Are bicyclists the only individuals who don’t exceed the 25-mph speed limit on Forbes Avenue through Oakland?
Probably.
Do too many motorists exceed that speed limit on Forbes while trying to catch as many green lights as they can?
Matt Bauman of Bloomfield, a Pitt graduate student who has bicycled into Oakland for the past five years, thinks so.
He told Ngami Ndimbie of Bike Pittsburgh that he has often felt that cars “traveled too quickly given road conditions” through the busy Forbes corridor.
He decided to do something about it after Susan Hicks was struck and killed by a car recently in an accordion-style crash. He went to the top of the Cathedral of Learning and, using his cell phone, recorded 10 minutes of traffic on Forbes at 3:15 p.m. on a recent Friday afternoon.
Then, using his computer and open-source software, he determined that 49 cars were going between 30-35 mph, 12 were traveling between 35-40 mph and two were going more than 40 mph.
Although a radar gun would have determined the exact speeds, a device Bauman doesn’t own, he thinks he made his point.
Ndimbie does, too.
“While [Bike Pittsburgh] is highly aware that more video should be shot and more data gathered [to assemble] a statistically significant amount of information, it’s a bit of proof of motorists speeding along Forbes Avenue that’s been gathered in an impressively scrappy way.”
Until that information is collected and distilled, Pittsburgh Police should strictly enforce the 25 mph speed in three phases until motorists get the message to slow down — 11 p.m. to 7 a.m., 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. Yes, it likelly will cause traffic jams during the latter two time periods, but lives of bicyclists and pedestrians are at stake.
And those bicyclists must obey traffic laws, equip their bikes with headlights and taillights and wear bright/reflective clothing, especially at night. Pedestrians should cross Forbes — and Fifth — at the intersections instead of jaywalking.
Information: www.bikepgh.org.
Looking for more
The Salvation Army’s annual Bikes for Kids program is looking for more “gently used” bicycles for children aged 3-12 to give to needy children to brighten their Christmas holidays.
No tricycles, please.
If an unused child’s bicycle is aging in the attic, basement or garage and its original owner’s current mode of transportation has four wheels instead of two, take it to Karnack’s Bike Shop at 5003 Penn Avenue, Garfield. There now are parking spaces in front of and near the shop.
Jerry Kraynick and Robert Welsh, a fellow bike mechanic, were busy working on bikes when I stopped by Nov. 16.
“We had a good start,” said Kraynick, referring to the 51 bikes that Trish O’Donnell of Peters Township and others collected Oct. 24.
“They were really nice bikes that were in good shape,” Kraynick added. “We put a wrench on every bike and give it a thorough check-up before turning it over to the Salvation Army.”
Although Kraynick and his amateur bike mechanics — Robert, Rocky, Jay and Daniel — accept bikes year-round for the Bikes for Kids program, they look forward to working on the most bikes just before Christmas.
The bike shop will be open from 11:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Nov. 23 and 24, closed Nov. 25 and 26 for the Thanksgiving holiday and will re-open from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 28. The shop is closed on Wednesdays and Sundays.
Information: www.salvationarmywpa.org; 412-446-1500; 412-361-0888.
Larry Walsh writes about recreational bicycling for the Post-Gazette.
First Published: November 21, 2015, 5:00 a.m.
