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OPINION

Bicyclists should take more measures to be safe

Letter
Comments (6)

Monday, November 2, 2009

(Updated 2:05 am)

Although my heart goes out to any family who has had a loved one injured or killed while riding a bicycle, I believe there are positive measures not being used by the bicycling community that could make people more aware of cyclists and probably save lives.

As an avid motorcyclist and member of the Gold Wing Road Riders Association, I take all safety courses offered by my association. We also promote safety through hands-on, advanced riding classes and a chapter educator who addresses a safety issue at each of our monthly gatherings.

As good as all these precautions and techniques may be, none can compare with one simple solution to make the public more aware of bicyclists. We, as motorcyclists, are required by law to have highly visible lighting on our bikes, front and rear, and to wear DOT-approved helmets. With the same requirements for bicyclists, other motorists will be more aware, creating a safer environment for all concerned. At dusk bicycles are even less visible than motorcycles, but good lighting on bikes would certainly help. With modern LED lighting technology, battery power should be a minor issue.

Ron Myers
McLeansville

Editor’s note: State law requires bicyclists to use a front lamp visible from 300 feet and a rear reflector visible from 200 feet when riding at night. Cyclists under 16 are required to wear helmets.

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Conundrum

November 2, 2009 - 7:14 am EST

Mr. Myers offers up a lot of common sense suggestions in his LTE. On Nov. 1st, there was a LTE that admonished drivers for not using headlights when they are called for. As with the headlights example, drivers know what they are supposed to do when they encounter cyclists.

Whenever I am in Chicago, I take advantage of the city’s lakefront and its great bike trail along Lake Michigan. The trail is about 35 miles long. Never would I try to bike 35 miles on the streets of Chicago. I’ve seen too many motorists blow stop signs, run red lights and ignore” no shoulder driving” signs. Unfortunately, I have seen a lot of these bad driving habits start to creep up in the Triad area. The other day while I was driving on an expressway, I saw a woman texting (with both hands) while she was speeding in the left lane.

It is an issue of respect. And unfortunately, there are a lot of motorists in this area who feel that only cars should be on the roads, not cyclists. All of the classroom training in the world won’t lessen the fact that some people are very rigid and incredibly selfish when it comes to divorcing themselves of this thinking. It’s unfortunate when this thinking leads to the death of a person who was trying to enjoy a leisurely bike ride. Sadly, it won’t be the last caused by a motorist not respecting the rights of a cyclist.

Mick

November 2, 2009 - 9:57 am EST

Sadly, I too have seen bad driving habits and at times are gulilty of a few myself. However, there is another group who sometimes ignores written and unwritten rules of the road................ BICYCLISTS.

Too Too many times have I seen riders run stop signs, go right on "no right on red" stops, pass cars (on right and left) while all are stopped at red light, etc. Basically"act like a bike" or "act like a car" whichever is to their advantage at the time.

So, we are all in this together. I will do my part!

AirDoc

November 2, 2009 - 10:19 am EST

Thanks for your thoughts Ron. Your words reinforce some of the same thoughts I have. As avid cyclists, my wife and I ride our bikes all over the place. For the same reason that we wouldn't swim in an area where's there are alligators or dangerous tides, we don't ride on two-lane roads with little or no shoulder. I too have seen the motorists all too preoccupied with cellphones and other distractions. But I have also frowned and sighed just as I did last Friday when I observed a bicyclist in Greensboro riding in the rain in the center of a heavily traveled road during rush-hour traffic when he clearly had over 8 feet of paved unobstructed shoulder to his right he could be riding on. The long-ago worn out batteries in the rear-facing strobe light under his seat were meaningless.Had he been riding so long that he didn't realize his batteries were shot? Why was he not utilizing the safe area to his right with which to ride on? Why was he in heavy traffic in the middle of a travel lane in the rain? I see the whole bicycle safety issue as more about wise decisions than anything else. Regardless of how good a person you are, or how many "rights" you may have to be where you are, if you swim in a riptide you may likely pay a steep price for it.

TheSeeker

November 2, 2009 - 5:48 pm EST

Sounds like we have some reasonable cyclist here so educate me; when there are a group of cyclists on the road, are they required to ride single file as close to the edge of the road as safely possible? The reason I ask is that all to often when I encounter a group they seem to delight in taking up the whole road and refuse to give an inch. I know that auto and truck drivers can be accidents waiting for a place to happen, but most of what I've seen of cyclists is arrogant defiance when they meet a vehicle trying to get around them. Not all of them are like that, but a majority of them I have seen are.

AirDoc

November 3, 2009 - 7:54 am EST

To TheSeeker - I sadly run in to the situation you are describing quite often both while biking and while driving my car . Like you, I don't know what the official "rules of the road" say about this - I can't even say that there are such rules for each set of circumstances. Again, I want to preface my response by saying that my wife and I are avid cyclists, but riding in a pack as described simply seems like a death wish to me. I can't imagine what the people on the bicycles must be thinking, if they are feeling like their position on the road is one that's OK and will allow them to return home safely at the end of the day. What I see in that situation is a biker or bikers saying, "I don't care that the driver of the car coming up behind may be preoccupied, blinded by the sun, watching an oncoming car more than me, reaching over to pacify their baby, driving far too fast to slow for me, etc.". Like most bikers, I choose to make decisions that will bring me home safely at the end of the ride. Sorry I don't have a better answer for you Seeker.

ryanshell

November 2, 2009 - 11:20 am EST

Neither drivers nor cyclists (I cycle) are perfect, but we simply have to share the road. We can talk about cyclists breaking rules all day long, but at the end of the day vehicles kill cyclists and there is much less margin for error. This isn’t a “you did it so I will too” type of game.

Allow me to share an experience from about a week ago that happened on MLK. If you know the area you know that MLK goes almost immediately downhill and you shortly come to the Davie St bridge.

Now for what happened.

I turned on to MLK from Arlington and quickly got up to speed. I could hear a car coming behind me and I put my hand out signaling for them not to pass me. I did this because I was aware of the new traffic island that had been installed and the fact that I had very little wiggle room if a car had stopped under the bridge to let pedestrians cross.

Sure enough, as the car started to pass me we rounded the corner (semi-blind) and a car had stopped causing the car to my left to move farther to the right almost hitting me. Had I not bunny hopped onto the island the car would have hit me. This all took place in less than 2 seconds.

I did nothing wrong and had been on the bike for less than one minute. Instances like that are simply uncalled for. The driver had absolutely no reason to be that careless and attempt to pass me.

Before you decide to pass on a curve or do something careless around a cyclist simply ask yourself, “am I willing to do this to kill that person.”