04/01/2003 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 4/1/2003 ,,~ Councilwoman Kasler, chairperson of the Public Safety, Health & Welfare Committee: ;: 1) The Safety Committee meeting was held on Tuesday, March 25. In attendance, all of the committee, other Council members, the Mayor, the Safety Director, guests and presenters for the evening, Mr. Fred Oswald and Officer Holly. Items discussed included: ^ The bicycle code in North Olmsted. The presenter for the evening was Fred Oswald, who is a league cycling instructor, a NASA engineer and cyclist enthusiast. He has surveyed numerous cities regarding laws applying to cycling, and the premise of this presentation was to promote cycling in the streets of the city as opposed to on the sidewalks as a safer method of transportation. There aze several issues that need to be discussed about this in committee, but he presented some statistics. Some of those include: a cyclist has a two to nine times higher risk of collision with an automobile when riding on the sidewalk as opposed to the street. His theory is based on the fact that, when the cyclist passes a driveway or a parking lot where a motorist is pulling out onto the street, the driver of the car is normally looking in one direction for his protection pulling out and doesn't always see a cyclist on the sidewalk coming through. Riding against traffic on the sidewalk is significantly more dangerous than riding in the street with the traffic flow. And maneuverability on the sidewalk is more difficult since that azea is meant for pedestrian traffic. He went on to stress that traffic laws must be obeyed by cyclists in order for this premise to be successful. Riding defensively is recommended, and riding on the right side of the road is required. Also discussed were some State of Ohio regulations which allow riding in the street. Officer Holly of the North Olmsted Police Department was in agreement with Mr. Oswald's presentation. He stated that our codified does not mirror the state statutes and that it should be reviewed in that regard. He further stated that the majority of bicycle accidents that the police deal with are related to those cyclists riding on the sidewalk and colliding with drivers exiting lots and driveways. Several Council members expressed concern regarding the subject of minimum age limits should this code be changed. It was the consensus of the committee, therefore, that Officer Holly and Mr. Oswald-and they agreed to do this-review our present code and submit to the Safety Committee their input and suggestions regarding potential changes. A copy of the city code has been sent to both gentlemen. Once their responses are received, the Safety Committee will reconvene on this subject. ^ A review of concerns submitted to the Mayor by Thomas Crowley, a resident on Cottonwood, whose has experienced some difficulties with the new Dover Center light in that area. His concerns have been narrowed down to two issues: First, should the "No Turn on Right" sign be posted at Cottonwood, or at minimum should it be school hours only on that sign? Second, can the city attend to the shrubbery on that corner which is presenting an obstruction to the view of drivers exiting onto Dover Center from Cottonwood? These two issues were submitted to the Mayor, and the committee requested input from the North Olmsted Police Department regazding the "No Turn on Red" sign and asked that the Service Department attend to the shrubbery issue. The committee also requested any history from the former Traffic Engineer regazding the reason for no turn on red at this light originally. The committee will reconvene when those responses have been received. 6