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Sunday, November 03, 2002

By Larry Walsh, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

David Hoffman was pedaling to work on Negley Avenue on Thursday morning when the driver of a sport utility vehicle passed, pulled in front and then hit his brakes.

	David Hoffman has been conducting a safe-bicycling campaign since he was knocked down by a hit-and-run-driver in February. (John Beale, Post-Gazette)

If the operator of the dark Chevy Blazer had a reason for abruptly slowing down, it wasn't apparent to Hoffman.

"There was no one in front of him," said Hoffman, 32, who commutes from Highland Park to his job at Summa Technologies Inc., Downtown. The 5.5 mile trip takes about 20 minutes.

"He was just messing with me," he added. "I hadn't been holding him up. I always look behind me to make sure I don't do that. Maybe he thought he was teaching me a lesson for something."

It was the motorist who needed the lesson:

Share the road.

It's the law.

I know, I know.

Pittsburgh has too many motorists who harbor animosity for bicyclists. They drive too close, try to force riders off the road and throw things. Their language also is juvenile.

Why do they engage in such stupid, dangerous and criminal behavior?

Is it jealously for the exercise the bicyclists are getting?

The bus fares or parking fees they're saving?

Their ability to keep moving in traffic jams?

Whatever it is, it has to change for the good of bicyclists and motorists.

But it will take time.

Hoffman knows that.

Painfully so.

Last January, he was the victim of a hit and run as he pedaled along Penn Avenue in Friendship. A late 1980s silver four-door General Motors sedan struck his rear wheel. Hoffman hit the roadway hard. He had a nasty cut above his right eye and a deep cut on his right wrist. His battered face and chest soon turned black and blue.

Yes, he was wearing a helmet.

He always does.

"It saved the right side of my face."

Rather than merely complain about the "accident," which was accompanied by a passenger's shout of "That's what sidewalks are for," Hoffman has spent the last nine months promoting bicycle safety and awareness by:

Creating a Web site -- http://www.Bike-Pgh.org.

Launching "The Spokesman," an electronic newsletter.

Building a mailing list of more than 500.

Helping to coordinate Bike to Work Week events.

Assembling a board of directors.

Retaining a local law firm to file for non-profit status.

Working with similar organizations in bike-friendly cities to develop a Share The Road campaign.

Coordinating his efforts with Sustainable Pittsburgh, Friends of the Riverfront, Western Pennsylvania Wheelmen, Mayor Tom Murphy's office and the Port Authority.

The Share the Road campaign will include educating cyclists on proper road etiquette. The latter includes obeying traffic signals and signs and using common sense.

Hoffman said Pittsburgh could become a bike-friendly city if it had more bike racks on buses, at the busiest bus stops and outside major build- ngs. More bike lanes on city streets and better signage also would be helpful.

"It will be an uphill battle," he said.

And downhill, too.

For more information, call 412-576-5982 or go to david@bike-pgh.org or http://www.Bike-Pgh.org.

Recycle-A-Cycle

Bicycle mechanics Dave Kaplan and Rick Freeman and their team of volunteer mechanics last year repaired 46 bikes in four hours during Citiparks annual "Recycle A-Cycle" program. Their goal this year is to repair 100 bikes.

To achieve it, they are asking local residents to check their attics, basements and garages for children's bikes, spare parts and helmets and bring them -- from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday -- to the loading dock of the Hazlett Theatre on the North Side.

At the ceremony opening the Hot Metal Trail, a segment of the Three Rivers Heritage Trail System Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy drives the paver with Baldwin Borough Mayor Alexander Bennett along for the ride. Helping Mayor Murphy is Jim Thornton, (Tony Tye, Post-Gazette)

Citiparks Program Supervisor Jim Kline said Amanda Cook of the Head Trauma Prevention Unit/Pittsburgh Helmet Coalition at Allegheny General Hospital and Kraynick's Bike Shop in Garfield also have been instrumental in the success of the recycling program.

Kline said Citiparks will arrange for social service agencies to distribute the refurbished bicycles to needy families in time for the Christmas holidays.

For more information, call 412-255-2493.

Rebuilding the Big Savage

The reconstruction of the 3,300-foot-long Big Savage Tunnel in southern Somerset County will take longer and cost more than expected.

So, the Allegheny Trail Alliance, the umbrella organization for seven rails-trails groups, is asking individuals and groups to help it raise $1.5 million to complete the vital link between Meyersdale and the Maryland state line. The project, which started earlier this year, will cost more than $10 million.

"All amounts are welcome," said Linda McKenna Boxx, president of the alliance. Donations of $100 or more will be permanently recognized at the tunnel.

The tunnel is a major landmark on the Great Allegheny Passage, a non-motorized, multi-use trail that will connect the Pittsburgh area to Cumberland, Md., a distance of about 150 miles. A 100-mile-long section of the trail is open from McKeesport to Meyersdale. Several miles of the Pittsburgh to McKeesport section also are open.

For more information, call toll-free at 1-888-282-2453 or go to http://www.atatrail.org.

A toast to the Trailmasters

The newest section of the multi-use Three Rivers Heritage Trail -- a 2.5 mile segment that wends its way through trees and loops down to a scenic overlook -- will open as soon as a fence is erected to prevent users from getting too close to the busy Norfolk Southern railroad tracks that parallel the trail.

The new segment, dubbed the Hot Metal section because of its proximity to the Hot Metal Bridge, extends from the UPMC Sports Performance Complex almost to the Glenwood Bridge. It also crosses a sliver of Baldwin Borough.

Mayor Tom Murphy, an avid trail user, and Alexander "Sandy" Bennett, the mayor of Baldwin Borough, took turns driving an asphalt paving machine under the careful tutelage of Jim Thornton, a Pittsburgh public works employee. The Oct. 25 "paving party" was held on the border of the city and borough.

Public Works foremen Rick DeCarlo and Bob Vavaro, Supervisor Jack Pawling and their crew of "Trailmasters" were praised by Murphy and Bennett for their creative and innovative work.