The Bike Lane Fairy Casts a Spell at the NJ Bike Summit

The Bike Lane fairy waved her magic bike lane wand yesterday at the NJ Bike Summit on Saturday in Denville-Morris County, NJ. While bike lanes failed to appear, she was able to cast a spell of enthusiasm on the 140 plus attendees.

The Bike Lane Fairy bears a slight resemblance to Bike&Walk Montclair's Laura Torchio.

New Jersey's bicycle advocacy landscape has changed dramatically in the last 4 years, local groups such as Bike and Walk Montclair and the West Windsor Bicycle and Pedestrian Alliance showed that local advocacy can yield results in the Garden State. Most importantly the Summit served as a public coming out event for the burgeoning NJ Bike Coalition which hosted the event in the spirit of unifying the many bicycle advocacy factions across the state.

The big guns of bicycle advocacy took turns speaking at the Summit including Andy Clarke of the League of American Bicyclists, Tim Blumenthal of Bikes Belong, Sharon Roerty of the National Center for Bicycling and Walking and Jeff Miller of the Alliance for Biking and Walking. Assemblywoman Grace Spencer of Newark perhaps made the most important speech of the day Ms. Spencer who was struck by a car in 2007 continued her vow to push for a safe passing law noting that "we need to protect all vulnerable road users". Perhaps indicating that a bill that goes beyond (but still includes) a three foot passing distance may be in the works.

NJ Bike Summit Articles:

Road Warrior: N.J. bicyclists form statewide union

Denville Host First State Bike Summit

New Jersey Bike Summit First of its Kind: Optimism in the Face of Reality