Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Bike Rack Fail

I really enjoy advocating for cyclists and doing whatever I can to empowering more people to get on their bikes and ride, but sometimes the actions of other riders makes me wonder why I even try.

I spend my days designing the most comfortable and safe facility options for different cities around the country, but getting people to use them in the way that they were intended isn't always easy. In my daily commutes I typically see the majority of riders not wearing helmets, riding on sidewalks, running red lights/stop signs, riding against the flow of traffic, etc., and people wonder and try to blame everything except for the uneducated riders for our horrendous crash statistics.

Common sense and transportation experience informs most people how they are supposed to ride a bike on the roadway. You would assume that common sense would also inform people on how to use a simple bike rack, but assuming such a thing would be too easy. On a short trip to Barnes and Noble tonight, after grabbing a bite to eat, I get the fun realization that one bike is taking up the entire, lone bike rack. Let's see, do I find a sign or other street furniture to lock my bike to or do I just roll back home. I decided to go on home, since I didn't want to use their silly "wheel bender" of a bike rack anyway. If I could hand out parking tickets for bikes, that bike would have definitely been tagged.

2 comments:

  1. Ha! That's too funny! I live in Boston and go to the University there. Everyone here bikes until the weather gets cold. And when I moved here to attend school, my car broke down and I couldn't afford to fix it, starving student problems... you know... So instead, I jumped on the band wagon and got myself a really good bike. I've loved biking every where that I need to go, and so has my body. It's helped me get into shape, and my legs have gotten really toned. I love it! The other day, I was on my way to the library and I noticed a bike rack where all the bikes had fallen down. I think that the wind had knocked them all over, but I still laughed a little bit; I would have hated it if that was my bike tangled up with others, but at the same time, what can you expect from the wind right?

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