First I have to say it is with a very heavy heart I am sending this email, due to another tragedy for a bicyclist and their family. It makes me reflect on the oil and water relationship between bicyclists and motorists not just in Seattle, but through-out this country. It is a conflict that I unfortunately believe will continue for a very, very long time.

I am President of the Fremont Chamber of Commerce, Cascade Club member, co-sponsor of Team Group Health – Edward Jones women’s bicycle racing team, and am a United States Cycling Federation member. As a younger skinnier man I raced my bicycle extensively across the US and Canada which made for countless hours of driving an automobile to races. I was also fortunate to train and race in one campaign in Europe and on other trips ridden and driven in Europe. I often commute to work by bicycle and also ride recreationally and our family owns two cars and lives on Queen Anne.

Frankly the treatment of bicycle riders across cities in the United States has never been much different then what I experience in Seattle. Europe is more opposite and positive for a cyclist then I can explain. In Seattle the casual conversation with a non-cyclist automobile driver seems to lead to a disdain for cyclists rolling stop signs, red lights, having a totally cavalier attitude on the road, the screaming middle finger waving cyclist, and the cyclist who hit their car with their hand, and sometimes stop wanting to come to blows with the driver.

Ask a cyclist about their daily commute, and they will share the near death experience due to automobiles turning across their path, oblivious cell-phone talker, the regular “Get on the f$#!%&* on the sidewalk!” yell, parked car opening door, and in certain cases folks getting out of their vehicle wanting to go to blows with you.

We are oil and water, and it is a dangerous dance that I believe both the average cyclist and driver have absolutely no comprehension of when it comes to the force of an automobile striking a cyclist. I find in amazing we don’t have many, many more cycling deaths on the road.

In general we both must be ticketed and dealt with harshly. At known intersections of heavy bicycle/automobile traffic, regular and vigilant ticketing for those cyclist and drivers who run stop signs and stoplights. Cutting across the path of cyclists on known corridors should be monitored again with folks being ticketed. Basically raising awareness for both groups through public ticketing campaigns that will pay for time spent enforcing them. The courts also should deal aggressively and publically with drivers and cyclists who have been arrested for violent acts towards each other.

Greater efforts at some separation when possible. I know the club fought hard for marked lanes down Stoneway, and in other areas with heavy car and bicycle traffic. I again point to the Vancouver Canada example where bicycle routes are often moved to less and/or slower speed traveled streets. If we have to mix, we need better efforts of separation, and improved road markings. I worry about the relationship of road diets and bicycle deaths. I feel in so many cases the mixture of highly traveled car and bicycle routes can be a dangerous cocktail. We have a right to be on those streets, but when car meets bike we can so easily be dead right.

Muti use bike and pedestrian lanes. I spent a great deal of time in Minnesota, and there were walking and biking trails around the city. Pedestrian and bike sharing causes problems along the Burke Gilman that again generates large amounts of anti-bicycle sentiments.

These are just a few random thoughts, and I will try to attend tomorrows event. Thanks for listening and for all your efforts in promoting safe cycling.

Best Regards,
Marko

It’s disgraceful that Cascade Bicycle Club would hold a press conference at the site of an accident between a reckless bicyclist and a motorist. It’s sad that the cyclist died, but this was someone who was riding far too fast for conditions, on a bicycle without brakes. Is this the example that you want to promote to Seattle?

If Cascade Bicycle Club really cares about the safety of cyclists, it will use the opportunity to call out the many bicyclists who routinely ignore traffic laws and common sense on our streets, placing themselves at mortal risk.

Moreover, you should commit to working with the city to identify opportunities for erecting clear signs along bike paths that might get the attention of otherwise inattentive cyclists, such as the coffee shop manager killed in August when he failed to notice a steep dropoff ahead of him.

Cascade Bicycle Club is well funded, and ought to be willing to use some of that money to erect signs along bike trails that would warn riders of dangers ahead. The question is not whether drivers care about bike safety, or whether the city is doing enough. Rather, the question is whether the cycling community, and its leading organizations, care.

Cascade Bicycle Club, you have a friend in the mayor’s office — your former director. You could quickly implement signage improvements if you really wanted to. The choice is yours. If you want motorists to take you seriously, then take a different path than the usual one.

My condolences to the family who lost their son in the bicycle accident.

My son lives in Seattle and he rides his bike to work and everywhere. Last night about 7 he was riding in the U District and was hit by a white BMW. The driver turned right into his path, and once she hit him she did not stop. His face hit her car, fell off his bike and he blacked out. His friend was near and took care of him; they did not get the license plate.

He’s headed to a doctor to be checked. He cannot afford to take time off work to get to the doctor, but he has to.

So Miss White BMW wherever you are, you broke the law — twice — and injured a young man. Turn yourself in. And feel very, very badly.

To quote Ian Fleming a bit out of context, “they have a saying in Chicago: ‘Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it’s enemy action’.”

So you rergard motorists as “the enemy.” That’s not very smart of you and your crowd.

I agree that being more polite — as motorists or cyclists — could go along way toward reducing the animosity presented by both drivers and cyclists. I am both, and I get just as annoyed at cyclists riding side by side when cars are piling up behind them as I do at drivers who pass too closely. (Well, maybe more at the second, because that’s more dangerous.) Cyclists should definitely follow the rules of the road better.

I agree that cyclists and pedestrians don’t mix well on multi-use paths. Unfortunately, the federal government likes to fund these trails, so they are common.

Finally, the signage on the Burke-Gilman Trail needs to be improved. Having a stop sign and a crosswalk at the same intersection is contradictory. I think it just encourages cyclists to disregard stop signs. (I moved here four years ago and was completely confused by this.)

Cyclists don’t pay registration fees because a bicycle wears the road down maybe a 50th as much as a car. Even so, I’d gladly pay a fee to use the roads if that makes me seem less condescending.

Infrastructure and education are great foundational pillars to build a better-together story for automobiles and bicycles, but it only seems to go so far in its effectiveness in the real world. Many of us here are both cyclists and drivers, so we have the opportunity to see both perspectives compared to drivers who don’t cycle. I believe one of the best ways for drivers to understand what cyclists go through is to ditch their car for a day and do everything by bike. Only then will drivers truly understand why we need to cross the solid white line, cross traffic to make a left turn, and get square into a lane with cars.
On the flip side, cyclists should strive to understand drivers and the challenges posed by sharing the road. Be a driver, and see why they get frustrated by cyclists. Sometimes its infrastructure, but many times its a reckless or law-breaking cyclist.
As in many professions, its key to read up and take classroom studies. But there’s nothing like getting out there and really doing it. This applies equally to every party involved.
I am a cyclist that puts more miles on my bike than my car. I love to ride and get to my destination quickly, but never at the expense of my or others safety. Let’s all commit to doing our parts while we ask drivers to take the road. There must be an incentive for doing so, and this is an opportunity for Cascade to use its lobbying powers.
One fatality is too many for us. Please be safe out there, as a cyclist and driver. Let’s get more folks on bicycles and share the love and freedom of this wonderful sport.