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Putting Bike Safety on the Front Page
There’s been plenty of debate about the value of two Southeast Michigan ghost bikes.
One positive thing they have resulted in is front page media coverage. The October 1st Royal Oak Review put the story on page one with a photo. The October 5th Mirror Newspaper just did the same.
For many, the incident, and the stark reminder of it, have heightened the awareness for bike safety in what is still largely a car-dominant metro area.
It was great to read informed public officials talking about bike lanes as an option for safer cycling in Metro Detroit. Cullen Watkins, store manager for American Cycle & Fitness also said the same.
He thinks bike lanes would go far to protecting bicyclists. “When all is said and done, every community can put in bike lanes. People are walking on the sidewalks; we don’t belong on the sidewalks.”
So at this point is remains to be seen if this recent media attention will help put this issue on the City of Royal Oak and the City Commission agendas’ — something we have not been able to achieve to date.
Tags: bike lanes, Ghost, Royal Oak
October 8th, 2008 at 10:28 pm
Invite them to go for a ride and experience what it’s like having to look and look again at every drive way and intersection or continue to ride calmly when cars are lined up looking for the opening to shoot around you, when the last thing on most drivers minds is anyone traveling in anything other than in a car. Even without a dedicated bike lane educating the public would help. Get a Woodward Ave. billboard that asks “do you know these signals?” Then have a picture of a biker signaling a right/left and stop. Include that bikes belong on the street and not on the side walk, that they have to go with traffic as well. Ask the city to publish a leaflet with this information. Even public safety employees are in the dark. I heard tonight about a Highland Park police officer who made a biker get onto the sidewalk to ride on Woodward, then followed them for a mile. The officer didn’t seem to know or care that the bike was to be on the road not the side walk. No one thing is going to change the car climate here, but many things over a long period of time will start the process.
October 9th, 2008 at 9:02 am
Great points. Most public officials that also are cyclists already get it. MDOT has put their engineers on bikes to show them first hand what cyclists must deal with. Nothing beats that eyewitness perspective. We could pursue the same with Royal Oak officials.