Make it Safe to Bike
6/2/07
Since I am a bicyclist who rides in car lanes in Rochester, the letter to the editor of May 31 entitled “Bike on trails, not highways” is troublesome. The writer is frustrated giving up her car lane to bicyclists and asks why we are allowing bicyclists to be out on the highway. That attitude scares me. Just the opposite should be happening.
I have been biking in Rochester for 40 years. I use my bike for both transportation and recreation. I ride on both the highways, roads and the bike paths. I biked to work most of my career during the summer months when light allowed. For most of that time I biked into town from near Willow Creek Golf course on Highway 63 coming in and the road by Bamber Valley school going home. I am well aware of the dangers on the roads and am thankful that most motorists give me deference, but I get an occasional obscene gesture and someone rolling down a window and yelling “Get off the road”, often with an expletive. Bicyclists have been killed by cars in accidents in Rochester and the bicyclist has little chance if hit by a car. Bicyclists bear the responsibility of being visible and obeying the traffic laws just like those driving cars.
I bicycle to my handicapped granddaughters house most weekdays to help with her therapy. There is no bike path between our two houses so I take side roads as much as possible but there is no avoidance of riding on two heavily trafficked roads. There are no bike paths between my house and some of the places I go to do errands.
The bike paths are heavily used by others: walkers, some with dogs; families with small children biking or walking; inline skaters; and joggers. Many of the latter two have on earphones listening to music and I usually have no clue whether they hear me shouting “passing on your left”. There is an alarming increasing number of bicyclist also wearing headphones. Some dogs are not on leashes and dogs are scary to bikers. I slow down or stop to be certain the dog is controlled and fortunately again most of the owners are considerate. For those bikers training for a long distance ride, the bike trails are not the best option. Several years ago an inline skater, despite my yelling I was passing on the left, lunged at the last minute right in front of me and I had the option of running into him or going off the trail .I went off the trail, crashed, punctured a lung and spent 5 days in the hospital. I know of other bike accidents on the bike trails.
Then there is the issue of energy conservation. The harsh reality is that oil production according to our own U.S. Energy Department will soon peak (or already has) and then slowly decline yet the demand continues to increase. We now have or will soon have the demand for oil exceeding the world supply. We are dreaming that alternatives will satisfy are insatiate demands to keep our cars running. Conservation should be on everybody’s mind. The fact that we have not lowered the speed limit to 55mph indicates that we really have not taken this looming problem seriously. Another indication of our denial is that only 3.8% in Olmsted county take public transit to work, less than 5% walk or bike, and 75.7% drive alone.
The letter writer ends with her charge to bikers: “Get off the highways.” Instead, I would urge the city council and county board to create dedicated bicycle paths on many roads in town and highways in the county and to find creative ways to make it possible and safer to bicycle on roads and highways.
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