Kim,

Like everyone, my time is limited.  I try to use it where it will have the most impact on my agenda.  My primary mission is to teach cyclists to act as drivers of vehicles.  That includes teaching them how to drive their bicycles on roadways and not on sidewalks.  I'd like to see the shared lane markings and Bicycles May Use Full Lane signs on the roadways before I get involved in public arguments with ignorant individuals especially if they are not in a position to do anything but blow smoke. 

It took the Morgantown Municipal Bicycle Board over a year of continuous effort to get resistant public officials aligned with its plans to install the SLMs and BMUFL signs.  Our biggest problem is that almost all of us only have a few hours a month that we can devote to advancing bicycling.  Gary Warhoftig, the key public official with the WVDOH in Charleston who several months ago after a personal visit from the Deputy Mayor and a City Councilor finally gave Morgantown the approval to install these has since retired.  We have been slow in getting the markings and signs installed because our volunteers do not have enough time to respond fast enough to the various demands that the lay on us.  Now, we may lose the whole thing because Warhoftig's replacement has reversed the approval.  Now, a contingent of us must waste a day going to Charleston to try to persuade Warhoftig's replacement to reconsider his reversal. 

After all, the law still says that cyclists must ride as far to the right as practicable and it is going to be a continuous uphill struggle to persuade people such as the WVDOH that it says "practicable" and not "possible" and that often practicable means to take the lane.  I think it might be more effective to work with WV legislators to remove the far to the right restriction and establish a 3-foot passing rule than to argue with Mr. Dye.

When you sent me the picture of the Parkersburg Critical Mass Ride, I was glad to see cyclists wearing helmets and riding not more than two abreast.  My previous experience with Critical Mass Rides over a period of more than 10 years is that they generally create and intensify motorist animosity toward bicycling and certainly don't promote cyclists acting or being treated as drivers of vehicles.  Dye's letter seems to be yet another confirmation of that.  I'd rather keep Morgantown's SLMs and BMUFLs out of Parkersburg's and more importantly, Charleston's newspapers until they are installed and we have a preponderance of evidence that they are effective at improving both cyclists' and motorists' behaviors.

Frank
Cyclists fare best when they act and are treated as drivers of vehicles - John Forester

Kimberly Jo Broughton wrote:
Hey guys,
Thought I would forward this.  I would appreciate any information you could provide for a response. Frank, I plan to use information about what Morgantown is doing for lane markings if you don't mind.  I want to respond and show work is being done all over the state towards more biking and appreciate a quote from each of you if you don't mind.  No problem if you do.  I want to respond by educating.  It is a perfect opportunity!
Thanks so much,
Kim


Subject:
Mid-Ohio Valley Bicycle Council
From:
Adventure Pursuit <adventurepursuit@hotmail.com>
Date:
Mon, 17 Nov 2008 07:42:32 -0500
To:
kimbroughton@verizon.net
To:
kimbroughton@verizon.net


November 16,  2008 
 
Volunteers are  needed to ride bikes  with individuals, assist in the helmet safety campaign and coordinate bike repairs with visiting mechanics.
 
You can sign up to be a volunteer by going to Adventure Pursuit's volunteer application.  It takes about 60 seconds.  Click here to sign up.
 
 
Adventure Pursuit
PO Box 431
Parkersburg WV 26102 304-485-0911 
 
 
 
Letter to the editor about cyclists in Parkersburg paper
  Hey all,
There is  letter to the editor on Parkersburg's website about cyclists.  You can see the link here
 
http://newsandsentinel.com/page/content.detail/id/511433.html
I'd like to provide a response to the paper from the Mid-Ohio Bicycle Council if anyone is interested in participating.  If so, please send your thoughts.  This is a perfect opportunity to educate Steve and the rest of the public.  It would be nice to show a group of people responding.
 
Looks like our awareness ride worked :).
Thanks!
Kim
 

 

Drivers not only problem

POSTED: November 16, 2008

Being of the country persuasion, I've long been disgusted by city bike riders coming onto our narrow country roads and making nuisances of themselves. Yes, they have a legal right to be there. However, in the days before cute little spandex outfits for aging athletes, most people on bicycles realized that they were a safety hazard in their own right and made at least some effort to cooperate with automobile drivers. Many would move near the edge to allow drivers to pass more easily, or slow down slightly and motion those behind them around.

Today, too many seem to prefer to ride on the center-line and dare anyone to hit them. Rarely do you see one deliberately yield part of their lane to let a car around, and the only place that most slow down is where they know auto drivers can't pass anyway. As soon as you get to a safe place to pass, they take off like the proverbial bat out of Hades. Few women bicyclists seem to behave that way, so I guess it must to be a testosterone thing.

In town, some of them dart between lanes of stopped traffic to crowd ahead in line, run stop signs and switch on and off the sidewalk at will. During the publicized ride for awareness the other day, my wife and I stepped out the door of the bookstore by the mall and were nearly run down by what appeared to be a bicycle club member who was riding on the sidewalk to avoid the speed-bumps in the street. While I realize that there are plenty of rude and careless drivers out there, it seems to me that rude auto drivers aren't the only problem on the highways (and sidewalks).

Steve Dye

Parkersburg
 
 

 

 





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