Gregory Freeman: Two-Wheeled Scofflaws Get What's Coming. P-D 9/6/1994

Headline: TWO-WHEELED SCOFFLAWS GET WHAT'S COMING
Reporter: Gregory Freeman

Publication: ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Last Printed: Tues., Sept. 6, 1994
Section: WAR PAGE, Page: 13B, Edition: FIVE STAR

IT ALL HAPPENED so quickly.
   My light was green as I drove along DeBaliviere near Lindell Boulevard, right at Forest Park.
   Without warning, a guy on a bicycle darted out along Lindell. The guy had looked neither left nor right. I slammed on my brakes, causing a huge screeching sound, doing all I could to muster the power to stop the heavy machine I was operating.
   The biker appeared startled at first as he pedaled along, then glared at me as if I had somehow violated his right to ride a bicycle with disregard for the law. He moved on, and I drove on, grumbling the rest of the way.

I wish I could say that was my only run-in with a cyclist. I can't.
   And it's why I'm glad to see that the police are beginning to enforce the law when it comes to those who ride bicycles.
   A story in last week's paper noted that police had begun issuing tickets to those bikers and roller bladers who they found breaking the law by either running stop signs and lights or doing rolling stops through them. Violations can bring fines of up to $500.
   It's about time.

I'm not a mean-spirited person. But many of those riding bikes on the streets seem to have forgotten that they've got to obey the laws just as motorists do. What if drivers ignored lights and stop signs? How many bicycles - not to mention other cars - would be hit?
I've taught my 13-year-old son, an avid cyclist, to obey the law when riding his bike. Not only to wear a helmet, but to watch for traffic. To stop at stop lights and stop signs. To realize that an automobile - even something as small as a Yugo - is a lot more powerful and a lot heavier than a bicycle.
Yet grown people on bikes are somehow either forgetting or choosing to ignore these rules. I don't get it. I can't imagine these same people behaving the same way in cars.

A woman quoted in last week's story complained about getting a ticket after pedaling through a stop sign. "You have to dismount to come to a full stop, " she argued, "and that's like making a car turn off the engine."
   Actually, with a car I once had, stopping at a light was the equivalent of turning off the engine. The car would die every time it came to a stop.
   But imagine if I had decided to run all of the stop lights and signs that were ahead of me. After a cop stopped me, I could tell him, "Gee, I'm sorry, officer, I had to run those lights. My car dies when I stop at them."
   After writing me a ticket, I'm sure the cop would have had a pretty good belly laugh at my expense as he talked about it over dinner that night with his wife and kids.

Some bikers, indignant at getting tickets, are asking the question we all do whenever we run afoul of the law: Why aren't the police out fighting crime?
What they perhaps don't realize is that to many of us motorists - not to mention the police - what they're doing is a crime.

I don't know how many drivers I've spoken with who have horror stories about bikers. Tales of near-hits of bicyclists wearing Walkmen and apparently so lost in the music that they've forgotten all traffic laws. Stories about bikers who've darted in and out of busy traffic, causing near-accidents along the way.

What makes some of these folks think the streets are for bikers only?
A friend told me a story about how two bikers backed up traffic on Big Bend Boulevard one afternoon recently because they chose to use both lanes while they rode south for a leisurely bike ride. Despite the blowing of horns that would make a New Yorker proud, these two forced cars to drive into the oncoming lane to pass them by.
I'm beginning to understand motorists who assail bicyclists with drive-by obscenities.

Plenty of bikers obey the law completely. They've got nothing to worry about. But, at least among the ones I've seen, they're not in the majority.
   Don't get me wrong. I've got no problem with those who ride bikes. I would, however, like them to use common courtesy when driving, just as I'm sure they'd appreciate it if motorists would do the same.
   The last thing I want to do is to hit a bicyclist while I'm out driving. I'm sure the last thing most bikers want is to be hit. Maybe if a little more care and consideration is given when we're on the streets - all of us - this will become less of a problem.
   Until it does, though, I'm glad to see the police writing the tickets.

Daniel Schesch - Webweaver

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