Overcoming Obstacles & Finding Freedom

/9 Comments/in /by

The following story is a speech given May 7, 2013 by Michie O’Day at the Active Communities Conference in Waterville, Maine.

I am honored to publish it here with her permission. Michie is an inspiration to me and a heroic example of what it means to be antifragile. Her journey on the tricycle confirms everything we are trying to do here at I Am Traffic—from education, to legal equality and informed law enforcement to inclusive facility design.

victory

Recreational Opportunities for People With Disabilities (breakout session)

Today I’m going to tell you how I became disabled and how I make the most of it.  I hope you’ll see that despite the hurdles, I’m an active and contributing member of my community.  What I want is for you to return to your communities  – all fired up to include more people like me –  so that together we can enhance both the social and economic well-being of Maine’s cities and towns.

First, some background.

I wasn’t always the way you see me today.  My deafness and trouble walking stem from a rare genetic condition known as neurofibromatosis.  I’ll repeat that for you.  neuro-fibroma-tosis.  Let’s call it NF.  There’re several strains of it.  I have the one known as NF2 – which means that I grow benign tumors in my brain and around my spinal cord. I was diagnosed with this when I was 26 years old. Since that time I’ve had too many MRI scans to count, radiation treatment and 6 major neurosurgeries for a total of 36.5 hours on the operating table. I consider this bragging rights, but I’m determined not to let it become a way of life for me.

Fortunately, I’m optimistic, and I’m pragmatic. So when my hearing went kaput in my 39th year and I had to give up my career in nonprofit fundraising, which I thoroughly enjoyed, I seized the opportunity to follow my heart and start fresh as a painter in Stonington, Maine – which I loved even more.

Balance has been an issue since my first neurosurgery when I had a tumor removed from my acoustic nerve 30 years ago.  As a result, I became deaf in one ear and my vestibular function was compromised. I had to give up skiing and cycling at that time. There were other losses and adjustments along the way, but things didn’t get bad until 2008, when further neurosurgery left me with a paralyzed right leg.  Wasn’t supposed to happen. With a lot of work and rehab, I was able to regain most of the use of that leg – and I was glad to get out of a wheelchair. But recovery wasn’t 100%, and power walks – which I’d loved since I was a teenager – are now only a memory. Today, I use trekking poles – or sometimes a walker – to make sure that I stay upright.

Three years ago when it was clear that my poor coordination was affecting my driving, I gave that up and got rid of my car. Stonington is simply the most beautiful place on earth, and I’d be there still, but it’s remote and not a good place to live without a car. So I moved to Portland, and that’s where my cycling story begins….

I used to walk past Gorham Bike & Ski on my way to the Rite Aid store on Congress St. One sunny day almost two years ago as I was plodding along with my walker I looked at all the shiny new bikes in the window and thought, “Hmmmmm…. I wonder if they sell trikes for grown-ups?” Then I thought, “Nah… even if they do, it would be expensive and I’m still recovering from moving costs.”  So I kept walking. I got about 10 feet past the shop….stopped.   Turned around and went back. It couldn’t hurt to ask.

bridge

Fast forward about six weeks, and – thanks to a generous friend – I’m riding home from the shop on my brand new Sun EZ Tadpole 21-speed Recumbent Trike. I cannot describe my excitement to you!  It’s great fun to ride  – like a go cart, only better – and it’s something I can DO!  After giving up skiing, snow-shoeing, swimming, hiking, cycling, power walking… the trike opened up a whole new world for me.  It was so wonderful that I upgraded to an ICE trike last summer.  ICE stands for Inspired Cycle Engineering, and they do make beautiful trikes. I named mine Ruby, and she’s simply the best….

But cycling gives me more than just gratification….  I’ve made wonderful friends through my adventures. The guys at my bike shop are tops – and have come to my rescue when I had a flat tire. Some of you may know Fred Robie and John Brooking – leaders in the cycling community and friends & mentors to me. Paul Niehoff and Jim Tasse, who will lead bike audits later today, went to bat for me last year when I had a little run in with the police.  As civic leaders, this incident might be of interest to you.  Here’s what happened:

I explained that I’m deaf and couldn’t understand what he was saying. He was still agitated. I remained calm on the outside, but inside I was shaking. Probably because his holster and gun were in front of my nose.

I explained that I’m deaf and couldn’t understand what he was saying. He was still agitated. I remained calm on the outside, but inside I was shaking. Probably because his holster and gun were in front of my nose.

I was cycling home from Higgins Beach (south of Portland)… happily pedaling along Highland Avenue, which is a main road that goes through some nice farmland and rural areas in Scarborough. That section of the road has a paved shoulder, but it’s not marked as a bike lane. It was sandy and cluttered with recycling containers, so I was riding in the right portion of the travel lane. Cars had to pass me carefully, and a few did. No big deal. Traffic was light that day.

Next thing I know, there’s a car pulled up beside me and the driver had slowed down to my speed. I look over… It’s a police car. His lights are flashing, including the red light on top. If his siren was going, I didn’t hear it.  (I don’t hear anything.) But I saw that the passenger window was open and the cop driving the car was looking at me and yelling. I pulled over and stopped. The patrolman stopped his car in the middle of the travel lane, lights still flashing of course.  He got out, ran around the his car, stood in front of me and started shouting at me again.

deaf cyclist

I explained that I’m deaf and couldn’t understand what he was saying. He was still agitated. I remained calm on the outside, but inside I was shaking.  Probably because his holster and gun were in front of my nose…. Through pointing and gestures, he made it clear that I was supposed to be riding IN the shoulder lane, and that no part of my 36”-wide trike should be in the travel lane.

I said no, that was not correct and that I had a legal right to use the roadway. Thanks to CyclingSavvy, which I’ll tell you more about in a minute, I knew what I was talking about. But he wasn’t buying. He continued to insist and I continued to refute.

Eventually, two other cyclists rode by.  I flagged them down to help.  They stopped and talked to the patrolman.  Soon enough everyone calmed down, and I rode on home.

End of story? Absolutely not. As far as I was concerned the unpleasant incident was over, but I saw two important training opportunities and wanted to make sure that both happened.  I wrote a letter to the police chief who agreed to meet with Jim and Paul to discuss Maine state laws for cyclists.

Isolation is one of the biggest challenges of disability. While my art gives me another means of communication, cycling gets me out there and involved – part of the world.

The other issue, which was equally important to me personally, and which I am qualified to address, is how to identify hearing-impaired people and communicate with them effectively.  A few weeks later, I was able to address a staff meeting of the Scarborough Police Department on these topics. My presentation was only 15 minutes long, but that’s all it needed to be. I made my point.

Back to the big picture…. Frankly, isolation is one of the biggest challenges of disability – especially for me due to the combination of deafness and mobility issues. While my art gives me another means of communication, cycling gets me out there and involved – part of the world.

Personal independence is another challenge of disability.  I gotta tell ya, I love doing my own grocery shopping on my trike and coming home with two big bags of groceries in my rear baskets. It’s great to be able to shop or go out to lunch on my own schedule, get some exercise, and contribute to Portland’s economy.  So yes, it may take an entire morning for me to do something that most of you can do in a few minutes… But I do it because I can.

group

So what do I wish for? This is where you come in.

I want to be able to cycle safely on roads and designated bike paths. This means better signage & road markings.

I want better education for both cyclists AND drivers. This includes – but is certainly not limited to – bike-law education for law-enforcement officials.

I want standards and best-practices, so that planners and engineers can design roads and bike lanes that are consistent with the rules of traffic movement and safety.

And, I want these lanes & paths to be safe and accessible to all – not just to those who ride bikes but also those us who ride trikes.

A good example is the Eastern Trail, south of Portland.  It’s a lovely trail… especially that stretch through the Scarborough Marsh. But the bollards – those yellow posts to keep out the bigger vehicles  –  are too close together for my trike. When I took the trail to Old Orchard Beach last fall, my companion had to lift the 40 lb. trike over the posts so I could continue on the ride. Otherwise, I would’ve had to turn around and go back home. What a disappointment that would have been!

Last, I’d love for more people who can no longer ride a bike – for whatever reason – to discover trikes. I want company!  Maine Adaptive has an excellent program for that.  I ride with them in the summer.  It’s great to go with a group at my speed.  I only wish they rode more often and went more places.

I want to suggest some resources for you.

If you’re not familiar with the Bicycle Coalition of Maine, they’re here today.  The Coalition is a highly effective organization, and a strong advocate for cyclists.

CyclingSavvy is an excellent course on safe cycling, which is available here in Maine. John Brooking is the instructor.  I took it soon after I bought my first trike and it still helps me to be a safer and more responsible cyclist.

And there’s a new organization being formed, whose working name is I Am Traffic.  Their mission is education, and their vision is a world where motorists expect to see cyclists on the road and consider them a normal part of traffic.  Likewise, cyclists ride responsibly, making their movements and intentions visible to drivers.

I’ve got brochures from all three of these resources for you.  And I have my own brochures too. They include my website address if you’d like to see my paintings.

by the water

So, as you can see, cycling has done many good things for me. It’s made me stronger physically. That’s no small thing for a person with my medical history. It’s made me more independent. I love not owning a car and using my trike to get to the beach or store and other places I want to go.  And, it’s led to new friendships.  When communication is challenged by deafness, it takes time to meet new folks and some friendships never gel, but a shared passion for cycling is a nice basis for mutual respect and support.

I want to conclude by sharing my outlook with you. To counter each loss caused by NF, I’ve always sought to benefit — to learn from it and to become a better, stronger, and more loving person for it. With deafness, the benefit was easy: my art. With the mobility loss in 2008, it was harder, and I’m still coming to terms with that.  But I can tell you this:  If I could still take my long, brisk walks, I never would have ventured into Gorham Bike and Ski asking about trikes.

For years I’ve said when I’m painting I’m not deaf. Now I can add: when I’m cycling, I’m not disabled. When I’m cycling I feel a sense of freedom and empowerment that I haven’t known in years….. I’m out there, a part of nature, and alive. 

The reason I’m willing to stand up here and speak about something as personal as my health and related challenges is that I want you to see that disabled people have much to offer. Look at us. See us. Make us a part of your world.

And if you’re on the road near Portland, and it’s a sunny day, you just might see me riding “Ruby.”  Give us a wave.

Thank you for listening to me today.

painting

You can visit Michie’s website and enjoy her paintings at michieoday.com

 

Cycling with Children

/3 Comments/in /by
boyonbike2

Cycling is a great way to spend active family time outside.

Benefits

Bicycling is a popular, fun, healthy, and useful activity that people can do their entire lives. Bicycling provides low-impact exercise of variable intensity that improves health, fitness, longevity, mental focus, emotional balance, and stress levels.  Traveling by bicycle is often more enjoyable and affordable than other modes, and can be more convenient where automobile parking is limited. Teaching children to travel effectively by bicycle as they get older develops patience, discipline, self reliance and personal responsibility.  Learning to negotiate traffic by bicycle also teaches essential driving skills that will produce safer and more courteous motorists later.

Risk Management

Per hour of activity, bicycling has an injury rate similar to common sports such as soccer, and a fatality rate lower than swimming and similar to that of automobile travel.  The health benefits of bicycling outweigh any health risks by an order of magnitude in terms of disability-adjusted years of life.  As with swimming and motoring, the safety of bicycling is determined primarily by behavior; education and skill development are key to success. As a bicyclist’s skills and maturity progress, safe bicycle travel becomes possible in an increasingly wide variety of environments. An important consideration for cycling with children is to match route selection and adult supervision to the developmental and skill levels of the child.

Children as Passengers

Many parents enjoy bicycling with children as young as one year old (when they can safely support their own weight and sit themselves upright) by using a variety of child trailers and seats.  Transporting children as bike passengers allows parents to start modeling successful bicycling behavior early and helps interest children in bicycling.

 

biketrailer

Bike trailers let kids ride while you stay in control.

Enclosed two-wheel child trailers are ideal for children under four years old; the low center of gravity avoids affecting the parent’s balance on the leading bicycle, provides good handling, and minimizes the potential for a fall-related injury (the vast majority of injuries to kids cycling).  Such trailers also provide room for toys and snacks inside the compartment, keeping little ones happy during the ride.  Somewhat older children will prefer trailercycles, aka trailer bikes, which attach to the back of the parent bicycle and feature one wheel, a seat, handlebars, and pedals to assist with the work.  These trailers require more maturity and cooperation from the child and can be more difficult for the parent to control due to the higher center of gravity.  Tandem bicycles are another option, and can be configured to work for children of various sizes as long as the child can stay seated. Child-carrier seats are also available, and are usually the most affordable option for transporting children. However, a child in a carrier seat can make a bicycle topheavy and difficult to control, especially when mounting and dismounting.

tandem-kid

A tandem bicycle can be adjusted as the child grows.

Are We There Yet?

Long bike rides can be tiring or tedious for children; it’s useful to start small and break up longer trips with stops every 20 minutes or so.  Planning a round trip to a destination of interest such as an ice cream shop, restaurant, or park works especially well.

reststop

 

Water and snack breaks keep kids happy.

Teaching Cycling to Children

The essential skills required for safe cycling can be learned through informal mentorship (e.g. knowledgeable parents or other experienced cyclists), organized classes, or a variety of media.  Children can learn bicycle handling skills very quickly, but take much longer than adults to learn traffic negotiation skills, due to developmental factors, and are limited in what traffic situations they can handle until they reach their teens. This requires that a child’s learning objectives and cycling environment be carefully selected by the parent or educator to match the child’s cognitive development and maturity.

Basic bicycle handling includes starting and stopping, steering, riding in a straight line without swerving, looking back over one’s shoulder without swerving, and emergency braking. These skills should be taught in areas void of traffic, including other bicycle traffic.

Stopping at the Edge

look-left-right-left

Stop at the edge and scan: left, right, left

An essential traffic behavior that children must learn as soon as they start bicycling is to stop when they reach the edge of a driveway, path, or sidewalk.  The most common cause of car-bike crashes involving children is the child’s riding out from a driveway, path or sidewalk into the roadway without stopping and yielding to other traffic.  Children often have “tunnel vision” that  causes them to overlook or ignore threats outside their direct line of sight, and often lack the maturity to stop and look both ways when they are not aware of traffic before reaching the edge.

Riding with their child affords parents the opportunity to supervise their child’s cycling, especially at edge locations such as street crossings.  Practically all bicycling trips, including greenway rides, include intersection crossings and/or entrances into vehicular areas.  Parents should model consistent behavior by stopping and looking both ways before proceeding, and invite the child to assist in assessment of traffic conditions.

girlonbike

Kids’ enthusiasm for cycling easily outpaces their ability to understand traffic. Parents need to limit their children’s destinations and routes based on their cognitive ability and maturity.

The Sidewalk Dilemma

Although many parents and children are tempted to think of sidewalks as safe places for children to ride, traveling any distance on a sidewalk inevitably results in crossing intersections and driveways, or crossing roadways mid-block.  Such movements are associated with the most common collision types for child bicyclists, in part because of children’s errors, but also because motorists are less likely to notice bicyclists entering their path from sidewalk locations when they are focused on traffic approaching in the roadway. The most common type of car-bike crash in urban areas of North Carolina involves a bicyclist riding on the sidewalk being struck by a motorist pulling out from a stop sign, red light, or driveway. Parents should consider all such conflict locations when deciding where they will permit their children to ride, and should supervise any and all crossing movements as needed depending on the maturity of the child.  In general, if a child does not have the maturity to bicycle safely on the roadway portion of a particular corridor, the child probably lacks the ability to handle the more challenging intersection conflicts that accompany sidewalk cycling on that corridor – at least, without supervision.  A suggested rule of thumb is to limit children’s cycling to those areas where they are capable of safely negotiating the intersections as well as riding safely in the roadway itself.

Riding Right

A leading contributor to car-bike crashes is bicycling on the wrong side of the road.  At intersections, where the vast majority of car-bike collisions happen, other drivers aren’t expecting or looking for traffic approaching from the wrong direction. Between intersections, a wrong-way bicyclist requires a driver to make evasive maneuvers; the driver cannot simply slow down and wait for a safe passing opportunity as with a same-direction bicycle traffic.  For these reasons, traffic laws everywhere require bicyclists to ride on the same side of the road in the same direction as other vehicle traffic. In North Carolina, bicycles are defined as vehicles and bicyclists have the full rights and duties of drivers of vehicles.

Children should be taught to ride on the right half of any corridor, including greenway paths and neighborhood streets.  In combination with this, they need to learn to ride in a reasonably straight line, without suddenly swerving, so that other bicyclists and automobile drivers can travel beside them and pass them safely. They should choose an imaginary straight line down the roadway that keeps them safely away from surface hazards and parked cars. Before making an adjustment in lateral position on the roadway, such as when noticing a parked car ahead, cyclists must look back and scan for traffic that may be about to overtake, and only make the lateral movement when it can be made safely.  Simply riding in a straight line well out into the roadway is not hazardous to bicyclists of any age, especially on the neighborhood streets where most children ride.  What is hazardous is suddenly moving into that position unpredictably when a driver is too close to reduce speed.

Supervising as Wingman

riding with children-01

Positioning yourself to the left of your child encourages drivers to pass at greater distance. It also allows you better vantage of potential conflicts and makes it easier to communicate as you coach. 

When riding with a child to supervise the child’s bicycling, an ideal riding position is slightly behind and to the left of the child, with the child setting the pace. This position allows the parent or instructor to watch and communicate with the child, while also diverting overtaking traffic to pass at a larger distance from the child. The extra passing distance provides the “wiggle room” the child may require as skill develops and makes the ride more comfortable.

Route Selection

Children between the ages of 7 and 10 can develop the traffic and handling skills to operate safely on low-speed, low-traffic two-lane residential streets.  By their early teens, they can develop the skills to handle multiple-lane streets.  Although some cyclists may prefer more direct, important roads depending on their travel objectives, low-traffic streets and greenways are often the most enjoyable places to ride for a wide variety of cyclists. Some cities provide maps that highlight low traffic streets and greenway routes; these can be of tremendous value in finding an enjoyable route for recreation or transportation.  Google Maps includes most of the local greenway trails, which can be used when generating bicycle travel routes.  The satellite and street view features of Google Maps are useful for determining the cross section and character of a street when choosing a route.

Older cities often have a grid of low-traffic streets that provide alternatives to busy roads.  This is less common in some newer suburbs, but many progressive municipalities now actively pursue development of collector street networks and local-street connectivity to provide redundant travel routes and to disperse traffic bottlenecks.  This allows many bicycle trips to be made on lower-speed-limit roads and two-lane roads with wide pavement that afford easy passing at safe distance.  Some cities have also developed an extensive interconnected system of greenway paths in their own rights of way. By combining pleasant streets and greenways, a wide variety of enjoyable low-traffic cycling routes becomes available for family cycling.

kidleftturn

Older children can develop intersection negotiation skills that greatly expand the range of routes available to them.

Keeping Tabs

Even after learning good cycling practices, kids usually start taking risks and short-cuts when they leave a parent’s sight, and are quick to emulate the bad habits of their peers. Parents can reinforce good practices by riding frequently with their children and discussing the reasons behind the rules.  Parents can also monitor their children’s cycling behavior alone or with peers by catching up to them with their own bikes at unexpected times.  Lastly, parents should always model good behavior when operating any vehicle.

adult-child-signal