Edina bike leader visits Northfield
June 13th, 2007,
See a post I did on Northfield.org for a description of a visit to Northfield by Steve Rusk, chair of the Bike Edina Task Force and founder of Bike Edina. Steve is remarkably dedicated to the cause of cycling, particularly safe cycling. And he also had pointers for me - such as the observation that I sometimes ride too far to the right, including too close to parked cars, creating the possibility of getting doored.
June 15th, 2007 at 1:56 pm
I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to get to it, but that post is an exceptionally good summary of the visit, and of general information on biking and designing for biking. Thanks for putting this out there.
I like the stress on thinking about transportation not as a binary cars vs. bikes structure, but as one that has to include different kinds of bikers (kids on BMX bikes are very different riders than commuters, as I relearn many days) as well as the various kinds of pedestrians - runners, exercise walkers, strollers, etc. Rusk sounds like an eminently thoughtful guy. (I self-interestedly welcome any and all improvements on the far east edge of town, Spring Creek Road, Wall Street Road, Woodley Street…)
One thing I didn’t see, but would like to hear about, is the possibility of enforcing traffic laws on bikers. I don’t want to call in Johnny Law or anything, but I often see bikers (of all ages) zoom through stop signs, whip down a sidewalk, and engage in other behaviors that not only make drivers wary of all bikers, but endanger themselves and others.
June 15th, 2007 at 2:11 pm
Yes, it’s important to enforce traffic laws for bikers too. I read in American Bicyclist magazine that Davis, California, lowered its fines for cycling offenses and had police enforce the laws more consistently. Getting stopped and fined should be a reality check for bikers and should keep them safer in the long run.