Friday, September 4, 2009
Let me paint a little picture for you. It’s a beautiful Saturday morning. The birds are chirping, the sun is shining, the coffee is brewing and everything is as it should be. You fill a cup of coffee, grab your keys and head to your car.
You jump in and start to head down Iowa Street toward our beloved Massachusetts Street when you hit your first roadblock of the day. A bicyclist is riding in front of you, and you cannot figure out for the life of you why.
As you sit in your car, you keep asking yourself why the bicyclist is in the middle of the street — instead of the sidewalk where bicyclists should be — when all of a sudden you spill your coffee.
Now it looks as if you pissed yourself.
To make matters worse, it looks as if the incredible mass of the Lance Armstrong allegiance has turned in front of you while you’re stuck at a stoplight. Traffic is grounded to a hault for the next 25 minutes.
You grow frantic and start to throw things while yelling at the radio. Your once-perfect morning has now turned into what a severely obese yellow cat likes to call “the Mondays.”
Now, I know what you’re thinking: This is a severe exaggeration and a waste of space to tell a long tall tale and get nothing done. In one sense you are right; this is a severe exaggeration.
But I tell you this exaggeration to convey a specific point. Nothing grinds my gears as much as the bikers in this town who ride in the middle of the street, especially when there is a sidewalk or bike lane nearby.
I can tolerate those riding their bikes on Jayhawk Boulevard, those on Massachusetts Street and even the ones on the back roads. But it really gets at me when bikers are on Iowa Street, one of the busiest streets in Lawrence.
This is an annoyance to me and many other drivers in the community, especially when it slows down traffic.
Where there are designated bike lanes, bikers should stay out of car lanes. When I have to go to class, work or a movie, a slow biker can really put a rain cloud over my day.
My message to the bikers is simply this: Stay in the bike lane or on the sidewalk and think of others. It really grinds everyone’s gears to be late for prior engagements they cannot be late for.
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Comments
Phillippe: No room for bikes on busy streets
sidewalks are for walking not biking. hence the word walk in the name. bikes belong on the street. if you can't deal with it maybe you shouldn't be driving.
Phillippe: No room for bikes on busy streets
Bicycles are what 3 percent of all traffic in your city? So really is the problem the 97 percent of motoring traffic? A bicycle moving at 15 mph will take 4 minutes a mile. Or is it your perception of time? Thinking a car will allow you to live far away and not have to spend equal amounts of time getting some where safe? If you can't share the roadway get off it and use the sidewalk you so love.
Phillippe: No room for bikes on busy streets
You should not be drinking coffee and driving at the same time. Drink it before you drive.
If the cyclist hugs the curb, motorists will do the old squeeze play, passing without moving over. Next, someone decides to make a right turn in front of the cyclist after the squeeze play. Whammo!
Take a chill pill dude.
25 minutes? Stop with the exaggerations. The only time traffic really grinds to a lengthy halt is after a ball game.
Is this really "journalism" or just a personal rant?
Phillippe: No room for bikes on busy streets
The writer does have some valid points, and most of the aggravation comes from bicyclists either being ignorant of or indifferent to the law. Bicyclists cannot ride on Iowa St. in "the middle of the street," and the "Lance Armstrong allegiance" cannot ride more than two abreast off a bicycle path. They cannot even be in the vehicle lane if a usable bicycle lane is available. (Kan. Stat. Ann. §8-1590)
Mind you, though, bicyclists are prohibited from riding on the sidewalk in several areas of town. Also, it's a bad idea to drink coffee (or anything) while driving.
Not to mention that bicyclists get upset when they find out from the campus police that they must stop at stop signs. In fact, unless otherwise provided for in law or totally inapplicable (e.g. car equipment regulations), traffic law applies to bicyclists as it does to motorists. (Kan. Stat. Ann. §8-1587)
Honestly, I'd really like to see the police ticket bicyclists who cut off pedestrians. That is quite dangerous and really could hurt someone.
While motorists must share the road with bicyclists, bicyclists MUST do their part, as well. OBEY THE LAW.
Phillippe: No room for bikes on busy streets
This article is ridiculous. There are no bike lanes on Iowa Street. Furthermore, bikes are meant to be on the road, not the sidewalk. If you have ever ridden a bike you would know that drivers have no qualms about buzzing past you, sometimes coming within a foot or so of making contact. That's why cyclists "claim the lane". If I take enough space in the lane on my bike then a driver must wait for a SAFE moment to pass. Maybe it adds 25 seconds to your trip, but it makes the cyclist a hell of a lot safer.
Hey Brett, next time you're coming back in to town from FT. Worth, check out the signs as you enter town that saw "Lawrence is a bicycle friendly community. SHARE THE ROAD." We have just as much a right to be in that lane as you do. I AM traffic.
Phillippe: No room for bikes on busy streets
Motorists: This is what your horn is for. Use it.
Phillippe: No room for bikes on busy streets
From the KDOT Bike Safety Handbook (http://www.ksdot.org/burRail/bike/default.asp):
Keep two feet from curb or edge of roadway and ride in a straight line, never more than two abreast, as required by Kansas law. If you want be safe in traffic, you have to act like a motor vehicle driver. Observe and obey all stop signs, traffic signs, and signals; the same as required of motor vehicles by Kansas law. Always ride carefully and stay alert.
Always give pedestrians the right-of-way. Avoid using sidewalks, especially in business districts.
Phillippe: No room for bikes on busy streets
Oh, and don't forget, "Motorists in Kansas should expect to encounter bicyclists on all state and local roadways except for the Interstate system or where prohibited by local ordinance. Please be considerate of bicyclists who have rights as motorists to the roadways."
Phillippe: No room for bikes on busy streets
I remember a section in the Kansas Driver Handbook warning motorists not to sound their horn when approaching a bicyclist from behind. It may startle the bicyclist, causing them to swerve into the motorist's oncoming path, resulting in an accident.
Think about the delay to the motorist as they explain to the traffic officer how they hit the bicyclist while the officer fills out his forms.
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