A timely rant from Nadia Barrera, and a request for your consideration.

I meant to post this a while back but like many other things in the turbulent whirlwind of my life, it got tossed from the epicenter of the cyclone and ceased to be on my immediate radar. That is, until a few days ago, when we got news of the possibility of a local 3-foot passing law, which comes before the city council at THIS MORNING'S MEETING (they start discussing the agenda items in 40 minutes). It sucks that we didn't get more warning about this from the City Council members behind it (*cough* Mike, Lee, and Chris *cough*), but we know about it now.

Oftentimes when these issues come up it's the motorists and the cyclists clamoring for the spotlight and the benefits, yet in reality it's ALWAYS the pedestrian that is the most vulnerable person on the transportation landscape, and gets the short end of the stick legally. Read on for a mini-rant on the subject from my favorite CoA employee, Nadia Barrera:

(In response to:)

"Cyclist jailed for causing pavement death http://road.cc/node/6442

The first story is just a tragedy."

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This is a bit of a rant...but, here it goes:

Tragedy, yes...but a good lesson none-the-less. I went to the BFF and saw the short by Lucas Brunelle. I wanted to stand up and leave. I wanted to write a letter to the producer. I had a hard time keeping my anger to myself as I squirmed and scoffed through the whole thing. These alley cat racers were riding the wrong way, risking their lives skirting into intersections with obviously red lights, and nearly knocking over pedestrians IN THE CROSS WALK that OBVIOUSLY HAD THE RIGHT OF WAY (one of them was an elderly woman that reminded me of my
grandma). Ugh!

No wonder we get harassed even when we are riding legally. Stay off the sidewalks people. Control your lane. Be smart about the rules of the road. Ride with traffic and take a bike safety course if you don't know what you're doing! There ARE some of us that follow the rules and I am SO tired of hearing about all you out there that don't. DRIVE YOUR BICYCLE!

I wanted to mention this now because we're on the eve of several HUGE (200-400+ cyclists) rides coming up in the next week or so. Oftentimes we interact with pedestrians, and at those times we have to make sure we're setting a good example of how we want to be treated by the other bigger, faster traffic on the streets. If we can't show walkers respect and deference due to their vulnerable position on the roadways, we have no business asking for or expecting it from anyone else. BE CAREFUL when you come up on a pedestrian. YIELD them the right of way. I've seen people on group rides nearly (and in some cases actually) strike a pedestrian using a crosswalk, and then get pissed off because a car inches up on them. TEN TIMES the number of pedestrians are killed in Austin every year over the number of cyclists. Poor behavior towards pedestrians is a big problem that needs to be corrected.

P.S. You still have time to scoot down to 2nd and Guadalupe and sign IN FAVOR or OPPOSED to the Safe Passing Law/Texting Ban Resolution, so if you're in the area please get down there and make your voices heard. The meeting goes until at least 2pm, and you can get your vote registered any time before it's over. You don't have to stick around if you don't want to speak, you just have to sign in for item 55 on the computers in the lobby.