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Out of my way!

Arizona Daily Wildcat

I almost ran you over today. You know who you are. You were that girl looking down at the faded asphalt. You were that group of three boys walking shoulder to shoulder. Thanks a lot guys; you made me late to class.

I consider myself to be a fairly patient person. Last year when I started riding my bike to school I expected the occasional stray pedestrian in the bike lane.

This year has been completely different. There is not the occasional stray, but the usual horde of rude pedestrians merrily marching up the median of the bike lane. No sooner do I hop onto my trusty blue bike than I nearly run over a pedestrian, get stuck behind a bus or am nearly run over myself by a service vehicle. It seems as though the UA has a transportation crisis on their hands.

We all realize that parking spaces are limited. Just this summer the university mailed flyers to our homes, actively encouraging us to take the bus or find some sort of alternative transportation to campus. So some of us bike to free up spaces for your cars. I am not sure, however, how bikers are suppose to get to and from class freely when the university has sacrificed half a bike lane in its most heavily trafficked area.

I am all for university improvements, but I am wondering if whomever engineered this whole plan in the first place gave any thought to the strain it would place on bicyclists. To answer this question, I turned to the university's construction Web site. There was not much information pertinent to bicyclists available. UA President Peter Likins did offer his vague assurances that everything would be fine in the end, if we all had some patience and there was some sort of promise of a free meal in the middle of September.

So I guess this means that pedestrians and bicyclists are left to work out a balance of their own. I know that pedestrians are suppose to have the right of way, but could you give the bicyclist a break once in a while? First of all, consider the fact that you have way more legal surface area with which to work.

It would also really help us out if you actually looked before you crossed the street. I know you know how; it's one of the first lessons your parents must have taught you. Things would also improve greatly if pedestrians would use the sidewalks provided for them. You must wonder what those two parallel white lines mean. Well pedestrians, that is your sacred space. When you walk in one of those, we bicyclists must legally stop for you. So take advantage of those spaces.

Finally, for goodness sake, try and limit the time you do spend in the bike lane to under 10 seconds. If you have stopped to say hello to a friend, chances are that you've been in the bike lane far too long.

In the end, all I am asking is that pedestrians be a bit more thoughtful in their habits of locomotion. Bicyclists are here to stay on this campus, and it would be in everyone's best interest to be considerate. There are three more years of heavy construction scheduled on campus, and if we cannot make this work now the conditions are only going to get worse. One angry bicyclist is going to snap one day, and consider how foolish you will look when you walk into your class with tread marks on your face.

We, the bicyclists of the UA, are fed up and we are not going to take it for much longer. Unless conditions improve, we will storm the sidewalks. I guess it will not matter much anyway; all the pedestrians are already in the bike lane.