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Viewpoints

Bike Safety
By Marie- Jeanne Cadle

 

August 03, 2010
Tuesday


I would like to respectfully request that bike riders signal when coming up on walkers or more slow moving riders, perhaps even telling them on which side they will pass. I am excited to see more and more bike riders out and about, but riders need to remember they are almost silent and are usually moving much faster than those they are passing.

A bike hitting someone can cause great injury, even death. A bike rider hitting a walker could even throw the rider into the path of a car. This is not idle worry. In Bellingham, a walking man was hit by a bike rider who failed to signal the walker. The man was killed, the bike rider ended up in jail for failing to signal as was the law. Two tragedies that could have been averted just by saying: on your left or on your right. Also, I have almost been hit on several occasions recently along the walking/bike path when I inadvertently moved directly into the path of a silent bike coming up behind me; once the bike and rider were forced into the road in order to miss me. Thank God no cars were coming or one of us would have been seriously hurt.

Marie-Jeanne Cadle
Ketchikan, AK

 

Received July 31, 2010 - Published August 03, 2010

 

 

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