Register Now! Western New England Greenway Conference Saturday November 10, 2012 Register now! There is no cost to attend, and your input is needed. Join us as we continue to plan a contiguous bike trail from New York City to Montreal. Download the Agenda here. What: Western New England Greenway Conference When: Saturday, November 10th - 10 AM to 3:30 PM Where: Bennington Museum, Bennington, VT Register here. The vision is a network of bike trails reaching from the East Coast Greenway in southern Connecticut all the way to the Canadian border. And then linking up with Quebec's famed Route Verte. Organizations in Vermont, Massachusetts and Connecticut are coming together to create a seamless network that stretches more than 250 miles. Join the discussion and explore how to make this idea a reality. Additional information and an agenda are being developed, and your ideas are welcome. Refreshments and lunch will be provided. The conference is free of charge. Refreshments and lunch will be provided. The conference is free of charge. For more information: call 860-435-9505 or e-mail: Info@HousatonicHeritage.org Upper Housatonic Valley National Heritage Area 24 Main Street PO Box 493 Salisbury, CT 06068 Upper Housatonic Valley National Heritage Area PO Box 611 Great Barrington, MA 01257 Online at www.HousatonicHeritage.org email at info@HousatonicHeritage.org In Partnership With The National Park Service You'll still need to forge a relationship with your local public works, traffic, or town councilor or selectman to make headway on getting bike-friendly signs or sharrows installed, but once you've done that, here's some information for practical next steps. The bike friendly signs and sharrows are from the Manual on Uniform traffic Control devices, the MUTCD. (http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/ or Part 9 of that resource here. If signs are used as described in the MUTCD they are legal. There is no “3 feet, It’s the Law” official signage. There is an official “Bikes May Use full Lane” sign. So the MUTCD is where to go to find out what kind of signs can be used. Then they can be purchased or made by the town in its sign shop (if it has one). Any sign supplier that the Town uses should be able to supply these signs. For other Share the Road resources, see the DOT's page at http://www.ct.gov/dot/cwp/view.asp?a=2314&q=433254. From the New York Times Green blog: Yale, Connecticut's first and only official Bike Friendly University, is one of 55 locations nationwide where Zagster, a Massachusetts start-up, makes bikes available on demand. Zagster aims to take the idea of bicycles on demand and deliver it to university and corporate campuses, apartment complexes, hotels and resorts. Our new friend Ben from Miami, in Hartford on business over the Discover Hartford Tour, was looking for something just like this at the Hartford Marriott... Read the full New York Times story, A New Model: Cycle Hire, for Hire Take the Pledge to Never Text and Drive: “It Can Wait” is a Message That Can’t Wait AT&T and the Traffic Safety Coalition invite you to join traffic safety supporters and advocates across the country in putting a stop to the practice of texting while driving. The Traffic Safety Coalition is partnering with AT&T's public awareness campaign to deliver the powerful message that "It Can Wait: No text is worth dying for." Visit www.itcanwait.org and take the "don't text and drive" pledge today. Then check out the host of educational resources andinformation available on the website. Ask the Expert: Jacy Good, Crash Survivor and FocusDriven Board Member Jacy Good is not only a crash survivor with a powerful story but a board member and spokesperson for FocusDriven, a non-profit organization completely focused on a rapidly-growing driver distraction. Q: Why is the issue of texting while driving important to you? How did you first become involved in this issue? A: Unfortunately I became involved in helping raise awareness about distracted driving when the issue very painfully intruded into my life. In 2008, as my parents and I were driving home from my college graduation ceremony in Pennsylvania, we approached a green light as an 18-wheeler approached from the opposite direction. At the same time, a young man on the intersecting road was distracted as he approached a red light. The young man suffered from what is known as "inattention blindness," as his brain focused on the phone conversation rather than the task at hand, driving his car. As a result, he went through the red light in his effort to make a left turn. As he did this, the 18-wheeler opposite my car swerved across the double yellow line to miss him, but went directly into my family's car. I suffered two broken feet, a broken tibia, broken fibula, broken wrist, broken collar bone, shattered pelvis, a lacerated liver, partially collapsed lungs, damaged carotid arteries and a traumatic brain injury. After four months in the hospital on the brink of dying, I learned that neither of my parents had survived the crash that day. I got involved with the issue when I learned there had been no criminal charges against either of the other drivers. Q: Can you tell us about the work that FocusDriven is doing on this important issue? A: FocusDriven’s board is made up of passionate citizens like myself who have lost loved ones to car crashes caused by cell phone distracted drivers. We know that by sharing our pain and our personal stories with law enforcement, high school students, and business and community groups, we can create the social change required to stop others from having to experience the preventable pain we have endured. Q: If you could say just one thing to someone before they decide to text or use their cell phone while driving, what would it be? A: I would tell them no text message, no phone call, no tweet is worth a life. Reading or responding to a message can wait. Do not put your own life or the lives of others in danger. The New York Times reports that "In the wake of Hurricane Sandy and the unprecedented problems with public transportation, some commuters have chosen a different kind of transport: the two-wheeled, human-powered kind." Congratulations to Yale University, which earned acclaim in the bike/ped world recently for being designated as a Bronze Level "Bike Friendly University" by the League of American Bicyclists. Yale is just one of 44 Bicycle Friendly Universities in 25 states. Click here to see the full list. At Yale, bicycling is on the rise, thanks to both a student and a departmental bike sharing system; “commuter counseling” for the Yale community, an annual Bicyclist Appreciation Breakfast and more. “With Yale’s dedicated leadership in sustainability, creating a safe and attractive environment at Yale for bicyclists and reducing single occupancy vehicle usage in the city are goals for us and many in our community,” said Holly Parker, Yale’s Director of Sustainable Transportation. “We’re grateful for the attention this award will draw to the extraordinary combined efforts of the City of New Haven, local advocacy through Elm City Cycling, and the university. Together, we will continue making a difference.” Credit: League of American Bicyclists, Ivy League Goes Green with Bicycle Friendly Universities. Bike Walk CT's Discover Hartford Tour got a nice shout out in an editorial in the Hartford Courant. It's great to be promoted as well organized in the same column that extols the ING Marathon. Read the editorial at http://bit.ly/R4Wpfm .
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