Agenda - 12-07-2015 - 6-a - Minutes

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13 1 without jurisdiction will lead to failure. She said the State Patrol does the enforcement, and the 2 Department of Transportation (DOT) is responsible for County roads. 3 Commissioner Pelissier referred to page 2, saying a lot of it refers to what DOT does. 4 She asked if requests have been made to DOT for any of these improvements. 5 Bonnie Hammersley said these items have been discussed with DOT at past meetings. 6 Abigaile Pittman said DOT is aware of this report and the bicycle safety group has met 7 with both the DOT and the Sheriff's office. She said DOT is willing to review some of these 8 improvements but it has to be for more than just bicycles. 9 Commissioner Rich referred to page 2, item number 3. She asked if there are current 10 enforcement efforts that are seeking to be enhanced. 11 Abigaile Pittman said the County does not have such authority and these efforts would 12 fall under the Sheriff's office. 13 Bonnie Hammersley said the Sheriff feels that he does not have as much authority as 14 the Highway Patrol, regarding citations. 15 Commissioner Rich asked if the enhancements would be more of an educational 16 campaign. 17 Abigaile Pittman said the County can forward this resolution to the DOT and the Sheriff's 18 office in order to partner with bicycle education and to add information to their present quarterly 19 meetings, and also add pertinent information to their website about bicycle safety. 20 Commissioner Rich said all bicycle riders must follow proper road safety. 21 Commissioner Dorosin said enforcement efforts are different than raising public 22 awareness. He said the Sheriff can enforce traffic safety issues and the Sheriff's office knows 23 where the more critical spots are. 24 Commissioner Price asked if there could be a sub-committee of the Orange Unified 25 Transportation Board (OUTBoard), which could meet with residents to continue the 26 conversation and bring information back to the BOCC. 27 John Roberts said yes. 28 Commissioner Price asked if a staff person would have to be tasked to this group or 29 could just the sub-committee meet. 30 Bonnie Hammersley said this is not about staff. She said one option would be a sub- 31 committee that has staff available to provide support but the County leading a task force over 32 which it does not authority would be a challenge. 33 Bonnie Hammersley said she could take this information to the Chair of the OUTBoard. 34 35 PUBLIC COMMENT: 36 Paul Speight said he is the Deputy Chief of the Orange Grove Fire Departments. He 37 said about six weeks ago he and the Fire Chief were responding to an EMS call. On the way, 38 the Chief passed a bicyclist and Paul Speight was following about 500 feet behind. He said as 39 he approached the bicyclist, the cyclist made an abrupt turn, which caused Paul Speight to 40 almost turn over a fire truck. He said bicycles rarely stop at intersections, and many times 41 bicyclists do not move out of the way when they are running trucks out of their station. He said 42 they are asking cyclists to give EMS the right of way and to follow the laws. 43 Norma White said she lives in Little River Township and is speaking tonight on behalf of 44 Schley Grange 710. She said the members are strong advocates for rural road safety. She 45 said, at the request of Schley Grange, the North Carolina Grange included a bicycle resolution 46 on their legislative agenda. She asked if Orange County could adopt a similar resolution. She 47 read the resolution and provided it to the Clerk to the Board. 48 Heidi Perry said she rides in Orange County and has done so for 30 years while obeying 49 the laws. She said she would like to assist the fire department in finding cyclists that do not 50 move out of the way for EMS. She is a bicycle advocate appointed to the OUTBoard, is a