September 1, 2010 at 10:46 pm by Steven Vance
Filed under Bicycling, Change, London
Via EcoVelo and Noel Hidalgo, the UK’s Telegraph plots (see their chart) rainfall against temperature and the number of Barclays Cycle Hire bikes in use.
The conclusion: When it’s warm and clear, the bikes are in use!
Photo by Charlene Lam.
The most bikes recorded in use over the 4 days for which data is shown was 1,650. If Chicago suddenly had 1,650 new bikers*, it would make the bicycle mode share jump by 11 percent!
*It would be interesting to know exactly how many users of bike sharing programs did not prevoiusly ride a bike. See statistics on Chicago commuting modes on the American Fact Finder, a service of the U.S. Census Bureau.
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July 3, 2010 at 11:26 am by Steven Vance
Filed under Cities, Education, Information, International, London, News, Transportation
In London and Greater London (but not the City of London), when the Metropolitan Police want the public’s help in their investigations of incidents and crimes, including traffic collisions, they erect “Witness Appeal Signs” near the scene.
“We are appealing for witnesses.” Singapore also uses these signs.
It seems in 2009, though, the Metropolitan Police banned the use of the signs except for traffic collisions. Some research indicated that the public perceived that, due to the presence of the signs, crime in the neighborhood was increasing. The Daily Mail article quoted one officer to say:
“They were placed where the crimes actually happened, so were very much targeted at people who might have seen something. Now that source of information has been cut off…”
The signs are placed and designed in such a way to be seen by people walking, biking, and driving near the scene of the incident.
![Array](http://farm1.static.flickr.com/99/4086732358_c8ea819d92_m.jpg "Martha was killed by a driver in a purple 4-door sedan for which police are still searching. If you have any information, please call police at 911, or The Martha Gonzalez Memorial Committee at 312-203-4986. There's a reward for information that leads to the conviction of the driver.
Pedestrian fatalities in the past 30 days:
-Martha Gonzalez, Tuesday, October 13th, 1700 S Halsted Street. Driver at large.
-Larry Nelson, Saturday, October 17th, 1100 S Cicero Avenue. Driver at large.
-Kim Brown (pregnant), 50 N Kostner Avenue (her child was delivered via Caesarean section but died). Driver (James Cox) arrested and charged with aggravated driving under the influence.
-Rachel Gilliam, Sunday, November 1st, 4300 N Lincoln Avenue. Driver at large.
Total: 6 people (that I know about!)
Pedestrian injuries recently:
-Three teenagers (most likely UIC students), Saturday, September 26th, 1220 S Halsted Street (right across from James Stukel Towers dormitory). Driver at large.
Please read what Tom Vanderbilt is <a href=\"http://www.slate.com/id/2234011/pagenum/all/\" rel=\"nofollow\">writing about jaywalking on Slate</a>.
My title is modeled after Streetsblog's "<a href=\"http://www.streetsblog.org/category/the-weekly-carnage/\" rel=\"nofollow\">The Weekly Carnage</a>" posts that list all the collisions and deaths involving motor vehicles.")
How effective is this small sign posted on a pole compared to a bright Witness Appeal Sign in London?
I suggest that American police departments, Chicago’s included, look into installing similar signs for the most severe traffic collisions, starting with a bilingual “witness appeal sign” for the hit & run crash in Pilsen that killed Martha Gonzalez.
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