Comments on: Moving Towards Bike Friendly: Bike Lanes in Dayton http://mostmetro.com/active-living/cycling-mountain-bikes/moving-towards-bike-friendly-bike-lanes-in-dayton.html What's happening in Dayton - from downtown to the entire region Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:25:33 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Bill Pote http://mostmetro.com/active-living/cycling-mountain-bikes/moving-towards-bike-friendly-bike-lanes-in-dayton.html/comment-page-1#comment-1004 Bill Pote Wed, 07 Oct 2009 16:12:23 +0000 http://www.daytonmostmetro.com/?p=2218#comment-1004 Thanks for the great post, Outdoor Evangelist! I do want to emphasize that IMO the bike lanes represent much more than simply painted lines on a street. Biking in downtown has actually always been easy for more experienced urban riders like myself (I got my experience living in Chicago), as by state law bikes have every right to the road as a car does. And as you mentioned, bike lanes are controversial as many bike advocates believe they are actually bad. Looking at our new bike lane I think it will only be a matter of time before less experienced bicyclists start feeling a bit too safe in the bike lane and end up getting doored. Take it from me, moving traffic is not what you have to worry about - parked cars (with opening car doors) are far more dangerous. While bike lanes might not necessarily make bicyclists safer, if bike lanes get more people comfortable riding on downtown streets then they are worth it. And after all of the chatter on Facebook yesterday with MANY people cheering our new dedicated bike lane as if it alone was going to completely transform downtown, what most realize that it really represents is our city finally joining the other progressive cities in the U.S. and committing to becoming a ranked Bicycle Friendly Community. This is an important but simply one piece to the bigger puzzle in making our city attractive to the people we should be trying to attract - creative thinkers, urban dwellers, young professionals and progressive-minded people who look for things like bike-friendliness when it comes to choosing a city to live in. Thanks for the great post, Outdoor Evangelist! I do want to emphasize that IMO the bike lanes represent much more than simply painted lines on a street. Biking in downtown has actually always been easy for more experienced urban riders like myself (I got my experience living in Chicago), as by state law bikes have every right to the road as a car does. And as you mentioned, bike lanes are controversial as many bike advocates believe they are actually bad. Looking at our new bike lane I think it will only be a matter of time before less experienced bicyclists start feeling a bit too safe in the bike lane and end up getting doored. Take it from me, moving traffic is not what you have to worry about – parked cars (with opening car doors) are far more dangerous.

While bike lanes might not necessarily make bicyclists safer, if bike lanes get more people comfortable riding on downtown streets then they are worth it. And after all of the chatter on Facebook yesterday with MANY people cheering our new dedicated bike lane as if it alone was going to completely transform downtown, what most realize that it really represents is our city finally joining the other progressive cities in the U.S. and committing to becoming a ranked Bicycle Friendly Community. This is an important but simply one piece to the bigger puzzle in making our city attractive to the people we should be trying to attract – creative thinkers, urban dwellers, young professionals and progressive-minded people who look for things like bike-friendliness when it comes to choosing a city to live in.

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