HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0679.097 2022-2024 p /Gounci
Di I 1 [25
Gomm.679
From: David A. Harding
Sent: Friday, June 14, 2024 2:29 PM
To: Council Testimony; Kimball, Heather; Kagiwada,Jennifer; Lee Loy, Sue; Kierkiewicz,
Ashley; Kanealii-Kleinfelder, Matt; Galimba, Michelle M.;Villegas, Rebecca; Inaba,
Holeka; Evans, Cynthia F.W.
Subject: Re: opposition to Bill 125 (draft 5) for June 19th county coup ulzarti Fc
COUNTY OF HAWAI'I
RECEIVED
Council members:
Time 2:2q p.rn. By
Date JUN 1 4 2024
I urge you to vote against Bill 125 (draft 5) regarding commercial bicycle tours. Briefly:
1. Disallowing bicycle tours on certain roads will make those roads less safe for tourists and residents alike. Multiple
studies show that more cyclists on a road makes that road safer---not just for cyclists but also for drivers and pedestrians.
2.Visitors unable to take a tour may instead individually rent ebikes.
Instead of groups of tourists being driven uphill by a local in a van at highway speeds and then coasting downhill on just
one side of the road, individual ebikers will ride slowly uphill on one side of the road before coasting downhill on the
other side of the road. The individual renters will likely receive less guidance and support than group tourists would have
received. Anyone who dislikes group bicycle tours now will dislike large numbers of individual ebikers even more.
3. Draft 5, Section 6(c) lists"conditions considered substandard for non-vehicle use". However several of the entries on
this list describe road conditions that **improve** cyclist safety by slowing down cars and encouraging drivers to pay
more attention to the road.
Details and references for the above points follow. Again, I urge you to vote against Bill 125 on its second reading.
##1. More bicycling, more safety for everyone
Quotes from two peer-reviewed studies:
> "In all seven cities studied,the risk per cyclist decreased as
> bicycling ridership increased. [...] More cyclists on the road
>increases the visibility and safety of cyclists overall,a phenomenon
> known as'safety in numbers'."---National Association of City
>Transportation Officials
>(https://nacto.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/NACTO_Equitable_Bikeshar
>e_Means_Bike_Lanes.pdf)
> "Overall,cities with a high bicycling rate among the population
>generally show a much lower risk of fatal crashes for**all** road
>users when compared to the other cities in our database." (emphasis in
>original)---Article published in the Journal of Environmental
> Practice
>(https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1017/51466046610000566)
The conspicuous presence of group bicycle tours on our roads helps make drivers more aware of cyclists in general,
increasing the safety of residents who bicycle.
Comm. No. I if .IT
i Ref. To: ► 111011111
Ref. Date JUN 1 9 2024
Drivers who slow down for corners and scan a little further ahead on the road because they're used to encountering
bicycle tours are also more likely to avoid striking pedestrians (including children) or colliding with other drivers,
increasing safety for everyone.
Allowing group bicycle tours to operate everywhere motor vehicles can operate not only benefits the environment and
our local economy, but it helps improve the transportation safety of everyone on the island.
Please vote against Bill 125 to allow tourists to continue to contribute to keeping residents safe.
##2.The ebike alternative to tours
One reason bicycle tours became popular in the past is that they allow tourists to be driven uphill in a van so that they
can coast downhill for many miles to the end of the tour,where their bicycles are retrieved by the tour operator. The
tourist gets to enjoy a beautiful outdoor ride without the physical exertion of pedaling uphill.
That's still true of tours today, but modern tourists have an alternative that's affordable and increasingly widely available:
they can rent an ebike that will power itself uphill.
If group tours are forbidden from using certain popular roads, some (perhaps many)of those tourists will rent ebikes to
traverse those roads instead. Some of the consequences of this are:
1. Ebike tourists will use both sides of the road. Instead of a local expert driving groups of tourists uphill at highway
speeds, ebike tourists will individually ride uphill at fairly slow speeds on the opposite side of the road from downhill
cyclists.
2. Ebike tourists will receive less guidance and support from tour operators. Tours tend to include safety videos or
lectures (often required by insurance carriers), instructions from a local guide (including exhorting tourists to respect the
locals),and dedicated support(with a van for retrieval if the tourist gets lost or their bike is damaged). Bike rentals rarely
include any of that, increasing the number of blunders that renters will make and increasing their dependency on public
services and local kindness.
Anyone who dislikes bicycle tours will even more dislike large numbers of self-guided tourists on ebikes. Voting against
Bill 125 may prevent aggravating the existing situation.
##3.A bad road for drivers is often a good road for cyclists
Nineteen cyclists have died in traffic accidents in Hawaii County since 2000. Over 30%of those fatalities occurred just on
Queen Ka'ahumanu Highway,where there are broad shoulders. Many of the remaining accidents---a clear majority of
total fatalities---also occurred on similar stretches of road with broad shoulders.
It's a common misconception that broad shoulders make cyclists safe by keeping them away from traffic, but the reality is
that motor vehicles on high-speed roads occasionally drift into the shoulder lane with tragic consequences for vulnerable
road users. This can happen when the driver falls asleep(the cause of 11%of cyclist fatalities on Hawaii Island since
2000), the driver is drunk(16%of our cyclist fatalities),or the driver is speeding excessively(11%of our cyclist fatalities).
This isn't just our island:the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says"Sixty-four percent of bicyclist deaths in 2022
occurred on major roads".
(https://www.i i hs.org/topics/fata l ity-statistics/detail/bicyclists)
The actual best protection for cyclists on shared roads are obstacles that force drivers to pay attention and proceed
slowly. Increased driver attention reduces the risk of accidents and lower speeds significantly reduces the chance of a
fatality or major injury.
According to AAA,when an unprotected person is hit by a car,the chance of survival is 90%at 16 MPH and 75%at 32
MPH, but plummets to 50%at
2
42 MPH, 25%at 50 MPH,and 10%at 58 MPH.
(https://aaafoundation.org/impact-speed-pedestrians-risk-severe-injury-death/)
With that in mind, look at some of the"conditions considered substandard for non-vehicle use"according to Bill 125
(draft 5):
-"unpaved gravel road surfaces"-these are actually great for cyclist safety as they almost always slow drivers down to
below 30 MPH (and substantially below that on curves where sight lines are limited).
-"one-lane bridges" -a boon for cyclists because they force drivers to slow down, prepare to stop, and scan the road far
ahead to ensure they won't collide head-on with an oncoming motor vehicle. All of these steps significantly increase
cyclist safety.
-"limited lines of sight"-another road hazard that encourages drivers to slow down and pay more attention lest they
rear-end a stopped motor vehicle,collide with debris on the road,or encounter another hazard.
This decreased speed and increased attention helps protect cyclists.
Bill 125 (draft 1)was originally about Kohala Mountain Road,which has limited lines of sight,and Akoni Pule Highway
past mile marker 25,which has both limited lines of sight and one-way bridges. As a driver, both of those roads make me
slow down and pay more attention---to the benefit of cyclists. So it's unsurprising that there have been no cyclist
fatalities on those roads in the past 24 years (which is all the data I have).
As far as I'm aware,the nearest cyclist accident to those areas was the
2012 death of resident Jessie Taylor on Akoni Pule near mile marker 19.
According to HPD, Mr.Taylor was on the road's broad shoulder when struck by a 16-year-old driver who allegedly fell
asleep at the wheel.
(https://www.hawaiipolice.com/north-kohala-fatality-07-13-12)
Perhaps the wide road and gentle curves with long sight lines lured the driver into inattention and stupor---whereas if
the driver had been a few miles further along Akoni Pule,the narrow road,sharp curves,and one-way bridges would
have helped keep her awake.
A bill that describes as hazards several conditions that actually help keep cyclists safe, and which does not seem to be
informed by actual traffic fatality data on our island or elsewhere, has probably not received enough input from experts
to warrant becoming a permanent part of the county code.
##Conclusion
Restricting bicycle tours from certain public roads will make all road users less safe, lead to new aggravations,and may
deny tourists access to some of the safest roads on this island due to misconceptions about what makes roads safe for
cyclists. That's a net loss to the citizens of Hawaii County even before considering the regular problems of enacting a
new ordnance of this type:the increase in bureaucracy,the cost of enforcement,and the time taken away from the
primary duties of our public officials(e.g. policing and planning).
I know Bill 125 had the support of an overwhelming number of council members on its first reading, but I ask you each to
re-evaluate your positions and consider voting against Bill 125 on its second reading.
Thank you,
-David A. Harding,
Panaewa St., Hilo
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