The Road Less Traveled, by Bicycle…

Let’s face it, roads are made for motorized vehicles (cars, vans, trucks, RVs and even motorcycles).  They are designed, for the most part, for safety and efficiency.  They were built, I suppose, to make it easier to get from point A to point B.  They are plowed and salted in the winter (as needed) and they are largely and almost exclusively repaired in the summer.  They can be full of holes, bumps, debris, gaps and sometimes road kill and they are marked so that you know HOW to use the road. 

For instance, there are signs saying DO NOT ENTER when the road is one-way and you, the numbskull, are trying to enter it GOING THE WRONG WAY.  There are lines that tell you the boundaries for your car and there are even specific COLORS that tell you if you can cross the line.  Heck, there are even TYPES of lines that tell you if you can break ALL the rules and pass a car, in the DO NOT ENTER lane, under special circumstances, when the car is going MUCH too slow for YOUR particular needs.  Under most conditions, the road, it’s markings, textures, lines and colors are adequate for travel – in a MOTORIZED vehicle.

OK, let’s talk bicycles.  Remember those contraptions, the two-wheeled variety with sprockets, gears and cables?  The kind that consume only human energy, the noiseless (though sometimes clickity clackity sounding) variety that need a minimum amount of space to traverse from point A to B. 

Remember when you DREAMED about getting a new one for your birthday or from Santa?  Remember when you used it almost exclusively to maintain your independence and mobility?  Remember the banana seat, riding without hands, riding with your brother or sister on the handlebars and remember putting a card in the spokes to transform it from noiseless to sounding like an outboard motor?  Remember how you envied your friends high handlebars and the leopard-print seat covers?  Remember when you decorated them with streamers and aluminum foil for local parades and special events at day camp?  Remember when they were considered a viable form of transportation?  Those were the days.  The days of youth.  The days before your 16th birthday when you needed a way to travel short distances to see your friends, get to school, go the the store for candy or get to baseball or football or basketball practice.

Well, here I am, an ADULT with a BIKE riding from town to town to get to Washington, DC by August 9th.  I am on a timeline, I did not plan the route and I need to navigate my way, on roads built for MOTORIZED vehicles. 

While almost all bicyclists know how to drive MOTORIZED vehicles, NOT all motorized vehicle drivers use bicycles – though I am SURE they know 1 or 2 people, who are STILL ALIVE that also ride bikes on ROADS built for MOTORIZED vehicles.  I would even venture to guess (though I am a bit out on a limb for this statement) that they either KNOW or are RELATED TO or LIVE NEXT TO or CLOSE BY a kid that also rides a bike. 

Now, if they (the driver of the MOTORIZED vehicle) would pretend that the person riding the bike, on the road built for MOTORIZED vehicles was a KID, would they try to HIT THEM?  Probably not.  Again, maybe a bit of a stretch for some drivers, but I am an optimist and I believe in the goodness in people.

How can road planners help the driver avoid HITTING the bicycle rider?  Glad you asked… Here are some examples of roads that should be used as MODELS and some that should be AVOIDED.  If you haven’t already noticed, I am in favor of SHARING THE ROAD with MOTORIZED vehicles, even though I like the idea of having bicycle paths to get away from noisy traffic (and which, in my opinion, should ban the clickity clackity bike)…

Bike Path along Lake Erie

Road with WIDE shoulder

 

Road with VERY WIDE shoulder for bicycles

 

Wide shoulder, marked as Bike Route

Hill with NO SHOULDER for ANYTHING

Shoulders are needed!  Think about it… What if the MOTORIZED vehicle has mechanical problems, a flat tire, sudden illness (the driver, not the vehicle) and needs to stop?  Where do they go?  What about the vehicles behind them? What about Emergency vehicles?  What about the Ice Cream Truck? (sorry, different post…)  Seriously, can you see how dangerous this can be, for EVERYONE?   Can you see how dangerous climbing this hill can be?  In bad weather, even worse!

When I get home I’d like to start a new cause, which YOU can contribute to in your local communities… I am going to call it SHOULDERS ACROSS AMERICA!

Trendy t-shirts to come…

What does a safe road look like, for MOTORIZED vehicle driver and bicyclist?

 

Road with Posted Bike Lanes

Stay tuned…