Category: Traffic Control

Making cycling and walking safe, convenient and fun in Delaware

Instant Protected Bike Lane? Just Add Armadillos

How do you make an instant protected bike lane? Just add “armadillos”. “Armadillos” – named after the little road kill critter – are recycled plastic dividers that create a protected space for cycling. It’s just a small, gentle bump that reminds motorists to stay out of a protected bike lane. “They’re not very high, so…
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April 4, 2014 2

Road Safety in Delaware: How We Can Reduce the Number of Dead Pedestrians

“I’m sorry, Officer! He came out of nowhere!“ “Sorry, mate, I didn’t see you!” Every cyclist has, at one time or another, had the feeling of being “invisible” to motorists. Bike Delaware has written about this phenomenon – called “inattentional blindness” – which has been extensively studied by psychologists. But while we have grown to understand why both…
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February 4, 2014 7

To Fight Crime in Wilmington, Build a Neighborway from One Side of the City to the Other

As Mayor Williams moves forward with his meetings with civic leaders about crime in Wilmington, it seems an opportune time to again suggest an additional strategy. From accounts in the news, discussions about crime in Wilmington seem to always involve (versions of) the same ideas: Persuading drug dealers to stop shooting at each other Jobs Better…
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January 15, 2014 1

DelDOT Pushes the Envelope for Bicycle-Friendly Traffic Signal System in Fenwick Island

Video/Thermal Detection of Bicycles. An Exclusive Bicycle Left-Turn Signal Phase. An Exclusive Bicycle Signal Head. Creative, innovative and bicycle-friendly traffic engineering. In Delaware. Yes, it’s geeky technology! That makes engineers swoon! But even non-engineer cyclists can understand this much: DelDOT is pushing the envelope of traffic control devices to make Delaware more bicycle-friendly. DelDOT recently…
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December 21, 2013 2

Crime Prevention For Wilmington For About $140,000 Per Mile

The front page headline in yesterday’s News Journal described discussions in Wilmington about whether to remove Wilmington’s Chief of Police. Wilmington’s murder rate is more than 5 times higher than New York City’s and one of the highest among small cities in the country. But the current Chief of Police in Wilmington, Christine Dunning, has…
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December 6, 2013 1

Can Traffic Calming Reduce Crime in Wilmington?

“You can’t make people use streets they have no reason to use. You can’t make people watch streets they do not want to watch. Safety on the streets by surveillance and mutual policing of one another sounds grim, but in real life it is not grim. The safety of the street works best, most casually,…
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November 27, 2013 7

Here They Come

Here they come. Thanks to the City of Newark Department of Public Works, “Bikes May Use Full Lane” signs have been deployed on Newark’s Main Street. The signs complement, and reinforce, the city’s recent installation of “sharrows”. While most motor vehicle traffic on Main Street is, unfortunately, just through traffic without any local destination, the…
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November 22, 2013 0

Goodbye “Share The Road”

UPDATE (August 29, 2015): Researchers confirm that “Share The Road” Doesn’t Work: http://www.bikede.org/2015/08/29/share-the-road-is-a-problem/ In August, Bike Delaware asked DelDOT to permanently discontinue its use of the “Share The Road” plaque in Delaware. The article on our ask, which can be read HERE, was viewed on the web more than 15,000 times, “liked” more than 1,800…
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November 4, 2013 8

How To Make A Great “Neighborway” in Wilmington

TO: Director of Transportation, City of Wilmington Department of Public Works FROM: James Wilson, Executive Director, Bike Delaware We are excited about the opportunity presented to Wilmington by a federal Transportation Alternatives program grant and by the idea of using this grant to create a neighborway in the city. The City of Portland has had as…
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October 28, 2013 5

The “Idaho Stop” 30 Years Later

Nobody understands momentum better than cyclists. That’s why, even 30 years  after Idaho passed it’s “Idaho Stop” law, this issue has never gone away. by Ken Mcleod Published at League of American Bicyclists August 22, 2013 Idaho passed its law allowing bicyclists to treat stop signs as yield signs and red lights as stop signs…
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September 9, 2013 2