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First off, I offer my condolences to the friends and family of Jeffrey Stevenson, a young local artist who died Friday several hours after a motorist hit him while he cycled on Sawmill Road. Likely, Jeff was many good things to many people. But his experience as a cyclist is the part of his life I am connecting with.
Donna Willis of NBC 4 reported Jeff was riding near the curb. Though I don't know whether that part or other parts of Sawmill Road have bike lanes, this tragedy reminds me of my ambivalence toward them.
On the one hand, bike lanes afford more room. Yet, on the other hand, a motorist is less likely to see a cyclist who is riding in the bike lane or near the curb.
If I had to choose, I would rather a motorist blare their horn at me, yell at me, or even throw something at me or pick a fight with me, than have them unintentionally kill or harm me. That's why I strive to take the entire lane.
Yet, I somehow still allow those white stripes to lull me into a false sense of security. Perhaps I suspend practical thinking because it feels good to perceive bike lanes as a form of public acceptance for cyclists.
Now that I think of it, I wonder what's stopping me from rejecting those bike lanes along Morse Road between Maize and Cleveland, and opting instead to bike in the middle of the regular lane. I can imagine someone yelling from their car or truck, "use the f---king bike lane!" Perhaps that someone could even be a well-intentioned cyclist who happens to be driving or riding in a car that day.
In a few days, I may find out how far I will go in terms of applying this idea about rejecting bike lanes in favor of cycling in the middle of the regular lane. I don't expect to be in that part of town until later in the week. I intend it to be an experiment as I refine my cycling efforts. Are there benefits to bike lanes I am overlooking ?
Also, about this strategy of taking the entire lane in order to be seen, I admit it only goes so far. It likely doesn't work well in scenarios that involve very intoxicated motorists or, for example, motorists having a seizure, heart attack, or a stroke.
But in at least some situations, getting in the way of motorists and forcing them to either slow down or commit themselves to a conscious choice of hitting me is a political act.
Don't get me wrong. I enjoy harmony with motorists. For example, yesterday while stopped at an intersection, a man sang out through the window of his aging sedan part of a stanza from Jethro Tull's "Aqualung," picking up where I had left off when I stopped singing in order to spray my tonsils with a jet from my water bottle.
My experience as a motorist has contributed to my ambivalence toward bike lanes. I am compellingly aware of the blind-spots between the doors and the windshield of my car.
And I admit to knowing first-hand about how multitasking while driving seems to impair my ability to notice people or objects in the periphery.
Since cycling avidly, I now strive to not even have the radio or CD player on while driving, not mention refraining from using my phone. Come to think of it, the next time I have a passenger I will invite her or him to assist me with being vigilant as we motor along.
If I had to choose in terms of how our city invests its tax dollars, bike lanes are not as good as signs telling motorists to share the road with cyclists. (If I had my way, I would add pedestrians and skateboarders, rollerbladers, and people in wheelchairs to that list. But now we're talking billboards all over the place!) Reducing speed limits and enforcing them would be a good idea also.
Launched in August 2010, TheMetropreneur.com is a local online resource devoted to small business development and entrepreneurship. Its aim is to tell the stories of Central Ohio's business community, foster regional economic development and assist entrepreneurs with its resource-heavy focus.