ORDER OF BUSINESS
I. Approval of Meeting Minutes from October 16, 2003.
Motion to approve minutes
Jackson/Cotton, Unanimous (Wolnik and Gregory abstained)
II. Public Announcements
None
III. General Business/Public Hearings
1. Bicycle Transportation Account -Recommend adoption of the Bicycle Transportation Plan and submittal of grant funding applications.
Gras asked why the plan catalogued city owned bike parking facilities only. He asked if there were any programs for private parking. He also stated that the bicycle ridership numbers seemed high.
Mayer asked what this document was used for other than for BTA funding.
Jackson stated that he believed that there was also an error in the ridership forecasts. He also questioned whether a housing project on Wolfe Road met the requirements of the municipal code for bike parking. He also stated that the footnotes referenced in the financial needs section were not included in the document.
Cotton asked about the possibility of revisiting project ranking and suggested a review of the Bike CIP at a future meeting. She also asked for electronic copies to be made.
Wolnik asked about the Bernardo Avenue Caltrain Under-crossing funding.
Granvold requested Safe Routes to School program status.
Mayer requested information on status for next meeting. He also stated that the document had a lot of out of date information which highlighted the need for a new plan.
Motion To recommend adoption of the 2004 Sunnyvale Bicycle Transportation Plan, and authorization for filing of a 04/05 Bicycle Transportation Account application for the Evelyn Avenue Bike Lane project.
Jackson/Granvold - Unanimous
2. Discussion of Bicycle Safety at intersections
Mayer stated that this discussion was prompted by the collision at Sunnyvale-Saratoga Road and Remington Drive. Staff cautioned against discussion to specifics of the incident.
Wolnik stated that the discussion would be to talk about the generalities of right-turn collisions.
Mayer stated that bikes can get trapped and there are conflicts in the California Vehicle Code. Cars don't know that they are supposed to merge into bike lane before the turn, and bikes don't know to merge either. He suggested dropping bike lane lines at intersections.
Jackson is concerned that Public Safety may have an incorrect perception of how cars and bikes should interact at right-turns according to the law. He would like to see more enforcement of motorists interacting incorrectly with cyclists. He is concerned about the assumption that cyclists are always wrong. Jackson also suggested that yield to bike signs should be placed at all intersections with bike lanes on high speed multi-lane arterial roadways.
Witthaus was concerned about adherement to the signs. He asked if the BPAC felt that right-turn yield at intersections is a major bike safety issue and if so stated that perhaps an education campaign is needed.
Cindy Cotton suggested the possibility of memorials where fatal collisions have occurred.
Mayer stated that this problem needs to be undertaken by infrastructure improvements, enforcement, and motorist and bicyclist education. He asked staff to report back to the BPAC next meeting on proposed actions. He also asked that DPS be invited to discuss enforcement stings/campaigns.
Wolnik suggested a pavement stencil for bikes stating "watch for right turns".
Mayer also suggested "walk your bike" stencils at downtown street corners.
3. Bicycling at Night
The committee concurred that there is a significant non-compliance problem with bicyclists use of proper night time lighting. However cycling without lights doesn't appear to correlate to a higher collisions rate.
Mayer suggested a study issue for collision analysis in order to determine what behavior caused collisions and to let study results guide enforcement/education. He stated that we need to find out what behavior is creating real problems and target resources accordingly.
Jackson suggested using lights as a give-away prize at events and school presentations. He stated that kids are a good target for spreading the message.
Mayer does not advocate any increase in enforcement unless justified by collision statistics.
IV. Citizens to be Heard
None
V. Non-Agenda Items and Comments
Granvold has a question regarding the Maude Avenue Bike Lanes.
Mayor suggested using some warning device at the big tree on Maude.
Jackson stated that the bike lockers at the Caltrain and the library need to be cleaned out. He also asked for updates regarding a number of projects on the active items list. He also stated that there were bike safety issues at the Mary Manor construction site.
Cotton commented on a collision at Hollenbeck and Fremont.
The Committee also noted new bike lanes on Persian Drive and Almanor, additional pedestrian attenuation at Remington, and bright speed warning signs on Knickerbocker.
VI. Information Only Items
Approved September 18, 2003 Minutes - Accepted as Submitted
BPAC Active Items Report - Accepted as Submitted
BPAC Email - Accepted as Submitted
BPAC Calendar - Accepted as Submitted
VII. Adjournment
Motion to adjourn, Cotton/Jackson, unanimous . Meeting adjourned, 8:45 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
________________
Dieckmann Cogill
Transportation Planner