Orange County NC Website
'5$)7 <br /> <br />Abigaile Pittman: How can you tell how fast you are going? <br /> <br />Jeff Charles: Most serious cyclists have odometers but if you not, you learn pretty quickly.  <br /> <br />Paul Guthrie: The mixed use trails in this country have wide rights-of wayand the track is wide. <br /> <br />Jeff Charles: Mountain biking, etc., if we don’t improve our rural roads, they will look for other options and as you  <br />develop these trails, you will see them go where you did not expect them to. <br /> <br />Abigaile Pittman: Other than thesecomments, I would like the Board to consider supporting the goal and objectives  <br />developed by DEAPR staff.  <br /> <br />Paul Guthrie: This recommendation is pretty good. The comments on emergency needs to be better defined. It is  <br />not just what the Parks department can do but what the potential responders may need to modify with how they  <br />respond and what kind of equipment but both sides need to inform the others. <br /> <br />RichShaw: The Emergency Responsestaff hasnot reviewed this draft yet. If you think of anything or have any  <br />questions, let me know. <br /> <br /> <br />Jeff Charles: In your packet, there is an N&O news article about the June 25th alleged road incident in the court  <br />system where a gentleman has been cited for misdemeanor assault with a deadly weapon associated with this  <br />alleged road rage incident. I ride 5,000 plus miles per year and the vast majority is in Orange County and I have  <br />been seeing an increase in friction between motorists and cyclist which is why we came up with the road safety  <br />guidelines which will support now. I ride with about 100 people a year and of those 100, three of those have been hit  <br />by a car or had car interactions in the last two months. In this case, it was road rage involved. Presented videos of  <br />ride. You can make a legal pass if you have 500 foot visible with a double lane.If there are 20 plus cyclist riding in  <br />the same lane, it is frustrating for motorists. How do you convince cyclists to break into smallergroups? This is part  <br />of an education process. The League of American Bicyclists listed the top ten states, each one has the following  <br />statement in their vehicular law, and bicyclistscannot ride more than two abreast and cannot impede traffic. North  <br />Carolina is ranked 23rd because we don’t have very good bicyclist rules. There are two groups of Orange County  <br />trying to work on this problem. There is a motorist group working on this alsoand I am sitting on that group.  <br />Commissioner Price has agreed to head a working group to get law enforcement involved. Gail Alberti is the  <br />motorist’s representative in our group. We do not want to get legislature involved in this. We also need to be  <br />concerned about mopeds and the elf vehicle. <br /> <br />Alex Castro:As the population increases, more and more people will want to get out. I would recommend you make  <br />contact with the Grange in Schley.  <br /> <br />Jeff Charles: Bonner Hauser is heading up the motorist group and Renee and I are heading up the cyclists. <br /> <br />Paul Guthrie: It has been my observation of the last 10 years, how much cruder the driving is. <br /> <br />Jeff Charles: This is also an enforcement issue. The law is that you have to stop if anyone is walking across the  <br />cross walk. We don’t want to get legislature involved.  <br /> <br />Alex Castro: We need to raise awareness and have a good publicity campaign. What is the law? Having a public  <br />awareness campaign to highlight these points tonight would be very helpful. <br /> <br />Jeff Charles: Enforcement and education are the way I go. We are bringing ideas from Europe for education. I hope  <br />these videos have a role in enforcement for laws. <br /> <br />Alex Castro: What about getting the bicycle shops to help get some of those videos on the air. <br /> <br />Jeff Charles: I want to make sure law enforcement can use the videos. <br />5