When bicyclist Peter Kaczor was struck and killed by a car on August 28th, area cyclists and drivers both shook their heads in disbelief. Kaczor was the eighth cyclist to die by car in Michiana since May, 2007. Bike commuters like me, running the daily gauntlet of ambivalent drivers with our helmets, high-visibility gear, and blinkie lights had hoped we were safer.
On the other side, many drivers were also shaking their heads, blaming cyclists for their own mishaps. Here’s one comment from a local news website, the day after another cyclist, Patrick Sawyer, was fatally injured by a hit and run driver in July: “All you whiners were crying about ‘the driver needs to turn himself in.’ Now he did and you idiots want more? It was probably the bike rider’s fault, it usually is. Bikes have no business on the streets” (reader comments on WNDU.com, 7/17). “(Sawyer) sure did pick a bad time and the wrong street to go for a bike ride! What was he thinking?” (reader comments on WSBT.com, 7/17). In this view, a bicycle is a child’s toy that does not belong on the road any more than a skateboard does. The whole point of driving—the freedom, utility, comfort, convenience and power of it—seems wrongly interfered with by a bicycle on the road.
I have felt some of this annoyance myself when driving, and it surprises me. This is my road, paid for with my taxes, and now I have to slow down for a bicycle? Maybe I’ll give him something to think about… I’ll get real close and honk, or maybe…
Then I recognize the biker. A teacher. A physician. A neighbor. A grad student. My daughter.
The debate simmers: are Michiana roads safe for cyclists? Do some bikers violate traffic laws? Should bikes even be on the roads? Good questions. But I’ve got a bigger one. The question is, where are we headed as a community, transportation-wise?
A co-worker recently snapped at me, “Maybe you live close enough to bike to work. But I live out in a suburb. It’s too far to bike. And there are no safe roads.” And there it was: a new dimension of driver frustration: resentment. Drivers are trapped, forced to drive everywhere even when they don’t want to. Like a crisp fall afternoon, a great day to bike to the park or the store with the kids. Then, you realize: there is no safe route for biking to the park, or to the store. Or to work. Or to the schools. Not to mention our suburban friends who didn’t read the fine print on their mortgage. The fine print? “P.S. You have just relinquished your right to ever bike or walk or jog to any of your important destinations as a family… because there are no safe routes for bikes or pedestrians between here and there.” This is not automotive freedom. This is automotive bondage.
Fortunately, much bigger cities than those in Michiana have integrated bicycles with traffic, resulting not only in safer biking but in new businesses, homebuyers, grad students and tourists who are looking for bike-friendly, healthy communities. The Bike Michiana Coalition is hard at work with local officials and bike groups to create a practical network of bike lanes, trails, and safe routes to schools. Learn more at http://www.BikeMichiana.org.
So the next time you’re standing at the gas pump worried about the future, notice that cyclist spinning by. She’s a thing of beauty: resilient, adaptable, self-sufficient, and courageous. Part of the next generation of real American freedom and independence.
More importantly, she knows a secret that many Americans have forgotten lately: that it’s possible to be surrounded by danger and threats at every turn, working and breathing hard…and still be happy.
For Michiana Chronicles, in the helmet, day-glo jacket, and blinkie lights, this is Jeff Nixa.