Staff changes at Georgia Bikes

After six great years, I am moving on from Georgia Bikes to pursue a new position as the GA/SC Coordinator for the East Coast Greenway.

I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to have worked with a statewide movement for safer streets in Georgia. I give my heartfelt thanks to everyone who has served on the Board of Georgia Bikes, guiding me and building this scrappy nonprofit from humble beginnings to the strong and growing organization it is today. Thank you to everyone who ever supported our work, volunteered, or donated money to keep the lights on!

Thank you, especially, to all these outstanding champions for better bicycling in Georgia: Paul, Joyce, and the Serrano family, Bruce, Ken and everyone at Bike Law, Aileen and the Georgia Municipal Association, ALTA planners (past and present), Rebecca and all y’all at ABC, Byron, Corey, Julio, Tyler, John, Katelyn, Mikki, Franklin, Chantelle, Walt and Joanne and too many others to name. Huge thanks to everyone who has been a Board member, volunteer, or staffer at a local advocacy organization in Georgia. It has been an honor to know and work with you, and I am confident great things are in store from the momentum we have built together.

If you live or work on the coast, you’re not through with me yet! I look forward to partnering with you to make the exciting vision of the East Coast Greenway a reality.

The Board has named our current Complete Streets Coordinator, Mr. Elliott Caldwell, as the Interim Executive Director, effective February 20th. Please join me in welcoming Elliott on his new role with Georgia Bikes!

Thank you and all my best,

Brent

2016 Roadway fatalities in Georgia

Statewide, roadway fatalities continued their steady increase, with a disturbing 9% increase from 2015 for both people walking and people riding bikes. This unacceptable trend must be stopped and reversed, and we know the best way to improve the safety of our roadways is through a combination of much better engineering, bolstered by consistent education and enforcement.

On the engineering front, we’re glad to see GDOT starting an initiative to fund key projects via the state’s regional commissions, but we urge the DOT to preserve and obligate all of the federal funding Georgia receives that can be used to create safe streets and neighborhoods. So far, GDOT has transferred half of its Transportation Alternatives Funding -the maximum amount allowable- for road widening and new constructions. These funds could be used to create safe routes to school, sidewalks, crosswalks, and protected bike lanes, but the state is not prioritizing these scarce federal funds for their intended purpose.

For education and enforcement, we are continuing our free classes for law enforcement throughout the state, and we’re working this winter on winning a Vulnerable Road User law, which will 1) define who vulnerable road users are and 2) increase penalties for injuring or killing them. This law will be very helpful for crash victims where DUI or hit-and-run are not factors but where driver inattention contribute to the collision. If you support Georgia having such a law, please call your state Representative and Senator and let them know. Find them here. When you call, just say the following:

Hello, my name is [name], and I am a constituent who lives at [address]. I support a  Vulnerable Road User law in Georgia and ask the [Representative/Senator] to support such a law. Thank you.

At this time, a bill has not been introduced for the VRU law, but he hope to have a bill number soon. It never hurts to build the support early with your elected officials. Thanks for taking time to call your lawmakers today!