LETTER FROM THE EDITOR: FOOD STAMP CHALLENGE? TRY THE BIKE COMMUTE CHALLENGE!
Once again, I am without a car (With a new transmission last August, a new engine and starter last month; I've paid nearly as much in repairs as I did for the dang car!).
Once again, my transportation is a trusty mountain bike.
This is at a time when politicians and journalists are doing the "Food Stamp Challenge," attempting to eat for a week on the same amount of money equivalently issued to those on food stamps. Many are finding it nearly impossible.
I have a suggestion: how about a challenge for them to try commuting by bike for a week?
They will find it's even more impossible. From roads with nowhere to ride but on tilted and broken drainage shoulders, to the cliched inattentive cell phone talkers/texters and drivers who don't mind risking a rider's life to save themselves 10 seconds; the whole "share the road" thing is a nice talking point, but little more.
It always startles new bike commuters to see the shocking inattention paid by motorists to the act of driving. Some find out the hard way that even if a driver seems to be looking right at you, it doesn't mean they see you. Like most experienced bike commuters, I've learned to shout and wave, to actually get a visible acknowledgement from a driver before proceeding past a car waiting to pull out onto a street; or one ready to make a right turn on a red light before I enter the crosswalk.
Part of the problem is Utah drivers. No other state seems to have as much of this "I have the vehicle, so I own the road" mentality. I've been grazed by mirrors, forced to curb-hop onto a sidewalk because a car suddenly pulled in front and stopped, been brushed by cars trying to pass others and using the space to the right of the solid white line to do it. I ride in a state of tension, back stiff and shoulders hunched, waiting for impact. This is not paranoia. Six years ago I was riding down 40th West when a hit-and-run driver bashed me from behind and threw me to the asphalt; I woke up in the hospital three days later with a broken orbital bone and serious facial road rash. Hit-and-run is a common aftermath of a vehicle run-in with a bike rider.
Yes; there are also cyclists who have an "attitude," don't obey traffic rules and make stupid road decisions. Of the two bike riders killed on the road this month, one was totally at fault, and caused an accident that took the life of a mother and her newborn baby. But that is not the point. The subject of bike commuting should not be about fault, or who has the most right to the road. It's a topic that has become essential to discuss today for many important reasons, not the least of which is environmental.
The U. S. is one of the very few countries where using a bike for transportation is not taken seriously. It seems ludicrous that most people ride a bike for exercise or take spinning classes or compete in races, but everyday travel is done by gas guzzling vehicles.
Although, in a way, it makes a strange kind of sense, considering how unfriendly the roads are for two-wheelers. Last year, a state law was passed mandating drivers to give bike riders at least three feet of clearance. It doesn't seem to have made much difference. In fact, a casual poll of vehicle drivers revealed that few of them even know about the law. Mention exchanging a car for a bike, and drivers look incredulous; they laugh at the very thought. "We've created a society where you have to go sixty miles an hour. Who has time for a bike," one amused driver said.
Yet bike commuting can help resolve many problems that concern us today. There are headlines about global warming, greenhouse gases and high gas prices; three issues that can all be addressed by more non-motorists on the road. How about the headlines concerning U. S. obesity and children who don't get enough exercise? Kids ride their bikes for fun; but how easy is it for them to ride bikes to school?
For bike commuting to take hold in the United States, there must be a serious change in mind set. There must be more than a Mayor's "Ride to Work Day," more than the occasional media story. There must be a solution that costs taxpayer money; so that taxpayers and others will take bike transportation seriously; for example, money spent on more designated bike lanes on streets and highways than they exist upon now, money spent on high level campaigns to promote bike commuting as much as on sharing the road. It means educating police officers to really look for vehicle violations of a bike rider's safety and issuing costly tickets to those who drive in a manner that threatens that safety. Has anyone ever gotten a citation for driving closer to a cyclist than the legal three feet away?
Most of all, it means making bike commuting more user friendly. People with bikes that cost thousands of dollars don't want to leave them in an outdoor bike rack, even with a secure lock. Give awards to workplaces that allow workers to bring their bikes inside. Start a campaign to have commercial businesses post signs saying "We welcome bike riders." Hold clinics sponsored by state governments to teach would-be commuters such simple tasks as how to get a bike through a door gracefully without banging the pedals; how to shop in a market with one of their baskets hanging from the handlebars to hold purchases and how to bag them in a backpack for the ride home. Have buses that run after midnight for those who work late and don't want to ride their bike home at such a late hour.
Campaign hard to make people aware of bike commuting as an alternative means of transportation. Campaign to make a cultural change in mindset, so that using a bike for transportation is not only acceptable, but admirable.
And maybe the slower pace of a bike commuting lifestyle will have additional benefits that will make life a lot more pleasant for us all.