Connie Complains Concerning Cyclists

Connie Complains Concerning Cyclists

The underage drinking menace, the jaywalking menace.... no it seems students are hell on wheels:

Those who share Champion's concern believe a city ordinance against biking on many Iowa City sidewalks is under-enforced, as is its walking cousin, jaywalking.

Champion encourages students to ride their bikes to school - just not downtown. She said the narrow sidewalks make the area less-than-desirable for biking.

Huh? So where should students ride, on a trail five miles away from where they need to go? Bikes aren't toys. And while they are great recreation, for a lot of us they're transportation. I guess we should all just DRIVE AND PARK downtown instead?

As for bike lanes, Champion said they would be impossible to build, because the city can't move buildings.

But what about riding your bike on the street instead of the sidewalk?

"I'm not sure how safe that is," Champion said.

Students, it seems, may have to pick their poison.

Not to mention old guys like me.

When I ride in the street downtown, drivers yell at me to get my pedaling as fast as I can legs out of the way of their Hummers and onto the sidewalk. And when I ride on wide sidewalks, outside of downtown and dedigned for bikoing, I get two common problems:

People walking right in the middle, usuually with iPods in their ears, who then act startled and offended that they failed to hear my three "Excuse me! Pardon me! On your lef, er, ri, um, LEFT!" warnings.

Cars that pull out all the way across the bike line and watch for a gap tp pull out into traffic but DON'T watch for bikers. The absolute worst spot for this is Hills Bank on South Gilbert, where I was hit by a car this spring. The driver simply left and may not even have known she hit me.

Yes, Connie, bikers sometimes hit a pedestrian and someone is injured. Nobody's perfect. But when a car hits a biker you can get KILLED. And in this era of crisis when we need to increase our energy independence, the last thing we need is anything that discourages clean green transportation.