Pretrial set for Summer Black’s hit-and-run killer: 10/10/2019
Amber Taylor Borden, a 21 year old from Middleburg, struck and killed Summer Black on Beach Boulevard near Southside Boulevard on March 25 and fled the scene. Borden’s pretrial will be held 10/10/2019, 9:00 am, 508, 5th floor, 501 W Adams Street, Jacksonville, FL 32202. Borden is being charged with Leaving the Scene of a Crash Involving Death S316.027(2)(C). It is at the discretion of the State Attorney and the Judge as to whether non family members of the victim, or the accused, may be present for the pretrial.
Summer Black
Sweet, genuine, wildly creative, charmingly quirky, passionate and sensitive, called out bullshit, and biked further and harder than every single cyclist at the 2011 MS150. You biked all the way from Jacksonville to St. Augustine to Daytona, and turned right back around and started biking back to Jacksonville… all in the same day. This is just the tip of the iceberg, as we didn’t know you well. But we knew enough to really like you a lot. Summer, you are a profound loss to this community. Duval honestly feels different now.
With love and respect…
Jacksonville’s Car-Free Week Event and Ceremony
JACKSONVILLE’S CAR-FREE WEEK
DUMP THE GAS PUMP AND GO CAR-FREE!
A personal motorized vehicle can be a costly dependence, both for our wallets and our environment. For one week in Bike Month, May 15 – 19, the Jacksonville BPAC is encouraging you to try other options — for just one day, or all week. Then join us that Friday, May 19, from 6:00pm-8:00pm, for our Awards Ceremony!
WALK TO WORK
Since every trip by car, by transit, or even by bike starts and ends with walking, it’s easy to walk to work. Drivers can switch to transit, or carpool and park away from their place of work. Bus/skyway riders can simply get off 1 or 2 stops earlier. For those who have to drop off children at school, just park your car away from your place of work in a secure area after you drop of your children, and walk from there.
RUN TO WORK
Morning runs before you get to work will ensure you arrive at the office feeling awake and ready to start the day off right. And if you choose to run-commute home, it’s an opportunity to clear your mind after a hard day. For those who have to drop off children at school, just park your car away from your place of work in a secure area after you drop of your children, and run from there. For tips on running to work, visit runwork.net.
BIKE TO WORK
National Bike to Work Day is Friday, May 19, but why not bike to work all week during Car-Free Week? The purpose of Bike to Work Day is to have higher numbers of bicyclists in regular clothing out and visible to motorists who are also trying to get to work. Bicyclists wearing regular clothing sends a message — “Yes, you, too, can go to work by bicycle!”. For those who have to drop off children at school, just bring your bike with you when driving, park your car away from your place of work in a secure area after you drop of your children, and bike from there. For tips, visit jaxbikecoalition.org/2017/04/02/national-bike-to-work-day-2017.
SKYWAY TO WORK
The skyway is faster than driving through downtown, it’s usually not crowded, and it’s free! We’re currently seeking permission for bikes on the skyway during Car-Free Week, so stay tuned. For stops and schedules, visit jtafla.com/schedules.
BUS TO WORK
Riding the bus is common place for most people living in large, metropolitan cities. It’s cheap and you can chill out on the way to work — no fighting traffic, catch up on your reading, or even take a nap. And in Jacksonville, the bus system is better than ever! For stops and schedules, visit schedules.jtafla.com.
AWARDS CEREMONY
Friday, May 19
6:00pm-8:00pm
Intuition Ale Works
PERK #1 — Intuition Ale Works will be offering $1 OFF BEERS at the May 19 Ceremony AND all week — May 15-19 — to all participants who posted “commute selfies” on social media using the hashtag #CarFreeWeekJax. AND Dahlia’s Pour House and Magnolia’s Pub will ALSO be offering $1 off beers during Car-Free Week! You must show the bartenders your photos/videos to get the discount.
PERK #2 — The MOST IMPRESSIVE COMMUTERS are eligible to win prizes! Examples of impressive commuting:
- Participated multiple days during Car-Free Week
- Longest distance running to work
- Longest distance walking to work
- Longest distance biking to work
- Longest distance taking the bus to work
- Most diverse transit user (used the bus, and walked, and biked, etc. to work)
- Most enthusiastic (posted the most social media photos about their active transit to work)
Those who are known in the community to commute to work using active transportation nearly EVERYDAY, ALL YEAR, will be announced and cheered!
In order to be eligible to win prizes, you must fill out the survey, tinyurl.com/CarFreeWeekJax, and post “commute selfies” using the hashtag #CarFreeWeekJax. Prizes are limited. SURVEY WILL CLOSE BY 4:00PM MAY 19. If you’re commuting from work after 4:00pm that day, you may estimate the mileage of the final stretch of your commute on the survey before it closes.
HOW TO PARTICIPATE
- Decide which car-free option is best for you — or choose several options
- Decide which day of the week is best for you — or choose the whole week
- Take a photo or video of yourself on your commute and post it to social media using the hashtag #CarFreeWeekJax
- Take a quick survey sometime before May 19, 4:00pm, tinyurl.com/CarFreeWeekJax, to provide more details about yourself — SURVEY WILL CLOSE BY 4:00PM MAY 19. If you’re commuting from work after 4:00pm that day, you may estimate the mileage of the final stretch of your commute on the survey before it closes.
- Attend the Closing Awards Ceremony at Intuition Ale Works on Friday, May 19, 6:00pm-8:00pm. Don’t forget to invite your entourage to cheer you on in case you win!
JOIN US
Find other participants and let others know that you’ll be participating for CAR-FREE WEEK:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1282646578478186/
RSVP to the AWARDS CEREMONY:
https://www.facebook.com/events/495890540535194/
Come out and meet like-minded people for a night of camaraderie and recognition for a job well done! Contact us with questions or learn more about us at facebook.com/bpacfriends.
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CAR-FREE WEEK EVENT SPONSORS
A very special thank you to all of our sponsors for their dedication to our community, donating countless hours of time and generous monetary contributions for the cause:
…(more to come)…
While the headline of this news article should have also mentioned MOTORISTS breaking the law, here’s a decent story on bike/ped safety by the Times Union.
While the JBC doesn’t condone jaywalking in heavy traffic, we understand the many challenges pedestrians face in this city. Some typical Jacksonville road and cultural problems for both pedestrians and people on bikes:
- Many roads have crosswalks that are too far apart from one another
- Some crosswalk signals do not give ample time to get across wide roads, so the elderly or disabled are forced to run halfway through
- Many roads are very wide with up to 6 lanes to contend with when trying to cross
- Florida motorists generally don’t understand the crosswalk laws and will not stop for pedestrians even if the pedestrians have the right of way
- Florida motorists certainly don’t understand the road-sharing laws with regards to people on bikes
- Being a person who chooses to ride a bike is still, strangely enough, a stigma in Florida
- Jacksonville is severely lacking in appropriate infrastructure for pedestrians, bicycles, buses, and its very limited elevated train, and has no infrastructure at all for commuter trains. It’s still archaic, catering overwhelmingly to cars only. Sadly limited.
- Speeding is an epidemic here
- Jacksonville is still the third most dangerous city in the entire nation for bikes and peds
- And arguably the worst challenge of all — distracted motorists — an absolute plague, nationwide, and just about as deadly
Jacksonville’s Bike Month in May
Get geared up for National Bike Month in May! Check out Jacksonville’s Bike Month site —www.jacksonvillebikemonth.com — for a listing of events and generous sponsors, and to view an inspirational noir short film, The Convert, shot right here in Jacksonville by local advocates. Be sure to check it periodically for additions and updates.
If you’re organizing a bike-related activity, please email info@jacksonvillebikemonth.com with information and we’ll add it to the website.
RIDE BIKES!
National Bike to Work Day 2017
National Bike to Work Day for 2017 is May 19th!
The purpose of Bike to Work Day is to have higher numbers of cyclists in regular clothing out and about and visible to motorists who are also trying to get to work. Cyclists wearing regular clothing sends a message to all the doubters out there – “Yes! It can be done! You, too, can go to work by bicycle!”
You CAN actually choose to ride your bike to work if it makes sense to do so. Do you only live a handful of miles away from work? Have you been meaning to get on that New Year’s resolution about getting fit? Do you see a reasonable route you can take to work by bicycle that isn’t going to be too harrowing? Sick of shoveling out huge piles of dough to Big Oil?
Remember, you’re not stuck in traffic. You ARE traffic. So get yourself unstuck and RIDE BIKES… to work.
Advice for Novice Bike Riders on “Serious Rides”
PLEASE NOTE: The advice in this article is NOT actually endorsed by me, or anyone from the Jacksonville Bicycle Coalition. I felt the need to list out a few tips and tricks to help make novices feel more comfortable on what I call “serious bike rides”, but I must stress that only YOU can fully educate yourself, and you must accept the fact that YOU ride at YOUR OWN risk.
So here goes…
Firstly, You may not want to make your bike route the very same route as what you take with your car. Get to know the general area between your home and to where you wish to ride. For safer routes to where I need to go, I check out Google Maps on occasion to see if I can find low-traffic roads to ride on.
I’ll use my commute to work as an example: After Google Mapping the best possible route to take by bike, I then drove on those roads to and from work, finally deciding which ones I could get away with on my bike. I went back on Google Maps a few times and drew out my own personal bike route. The route consists of both high traffic roads and low traffic neighborhood roads, bike lanes, big shoulders, and a short area where there is neither a shoulder nor bike lane with relatively heavy traffic (the only part of my bike route that stinks big time).
Secondly, ride your bike regularly to and from the corner store, a friend’s house, the park, etc. Take long joy rides in neighborhoods but also make sure you’re getting a feel for what it’s like to ride on roads with real traffic. If the traffic is too heavy, too fast, or too scary, you don’t have to force yourself to ride it. Start out by riding on roads that make you comfortable, slowly building up to the more challenging roads. That way, when you’re ready to take a serious ride, such as commuting to and from work or biking to Art Walk downtown, you’ll not feel so intimidated. When a bike rider feels intimidated, they may not be in the right mindset to handle situations gracefully enough. And remember, don’t ride your bike on roads with fast, heavy traffic if there’s no large shoulder or no bike lane.
Third, after you’ve ridden your bike quite a bit in and out of traffic on joy rides, and after you’ve driven on that route with your car a few times, making sure you’re driving that route during the times you’ll be riding your bike, you’ll then be ready to ride that route with your bike, but only during non-peak days and hours. Meaning, take that route with your bike on a lazy Sunday to get a feel for it. See how long it will take you to ride it so that you’ll make it to your destination on time. Make sure to give yourself plenty of time in the event you’re somehow stuck in heavy traffic during rush hour. Also, give yourself extra time so that when you arrive to your destination, you can freshen up and change clothes.
Finally, after getting a good feel for bike riding on the street in general, and getting a good feel for the best route on a bike, you’ll ideally be more confident a rider to be able to handle a serious ride.
Some additional tips:
You should wear a helmet.
Now, the bike helmet option is actually a topic of great disagreement between different types of cyclists. Honestly, sometimes I wear a helmet and admittedly sometimes I don’t. It really depends on my gut feelings about the time of day or how serious my ride is. When commuting to work, I wear a helmet. It makes me feel safer and it is safer. I’ll say this, bike riding is about as dangerous as any other form of street transportation, but that’s my opinion. This is not the opinion of the JBC in general. We are all made up of different cycling types and have various degrees of advice. Some folks may feel turned off to bike riding when they see people wearing helmets. Don’t allow yourself to buy into that school of thought. There’s nothing wrong with wearing a helmet.
I would personally recommend you wear a helmet. Just be on the safe side and do it.
You could also go to a book store and browse through some bike safety books. Don’t get overwhelmed with all the info out there. A lot of it is useful and some of it is not. Some of it is quite overkill and can turn people off to riding. Just use common sense:
- Don’t listen to music while riding.
- Always keep a sharp eye out for cars.
- Don’t make impulsive decisions unless you’re trying to get out of a sticky situation. Acting in a predictable fashion will help other cyclists and motorists know how to act when they’re on the roads with you.
- Don’t do something you’re not comfortable with. You’ll experience a bit of discomfort and that’s normal. But if your gut is screaming at you not to do something, your discomfort level is too high in which case you should back off from the situation.
Get familiar with fixing a flat, even if you haven’t had one yet. Most bike shops offer a free or very inexpensive bike maintenance basics class every once in awhile.
Always be prepared with a Plan B. Be familiar with bus routes, have a couple of backup phone numbers, and have the phone number for North Florida’s Emergency Ride Home service (http://www.northfloridatpo.com/cool_to_pool/) just in case something prevents you from riding.
Ultimately, what’s important is that you’re interested in riding bikes more often. If you do it each day, you’re going to save loads of money on gas and you’re going to be more physically fit. Just make sure you feel confident enough to take on your serious rides by first practicing with joy rides. You’ll find the practicing will not be a laborious, boring chore, but actually quite delightful. You’ll discover other things that you can do, other places you can go, on your bike while you’re practicing for the serious rides. You’ll get sun on your skin, fresh air in your lungs, you’ll be getting exercise that’s fun and relatively easy on the body – not cooped up in a boring gym or taking a toll on your joints with jogging.
Just take it slow at first and with time, you’ll discover on your own what works best for you.
Happy riding!
Revive Downtown Jax. Ride bikes to One Spark!
Don’t forget to attend One Spark this Wednesday through Sunday and vote for Community Couriers Jax. They deliver by bike. What’s not to like?! Find out more about CCJ here.