First Light Books
Bicycle Trail of Tears
RECEIVED Tue., April 6, 2010
Dear Editor.
Re: “Bike Boulevard: Dead or Great?” [Newsdesk blog, April 6]: Bike lanes are worse than nothing. If you bike down Nueces today, you can be in a safe position near the middle of the lane without worrying about anything. Cars will peacefully go around you because anyone who has spent any time on Nueces is used to relatively heavy bike traffic. Bike lanes will squeeze bikes closer to parked cars, which is a bad idea.
If this bicycle trail of tears goes through, someone needs to do a study comparing the average distance at which cars pass bikes and the rate of bikes riding in the door zone before and after implementation. I'm fairly certain it will give solid evidence that the changes are negative for cyclist safety.
Re: “Bike Boulevard: Dead or Great?” [Newsdesk blog, April 6]: Bike lanes are worse than nothing. If you bike down Nueces today, you can be in a safe position near the middle of the lane without worrying about anything. Cars will peacefully go around you because anyone who has spent any time on Nueces is used to relatively heavy bike traffic. Bike lanes will squeeze bikes closer to parked cars, which is a bad idea.
If this bicycle trail of tears goes through, someone needs to do a study comparing the average distance at which cars pass bikes and the rate of bikes riding in the door zone before and after implementation. I'm fairly certain it will give solid evidence that the changes are negative for cyclist safety.
Niran Babalola
