Motorists must give 3ft to bikes in Maryland

By Kirsten Robbins

Maryland increases safety for bikes on its roadways. (baudman)

Motorists are now required to leave at least 3ft of space when passing cyclists on streets in the US state of Maryland.

The state’s senate approved House Bill 461 last week and motorists in violation will be fined a maximum $500 misdemeanor charge.

The Bill requires that drivers, when overtaking a bicycle, an Electric Personal Assistive Mobility Device (EPAMD) or a motor scooter, must pass safely at a specified distance, except under specified circumstances.

It also requires motorists to yield the right-of-way to a person who is riding a bicycle, an EPAMD or a motor scooter in a bike lane or shoulder under specified circumstances. A House of Delegates committee will review the conditions of the new measure this week.

“Delegate Jon Cardin has been one of the main drivers behind this very important bike safety rule,” said Bill Kelly, chairman of the College Park Area Bike Coalition in Ellicott City, MD.

“The House Bill 461 was needed to make and keep cyclists safer on our busy roadways [and] also, to encourage folks to ride their bikes sometimes and not their autos to benefit all of us. There are five or six related Bike Safety Bills in this session.”

College Park Area Bike Coalition (CPABA) is a group that is devoted to bicycle advocacy, education and safety, and it backed the new piece of legislation.

“The 3ft bike clearance was requested several years ago and was a composite of many approaches to keeping cyclists safer when they biked on the roadways,” Kelly said.

“Some autos and motorists seemed to want to play chicken with bikes to see how close to the handlebars they could come and scared the cyclist into not riding on the road which is their right because bikes are a legal vehicle in all 50 states. Without a stated Three Foot Bike Clearance Law the police could not charge the errant motorist.”

This is not the first time the Maryland Senate has reviewed a bill to protect cyclists. In 2008 a similar version, House Bill 143, was also designed to force motorists to provide 3ft of space when passing cyclists and to yield to cyclists riding in a bike lane at intersections. However, it did not pass.

You can follow BikeRadar on Twitter attwitter.com/bikeradar.

Good, about time and I hope it’s strictly enforced. Some knucklehead says or does something just about everytime I ride or run roadway shoulders.

EDWARD T. HALL AQUATIC CENTER
130 Auto Drive, Prince Frederick, MD  20678

The Calvert County Division of Parks and Recreation has established fees and operational hours for the soon-to-be-completed Edward T. Hall Aquatic Center in Prince Frederick.  The center is expected to open in spring of 2010. As soon as a definite date is established, it will be announced and posted to the county Web site.

The facility will include a 50-meter competition pool, leisure pool with slides, therapy pool, spa/hot tub, fitness room and meeting and party rooms for rent.

Passes will go on sale starting February 1, 2010, at the main office of the Division of Parks and Recreation at 205 Main Street  in Prince Frederick, Monday through Friday 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Passes will be available at the Hall Aquatic Center once it opens.

GENERAL ADMISSION

• Adults                             $6.00
• Children (3-17)**            $4.00
• Children (1-2)                  $2.00
• Children (Under 1)            Free
• Seniors (60+)                   $4.00

**Children 12 years of age and younger require supervision by a responsible person 16 years of
age or older.

SEASON PASSES

Passes will be available for singles, seniors/children and households of up to five people at the following rates:

PASS TYPE	Household (up to 5)	Add’l  Houshold Members	Single (Adult)	Senior/Child**
Annual	$475.00	$45.00	$300.00	$225.00
Winter	$375.00	$35.00	$285.00	$185.00
Summer	$240.00	$20.00	$225.00	$145.00

Charles County has the sober distinction of topping the state reassessment lists for highest percentage of homes that have lost value and the largest percentage drop in estimated price since 2007.

Numbers released by the Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation Wednesday show county residential property lost $1.7 billion in value as a result of a 28.2 percent plummet in estimated home value, and only six of the 18,344 homes in the county were estimated to have increased in value.

The average full cash value change for the state was minus 19.7 percent. The average percentage of residential properties that decreased in value across 24 counties is 93.35.

According to state figures, 99.97 percent of the total number of residential improved properties in Charles County decreased in value. Only Frederick and Washington counties shared decreases to more than 99 percent of homes with Charles County. Frederick County had a 26.1 percent full cash value loss while Washington County had a 22 percent decrease.

In Calvert and St. Mary’s counties, 98.54 percent and 95.97 percent of the total homes decreased in value, respectively.

Including commercial properties, the portion of Charles County assessed this year decreased in value by 92.68 percent.

Only seven of the other 23 counties had a higher total percentage drop, Frederick County being the highest at 96.46 percent.

No surprise. Assessments are done every three years, so the last one would have been at the height of the Real Estate market. But Charles County tops list of lost value and estimated price in the state of Maryland? That does surprise me a bit… No data to support my feeling, just a personal observation.

I would like to see the data from the Northern end of the County. However, I think it’s fairly safe to deduce higher density areas (availability of housing), such as Waldorf and La Plata, contained a higher proportion of “speculation” (I use this word loosely) to produce news such as this.