killed millions with different forms of cancer, the automobile industry and the pollution that has spewed from exhaust pipes ever since Henry Ford’s Model ‘A’ rolled off the assembly line, must be looked upon as a carton of cigarettes and a cancer to civilization. The automobile industry should not be bailed out so it can continue to manufacture the same product. The automobile industry should be transformed into an industry that builds non-combustion engines. They should be given contracts to build new light rail trains that can carry passengers comfortably and safely. And the light rail cars should have bike racks so passengers can get home from commutes too long to be made by bicycle. Imagine how many jobs could be created if the US supported light and heavy rail systems. The car is a mode of transportation that cannot propel itself or our country into the future. The burning of fossil fuels and the internal combustion engine is dead. Raise your glass to self-propulsion! Long live the bicycle.

Trike with a view

Google & VisitBritain poll British public for the best spots for the Street View Trike to visit this summer

We’ve heard from people around the UK that they’d like us to include even more images of our national tourist treasures in Street View and put Britain’s famous landmarks on the map. That’s why we’re giving people a sneak preview of our latest groundbreaking invention – the Google Trike. This mechanical masterpiece comprises 3 bicycle wheels, a mounted Street View camera and a specially decorated box containing image collecting gadgetry. It comes replete with a very athletic cyclist in customised Google apparel.

The Trikes have the same capability as Street View cars for collecting street-level imagery and are designed to help Google make special imagery collections in places less accessible by cars such as historic landmarks.

We can also reveal that we’re polling the British public for suggestions of extra special tourist spots, such as historic castles or famous landmarks, that the trike might visit. Google has teamed up with VisitBritain, with their unrivaled knowledge of Britain’s tourist treasures, to devise 5 categories under which people can submit their ideas. The categories are: Castles, Coastal paths, Natural Wonders, Historic Buildings & Monuments and (Sports) Stadiums. We’ll then work with VisitBritain to choose the most original ideas from each category. The public will then be able to cast their final votes to choose the top 3 locations the Google Trike will visit first.

People can send us their ideas via an online form linked to from: maps.google.co.uk/streetviewinfo As we only collect images from public roads we’ll work closely with the relevant organizations to collect images of privately-owned locations.

Justin Reid, Head of Online Marketing for VisitBritain said:
“We were only too happy to join forces with Google for the UK launch of Street View. The new trike will enable us to showcase even more of Britain’s wonderful destinations and we look forward to some great ideas from the public.”

The trike will be starting in Genoa, Italy where we’ll be making the most of the good weather to collect images. The trike is expected to land on British shores later in the summer.

Due to operational factors such as light levels and the weather (and what could be a pretty tired cyclist), the trike will only be in the UK for a limited time during the summer. Images collected by the trike will be processed and carefully stitched together, a technological process that can take several months. They will be made available at a later date in Street View on Google Maps.

About Street View in UK

Street View is a hugely popular feature of Google Maps which is already available in more than 100 metropolitan areas around the world. It is also available in Google Earth and on Google Maps for Mobile. We launched Street View imagery in UK in April allowing people to view and navigate 360 degree street-level imagery in 25 British towns.

In areas where Street View is available, you can access street-level imagery by zooming into the lowest level on Google Maps, or by dragging the orange “Pegman” icon on the left-hand side of the map onto a blue highlighted street. You can check out a restaurant before arriving, make travel plans, arrange meeting points, get a helping hand with geography homework, or just explore and get to know your town better.

As well as consumers, UK businesses can also benefit from the Street View technology by embedding Google Maps directly into their site for free, helping them to promote a chain of hotels or increase awareness of a local library or restaurant.

Notes to editors

• The trike weighs nearly 18 stone!

• We will use specially trained super fit Google employees and contractors to ride the Trikes.

• The “trikers” wear Google cycle helmets and clothing

• There are 5 categories under which people can submit their ideas. The categories are: Castles, Coastal paths, Natural Wonders, Historic Buildings & Monuments and (Sports) Stadiums.

• We will be accepting suggestions for a limited time and we’ll then work with Visit Britain to choose the most original ideas from each category. The public will then be able to cast their final votes and choose the top 3 locations we’ll try to add to Street View (pending sunny weather).

• As we only collect images from public roads we’ll work closely with the relevant organizations to collect images of privately-owned locations.

• As with all Street View imagery in the UK, we will apply our face-blurring and license plate blurring to all these images to protect people’s privacy. People will be able to report images for removal in the same way as they can now by clicking on ‘report a problem’ on the bottom left hand corner of the image. From here they complete a short form where they indicate the precise image to be removed

Press contact: Laura Scott, press-uk@google.com or 0207 031 3130

A small community in Germany has decided to live a nearly car-free life and are finding success doing so, according to an article in The New York Times.

Street parking, driveways and home garages are generally forbidden in this experimental new district on the outskirts of Freiburg, near the French and Swiss borders. Vauban’s streets are completely “car-free” — except the main thoroughfare, where the tram to downtown Freiburg runs, and a few streets on one edge of the community. Car ownership is allowed, but there are only two places to park — large garages at the edge of the development, where a car-owner buys a space, for $40,000, along with a home.

There is an attempt to establish a similar community outside of Oakland that will provide car-free access to the Bay Area Rapid Transit system but won’t go so far as to ban vehicles altogether.

Sherman Lewis, a professor emeritus at Cal State and a leader of the association, says he “can’t wait to move in” and hopes that Quarry Village will allow his family to reduce its car ownership from two to one, and potentially to zero. But the current system is still stacked against the project, he said, noting that mortgage lenders worry about resale value of half-million-dollar homes that have no place for cars, and most zoning laws in the United States still require two parking spaces per residential unit.

The key to the success of any community of this type lies in the integration of services, a return to the model in which there are neighborhood sources for food, necessities, and recreation. As the car has enabled us to do away with the corner store and as we have all become accustomed to overcoming a smaller selection of goods by simply driving to other sources, it will be quite a challenge for community planners to temper the expectations fostered by 60 years of auto-accessible suburbia.

The New York Times also has some reaction from a variety of urban planners on whether or not such communities could exist in the US.