the Streets Are for Everyone

To the Editor:

In response to your article “Growing Pains,” I would just like to say that bikes should in fact be forced to ride in the street in the same lanes as the big boys in their cars, trucks and SUVs.
The simple fact is that if drivers would learn to take notice of bicycles, respect them and not try to run them off the road, honk at them or yell obscenities at them (all of which I have been subjected to on numerous occasions) there would be no threat to cyclists.

As an avid rider, I know for a fact that bikes can ride down Broadway at a speed just as fast, if not faster, than the average car. The truth is, bikes aren’t in the way on the street, they aren’t a nuisance and most importantly, when they are in the street they aren’t a threat to pedestrians on the sidewalks of downtown.
I cannot tell you how many times I have seen people almost get knocked out cold walking out of a store or walking down the sidewalk by a bicycle cruising directly at them.
When Fargo decided that bikes must be walked on the sidewalk it was a step in the right direction. Now, if only we would really put our foot down on that ordinance.
Fargo’s downtown has made drastic strides of improvement since a decade ago or even several years ago, but if we want to keep up with other growing, people-friendly cities, we have to make our sidewalks and our streets friendly places for everyone.

Now, many cities encourage biking so much that they have separate bicycle lanes in the streets. If the city wanted to go all out and give us cyclists a lane all to ourselves, I can guarantee we would stay out of everyone’s way and everyone would be happy.

Unfortunately, I don’t see that day coming anytime soon. So until then, people are just going to have to accept and get used to a bicycle in the street. Maybe if everyone would just ride their bikes, there would be no problem.

In any case, no matter how much one hates the idea of it, there is an hierarchy of importance when it comes to traffic downtown; pedestrians first, cyclists second, cars/trucks/SUVs last.

Josie Danz
Moorhead