St. Joseph Bicycle News

A map showing the St. Joseph to Weston Bicycle and Pedestrian Byway.

Link to the map in 3D Google Earth coming soon. permanent link to article: "St. Joseph to Weston Route"
posted by W Revels at 9:40 PM |comment on this article

SMMTF.7.19.07.ppt permanent link to article: "Quad States, St. Joseph/Weston Route"
posted by W Revels at 11:23 PM |comment on this article

By Ray Thomas, Portland Bike Lawyer

The 2007 Oregon Legislature passed HB 3314, creating an enhanced penalty for careless driving if it contributes to serious physical injury or death to a “vulnerable user of a public way”, and will go into effect January 1, 2008. The purpose of this article is to discuss the Vulnerable User legal concept and its potential for improvement in safety for non-motorized roadway users such as bicyclists and pedestrians. In the Winter 2007 edition of Oregon Cycling, I wrote about the need for enhanced protection for vulnerable roadway users. See “Injuries And Law Reform”.

“Vulnerable Roadway User”: A European Safety Concept

The concept of “vulnerable roadway user” has been used by planners and safety organizations in Europe to categorize and describe non-motorized roadway users. The label is a nice one because it incorporates the inherent vulnerability of humans who use the roads without being encased in a protective steel shell. Inclusion of the concept of vulnerability evokes a more sympathetic image and focuses on the shared vulnerability of these different user groups. By including vulnerable users within a single term, the requirement for protection is brought to mind to counterbalance the somewhat natural reaction some people have to improving safety by restricting access, such as by restricting bicycle access to freeways or pedestrian crossings or road access.

No state has ever used the Vulnerable Roadway User concept as a legal term, but for the reasons above stated, the members of the Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA) Legislative Committee felt it could focus the need for enhanced protection of vulnerable user groups ( who are reducing energy consumption and pollution, while improving their own good health and fitness). Since people need to get out of their cars and walk or roll under their own power, some enhanced protection is necessary to get law enforcement and the court system participating in protecting and encouraging kids to walk to school, commuters to ride a bike, and the use of a skateboard or scooter instead of getting a ride or driving a car to run an errand.

It was our view that Oregon law was far too lenient in punishing careless drivers who receive merely a fine and are not even required to make a court appearance after a horrific collision. Some police officers and medical personnel have even been heard to argue that people who choose not to ride in a car should expect to have bad things happen because the roadways are so dangerous. To us, tolerating the status quo was not acceptable – it was time to change the law and create a zone of protection instead of indifference toward those people brave enough to use their bodies to get around.

Political Realities and Difficulties.

When we first introduced the idea of an enhanced penalty for careless drivers who hurt vulnerable users, key legislators told us that any effort to create new crimes and inmates for our already overburdened state court and corrections system would face widespread resistance. Further, our effort to include motorcyclists within the definition of Vulnerable Roadway User was criticized and motorcyclists were then excluded, even though the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) “Motorcylists Matter” campaign was a pioneer in the enhanced penalty area. On the other hand, we were pleased to include highway workers and rural folks moving equipment or astride animals within the definition. See Attached law inset (HB 3314).

It was extremely difficult to create an enhanced penalty when further criminal consequences were not an option, but BTA legislative committee member Doug Parrow tweaked our original language to include a non-criminal alternative of a $12,500 fine (up from $750.00) and a one-year license suspension (no license suspension was previously included in a conviction for Careless Driving). Additionally, to create an inducement for careless drivers to improve their driving skill and pay the community back for their actions, a traffic safety course requirement and 100-200 hours of community service were included as an alternative to the fine and suspension – if the program is successfully completed, then the suspension and fine would be suspended.

While some in the bicycle community saw the penalties as insufficient, we felt it was a great improvement on the status quo. We also added a requirement requested by victim families that careless drivers be required to make a court appearance in front of a judge to face the charges instead of merely sending a check in the mail. Preliminary reviews of our non-criminal alternative by law enforcement personnel were somewhat favorable because it provided an additional charging option. Police officers and prosecutors told us they were sometimes frustrated in serious accident cases because Oregon did not have a vehicular homicide law and its criminally negligent homicide law requires a gross deviation from the standard of care, which is close to a recklessness requirement. The Vulnerable User law provided a way to create real consequences for careless or negligent drivers without sending them to jail.

We quickly learned after legislative hearings on our bill that the testimony of families and victims was critical in creating legislative support. We also discovered that creating a new legal concept within the existing statutory structure required amending a considerable number of other statutes (see the attached statutory inset for the amendments to other statutes). The responsibility for administering the program monitoring careless drivers and supervising community service and any fines or license suspensions also had to be assigned to various agencies. Agency legislative staffers were wary that their departments would be required to take on additional work without receiving any additional staff to perform it. However, our forward-looking attempt to solve the careless driver problem for kids trying to get to school and folks trying to work on the state’s highways contributed substantially to rounding up agency representatives willing to help us figure out how to operate the program without costing the state a lot of money. Because we were doing something that had never been, the committee staff and the Legislative Counsel’s office were required to draft and study multiple amendments, so that by the time the Bill wound its way through the legislature it had been amended at least eleven different times, a record in our experience.

Conclusion

When HB 3314 goes into effect January 1, 2008, we will see how effective it is in creating real consequences for bad-driver collisions. We hope that law enforcement will respond to our law by increasing their protective attitude toward kids trying to walk to school and folks trying to ride a bike instead of driving. Before the vulnerable Roadway User law was passed, Oregon law provided only minor consequences for careless driving that really hurt someone. After our law passed the Legislature, a well-known local bicyclist was killed by a driver with a suspended license, and some folks in the bicycle community felt that we had not gone far enough in protecting the state’s riders.

We felt, however, that given the constraints of the political process, we had made a good first step by incorporating a European safety concept into the American legal system, with an enhanced penalty mandating either community service and driver-improvement education, or a substantial fine and a mandatory one-year license suspension. While the Vulnerable User law will likely be challenged in court, we hope it is a good first step toward creating greater consequences for drivers who fail to give Vulnerable Roadway Users their right to use the road.

In the next legislative session we hope to introduce a Vehicular Homicide crime that would include situations where a motorist continues to drive even with a suspended license, as the Vulnerable User penalty will do little to punish someone who has no driver’s license and no money to pay the fine. One underlying problem for American safety activists is that over the last 40 years citizens have been encouraged by media and the government to believe that driving a car is a right instead of a privilege. The percentage of serious injury or death collisions caused by suspended and unlicensed drivers is unacceptable and should provide a basis for passage of additional criminal consequences in order to get these drivers off of the streets.

permanent link to article: "New Laws For Motorists"
posted by W Revels at 8:00 PM |comment on this article

Greetings All,

It was truly great seeing all of you this evening and I thank you for showing your support.

Quite often now, Ill be sending emails that include press releases or making announcements to a much larger group than the original Quad States St. Joseph Google Group. The Google Group worked for a while but unless one is a member of the group one does not receive posts made on the site. So Ive expanded the coverage by posting information on a page here at the Missouri Bicycle Federation website. Rather than reaching a few people each week now news and information pertinent to Quad States Trails of St. Joseph Inc. and Saint Michaels Meadow Trail Foundation Inc. are reaching thousands of people. This is easier than composing several emails to several different individuals, groups and organizations. I can refer people to a page having much greater exposure. The posts will also include graphs and pictures rather than text only. Ill be forwarding information to the St. Joseph Bicycle Club also as they have expressed an interest. The St. Joseph Bicycle Club is an established group in St. Joseph who have blazed paths around St Joseph’s streets and Buchanan County’s highways for many years. Some of which include head-on collisions and t-bones with unwitting automobile drivers seemingly unaware that a 2K pound moving object made of metal and plastic could cause severe injury or death upon contact when striking a bicycler or pedestrian.

The meeting tonight was not structured and no official agenda was discussed because I knew there were people coming to hear about the Tour of Missouri and there just isnt too much to tell at this time. The March 5^t meeting bringing all the LOC committees together in Jefferson City will provide more information. Quad States Trails of St. Joseph, Inc. meets on the Third Thursday of each month at City Hall on the first floor next to the elevators.

In March, along with updates from the St. Joseph Stage LOC for the Tour of Missouri, I'll include a power point presentation showing the bike/ped byway that will connect us with Kansas City and North to Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska. This will be a larger and detailed version of the power point presentation I gave last June defining the various regional and multi state trail and byway projects that cross this area and how Quad States Trails of St. Joseph fits into this plan.

Brent Hugh announced the Missouri Bicycle Federation's 10 year plan this week to develop a world class bicycle pedestrian plan for Missouri. Quad States Trails of St. Joseph Inc., and Saint Michael's Meadow Trail Foundation, Inc. will follow this plan of development. I was recently elected a Board Member of the Missouri Bicycle Federation at the last MBF meeting and will be working closely with Brent Hugh in this program. I think a ten year plan is feasible for St. Joseph to develop a network of paths and byways people can use to get from point to point by using self-powered forms of transportation. Safely. If you want to get involved in this program please contact me.

Two bills were introduced this week at the House. The ,Safe Streets, house bill 2205 and the ,Complete the Streets, bill 2206. The following are links to the internet :

http://www.house.mo.gov/billtracking/bills081/biltxt/intro/HB2205I.htm

http://www.house.mo.gov/billtracking/bills081/biltxt/intro/HB2206I.htm

I'll be announcing the hard surface path that will connect Weston and St. Joseph this up-coming month. We have a map of the bicycle pedestrian byway completed and are ready to publish it. A bike/ped group from Kansas City Metro and Saint Michael’s Meadow Trail Foundation, Inc. will be working together to complete the hard surface byway from Kansas City through Platte County to St. Joseph. If you want to get involved in this program please contact me.

Thanks again for all your support this year and I hope to see all of you more this year.

Wes Revels
President, Quad States Trails of St. Joseph, Inc.
President, Saint Michael’s Meadow Trail Foundation, Inc.
Board Member, Missouri Bicycle Federation

permanent link to article: "Quad States Trails of St. Joseph, Inc. Meeting"
posted by W Revels at 12:34 AM |comment on this article

Earlier this week the first route proposal for day one of the Tour of Missouri was released. Although only in the preliminary stage of development, the route begins at the City Hall in St. Joseph across from the famous Pony Express statue in City Hall Park. The famous Statue originally sculpted by Hermon Atkins MacNeil and dedicated in 1940 celebrates the legacy of the First attempt to transport postage from locations east of the Mississippi river in the 1860s to the West Coast of the United States Territory and California.

The proposed route then travels along much of St. Joseph's park system before heading to Weston and Platte City on its way to Kansas City. Actual routes for the Tour of Missouri will be released in later May or June. Weston, Missouri, the oldest settlement west of the Mississippi river incorporated in the mid 1830s and originally called "West Town". Famous frontiersmen such as William "Buffalo" Bill Cody were residents of Weston. Much of the original town still exists as it was in the mid 1800s and is a favorite tourist waypoint in the area.

Click on the following link to view the proposed route.
http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/mo/saint-joseph/639661895

St. Joseph's City Commissioners and city management are excited about the Tour of Missouri coming to St. Joseph. There is even talk of a permanent start point being constructed for future road and track events for bicycle racing and triathlons. St. Joseph has a long heritage being one of the earliest departing points to cross the Missouri river en route to the California and Oregon territories in the mid 1800s.

St. Joseph is currently in the development stages creating a North/South corridor to connect the Katy Trail with existing trails in Iowa and Nebraska. Quad States Trails of St. Joseph, Inc. and Saint Michael's Meadow Trail Foundation, Inc. are leading the effort. The corridor will be a hard paved scenic byway and follow parallel to the Missouri River traveling through the bluff hills that line the river.

St. Joseph has an active bicycle club. The St. Joseph Bicycle Club conducts meetings on the third Tuesday each month at the Rolling Hills Library on the Belt Hwy. Everyone is invited to all group rides on Saturdays and Sundays at 8:00AM meeting at Bode Middle School. There are also group rides on Sunday's at 2:00PM. Their web site can be found at: http://www.stjoebikeclub.org/ . Check their newsletter "The Seat Post" for a calendar of scheduled events each month.


The following are a few news links:
Cycling TV: http://cycling.tv/
http://cycling.tv/race-information/tour_of_missouri
VeloNews: http://www.velonews.com/
Big Shark Cycling: http://bigshark.com/page.cfm?PageID=22
2008 Tour of Missouri: http://tourofmissouri2008.com/
Wikipedia.org, Tour of Missouri: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tour_of_Missouri
Cycling News.com: http://www.cyclingnews.com/
Missouri Bicycle Federation, Tour of Missouri 2008: http://mobikefed.org/tourofmissouri/
VeloNorth.Ca (MTB News): http://www.velonorth.ca/index.php
Heartland Challenges: http://www.heartlandrace.com/
USA Cycling Pro Championships: http://www.usacyclingchampionships.com/index.php
2008 Amgen Tour of California: http://www.amgentourofcalifornia.com/
2008 Tour of Georgia: http://www.tourdegeorgia.com/index.php
Union Cycliste Internationale: http://www.uci.ch/templates/UCI/UCI5/layout.asp?MenuId=MTYxNw
USA Cycling: http://www.usacycling.org/

Related:

TourOfMO: Tour of MO report--from 2nd place GC winner

TourOfMO: First Proposed Route for Stage 1 St. Joseph to Kansas City

permanent link to article: "First proposed route for the Tour of Missouri St. Joseph to Kansas City"
posted by W Revels at 2:15 AM comment on this article permanent link to article: "First Proposed Route for the Tour of Missouri St. Joseph to Kansas City"
posted by W Revels at 3:10 AM |comment on this article

The Route begins at City Hall in St. Joseph and heads for the park way north before heading south to Hyde Park and south out of town through the bluff hills between St. Joseph and Weston before heading to Platte City and south to Parkville.

permanent link to article: "Proposed Route for the Tour of Missouri St. Joseph to Kansas City"
posted by W Revels at 1:32 PM |comment on this article

Contact: Wesley Revels
Telephone: 816-279-4239
Email: ws2mbrev@stjoelive.com FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
QUAD STATES TRAILS - ST. JOSEPH, MEETS FOR THE FIRST TIME.
A local group met for the first time Thursday evening April 5th to organize and begin planning
and development of hike/bike trails in northwest Missouri to connect existing trails in Missouri,
Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska. The meeting was lead by St. Joseph resident Chris Dunn. Among
items discussed on the agenda was the groups mission and statement of purpose which is to
advocate the preservation, planning and development of Trails and Greenways by connecting
waypoints in urban and rural areas. The groups purpose is also to enhance community
environments by promoting healthy lifestyles through education and actions that ensure
responsible stewardship.
The term Greenway is used to describe a network of paths used to connect or link parks,
recreational areas, nature reserves, commercial areas, civic amenities, cultural institutions and
historic sites to each other. Greenways are linear spaces established along natural corridors such
as streams and rivers, or along developed corridors such as railroad right-of-ways converted for
recreational use or abandoned or minimum use roadways. Wesley Revels, the groups president
said in the creation of the groups mission statement that, Greenways encourage recreation as
well as interaction and provide social, economic and environmental benefits to residents who live
in and around their routes. Linear trails and Greenways connecting urban areas with natural
scenic hike/bike trails change undeveloped or unsightly rural and urban decay into inviting and
popular places to visit. Communities become more livable and walkable. Trails and Greenways
attract visitors, businesses and residents. Studies show that economic growth is stimulated,
property values increase, tax bases stabilize, new businesses develop, citizens and
neighborhoods connect, open space is preserved, and healthier lifestyles are encouraged.
Trails and Greenways also promote concrete efforts to make outdoor activities more accessible
to those who otherwise would not be able to experience nature and the outdoors in ways many
take for granted., said Wesley Revels.
The Quad States Trail will eventually connect urban and rural scenic areas from the Katy Trail in central Missouri to the Wabash Trace Trail in Iowa and the Cowboy Trail in Nebraska creating a network of hike/bike trails extending more than 700 miles for green recreational use.
You can view the groups website at http://groups.google.com/group/quadstatestrailsstjosephmo.
The Quad States movement is sponsored by Ross Greathouse of the Nebraska Trail
Foundation/Greathouse Associates Ltd. You can contact Wesley Revels through the group’s
website.
# # #
END
If you would like more information about this topic or schedule an interview with Wesley Revels
please call him at 816-279-4239 or email at ws2mbrev@stjoelive.com permanent link to article: ""
posted by W Revels at 5:45 AM |comment on this article

First post to the Quad-States Trail of St. Joseph news page!

You can read the group's email list or join their email group here. permanent link to article: "First post!"
posted by Brent Hugh at 8:42 PM |comment on this article