Bicyclists need to stay on sidewalk
(Last updated: 04/08/09 7:03pm)Black 2001 Saturn SC2. That’s the car I drive — and if you’re a bicyclist on the road but not in a bike path and you see my car, I hope you’re wearing a helmet, because I might run you over.
Zack Colman
Maybe not intentionally.
But you see, with all these things I can do in my car nowadays, such as choose a different song on my iPod, send a text message while driving or fall asleep at the wheel because I had to wake up for a worthless 8 a.m. biology lab, I might not notice you.
And, considering you are where you should not be, I might hit you.
The simple fact of the matter is, MSU has so kindly provided sidewalks for people on foot and Rollerblades, and MSU’s ordinance should be revised to require bicyclists be there too. The university has outlined bike paths on certain roads, but bicyclists can’t just create imaginary bike paths like they do.
I cannot drive my car on the sidewalk, so why must you ride your bicycle where I drive?
Many of my friends ride bicycles on campus, so I’m not trying to berate a whole demographic of students. I appreciate bicyclists who advocate environmentalism, since they are making up for the damage I do with my car.
I respect bicyclists who use bicycles as a form of exercise, since people certainly can never get enough fitness in their everyday routines.
But for as much as I respect and appreciate bicyclists, I will not hesitate to honk at them when they are interfering with the roads.
My concern is not merely about inconvenience.
Bicyclists on the road are a driving hazard to people in automobiles, since many bicyclists make turns without using hand signals and ride too close to other vehicles when there is no designated bike path.
For example, I was driving to work Tuesday when a bicyclist pulled up in front of my car in the right lane on Farm Lane going northbound where it intersects with Shaw Lane. There is no bike path at this portion of the road, and I needed to be in the right lane to avoid the left turn only lane, but the bicyclist was in the way.
Instead, I had to speed ahead and veer away from the fast-approaching rear end of the car in front of me, just barely making it into the right lane.
Some will say I could be more patient on the road.
But roads are for cars, not bicyclists. The bicyclist should not have been in the car lane.
It’s possible some bicyclists are trying to live out their dreams of being Lance Armstrong, and the smooth terrain offered by the roads where big, people-killing cars are designed to travel on are more desirable than the sidewalk pavement.
I get it, bicyclists — you’re in the Tour de France. Well, in your head at least.
But in reality, my gas-guzzling, carbon footprint-leaving car is trying to get around you, the bicyclist. And you, the bicyclist, prefer to coast, not along the side of the lane but in the exact middle.
Maybe in your head you are actually driving a car. Maybe that’s why you believe you should be behind a pickup truck and in front of 15 other cars trying to pass you.
And maybe you are Armstrong, so talented and in shape and able to pedal so, so fast. But Armstrong’s average speed in the 2001 Tour de France was 24.9 mph, which is 0.1 mph less than most of the speed limits on and around campus.
Plus, I’ve had difficulty finding students who actually obey the speed limit anyway.
It’s common for motorists to drive at least 5 mph above the speed limit, which makes your task to out-pedal Lance Armstrong all the more daunting. And considering you’re not actually Armstrong (even if you do wear a skintight yellow bicycle uniform), you likely are not going 24.9 mph.
And, oh yeah, Armstrong is competing when he is bicycling — your leisurely ride through campus might not even register on a police radar.
But, hey, snap out of it. You’re not Lance Armstrong.
And those are the headlights of my black 2001 Saturn SC2 bearing down on you.
Zack Colman is the State News opinion writer. Reach him at colmanz1@msu.edu.
Originally Published: 04/08/09 7:03pm
wow...
04/08/09 8:01pm…I hope this article doesn’t get deleted just for the fact that if this guy hits someone it’s all over for him. Also thanks for telling me what car you drive, if i see it i’m going to say you hit me. With this article you have no defense.
What a dummy
04/08/09 8:16pmHey, Einstein – yes, bikes in the road — PEDESTRIANS on the sidewalk.
Grow a brain, will ya? Thanks.
yup
04/08/09 8:40pmyou sound like a HORRIBLE driver
Anonymus
04/08/09 9:30pmI am usually on the defense for cyclists, my father being a competitive cyclist in state-wide rides, but I do see both sides of this argument presented. I think it is important to note that while taking the risk for riding a bicycle along with automobiles on streets, it is important to be responsible and respect the rules of the road as well as the other drivers. Very rarely when I go around campus do I witness bicyclers using hand signals, staying on the right side of the white line or even following cross walk signs.
...View full comment »
Lyle
04/08/09 11:37pmIdiotic Column.
butterpile
04/09/09 1:21amPeople like you are most of the reason why riding a bike in the road (which is completely legal) is dangerous. Sorry for being an inconvenience for 5 seconds on my bike, maybe you could just use your car to go slightly faster once you pass?
Pete
04/09/09 1:22amI honestly can’t figure it out. Is this article some sort of weirdly ambiguous satire? Is this guy poking fun at self absorbed, gas guzzling, environmentally apathetic douchebags who write meandering columns that end up on an entirely different topic then they started? Or is this guy actually attempting to communicate what he sees as a valid opinion?
MSUAlum2001
04/09/09 7:32amPete, I’m in the same boat as you. I can’t figure out if this was just piss poor satire or if he’s actually trying to be serious. Either way most of his columns are terribly written anyway, so it’s not surprising here.
DUMB AS D. BOBBY
04/09/09 8:36amUh .. Z .. there are things called “facts” that journalists are supposed to be concerned about .. so —
Biking Regulations on Campus
http://www.bikes.msu.edu/msu_regulations/index.html
“ .. Since bicycles aren’t legally allowed to ride sidewalks on campus ..”
This is as gross an error as D. Bobby claiming Slippery Barry had endorsed single-payer .. when, in fact, Slippery Barry had NOT …
Facts. They’re hard.
Frat Boy Zack
04/09/09 10:27amLiving up to his stupid, stereotypical look, he writes this article. I hope someday you are so down on money you have no choice but to ride your bike 5 miles to work and back. Maybe once mommy and daddy stop paying for your car and college tuition you will be able to understand how ignorant and self-absorbed you are.
Frat Boy Zack
04/09/09 10:45amIf you are indeed trying to be serious with this article you really should lose your job. I’m fairly confused as to how this junk made it past the SNews editor. You really need to look up the facts before you publish the nonsense your brain lets fly out of your mouth. you may want to work on your empathy, the idea where you essentially put yourself in another persons shoes and try to see if you can understand where they are coming from.
...View full comment »
seriously?
04/09/09 10:53amWow, what an incredible waste of an opinion piece. Zack, your ignorance is stunning — the future must look scary for you. Please be a part of our post-college brain drain and move out-of-state.
G Money
04/09/09 10:58amZack, I don’t think you are serious…I think you want to be the next O’Reilly or Rush…right?? You strike as a person who “gets off” on this. Ignorance looks good on you, you wear it well.
Mike
04/09/09 11:04amProbably the most ignorante piece of writing I have ever seen. Zach, let’s just say if I see you around, well there are just so many things I can do with my fists and feet… that well they just might hit you, repeatedly, until your unconscious. So I hope you wear a helmet from now on.
Joe Manzo
04/09/09 11:05amAre you kidding or serious? Simple fact-checking and minimal research would have stopped you from writing this article if you were serious. I am going to assume this was a joke.
You do bring up a great point there zacky boy – bikes in the ‘car lane’, as you so eloquently put it, ARE in a dangerous spot. Do me a favor, google ‘complete streets’. In Berlin, especially in the newly-redone east side, you’ve got a 2-lane road for cars in the middle, parallel parking, a dedicated, grade-separated bikeway, and then a ‘lane’ for pedestrians.
...View full comment »
Michael
04/09/09 11:06am“But roads are for cars, not bicyclists. The bicyclist should not have been in the car lane.”
Wrong. Plain and simple.
Here’s the law:
MICHIGAN VEHICLE CODE (EXCERPTS)
OPERATION OF BICYCLES
Michigan Vehicle Code
257.657
Each person riding a bicycle, electric personal assistive mobility device, or moped or operating a low-speed vehicle upon a roadway has all of the rights and is subject to all of the duties applicable to the driver of a vehicle by this chapter”
H Money
04/09/09 11:09amTake a break from your biology text and read the law addressing cycling rights, and do us all a favor – don’t read the law while you are driving and operating an iPod. Get used to it – cyclists are here to stay, and by law, you need to figure out how to share the road with them.
riding on the road
04/09/09 11:09amI would think this was a troll if I haven’t read the quality of your previous work (your last piece about how uninformed you are was another winner).
Do your research, this would be an embarrassment on a blog, let alone a “newspaper.”
Motorists like you make riding on the road dangerous.
Louise
04/09/09 11:15amZack,
You and your editors should just write off this column as in, “we screwed up.” All journalists make mistakes up from time to time, and this column was a big mistake. Not only are you wrong on the facts—bicyclists have every right to ride on the road—but you seem to be indicating a criminal willingness or even eagerness to hit cyclists with your motor vehicle. Please reevaluate your hostility to cyclists, and your lack of concern for the safety of others, now that you know that cyclists have a right to be on the road. It would be nice if you apologized for this column.
04/09/09 11:16amthis is ridiculous. and i agree that if you work for the state news, you should be fired. giving this kind of information to the public is the opposite of what we need. we need more bike paths and better roads because we (the cyclists using the road) are scared of terrible, ignorant drivers like you. We deserve just as much road as you, but we aren’t wrapped in a steel cage, this warrants the space we ask you (most other drivers) to give us and the speed we wish to be passed at.
...View full comment »
Nick Kwiatkowski
04/09/09 11:19amI for one, hope that you hit me when I am LEGALLY riding my two wheeled vehicle in the road. That way, when I take you to court to sue the pants off you, they can classify it as pre-meditated and then it wont matter the type of car that you had, because it, along with everything else you owned would be mine.
Think before you write. Think about the laws, ALWAYS. And, don’t tell me to break the law (riding on the sidewalk) just to make it more convenient for you.
04/09/09 11:31amThis critically wrong in several places, as other writers have pointed out. As a summary:
– “But roads are for cars, not bicyclists.” — False – implication that bikes must exceed the speed limit so as not to delay cars — False – implication that the author has the right to enforce his confused interpretation of the law by running down bicyclists — DangerousPlease, fire this guy.
Travis
04/09/09 11:33amI don’t think anyone pointed out how much MORE dangerous riding on the sidewalk actually is. How many times have you seen a car pulling out of a driveway or parking lot actually stop before the sidewalk and look for bikes or pedestrians? My guess is not many.
It is obvious that the author and editor of this “newspaper” did exactly zero fact checking with respect to the laws governing cars, bicycles, and the roadways.
jorge
04/09/09 11:33amI’ve read this 3 times to weigh whether or not it is satire. I think it is not. If it is, Zack, please — no more satire. You’re no good at it.
State News, on behalf of all cyclists, please leave this up on your site, so that when Zacky-poo hits me or one of my friends, we can take this gem into court with us to show a history of hostility toward cyclists.
Here’s a great quote:
“big, people-killing cars”
Closing idea: cars don’t kill people — distracted, ignorant drivers like zack kill people.
Nostradamus
04/09/09 11:34amTomorrow in the “Letters” section of the Opinion page: 25,000 letters to the editor titled “Bicyclists need to stay on road, says pedestrian.”