NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #31/NN_1992_31.iso/spool/rec/bicycles/soc/1306

Text File | 1992-12-26 | 2.6 KB | 49 lines

Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.soc
Path: sparky!uunet!wupost!darwin.sura.net!mojo.eng.umd.edu!gsurbeck
From: [e-mail] (Gregory D. Surbeck)
Subject: Re: Bikes unwanted at U-Michigan (or U.Texas!)
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: Sun, 27 Dec 92 04:14:49 GMT
Organization: Project GLUE, University of Maryland, College Park
References: <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]>
Lines: 38

    Seems like every time you get pedestrians and cyclists
together disaster strikes!  Hiker-biker-equestrian trails don't work
because of the unpredictability of pedestrians and sidewalks don't
work because of the unpredictability of cyclists!
    A friend of mine once got angry at me for riding on a sidewalk
adjacent to a busy street.  Sidewalks are for pedestrians, not
bicycles, he told me.  His point was that bicycles have to be
respected as vehicles like automobiles or they will be relegated to
special paths, just like people on the net fear.
    The other problem with cyclists using sidewalks is
responsibility.  A pedestrian (even a runner) can only go so fast.
Bicycles can easily quadruple the walkers' speed.  With that ability
comes the responsibility that we can't knock the pedestrians down.
Unfortunately I have seen (and been in) accidents where the pedestrian
simply can't make up their mind.  In compensating, imitating the best
slapstick movies, the ped and the bike run into one another.  A
pedestrian walking on a sidewalk is prepared to get out of the way of
another walker, maybe a runner (at twice his speed, for simplicity).
A bike traveling 4 times as fast can't be avoided in time.
    Why does the ped expect only other peds?  Because it's the
law, and because it's what walkers have come to expect.  In the state
of Maryland, bicycles are not allowed on sidewalks, only specially
designated trails.  They are considered vehicle, just like cars except
non-motorized.
    Second, how reasonable is it for a bicycles to expect a path
to be cleared for him on a busy sidewalk?  At the Univ of Md, we have
50,000 people on campus, many of whom pass through the center of
campus.  How reasonable is it to expect many people to get out of the
way of one.  For a ped pushing his way through the crowd, it's much
easier.  But a bike needs 4 times as many people cleared out in a
given time.  That's hard.
    On busy university campuses, which I would guess U.T. and
U.Mich are since they are state schools, bikes should not be on busy
sidewalks.  They become non-motorized vehicles; with all the benefits
and restrictions that class gives them.

            Greg Surbeck
            [e-mail]