Neill-Cochran House Museum
Bikers Just Need to Exercise Reasonable Judgment
RECEIVED Sun., May 4, 2008
Dear Editor,
Those who complain about Austin's bikeability have obviously lived nowhere else. Those who complain about bikers on major thoroughfares are absolutely right. Nearly without exception, when a cyclist is killed, it happens on a street where they should never have been in the first place and often at a bad time of day (or night). I bike all over this town and take all the back streets that parallel the busy ones, and I rarely have a problem. My bars got clipped once on North Loop on the block and a half that has no bike lane, and that was by a retiree who probably did not see me or misjudged (I stayed up and probably cost her a broken mirror). Just because Guadalupe is designated as a bike route does not mean one shouldn't exercise judgment and ride elsewhere. Stay off of the damned interstate access roads, South First, 360, Lamar, Burnet Road, etc., and enjoy your ride (and drivers will enjoy their drives).
Those who complain about Austin's bikeability have obviously lived nowhere else. Those who complain about bikers on major thoroughfares are absolutely right. Nearly without exception, when a cyclist is killed, it happens on a street where they should never have been in the first place and often at a bad time of day (or night). I bike all over this town and take all the back streets that parallel the busy ones, and I rarely have a problem. My bars got clipped once on North Loop on the block and a half that has no bike lane, and that was by a retiree who probably did not see me or misjudged (I stayed up and probably cost her a broken mirror). Just because Guadalupe is designated as a bike route does not mean one shouldn't exercise judgment and ride elsewhere. Stay off of the damned interstate access roads, South First, 360, Lamar, Burnet Road, etc., and enjoy your ride (and drivers will enjoy their drives).
Tim Pipe
