Case against motorist who struck cyclist in Vienna

The saga of the motorist who was alleged to have intentionally struck a cyclist with his vehicle continues. The cyclist was riding on Maple Ave. in Vienna. We attended the court hearing once again this morning. This is the third scheduled hearing for this case. It was delayed in October and November and there was supposed to be "one more postponement" that was scheduled for today.

After sitting through around 75 cases, the case against the motorist, John Thorpe of Bristow, was the last one called. Once again the bicyclist did not appear although there were two witnesses present. After discussing the case with the Town Attorney, the aggressive driving charge was amended to reckless driving. The Town Attorney will move to null process the assault charge. Null process means that the prosecutor will take no further action on the charge.

There is a hearing scheduled for April 1 on the aggressive driving charge. The presence of witnesses was waived. Without any witnesses for the prosecution, there won't be much of a case. The lesson here is that if you're going to seek charges against a motorist, you've got to follow through and be willing to appear in court. Otherwise it's a waste of everyone's time.

Regarding the other cases heard this morning, most were for speeding that resulted in fines. Three DWI cases were heard. According to Judge Michael Cassidy, the maximum penalties were $1,500 fine, 180 days in jail, and 12 month license suspension. These were the penalties in the three cases: $500, $750, and $250 fines, 0 days, 4 days, and 5 days (min. sentence given the high blood alcohol level) prison sentence, and no license suspension if an Alcohol Safety Action Program (ASAP) class was completed. It doesn't matter if Virginia has the "toughest DUI laws in the country" if only the minimum sentences are given.

Vienna meeting on W&OD Trail safety on Tuesday

The Vienna Transportation Safety Commission will hold a public hearing on W&OD Trail safety. According to signs like the one on the right that are posted along the trail in the Vienna area, the meeting will start at 8pm, Tuesday the 27th at the Vienna Town Hall, 127 Center St. The text on the signs reads: "W&OD bike trail safety solution - cyclist pedestrians: All interested individuals are invited to attend."

See our notes about an earlier W&OD Trail safety meeting held in Vienna. Many ideas have been proposed, many of which are not enforceable. Probably the best idea is for everyone to be courteous and respectful. If you have constructive ideas about W&OD Trail safety, consider attending the meeting.

Update: The agenda for the TSC meeting has been posted on the Town website.

VDOT and Vienna Trans. Comm. meetings postponed

The VDOT Six Year Program meeting scheduled for Tuesday at 6pm is postponed to a date TBD. See the VDOT website for new dates (as soon as they are determined).

The Vienna Transportation Safety Commission public meeting on W&OD Trail Safety that was also scheduled on Tuesday is postponed as well, date TBD. We will post the new date on this blog and on the FABB Events page.

W&OD Trail safety meeting in Vienna

We attended a meeting last night on W&OD Trail safety, organized by the Vienna Bicycle Advisory Committee. Several safety measures were proposed that included widening the trail, posting a recommended speed limit for cyclists when pedestrians are present, using thermoplastic rumble strips similar to those used on other sections of the trail, and caution signs warning of congested areas.

In attendance were Karl Mohle, Trail manager, Town Councilmember Laurie Cole, Parks and Recreation Director Cathy Salgado, and Vienna Bicycle Advisory Committee members Cris Janoski, Bob McCahill, Sean McCall, and David Schultz.

The meeting was prompted by concerns expressed by the Town Council regarding safety on the Trail. See the ABC 7 article Washington and Old Dominion trail to become subject of new campaign.

W&OD Trail manager Karl Mohle
Center in green jersey

According to Karl, NVRPA does not keep statistics on trail crashes or other safety incidents nor do they regularly receive reports from police when there is a crash. Trail Patrol members often report incidents that they encounter. There are 50-75 active Trail Patrol members, some of whom ride the full length of the trail on a regular basis. Vienna police keep stats on Trail crashes but no police reps were in attendance at the meeting to discuss the topic.

The Trail in Vienna is relatively narrow in several sections where there are often more users than in many other sections of the Trail. The parallel gravel trail, which along most of the trail west of Vienna provides an option for some runners and walkers, ends just west of the Town. Widening the trail where possible is one of the better options.

Using common sense is probably the best option. We've seen far too many pedestrians wandering across the trail oblivious to oncoming trail users and cyclists riding much too fast when other, slower users are on the trail. We all need to be respectful of other trail users.

There was a long discussion about the effectiveness of having a low speed limit on the trail in Vienna. Trail speed limits are mostly unenforceable. The Trail has never had a speed limit, unlike some other regional trails that have a 15 mph speed limit. The safe speed depends on so many variables such as weather, congestion on the trail, the type of trail users, the location, etc.

The one proposal in which there was some consensus was to warn bicyclists to go slow when the trail is congested. Like I said, using common courtesy and respect for other trail users is the best option.

Separate pedestrian and bicycle travel lanes on
bridge in Portland, OR

We suggested, and the Vienna BAC is planning, to create an on-street alternative for bicyclists through Vienna. An example is the Mt Vernon Trail in Alexandria which is mostly on-road for bicyclists. One bypass option would take cyclists along the Richard Black Trail adjacent to Northside Park to Glyndon St. The would follow Glyndon to the end to Valley St to another short connecting trail to return the W&OD Trail. The other option would be hillier, taking a short trail across from the Richard Black Trail to Center St and follow Center St to Cherry St to the W&OD Trail at the Community Center.

There was also talk about creating separated bicycle and pedestrian sections of the trail. This is done in many European cities and I've seen it on bridges in Portland, Oregon. However, there may not be enough right of way to widen the trail enough for this option.

Karl said that NVRPA plans to move the trail adjacent to the Community Center to pass through the existing parking lot, which is owned by NVRPA. The current trail location is on Town of Vienna Property and is one of the more narrow sections. This would also reduce a tight curve and should be a benefit trail users and eliminate the many people who now cross the trail to get to their cars in the existing parking lot.

Karl said he would review the various options suggested at the meeting and would consider using some of the more experimental treatments in Vienna as a test of their effectiveness.

Bike events this weekend

• Fairfax to Vienna Metro Ride - Leaving at 9:30am Saturday from Oasis Bike Works, the ride will be a chance to follow part of the proposed bike route from GMU to Vienna Metro. RSVP.
• Vienna Bike Rack Ribbon-Cutting - 11am-1pm Saturday at Maple Ave Shopping Center, 311 E Maple Ave, Vienna. Win a Breezer bike donated by bikes@vienna. See the event flier for a list of other giveaways.
• Cancelled - Wolftrap ES Bike Rodeo on Sunday. Due to predictions of rain, the bike rodeo is rescheduled to Sunday, May 6 from 12-2pm.

See the FABB Events page for other upcoming events.

Vienna Elementary School bike rodeo

Mayor Seeman and Bruce Wright
(photo: Anne Pastorkovich)

Around 90 kids participated in the Vienna ES bike rodeo on Monday. The school is located adjacent to the W&OD Trail and close to neighborhood streets and many kids bike to the school. It was great to see so many kids having fun riding bikes and learning handling skills. Pat Childers of Trails for Youth was in charge of the rodeo. The event was sponsored by Vienna Elementary School PTA, Safe Routes to School, the Friends of the WO&D and the Town of Vienna.

Our friends from Spokes, Etc. and bikes@vienna were there to check out and tune the bikes. FABB was there to hand out the last of the county Bicycle Route Maps. The revised map should be available soon. Town of Vienna Mayor Seeman (right) was there as was Councilwoman Laurie DiRocco. Mayor Seeman said she plans to attend the Maple Ave Shopping Center bike rack ribbon-cutting event on Saturday. It's great to see so much support for bicycling in Vienna.

Vienna bike racks installed today

FABB has been working with the Vienna Bicycle Advisory Committee to help get better bike parking for residents and visitors to the Town of Vienna. Thanks to a generous grant from the Transurban-Fluor Community Grant program we were able to purchase and have installed 3 inverted U racks at Red Mango frozen yogurt and Maple Ave Market.

The Vienna BAC developed a streamlined application form for businesses that wanted to install bike parking. They worked with the Town Council to get the form approved and then helped the two stores fill out the applications. The racks were installed today.

The racks at Red Mango are in front of the store and are mostly visible from inside. There is almost no concrete or asphalt space for the racks so they were installed in concrete in the grassy area. Mulch will eventually be put down to keep the area under the racks from getting muddy.

Behind Maple Ave Market there is one inverted U rack also installed in concrete in a parking space that is currently unusable. The rack is very close to the edge of the asphalt so that the area behind the store can be used for loading and unloading. The items to the right of the rack will be moved and mulch will likely be used where there is no asphalt.

Thanks to both of these bike-friendly shops for providing bike parking for their customers. We suggest that you check them out and at the same time purchase some of the tasty frozen yogurt at Red Mango (serve yourself and then pay by the ounce), and the fresh produce and other goodies at Maple Ave Market.

Thanks also to the hard-working folks at the Vienna BAC. They are currently working with other businesses in the Town to get more bike parking installed. Maple Ave Shopping Center recently applied for permission to install 11 inverted U racks, which should be in place by this spring.

Vienna Town Council votes down snow removal ordinance

We were very disappointed to hear that the Vienna Town Council voted down a proposed snow removal ordinance at their December 5th meeting. Unfortunately, this was the first we had heard about the proposed ordinance. Otherwise we would have testified in favor and would have encouraged others to do the same.

While we are aware of the dangers of riding on the sidewalk, many people do it anyway. In fact, Vienna Police encourage people to ride on the sidewalk and not in the street on Maple Ave. Not having plowed sidewalks prevents these people, many of whom depend on bicycles as their main form of transportation, to get to jobs and other places. Children walking to school in the winter would also benefit from the ordinance. It works in Alexandria and other Arlington and we think it could be made to work in Vienna.

One of the main arguments against the ordinance is that even when sidewalks are cleared, snow plows will often dump snow from the road onto the sidewalk. I assume the same thing happens in other communities and they figure out ways to deal with it. Otherwise, the message this sends to residents is that we care more about moving cars than moving people.

The only votes in favor were from Councilwomen Laurie DiRocco and Carey Sienicki. We hope the town reconsiders in the future.

To view the video of the public hearing, it's at about 22:40 of Part 1.

Vienna Bicycle Advisory Committee newsletter now available

The November edition of the Bike Vienna Newsletter is now available at the Vienna Bicycle Advisory Committee website.

Articles include Bicycle Helmet Safety Tips, Is Vienna a Bike Friendly Community, and Bicycles Are Not Just for Kids.

Velomobile tour to stop in Vienna today

Roll over America, the velomobile tour of the U.S., will stop in Vienna sometime after 3pm today. FABB plans to greet and provide refreshments for the group as they ride toward the end of their cross-country tour in Georgetown later today. We'll be at the caboose in downtown Vienna adjacent to the W&OD Trail.

The velomobile group started in Portland, Oregon to "showcase the benefits and practicalities of velomobiles for long-distance travel and bring national visibility to the health, fuel-efficient, and environmental value of human-powered vehicles." See their Twitter feed, website, and the Vienna Patch article Velomobile Tour Stops In Vienna On Wednesday

Town of Vienna approves bike parking application process

U rack at Vienna Town Hall

The Vienna Bicycle Advisory Committee (BAC) has been working with the Town of Vienna to streamline the process of getting bike racks installed. The committee developed an application form using the inverted U rack as the standard. According to Cris Janoski of the BAC, the Uniform Bike Rack Application form was approved last night by the Town Board of Architectural Review and can now be used by business owners who want to add bike parking for their customers.

Thanks to the Vienna BAC for their hard work on this application. They worked with FABB, the county bike coordinator, and several Town staff to develop the application and get approval. FABB has agreed to pay for at least two bike racks in the Town using funds from the Transurban-Fluor Community Grant Program funds that we received last year. Look for more bike parking in the Town in the near future. At least two businesses, Red Mango and Maple Ave Market, are interested in new bike racks.