No Movement on the Quick Release Bill - S2837

Here is the December 13, 2007 status for the Senate version of the Quick Release Bill


Identical Bill Number: A2686 (2R) Weinberg, Loretta as Primary Sponsor

6/21/2007 Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Commerce Committee
Introduced - 3 pages
PDF Format
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12 Year Old Killed by Automobile in Pleasantville

From 6 ABC in Philadelphia

PLEASANTVILLE, N.J. - October 21, 2007 - A 12-year-old girl was struck by a car and killed while riding her bicycle on Sunday.

The accident happened on the 11-hundred block of South Main Street in Pleasantville, New Jersey.

Police said 37-year-old Joel Zafra was behind the wheel of the Honda Civic that hit the girl just before 3:45 p.m.

She was taken to the hospital where she died from her injuries. Her name was not immediately released.

Zafra was charged with Christopher's Law for driving with a suspended license and not having a license at all.

He was held on $50,000 cash bail at the Atlantic County Jail.

(Copyright 2007 by Action News and 6abc. All Rights Reserved.)

NJDOT Announces Safe Route to School Grants

NJDOT awards $4.15 million in Safe Routes to School grants

Grants will improve pedestrian safety through engineering and education

(Trenton) - Highlighting the importance of pedestrian safety, Commissioner Kris Kolluri today announced that the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) will award $4.15 million in Safe Routes to School grants to 29 communities.

“The Fiscal Year 2007 Safe Routes to School Grants represent significant progress in Governor Corzine’s statewide pedestrian safety initiative,” said Commissioner Kolluri. “By addressing the needs of municipalities, NJDOT can improve road safety for all pedestrians, and especially schoolchildren.”

The initiative, created in 2006 as an effort to encourage New Jersey’s children to walk and bike to school, will provide local governments funds ranging from $7,500 to $337,000 for projects including the creation of safer walkways, bikeways and street crossings near schools.

The grants may be used for a variety of pedestrian safety improvements near schools. Infrastructure improvement projects to be funded through the program include the construction of sidewalks, the improvement of existing sidewalks, the installation of new crosswalks and school-zone markings and the installation of new speed-limit signs. The grants may also be used for educational and promotional pedestrian safety projects such as “Walk to School” days, public outreach and awareness programs and bike rodeos.

The goal of New Jersey's Safe Routes to School Program is to assist communities in developing and implementing projects and interactive programs that encourage walking and bicycling to school while enhancing the safety of these trips. The program increases pedestrian safety awareness among motorists and schoolchildren. Safe Routes to School also helps the environment by easing traffic jams and curbing air pollution. In addition, Safe Routes to School can improve pediatric health by providing regular physical activity.

Governor Jon S. Corzine last year created a five-year, $74 million initiative to improve pedestrian safety throughout New Jersey by encouraging motorists share the road with pedestrians through engineering, education and enforcement. The initiative includes $15 million over five years for the Safe Routes to Schools program.

The NJDOT Safe Routes to School program is part of a national program conducted in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Through the 2005 passage of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU), Congress designated a total of $612 million toward developing the National Safe Routes to School Program.

FY 2007 Safe Routes to School Grant Awardees

Brigantine City, Atlantic County $90,000
Garfield City, Bergen County $18,000
Tenafly Borough, Bergen County $39,600
Allendale Borough, Bergen County $250,000
Ridgewood Village, Bergen County $158,000
Burlington City, Burlington County $280,000
Somerdale Borough, Camden County $13,150
Haddonfield Borough, Camden County $200,000
Oaklyn Borough, Camden County $36,350
North Wildwood City, Cape May County $24,500
South Orange Village, Essex County $10,000
Bloomfield Township, Essex County $55,000
Pittman Borough, Gloucester County $120,000
Hopewell Township, Mercer County $14,000
Dunellen Borough, Middlesex County $78,000
Neptune Township, Monmouth County $269,000
Netcong Borough, Morris County $150,000
Brick Township, Ocean County $190,000
Berandsville Borough, Somerset County $7,500
Somerville Borough, Somerset County $250,000
Newton Town, Sussex County $265,000
Roselle Borough, Union County $250,000
Cranford Township, Union County $90,000
Westfield Town, Union County $36,000
Greenwich Township, Warren County $150,000

FY 2007 Safe Routes to School Pilot Programs

Lumberton Township, Burlington County $226,000
Montclair Township, Essex County $324,000
Jamesburg Borough, Middlesex County $227,760
Wharton Borough, Morris County $337,000

Quick Release Bill Update

According to an article in the Herald News, It looks like the vote in the State Senate will occur after the November Election.

Quick Release Bill Language

The Quick Release bill is back and it has passed the State Assembly.
http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/2006/Bills/A3000/2686_R2.PDF

[Second Reprint]

ASSEMBLY, No. 2686

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

212th LEGISLATURE

INTRODUCED FEBRUARY 27, 2006

Sponsored by:

Assemblyman PAUL D. MORIARTY

District 4 (Camden and Gloucester)

Assemblyman DAVID R. MAYER

District 4 (Camden and Gloucester)

Assemblywoman JOAN M. VOSS

District 38 (Bergen)

Co-Sponsored by:

Assemblymen Gusciora and Bramnick

SYNOPSIS

Prohibits sale of certain bicycles with quick release wheels.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

As reported by the Assembly Consumer Affairs Committee on October 19, 2006, with amendments.

An Act the prohibiting the sale of certain bicycles with quick release wheels and supplementing P.L.1960, c.39 (C.56:8-1 et seq.).

Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

1. The Legislature hereby finds and declares that:

Children riding bicycles with quick release wheels have been involved in over 100 accidents;

Many of the children involved in these accidents have suffered injuries, including permanent scarring, disfigurement, major bone and dental trauma, severe scraping and bruising, brain injury, and ruptured internal organs;

²[Multiple bicycle manufacturers have recalled their quick release mechanisms due to failure of the mechanism; and]²

The danger to children caused by bicycles with quick release wheels is unacceptable in light of the fact that safer alternatives exist ²; and

Furthermore, advances in quick release technology make it right and proper that the new mechanisms—which are less prone to assembler and user error—be used in place of the old².

It is, therefore, altogether fitting and proper that the State regulate the sale of bicycles with quick release wheels to stem the rash of senseless injuries to children resulting from their use.

2. a. It shall be an unlawful practice for any person to sell a bicycle ¹[intended for use by children] with a ²front² wheel diameter of 20 inches or less,¹ which is equipped with a quick release wheel ², exclusive of specialty adult bicycles² .

b. For the purposes of ¹[this act] P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill)^{1 2}[,] :

(1)² "quick release wheel" means ²[a] any bicycle front² wheel which does not require the use of any tools ²[to be removed from the bicycle.

A wheel which:

(1) is equipped with, or has been retrofitted with, a mechanism designed to hold the wheel in place in an emergency, including but not limited to a retainer clip; or

(2) requires significant level of dexterity to remove, so as to reasonably prevent removal by a child,

shall not be construed to be a “quick release wheel” for the purposes of ¹[this act] P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill)¹] for wheel removal;

(2) “primary retention device” means a device that keeps the bicycle wheel connected to the bicycle for riding; and

(3) “secondary retention device” means a device that retains the bicycle wheel in the bicycle fork when the primary retention device is disengaged.

c. (1) It shall be an unlawful practice for any person to sell a bicycle which is equipped with a quick release wheel if:

(a) the front wheel diameter is greater than 20 inches; or

(b) it is a specialty adult bicycle with a front wheel diameter of 20 inches or less.

(2) The sale of a bicycle which meets the following conditions shall not be considered an unlawful practice under paragraph (1) of this subsection:

(a) The quick release wheel is equipped with both a primary and a secondary retention device; and

(b) The secondary retention device conforms to the following performance specifications:

(i) The secondary retention device activates automatically when the wheel is placed in the fork dropouts;

(ii) The secondary retention device does not disengage for wheel removal unless it is actively held in the disengaged position by the user during wheel removal;

(iii) The secondary retention device, regardless of the method of manual operation by the user, always prevents wheel separation while the bicycle is ridden; and

(iv) During all states of fastening and unfastening of the primary retention device, the secondary retention device, in a hands-off condition, does not allow the wheel to separate from the fork².

3. This act shall take effect on the first day of the third month after enactment.

Monmouth HeritageTrail/Henry Hudson Bikeway Map

Includes a low traffic detour that avoids Route 79 to connect the southern and Central sections. Route courtesy of the Bicycle Hub

Monmouth Heritage Trail

Share your bike routes @ Bikely.com

Bicycle Coalition of South Jersey Minutes 5-17

May 17, 2007

Vogelson Library, Voorhees, NJ

Meeting Room B

Present

Bob Paradise Chair

Jim Gullo

Nate Davis

Stewart Clamen

Jack Sworaski

Barry Wolff

John Boyle

Steve Wittig

Camden County Open Space Presentation Plan – Jack Sworaski

Open Space Plan is part of the county master plan most of the Greenway system follows stream corridors. The is a goal of 20,000 Acres of preserved open spec throughout the entire county.

Proposed Statewide Ballot Question - ACR10 Amends Constitution to dedicate up to $175 million annually from FY2009 to FY2038 of State revenue or resources for preservation of open space, including flood prone or affected areas and lands protecting water supplies, for farmland preservation and soil and water conservation, and for historic preservation.Currently there is little support in the legislature at this point. You can contact your legislators in the Assembly to support ACR10 at http://www.njleg.state.nj.us

Largest purchase to date is Stafford Farm in Voorhees - 140 acres. Seventy acres consisted of land sold by the county as deed restricted farmland and the 70 Acres of woodland are owned outright by the township.

Camden Greenways – Jack also gave some updates on the Camden Greenway network. which begins at 130 and the Golf Range to the Camden Waterfront along Newton Creek, the Admiral Wilson Blvd trail behind the Pub is owned by DRPA but want to turn it over to the County.

Missing link between the Admiral Wilson Path and the Golf Range is behind the parking area at the Pub. There is a bridge over Chandlers Run behind the pub from Kaighn Ave to the Hess Building.

Camden Greenways has been working with Campbell’s Soup who is developing it’s new headquarters at the old Sears Building. Campbell’s official officials do not want them going through their complex but they will be allowed to place the trail through the adjacent office complex.

Gibbsboro may be the model for municipal trail development, Mayor Ed Campbell has been a driving force in creating multi-use paths and nature trails throughout the borough.

Mr. Sworaski concluded with the county applying for a $20,000 grant to create a regional bicycle and multi-use trail Plan for Berlin, West Berlin, Clementon, Voorhees, Gibbsboro, Stratford, Somerdale. It was noted that the proposed Atlantic Avenue bikeway will not be built anytime soon because the project has to be broken into smaller municipal level projects.

Chair SJ Tour De Farms – 10, 26, 62 mile through Burlington County farms. Burlington County Freeholders SJRSD.org Sept. 8.

Ben Franklin Bridge Update - Open to 11, just 8 clock waiting for more info for the board.

Haddonfield TAPS – Stewart Clamen, Steve Wittig – The bicycle subcommittee has a proposed loop through the borough of Haddonfield. A proposed route has been drafted. A final revision of the route involved the decision to take the route across Ellis St. John Boyle rode that portion of the route. After some discussion it was decided that the Traffic was too fast on Ellis St and that the upper portion of the loop will be detoured over to Kings Highway (Haddonfield’s Main St) until significant traffic calming improvements are made.

Next steps include finding money for signs and to investigate the upgrading of bicycle unsafe inlet grates.

Voorhees Twp. Bicycle Pedestrian Committee – Jim Gullo

The township will be repaving and restriping the bike lanes Cooper Rd over the summertime. Cooper is an important route parallel to Haddonfield-Berlin Rd.

Town Picnic and the Bicycle Committee will have table tent June 3 Dutch Mill Road Lyons Lake

The last meeting included a discussion with Gibbsboro Ed Campbell who is coordinating trail connections between Gibbsboro and Voorhees.

Echelon Town Center road improvements may include extending the bike lanes on Somerdale Rd out to the intersection at Burnt Mill Rd.

John asked Jim is he could give us a mileage count for bike lanes in the township.

Other Business – John plans on meeting with Township Committee member Ed Devinney of Delanco Township to discuss trails planned for the township.

Scudder Falls Bridge - John met with the Ewing Township Environmental Advisory Committee on the Scudder Falls Bridge, the Bicycle Coalition will draft a letter of support for the committee to review.

Mercer Bike Plan Bicycle Pedestrian Committee – This is the first official county bicycle and pedestrian advisory committee in the DVRPC region outside of Philadelphia. An organizational meeting is planned in June.

Discussion continues on connecting bikeways in Haddonfield, Cherry Hill and Voorhees. The common thread may be that the townships outsource their engineering work to the same firm.

NJ Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) Comment Period for the DVRPC Region (Mercer, Burlington, Camden and Gloucester Counties)

http://www.dvrpc.org/transportation/capital/tip/fy08-draft.htm

The TIP is the list of priority transportation projects “in the pipeline” for the region, for the most part the rule is “If its not on the TIP then it’s not getting built in the near future.”

Select your county for a list of projects and then send in your comments via email, tip-plan-comments@dvrpc.org by 5PM on June 1.

A good suggestion is to look at a project that is to pick projects close home or on roads that you ride on and make a recommendation to include bicycle improvements with the selected project.

Note: The TIP Comment Period for the South Jersey TPO Region (Salem, Cumberland, Atlantic and Cape May) will begin in June.

Next Meeting – Tentatively set for June 21^nd 6:30PM in Room B at the Vogelson Library in Voorhees.

For more information go the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia website.

Transoptions Bike to Work Week Event

TransOptions, the Northwest New Jersey Transportation Managment Association, is again sponsoring a Bike to Work Week event. All regostered cyclists who bike to work at least one day during Bike to Work Week, May 14 -18, are entered in a prize drawing featuring a grand prize of a Breezer Zig 7 Folding Bike, $50 gift cards from Madison Bicyle Shop, Cycle Craft and bicycle helmets from Marty’s Reliable Cycle. On Bike to Work Day, May 18, all cyclists are invited to bike to the Hyatt Morristown, 3 Headquarters Plaza, Morristown, NJ, for a free continential breakfast courtesy of the Hyatt served from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. The Headquarters Plaza Health club will allow cyclists to use its locker rooms and showers during the same time period. Registration is on line at www.TransOptions.org . For additional information call Paul Metzger at Transoptions at 973-267-7600.

Transoptions is the TMA for Morris, Warren and Sussex Counties

Hoboken Bans Pedicabs

Hoboken bans Pedicabs

In an 8-1 vote Hoboken City Council voted to ban pedicabs from its streets.

Preserving the Pulaski Skyway Bridges as a Pathway

WalkBike Jersey made it into the Sunday NY Times

To the Editor:

Your report on the bridge that connects Newark with Jersey City {Pulaski Skyway...;Feb.18} overlooks the possibility of preserving the 75 year-old span for non-motorized use if and when a new bridge is built. The recycling of this 3.5 mile bridge for bicyclists, skaters, joggers, commuters & tourists ought to at least be studied before millions of state & federal dollars are committed for demolition.
















NPS public domain photo of the Pulaski Skyway

The Pulaski Skyway is just one of more than 50,000 bridges throughout the nation considered to be structurally deficient — for motor vehicles — which could be preserved and restored as valuable landmarks for just a fraction of the demolition costs. Exemplary is the preserved, 2.6 mile Friendship Bridge in Tampa. Scheduled for demolition in 1997, Tampa Bay's communities & planners rallied to save it, and did. Today the Friendship Bridge accommodates annually more than 6 million thankful users.














Friendship TrailBridge Opening Day on Tampa Bay FL
From the Friendship TrailBridge website

Like the landmark "Trenton Makes" Bridge, the Skyway could be a vital segment of the Maine to Florida East Coast Greenway, and deserves a thorough review and estimate for potential reuse. Currently, there isn't a safe, convenient option to cross the Hackensack River without an automobile. The Pulaski Skyway could be a gateway to connect some of New Jersey's most densely populated urban areas.

WalkbikeJersey, a non-profit organization committed to reuse, recycling, and promoting alternative transportation options in our state, is ready to assist in every way.

Kerri Martin

Founder
WalkBike Jersey

About WalkBikeJersey

WalkBikeJersey is a new bicycle and pedestrian advocacy group for the state of New Jersey. The group has recently joined the Thunderhead Alliance (an umbrella group for Bike/Ped Advocacy groups) and are applying for incorporation and 501C(3) Not for profit status.

But you can make a tax deductable donation to benefit WalkBikeJersey today. Simply go to the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia website and click on "Donate Online". You will be taken to the BCGP online donation page. In the comments box put in "WalkBikeJersey".

These donations will provide seed money for the organizational tools it needs to become effective.

You can communicate with WalkBikeJersey via email too. The address is walkbikejersey@gmail.com