My earlier point (and my my official input, Marsha, thanks for asking), is that prohibiting bicycling on the diagonal sidewalk through Orton Park, whether through an ordinance change or not, is not going to solve the problem. Who thinks that the bicyclists who ride in a discourteous manner now are going to simply stop riding because we put up a(nother) sign in the park?
Prohibiting bicycling there is an Enforcement only attempt to solve the problem, and is destined to fail. As most on this list already know, you can rarely solve behavior problems entirely with enforcement alone. Generally speaking, you need Engineering, Education, and /or Enforcement: either find a way to accommodate the behavior in a safe manner, or make it more convenient or appealing to do something other than the problematic behavior [Engineering], and/or Educate the public to the problem (which hopefully leads to Enforcement by the whole public, rather than just Law Enforcement), and/or hand out citations on a regular but variable schedule of Enforcement. See again the example of 700-800 blocks of State Street (aka Library Mall). Previously prohibited but infrequently enforced, bicyclists continued to ride there, often faster than they normally might in order to avoid citations. Now the behavior is accommodated (albeit with the expectation that bikes ride in a manner consistent with pedestrians), and now the manner bicyclists ride is mostly enforced by the crowds (i.e., society, rather than cops). Chuck Strawser Pedestrian & Bicycle Transportation Planner Commuter Solutions UW-Madison Transportation Services Visit our University Bicycle Resource Center at Helen C White: http://transportation.wisc.edu/transportation/bike_annex.aspx How are we doing? Take our customer satisfaction survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CommSol_CSSurvey -----Original Message----- From: Bikies [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Richard Schifreen Sent: Tuesday, August 04, 2015 8:58 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Bikies] Bikies Digest, Vol 82, Issue 10 I've followed this thread with mixed feelings of sadness, frustration and anger. Marsha reached out to this group as representing local bicyclists for thoughtful assistance on a real problem. We've all seen it. Bicyclists acting like jerks. They ride oblivious to any semblance of courtesy or respect for others. I'll spare you my stories - I'm sure you have your own. Fortunately, they represent only a small portion of bicyclists, just like the really problematic drivers only represent a small portion of motorists. I don't have an answer for Marsha, and I'm not sure there is one. I appreciate her at least coming to us, most of our opponents aren't going to bother. I do believe (and have stated on this forum) that every time there is an incident we lose another supporter for initiatives aimed at improving bicycle infrastructure, complete streets, vulnerable user, etc. We've apparently lost the battle at the State level. While there is still support at the County and City level for bicycling, we lose a bit each time voters are subjected to thoughtless behavior from cyclists. We all know there isn't some bicycle czar that can enforce decent behavior, but as a group we should expect that those adversely impacted are going to seek solutions that limit or even remove bicycle access they find problematic. Richard Schifreen [email protected] Message: 1 Date: Tue, 4 Aug 2015 01:46:06 +0000 From: Patrick Lenon <[email protected]> To: "Rummel, Marsha" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [Bikies] [MarqNA] Bicycling on the sidewalk in Orton Park Message-ID: <[email protected]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" Ok, then, here's my input: Let's not apply permanent solutions to temporary problems. If this were a chronic problem, I'd be all for some kind of structural solution. Barriers, enforcement, whatever. But just like I have kids who buzz down my sidewalk on the way to school, the people (I'm assuming young people) who have been buzzing Orton will calm down or grow up. I don't mean to diminish the concerns of the folks who got buzzed, it's inexcusable. But as the philosopher said, this too shall pass. Although it wouldn't hurt it to give an "On your left" as it passes... -------------Patrick Lenon From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Date: Tue, 4 Aug 2015 01:15:52 +0000 CC: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] Subject: Re: [Bikies] [MarqNA] Bicycling on the sidewalk in Orton Park ?I asked for input. Asking for input should not be seen as rattling cages. I am aware of at least two people have been nicked/clipped/hit by bikes, please imagine if that was you. I am not proposing changes at this time but seeking feedback and ideas. Thank you. Marsha _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org
