Bob's observation is universal and prompts a quick tale from last night.
Heading from downtown to the SW Path after 5:00 (quite dark), I stopped
on Dayton at Broom for traffic. An unlit cyclist came along on Broom (a
one-way street) within a few feet of me. and I called out with a
friendly reminder as I usually do, "You need to get a light, sir!"
Instead of responding the typical, "OK," or "I know." or with silence,
he let out a rude "F Y." I soon headed west across Broom while he
continued toward Johnson. I then heard a loud brake screech and horn
honk, and turned back to see that this guy had nearly been creamed by a
car that somehow got onto Broom heading the wrong way - and apparently
couldn't see this unlit cyclist any better than I could when he passed
by me....
Then on the SW Path there was the usual parade of unlit cyclists,
appearing to be nearly half of all riders.
All of which begs the question of how can the City be more pre-emptive
about lights at night. I suggest a short program of educational stops,
followed up by a program of ticketing, focused on the bike paths and
streets with high bike traffic and bike lanes. Our fellow cyclists
endanger far more people than themselves.
"Swinging in the other direction, you have the cyclist who ignores every
traffic law, rides down the sidewalk, then he goes through the
crosswalk, and if a motorist doesn't see him he flips him off. Then he
jumps on the road in the wrong direction and he doesn't have lights on
at night."
P Jeff Schimpff
Bureau of Science Services
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
"Bus, Bike, Walk or Carpool to Work for Clean Air for Kids"
(*) phone: (608) 267- 7853
(*) fax: (608) 267-5231
(*) e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
________________________________
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Meiers, Steve
Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2007 7:36 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [Bikies] article
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=687001
Hopefully, this is an interview with a person, formerly from
Wisconsin, who wrote a book about the law and bicycling. If this link
doesn't work I'll go to Plan B
Steve Meiers
Safety educator
(608) 267-1102
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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