Cyclists tell an ODOT committee that bike use should be encouraged, not discouraged, to ease congestion
A state proposal to ban bicycles on Portland area freeways has cyclists up in arms.
" The ban is not fair, it's not right, and it's not what we as a city and a state should strive for," said Gary Ginsberg chairman of Portland's bicycle advisory committee. "
Then there's the issue about keeping up with traffic...
" If you're in reasonable shape, you can darn near keep pace with traffic," he said. "There's nothing cooler than passing a car on the highway on your bike. "Said McKenzie, a planner for the city of Hillsboro
I don't know of many bicycle riders that can keep up with 55 miles an hour for any length of time. This is of course assuming normal freeway speeds with little or no congestion
" Not all cyclists oppose the ban.
Terry Nobbe, who said he was an instructor for the League of American Bicyclists, said there are parts of the country where access to the freeways is needed -- but not in Portland.
"Putting in a ban will not hurt bicycle travel in any way," Nobbe said.
And Jerry Norquist of Cycle Oregon, and a member of the state committee, cautioned against taking an inflexible stand. Working with ODOT to bring some common sense to the issue could have political benefits for cyclists in the long run, he said.
"We are threatened with losing something we don't use," he said.
"
here are a couple things to consider...
"814.400 Application of vehicle laws to bicycles. (1) Every person riding a bicycle
upon a public way is subject to the provisions applicable to and has the same rights
and duties as the driver of any other vehicle concerning operating on highways"
[that a course means that they are required to follow the same laws as any motor vehicle. And of course, we all know that they do that. (Choke)
811.130 impeding traffic; penalty. (1) a person commits the offense of impeding traffic at the person drives a motor vehicle or a combination of motor vehicles in a matter that impedes or blocks the normal and reasonable movement of traffic.
[814.400 basically just said that bicycles is subject to the same laws as motor vehicles, so I would interpret that as 811.130 would apply]
The main point is that the freeways are not designed for slow-moving traffic such as bicycles and safety would be a huge concern. We all know that there are some good bike riders & bad bike riders. I don't not think I know of any driver who has not at least one time in their life had to slam brakes to avoid hitting a bike because they swung out into traffic or did not look before crossing the street or....
It would be almost impossible to avoid hitting a bicyclists at freeway speeds under the same conditions.
6 comments:
If the laws apply to both cars and bikes then why am I banned from driving my car on bike paths? I would be open to bikes on the freeway if I can have access to all those beautiful bike paths. They can fly if they want, I'd just as soon cruise.
To see my opinions about this utterly stupid proposal, go to Daniel's Blog Spot on the subject. The people who want to ride on the freeways must have been riding their bikes and taking too many spills without their helmets. If they really want to do this, could that be considered "suicide by stupidity"? Or "suicide by innocent automobile drivers"?
As I've noted elsewhere, I think this is a dandy idea whose time has come!
This approach will doubtless provide rapid cleansing of the turds in the gene pool; greatly reducing the number of "critical mass" bicyclists clogging our streets once a month.
And the beauty is, it requires no deployment of ambulances or fire trucks - just a call to a local rendering outfit to come scrape up the mess and convert it into something useful.
Max - you remind me of Jonathan Swift with your modest proposal. The only bummer is the poor car drivers who hit them are forever traumatized by the experience. Nice idea, though.
Max, Do you suppose Portland's Chief Critical Mass rider, Taliban Tommy Potter, would ride on the freeway? Now there would be a great opportunity for someone.
Hey, Max, The rendering company wouldn't even have to come out to scrape up the roadkill. The way it rains around here, the roadkill would wash into the runoff drains and into the sewers where these idiots belong in the first place. But then they would clutter up the filters at the sewage treatment plants, but other things do that, too.
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