Harmony on Harmony Road

By Michael McNulty

     With springtime upon us, bicycles are out of the garage and on the road. Fort Collins encourages bicycle riding with plenty of dedicated lanes and paths throughout the city, but as more and more cyclists congest the roads with little knowledge of the laws, upsetting disorder and accidents occur.

     Society usually blames the bikers for collisions, but lack of knowledge about the rules of the road from the motorist or pedestrian can also be a problem. A shocking amount of people don’t know the rules of the road and are quick to point fingers when a dispute arises. According to a report done by CNN Money in 2011, “more than one in five Americans—some 36.9 million—are not fit to drive [a car] and would fail a driving test if asked to take one today.” A significant amount of bicycle laws are in the driving test for a car license. If one in five Americans cannot pass the test to drive a car, then how many people really know the rules of the road when it comes to cycling.

     Whether a motorist or a bicyclist in Fort Collins, knowing the rules of the road is a vital piece to creating harmony on Harmony. The confusing component begins when bicycle laws differ from town to town. For instance: sidewalk use.

     In Fort Collins bicyclists can ride on the sidewalks unless posted signs read otherwise. On Colorado State University’s campus, however, if a sidewalk is adjacent to a street, the cyclist must ride in the street, according to Joy Childress, the campus Bicycle and Traffic Education and Enforcement Program Supervisor. Childress explained that her program gives books of rules and regulations to freshmen and resident assistants in the dorms are good about presenting bicycle safety information to students, but she believes that a lot of cyclists on campus still do not follow the rules. Childress’ team also issues bicycle citations on campus, which usually consist of the same violations. “I don’t think it’s that they don’t understand the rules, I think it is more of a convenience thing,“ Childress said, “Stop signs and dismount zones and then at night the headlight. Those are probably our three biggest tickets written.” She said.

     In Denver, bicycling on the sidewalk is illegal. Earlier this spring, a Denver University student learned the hard way on her way to class. While Sophie Hoad was riding toward campus on the sidewalk, she says an SUV leaving a parking lot crossed the sidewalk in a hurry. Paramedics rushed her to Swedish Medical Center to learn she experienced a clean break in her femur. Hoad had a lot of visits from friends, but the biggest surprise visit came from a Denver Police officer who gave her a traffic citation. “I had no idea I wasn’t allowed to be on the sidewalk,” Hoad said, “You learn something new every day.”

     With these nice temperatures, you can just sit in one high-traffic bicycle area and watch the dangerous and ignorant behavior. Especially on CSU campus, chaos between bicyclists, pedestrians and motorists leaves no question that something needs to be done to alleviate the problem; and education on rules of the road is the definite start. At all times of the day, a hasty cyclist can be seen trucking through stop signs and weaving in and out of pedestrians—sometimes making contact, seriously injuring people. If you move off campus, close calls from cars where motorists are not aware of their surroundings can result in cutting off cyclists and pedestrians with the right-of-way.

     Michael Norris, a CSU biology major, once experienced a close call, similar to the previous situation. “The light turned green as I was heading through Loomis. A car, turning left, must not have seen me or just didn’t realize I was going straight. I had to slam on my brakes and veer left [to avoid collision], and he just kept going,” Norris said. Circumstances like this happens very often in Colorado. Motorists do not always treat cyclists with the same respect or rules as a car. Sometimes bicyclists take advantage of road, however, and ride unlawfully or dangerously. Whether the motorist or cyclist is at fault, simple observation shows that there is still necessary training needed for bicycles and cars that share the road.

     There are little differences in rules of the road across the country, but why do such differences exist? A lot of differences exist because diverse road conditions. Big cities like downtown Denver are much more crowded on sidewalks and the presence of bicyclists would create chaos for pedestrians. The same is true for CSU’s campus. Since there is such a dense crowd of pedestrians on campus, bicyclists become a danger when mixed with the flow.