February 4, 2008
Safer Cycling for Seattle
We were impressed by this morning's Times article about the need to increase bicycle safety on the city's streets.
Writer Mike Lindblom stays away from polarizing histrionics. Instead he makes bicyclists seem like sane, good people who just want to make it to work alive:
At each end of the Fremont Bridge, road signs tell car drivers to yield to bikes -- southbound motorists turning right toward Seattle Pacific University will wait for the bicyclists pedaling straight, toward the Dexter Avenue North bike route. On a recent morning, many drivers were looking over their shoulders toward the bike lane, before making the turn.We appreciate that especially because the PI, when they cover bikes in Seattle, usually quote the most vociferous, angry riders who hate everyone with a car and imply that they speak for all of us who use two wheels to get around. Then they open up the article to comments which generally turn into an us vs. them flame war that is violently vehement and makes us more scared of such angry drivers."It's a big help," said rider Sean Sheldrake, who has commuted for 12 years. "A couple of $50 signs go a long way."
So kudos to The Times for writing an article about most of the different ideas designed to make riders safer (they did leave out physical separation of bike lanes) and not making anyone out to be the bad guy.
(Oh, and by the way, painting bike lanes green is not enough to keep riders safe and putting dotted lane lines at intersections seems like it will only make drivers feel as if they have the right of way and not vice versa. Personally, we're a fan of how the bike lane moves to the left of the right-hand turn lane on Pine St. at Boren.)
We took that picture ourselves at last summer's Capitol Hill Bike-In. We miss summer.
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that was a decent article. i'm glad people are starting to realize that this isn't an "us vs them" problem, it's an infrastructure problem, and one that can be solved to allow both modes of transportation to move freely.
i commute to work by bike from about march to november. i pack it up for the winter because i just don't like being soggy and the darker ride times decreases visibility to a point where i'm not comfortable riding. and that reason right there is why there's so much tension between cyclists and non-cyclists: neither side respects or understands why the other chooses the transportation method they use (i'm referring to the polar sides, there certainly is a level-headed middle ground for both sides).
i think because The City (government, not just it's inhabitants) are taking measures to improve safety for everyone we're closing the gap between hard-liners. i sincerely hope that if the city keeps this up it's going to make cycling more attractive to people that currently have reservations about it. i complain like everyone else that the Burke-Gilman gets crowded and nuts when the weather gets nice but i'd much rather be stuck in a bike-jam than a car-jam :-)
that is really cool about the signs. 5 years ago i was riding my bike from nickerson, turning left onto fremont bridge and was hit by a car turning right. it wasn't serious, but really scary.
That was a GREAT article. I moved up from L.A. in August - and sold my car before I moved. I committed to commuting by bike (and occassionally the bus) and it has been an exciting winter, needless to say.
I thought the writer really paid attention to the subtleties of the challenge that is commuting on bike in this city.
I wouldn't give it up for the world (don't ask me about it at 7 am when it's 38 degrees and raining) but the City has a long ways to go to make it a viable option for more people. I love that the debate is even happening and this article goes a long way towards helping people understand the nuances of the challenge.