Dear Editor: They may not be training for the Olympics<http://www.salina.com/editorials/Harvest-time-for-Wednesday--June-5--2013>- although the Olympics are not the only event for which athletes train - but many cyclists are training for something just as important: life. Cycling is easy on the joints, excellent aerobic exercise, and just plain fun. With the health problems of the American public, maybe we should be encouraging more people to be physically active.
Road are built for people, and people with all sorts of vehicles are allowed to use them. The responsibility of all is to make sure they they are not endangering other members of the public, including those using the same road. Perhaps the bicyclists you admonish have no other place to ride. Are there roads with good shoulders where someone can ride 50-80 miles out in the country? Are there other routes in the same area? Why are there no shoulders if there is so much danger without them? I do not live in Kansas. I live in Wisconsin, where we also share the road with large farm vehicles 8-9 months of the year. We also have trucks and every day drivers using our rural roads. Bicyclists are not stupid or uninformed. They don't really want to ride on a road without shoulders if there is a lot of traffic. But sometimes it is the only road available for a ride. The Wisconsin DOT and many counties have added shoulders to some rural roads with user conflicts. These are not added as bicycle or pedestrian amenities - they extend the road life, allow snow storage, and are safety features for all road users - but they do also allow a little extra space when bicyclists, pedestrians, or other slower road users are present. In addition to human-powered users, these slow users include horse-drawn buggies, combines, tractors, and lost tourists. Perhaps the Salinas area needs to consider the health of both its citizens and the road maintenance budget and start to add shoulders on some roads. Or everyone can just watch out for each other and realize that rural roads are not interstates, and sometimes we all need to wait to pass. Robbie Webber Transportation Policy Analyst State Smart Transportation Initiative www.ssti.us 608-263-9984 (o) 608-225-0002 (c) [email protected]
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