You are currently browsing the tag archive for the ‘biking’ tag.
From the Chicago Tribune last week came the article “City to step up enforcement of bike laws“, reporting on a coalition of police and “bike ambassadors” who have been stopping bicyclists who break the law and offering a brief warning along with information and accessories to ensure the offense doesn’t happen again. The article points out that the specific offenses the police seemed to be after were nighttime riding without a white headlight, and failing to observe stop signs/traffic lights. Officers commented that these “lectures” were intended to change habits before heightened enforcement of traffic laws for bicyclists takes effect.
While I appreciate city officials launching an educational campaign about traffic laws prior to stepping up enforcement of those laws, and while I’m fully aware of the importance of using a headlight to make yourself seen at night, and of yielding the right-of-way to all types of traffic, I find myself slightly torn after reading this article.
In March, the Chicago Department of Transportation added the Bicycle Safety Ordinance to other traffic laws, an ordinance that outlines the responsibility of drivers to safely share the road with bicyclists, including specific points such as allowing no less than three feet of room when passing a bike, and increased fines for blocking a marked shared lane or bike lane. The Bicycle Safety Ordinance was an important step in Chicago’s Bike 2015 Plan, but it seems from the aforementioned article that law-enforcement officials will be focusing on citing bikers for dangerous travel-conditions rather than the vehicles that have more power to either increase or prevent these dangerous situations.
I don’t mean to come across as too critical of how Chicago traffic laws address bicyclists (though I do reserve some qualms of the automobile-centric laws), but even while biking just this morning I was passed by more than one car without being offered three-feet of room, and almost every day there is at least one truck or taxi or other vehicle that chooses to use the bike lane as an extra parking lane, forcing bikers to weave unexpectedly into other traffic. I have yet to see such dangerous offenses ticketed, so I wonder if stopping a bike who rolls through the stop-sign at a vacant intersection is the best use of an officer’s time while elsewhere another biker has likely been pushed into a dangerous situation by a careless driver.
As always, please share your thoughts in the comments. For a wonderful resource on bike laws, check out lawyer and bike-advocate Jim Freeman’s blog at http://chicagobikelaw.blogspot.com/
Articles from around the internet (see links below) all seem to point to increased bike-ridership this year, and I’m pleased to count myself among those happy riders. Except when I’m not going home straight after work or if there’s chance of excessive wind or rain, I’ve been biking to work since April of this year. My commute is 4.5 – 5 miles each way depending on the route, and it takes about 30-40 minutes door-to-door. While it was initially pretty intimidating to bike down one of the major commuter corridors of the city, I quickly became more comfortable and confident in the ride and now much prefer it to my previous commute on the ‘el’.
Among the many benefits of biking is the chance to spend a half-hour or so before and after work simply focusing my attention on moving through the fresh air and enjoying a short time of freedom from the distractions of phones, the internet, and the plethora of advertisements with which the media is constantly bombarding me. I also have the satisfaction of knowing that this daily activity is not having a negative impact on the environment, and as an added bonus, I save nearly $20/week versus riding the ‘el’.
I’m sure I’ll have plenty more to say about biking as the blog progresses, but for the meantime, check out the links below, and let me know if there’s anything in particular regarding bike commuting about which you’d like to hear more.
Additional reading:
Bike, Meet the City. City, This is the Bike.
Green Tip: How to Bike to Work
and for those who would rather walk, check out your area’s Walk Score
