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Biking & walking safety education bill on home stretch

May 31, 2018 | by Active Trans

Every day in Illinois, an average of 5 kids are hit by drivers of motor vehicles within one block of a school, and more are hit beyond the school zones. A bill that would help address this tragic daily occurrence while encouraging more walking and biking has passed the Illinois Senate and now heads to Governor Bruce Rauner for approval. The Bike Walk Education in Schools Act (HB4799) requires K-8 schools to provide biking and walking safety education. Illinois’ School Code requires automobile safety education, but currently there isn’t a requirement for providing instruction on how to bike and walk safely. State lawmakers have heard from hundreds of people who support this bill. Kudos to Rep. Sonya Harper and Sen....

Tags: Advocacy, Bicycling, Education, Walking

Free-floating car-sharing program should be welcomed in Chicago

Mar 22, 2018 | by Active Trans

The free-floating car-sharing pilot program passed by Chicago City Council could help residents who don’t own a car get around and encourage more people to live car-free or car-lite lifestyles.Unlike Zipcar and Enterprise CarShare, free-floating carshare companies like car2go don’t require users to pick up and drop off the vehicles in a fixed location for a set period of time. The cars can be parked in any legal spot within a designated zone and reservations aren’t required.The ordinance introduced by 1st Ward Ald. Joe Moreno would set up a nine-month pilot program starting in May 2018. One vendor chosen by the city would be permitted to deploy up to 500 vehicles in designated “home area.”The proposed area includes all of...

Tags: Advocacy, Bicycling, Chicago Central, Chicago North Side, Education, Planning, transit, Walking

2017 traffic fatality totals at MPAC

Mar 1, 2018 | by Active Trans

At the most recent Mayor’s Pedestrian Advisory Council (MPAC) meeting, the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) provided a sobering overview of all the traffic fatalities in Chicago from 2017. While there were no downtown pedestrian fatalities, the West, Northwest, and South Sides all saw a slight increase in pedestrian fatalities, almost all of which fell in the Vision Zero identified "high crash areas." All six cycling fatalities happened on the West side and five of those were in a designated "high crash area."CDOT representatives also provided an overview of Vision Zero West Side outreach efforts. Four Vision Zero West Side staff members attended 225 events and contacted 7,750 people to collect input and share information about traffic safety over the course...

Tags: Chicago West & Southwest Side, Education, Walking

Active Trans to award legal firm at event

Feb 28, 2018 | by Active Trans

It’s not easy for nonprofits to navigate the complex maze of local, state and federal laws that govern their organizations without the help of attorneys. And those legal services can get pricey for grassroots nonprofits with limited resources. Luckily, that’s something Active Transportation Alliance doesn’t have to worry about. Active Trans benefits from pro bono legal services provided by Kelley Drye & Warren LLP’s Chicago office. The international law firm’s generous legal advice helps Active Trans stay focused on its mission while giving Kelley Drye a fascinating inside look at how the nonprofit works to improve walking, bicycling and public transit in Chicago.As a result of the firm’s outstanding legal assistance to Active Trans for the past four years, we will...

Tags: Advocacy, Bicycling, Education, Walking

State platform prioritizes transit funding and IDOT reform

Feb 20, 2018 | by Active Trans

Active Trans has released its 2018 Illinois Sustainable Transportation Platform for the upcoming primary and general elections for governor and state legislature. The platform is based on input from Active Trans members, partner organizations, board, and staff.The platform features specific action items to achieve progress on three core goalsDedicate funding to sustainable transportation projectsReform state transportation policy to take a more multimodal approachChampion transformational projectsHighlights include calling on leaders to establish a new Bike-Walk Fund in the state’s annual budget; restoring and, ultimately, growing state support for public transit operations and capital projects; and reforming IDOT policies to support building more and better biking and walking facilities on state routes.The platform also calls on state leaders to advance a vision...

Tags: Advocacy, Bicycling, Chicago North Side, Chicago South Side, Chicago West & Southwest Side, Education, Lakefront Trail, North Suburbs, South Suburbs, Walking, West Suburbs

Expedia to be honored at 2018 Awards Reception

Feb 13, 2018 | by Active Trans

Chicago is still entrenched in the grip of winter. But Todd Scales is already thinking about the summer. The director of technology of the Android team at Egencia, which is an Expedia company, is hard at work planning bicycling activities and events that he hopes will not only strengthen the bicycling culture at Expedia, but also get employees pumped about the Bike Commuter Challenge, Active Transportation Alliance’s annual biking competition in June.To honor the hard work of Scales and his colleagues, Expedia will be receiving Active Trans’ Business Leadership Award at our 2018 Awards Reception on March 7. As coordinator of the Bike Expedia affiliate group in Expedia’s Chicago office, Scales volunteers his time to manage the company’s bicycling programs, including participation...

Tags: Advocacy, Bicycling, Education, Events

Chicago police must respond to racial disparity in bike ticketing

Feb 12, 2018 | by Jim Merrell

In a follow-up story on a report that first appeared last spring, the Chicago Tribune today published an analysis showing stark disparities in the number of bike related citations issued in African American neighborhoods. The report states that "about 56 percent of all bike tickets were issued in majority black neighborhoods, compared with 24 percent in Latino neighborhoods and 18 percent in white neighborhoods, according to Chicago police statistics. Blacks, Latinos and whites each make up about a third of the city’s residents, according to the U.S. Census." Unfortunately, we are not surprised there was no significant shift in the pattern of bike-related citations. The disparity in where these tickets are being issued strongly suggests they are not primarily about...

Tags: Advocacy, Bicycling, Chicago South Side, Chicago West & Southwest Side, Education

Stay informed with the Mayor’s Bicycle Advisory Council

Dec 19, 2017 | by Active Trans

The Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) organizes and chairs the Mayor’s Bicycle Advisory Council (MBAC), which meets quarterly at city hall, and is open to the public. The meetings are a great way to stay informed on CDOT projects and learn about new initiatives and improvements to infrastructure around the city. The most recent session, which convened last week, started with the sobering statistics of fatalities of people riding bikes. There have been six fatalities year to date, according to the Chicago Department of Police. Next, Rosanne Lubeck, the Vision Zero Coordinator, gave an update on the progress the Vision Zero West Side Outreach team has accomplished in 2017. She highlighted the truck side guard rail ordinance as a win for the Vision...

Tags: Advocacy, Bicycling, Chicago North Side, Chicago South Side, Chicago West & Southwest Side, Education, Lakefront Trail

Books for young readers

Dec 18, 2017 | by Active Trans

There is something exquisite about children’s books, in the lean, sometimes wry, prose and magical illustrations. I knew this, of course, before becoming a parent. What I didn’t expect was the variety of books for young children that celebrate bicycling and public transit. As 2017 winds down and the winter holidays and gift giving begin, I wanted to share some of my family’s favorites.My son’s first favorite book was Bus Stops, by Taro Gomi. He was only a few months old when my husband and I discovered this board book at 57th Street Books, but he would gurgle with pleasure as the bus winded through the suburbs, through downtown, and then back through the ‘burbs. The magic of Bus Stops lies in...

Tags: Advocacy, Bicycling, Education, Walking

Proposed distracted walking ordinance misses real problem

Nov 9, 2017 | by Active Trans

The distracted walking ordinance proposed by Ald. Burke and Beale at Wednesday’s City Council meeting misdiagnoses the problem contributing to traffic deaths involving people walking.The ordinance proposes fining people who are crossing the street while using a mobile device “in a manner that averts their visual attention to that device.” The fine would be $90 for the first offense and $500 for the second.Active Trans encourages everyone on our streets to travel safely, but fining people who are legally crossing in the crosswalk – no matter what they’re doing – would not make our streets safer. People walking are at risk because of careless drivers and poorly designed streets, and that should be the focus. The law already requires cars...

Tags: Advocacy, Bicycling, Education, Planning, transit, Walking

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