I'd like to take a moment at respond to Brad Woodger's most recent letter about Tim Leland's and Larry Simm's letters.  

I know Brad and Kim are on the Chappy Road all the time, jogging and biking and probably driving.  They probably could tell many stories about near misses, and direct hits but then so can we all.  Some of us could even advise that they rode their bikes the entire distance from the ferry to the dike bridge and back without incident.  Others could tell of the time they rode a bike to the Stop and Shop and back without even brushing against a car.  I personally saw an adult biker standing next to his bike, waiting for the ferry when, without warning, he fell over on top of his bike, skinning himself badly.  But somehow I don't think these anecdotes are going to enlighten the discussion concerning whether Chappaquddick Road should be paired up with a special lane for those other than cars and trucks.   More helpful might be a testamony as to why the roads and more than 9.5 miles of trails across Chappy aren't sufficient for all the hiking, biking and jogging that needs to be done.  Too, if there were to be an engineering study of traffic safety, which unfortunately the Path Committee is not suggesting, I'm somehow sure that the engineers would not be relying on anecdotal evidence of accidents or near misses on Chappaquiddick over the years but rather police and hospital reports, surveys of visiting bikers etc. 

Brad's attack on Tim's imagination might extend to the Chappaquiddick Path Committee's proposal and Rationale which indeed was probably not as well written as Tim's letter.  A quick reading of Bob Colvin's "Rationale" shows under safety (Page 1),  that the new shared used path will be used as follows:  One million trips in 20 years.  He suggests summer use at 250 trips/day and 30 trips/day off season.  That figures to 187.5 days of summer and 177.5 days off season.   That's a little more than a fifth of us year round residents taking to the path daily.  Truth is, a leap of logic isn't necessary to see the need for restroom facilities as the Trustees of Reservations, the Edgartown Parks Department, Gerry Jeffers and the Selectmen all have responded to the increased "Tourism" in Edgartown with the installation of "Porta Potties" at East Beach, Mytoy, East Beach, Wasque, South Beach, Chappy Store, and the Upper Main Street Parking lot.  As far a paving the road to Wasque, its been proposed and so far has been beat back. 

Concerning the perception of Chappaquiddickans as elitists, I don't think any reinforcing is necessary.   Whether it is a misconception is probably not even debatable.  But is he trying to say he likes tourists, wants them to think of us as welcoming and besides we can't keep them out even if we wanted but he's going to deny  them Porta-Potties?  I'm confused.  

Brad states that vehicular traffic and pedestrian and bike traffic are not able to coexist during the summer season and yet year after year they do, as he admits in the next line, at a slower pace than they would if the bikes and hikers  were shunted aside to their elitist paths.  Mr. Simms, suggesting that if there were a serious safety issue, the answer would be a prohibition on bikes or build paths everywhere.  But there isn't.   Brad's real concern leaks out (forget subtext) when he states that, at least in part, removing a percentage of the bikes and hikers would "mitigate the congestion that now exists."  This theme also shows up in the Path Committee's proposal.  (See page 10 - "Furthermore, the path will keep the bicyclists out of the way and able to get their destination efficiently."  and  "In addition hundreds of car and truck drivers on the road will be beneficially affected because they will have to dodge fewer bicyclists and walkers in the road").  If it is not bicyclists, but rather kids, walkers and strollers we want off the roads why are we not proposing a sidewalk?  

Brad, the sometimes Edgartown school teacher, and a good one too,  writes next that there is no hope for education of cyclists or motorists.   Yet all across the country that is exactly the bike path many communities have taken. Here are several links, but you can find them yourselves by typing "Bicycle Safety Education" in the Google search box.  (See below letter).  

How about creating a great summer job greeting cyclists and hikers at the ferry point, advising of the importance the law, which requires riding on the right, single file and alerting the riders of the dangers of off road cycling.  A greeter on the Edgartown side could go down the line and advise drivers of the rights of cyclist and hikers and remind them of the dangers of driving impaired (returning from a day of drinking on the beach).  The million dollars the path is estimated to cost, invested at 5%, would yield a $50,000 annual fund, which could easily fund a couple of summer students (or out of work carpenters) for bicycle and motorist education.  Maybe the $27,000 dollars would better go toward a couple of bike racks at the road head of the Dike Road and Wasque Road with signs that would advise riders of the cumbersumness and dangers of sand and dirt road biking.  Of course an occasional warning from a police officer would serve as education in the observance of the speed limit for those drivers forgetting about the liesurely Chappaquiddick pace.   Those of us in the tourist/summer people business of course have no interest in hitting any of them so you seldom find any of us speeding!

I'm sorry that Brad didn't take the opportunity that the new internet technology has presented and given us a look at the statistics he found indicating that most fatalities occur during "overtaking" accidents.  Left to my own, I came up with two studies that seem to indicate otherwise.  The first, from the North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center involves 2719 crashes in 6 states. (http://www.tfhrc.gov/safety/pedbike/ctanbike/ctanbike.htm)  and are summerized below.  Another Study involves Boston accidents in 1979-1980.  (http://www.bikexprt.com/research/ctps/class.htm).  That site shows 37.8 % from the Cross/Fisher Study (The worst I could find).  

Finally, its true, what form this bike path takes if it takes one at all has yet to be determined.  Unfortunately, the $27,000 "engineering study" as proposed by the Path Committee is not going to get us a plan for anything different than what we already have seen.  That is, as stated by the committee in the proposal,  a 5-8 foot wide path, paved or of packed stone dust, separated from the road by a few feet.  They admit the existing road pavement will have to be slightly shifted and in a few instances telephone poles moved or wires buried.  Carefully not mentioned in the proposal is the removal of trees, brush, wildflowers or the regrading of the road side, mostly within the roadway layout (and thus visable from the road) but in some cases private property taken or at least greatly affected.  If a casual Chappaquiddick summer visitor were asked about a path on Chappy, shown pictures of the Falmouth rail trail, or the Concord battleground trail and asked if they favored it, well why not, it seems like heaven and gets the congestion off the roads.  A closer look reveals the same roadside ruination of the landscape as proposed several times in the pass backed by a few fresh people who haven't had time to consider the cost in dollars and Chappaquiddick's unique landscape.  It is our narrow winding Chappy Road indeed, and it should remain as is. 

Yours, Roger Becker

http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/safety/vehicle/bicycle/education.htm  (Safety education)
http://ots.state.nv.us/Nevada_Bicycle_Pedestrian_Safety_Program.shtml  (Safety Education)
http://www.sfmta.com/cms/uploadedfiles/dpt/bike/Safety/Chapter%2018_Bicycle%20Safety%20Education.pdf (Safety Education)

  
     This is a summary of the findings of the study done at the University of North Carolina.
                 You can see discriptions of each Crash Type by going to the site:
                            http://www.tfhrc.gov/safety/pedbike/ctanbike/ctanbike.htm 
                                       (Copy and Paste to your browser)

			
                                                                                                             resulted           Any
                                                                                                        in serious injury    Fatal?
	Crash Type                                                        of cases            or fatal                                       
 		 # 	%	%	#

1	Ride out at stop sign	290	9.7	23	67		
2	Drive out at stop sign	277	9.3	 10	28	
3	Drive out at midblock	207	6.9	   7	14	
4	Motorist left turn  facing bike	176	5.9	 24	42	
5	Ride out at residential driveway	153	5.1	 24	37	
6	Motorist right turn	143	4.7	 11	16	
7	Ride out at midblock	132	4.4	 20	26	
8	Bike left turn in front of traffic	130	4.3	 28	36	
9	Motorist overtaking - other	117	3.9	 28	33	
10	Non-roadway (Parking lot etc.)	112	3.7	 11	12	no
11	Right on red	108	3.6	   6        6	no
12	Wrong way Bike	 81	2.7	 32	26	
13	Ride out at commercial driveway	 68	2.3	 22	15	
14	Controlled intersection - other	 63	2.1	 16	10	no
15	Motorist overtaking bike takes evasive action	 59	2	 22	13	no
16	Unknown	 50	1.7	 11	6	
17	Backing	 47	1.6	   2	 1	no
18	Drive Through	 45	1.5	 11	5	
19	Bike right turn	 43	1.4	 27	12	
20	Bike strikes parked vehicle	 43	1.4	 10	4	no
21	Motorist overtaking failed to detect bike	 39	1.3	 54	21	
22	Bike overtaking	 39	1.3	   5	2	no
23	Motorist overtaking Misjudged passing space	 37	1.2	 22	8	
24	Motorist left turn in front of bike	 36	1.2	   9	3	no
25	Bike lost control	 35	1.2	  33	12	
26	Weird  (intentional, cargo falling etc.)	 34	1.1	  22	7	no
27	Multiple threat	 27	0.9	  15	4	
28	Uncontrolled intersection-other	 23	0.8	  14	3	no
29	Ride out from sidewalk	 21	0.7	  18	4	
30	Motorist lost control	 19	0.6	  37	7	
31	Drive out at intersection - other	 16	0.5	    9	1	no
32	Play vehicle	 16	0.5	  28	4	
33	Trapped	 15	0.5	    7	1	no
34	Drive out from on-street parking	 10	0.3	  11	1	no
35	Motorist overtaking-bike path obstructed	   5	0.2	    0	0	no
36	Wrong way motorist	   3	0.1	  33	1	no

	Totals	 2719	100%	18.01%	490	
						
	   Sub total Bike ride out (1,5,7,13,29)	   664	 24.4	 22.4	149	
	   Sub total Motorist drive out  (2,3,31,34)	   510	18.76	   8.6	  44	
	   Sub total motorist turning  (4,6,24)	   355	13.05	17.18	  61	
	   Sub total Motorist overtaking  (9,15,21,23,35)	   257	   8.6	  30	  75	

	* Derived from given percentages					

-