Hello, bike lane, my old friend. Here’s to hoping I don’t crash into a pedestrian again.
Every morning I travel upon you. Every morning I hope there’s no one walking to their doom.
Yes, this is for real. I can’t keep count of how many times I’ve seen bicyclists and skaters swerve and veer off the designated path in order to dodge a walker (no, not “The Walking Dead” type, although that would be awesome).
A walker — one that does not choose to ride a skateboard, bicycle, penny board, long board, hoverboard, scooter, electric scooter, unicycle, roller blades, tricycle, roller skates, tandem bike or Segway down campanile in order to get to class.
These are people that will meander into the bike lane with their cellphones in their faces oblivious to the oncoming traffic that is traveling at a much faster rate of speed than they are, and has the potential of knocking them through the wall into the bathroom stall of Hepner Hall.
OK. I’ve let it out. As a bicyclist I am starting to feel a little better about calling out people that walk into my zone that’s supposed to be designated for my bike travel purposes.
But the walkers aren’t entirely to blame.
Some trashcans are placed on the opposite side of the bike lane in the grass in the middle of Campanile, so if walkers need to throw something away, they have to cross the bike lane in order to do so. Not a very great idea. These need to be moved to the opposite side of the bike lane where people are actually walking. There are some trashcans already there, so why are there stray ones sitting in the grass on the opposite side?
Also, we bicyclists and skaters and the like are not so innocent.
We still ride across the sky bridge (it’s just so much fun, though), and we still ride through campus where it clearly states with bold lettering on signs that doing so is not allowed.
Since the bike lane was implemented, it hasn’t really changed much in the way of making people safer.
“(The bike lane) didn’t do what we expected it to do,” said Robert Schulz, associate vice president of real estate, planning and development at SDSU. “We certainly hoped that it would limit skateboards and bikes to the bike lane but it’s clearly not what happened.”
In fact, it has made things worse.
The concrete path in the Conrad Prebys Aztec Student Union that is designated for disabled individuals still sees bicycles and skaters rummaging through.
“We’ve had a lot of complaints from the ADA community because of this,” Schulz said.
OK, now it’s gone a bit too far. Fellow non-walkers, we definitely need to respect these types of pathways. It will only take a few more seconds to dismount and walk across these areas.
So we are all at fault.
Walkers need to mind themselves when crossing over the bike lane. Look both ways before crossing. Take the time to put down your cellphone or iPad for a few seconds and make sure you secure a safe passageway across the lane.
Bicyclists and skaters: We’re not innocent.
Let’s try to be more respectful of areas designated off-limits to us, as it may lead to injury of another person.
