On your left!
This is the typical greeting I get as a bicyclist whooshes past me while I walk to the bus stop, the bicyclist, of course, not making use of the perfectly good bike lane just a few feet away.
Bicyclists yelling can actually be quite jarring — sometimes I stop in my tracks while other times I look around trying to figure out what is going on. Is it a bicycle or is there some sort of object hurtling toward me that I need to be aware of?
In contrast to most places where bicycles are generally ignored, Gainesville is typically considered a bicycle-friendly city: There are bicycle racks and paths, and cars are generally aware of bicyclists.
It’s not just off campus that this can be an issue. Similarly, walking through Turlington Plaza or the North Lawn can be hazardous when bicyclists don’t even stop to acknowledge pedestrians are there, too. Looking both ways before crossing should be for roads, not sidewalks.
I can’t count the number of times a bicyclist has almost run into me and then simply steered around me or just kept going, forcing me to step back. Bicycles going 15 mph or more could seriously injure a pedestrian if a collision happened.
It’s not my job, nor is it any other pedestrian’s, to navigate around bicyclists while using the sidewalk. When bicyclists are on the sidewalk, they have to accommodate pedestrians, either by slowing down or dismounting altogether if they cannot handle steering at a slower speed. While there are no bicycle lanes in the main parts of campus, the 25-mph speed limit is enough to allow the bicyclists to join the cars. And if bicyclists aren’t comfortable joining the cars and can’t seem to be mindful of the pedestrians in their paths, then they can just walk on the sidewalk like the rest of us.
On a street where the speed limit is at least 35 mph, it makes sense to use the sidewalk. But this isn’t the case on UF’s campus, where it is safe enough for bicycles to take up a whole car lane of the road. If bicyclists choose to go through the most crowded areas of campus rather than going around like a car, they need to be mindful of the people who are walking, who may not be able to get out of the way fast enough.
It’s not just annoying bicyclists who misuse pathways they shouldn’t be on: Joggers do it, too. Yeah, you heard me. They use roads and bike lanes to jog when they should be using the sidewalk instead. I get that it may be a better surface to jog on, but it’s safer for everyone if joggers stick to the sidewalk.
Every so often as I drive to my afternoon class, I encounter a stray jogger who thinks it’s a good idea to jog at 4.5 mph in the middle of the road. The only problem is that cars don’t have any other place to go. Joggers do.
This is one of those rare cases in which the rules were created for a good reason — to keep everyone safe. The sidewalk is for walking and jogging, and bicyclists belong in their bike lanes. And if there’s no bike lane, then you can use the sidewalk — respectfully. Bicyclists have no right to act as if they own the sidewalk. By using the lane that is not designed for you, you are making everyone unsafe.
Nicole Dan is a UF political science junior. Her column appears on Mondays.
