Let’s all be courteous road users

As you probably know by now, the proposed Greenville County resolution requesting a change to the State's two abreast law was tabled last night after many local cyclists wrote letters, called their Councilmembers, and spoke in favor of the current law at the County Council meeting. Instead of voting on the resolution, the Council wants to form a committee, consisting of both cyclists and motorists, to study the issue further (similar to the road relations group, I assume?). 

I wasn't able to make it to the meeting last night (due to a conflict with my kids' schedules), but I was glad to see that the local cycling community respond so quickly to prevent this proposed resolution from passing.  As I mentioned in a post yesterday though, it is worth remembering when an issue like this arises that sharing the road goes both ways. Personally, I have witnessed some pretty bad behavior from a few cyclists on group rides, and while I definitely do not think that inconsiderate, lawbreaking cyclists represent the majority of us, I do think that we ALL need to be conscious that we are ambassadors for cycling while we are out on the roads.  It is my hope that this recent proposed resolution will serve as a wake-up call for some of the group riding cyclists out there who refuse to ride two abreast or wave cars around at intersections (and speaking of group rides, any of you who participate should read this).

On that note, I want to pass along the email that Brian Graham sent to the Spinners list last night (for any of you who didn't already see it). I thought he made some great points, and the Spinners Cycling Code of Conduct, which he included in his message, is worth reviewing as well.

Many folks e-mailed me yesterday about the proposed County resolution-- some thinking it was a joke, some being disgusted and some agreeing with the resolution.  While we've learned it was amended, I think it highlights a very real issue.  Each and every time we get on our bicycles we engage motorists and have an opportunity to make a positive or a negative impression.  The law and the Spinners Cycling Code of Conduct (which we must agree to when renewing membership, though I couldn't find it posted on the Spinners website) sets expectations of us as bicyclists.  When we fail to stop at red lights and wait for the green, ride more than 2 abreast, or even ride single file in stretches that prohibit a motorist from passing a group ride-- we create enemies of cycling.  Some may be thinking that it is the actions of a few that are creating this problem for the rest of us, and that may be, but I think the number of folks (many of which may or may not be Spinners) who are sullying the reputation of bicyclists in general are larger in number than we'd care to admit.  There will always be people who are 'against' cyclists and we will never change every one's minds, but that fact shouldn't soften our resolve to make good impressions as a cyclist.  It is our personal responsibility to follow the rules of the road and the code of conduct -AND- to hold our fellow cyclists accountable to those same standards.  As someone who works in the bicycle planning profession I often have to preface some of my recommendations by saying, "yes, I know, cyclists can be their own worst enemy."  It is hard to implement a bicycle master plan or to advocate for change in our community to make it more bicycle friendly when we're creating bicycle enemies.  So, from one bicyclist to another, please join me in setting a positive example and hoping to earn the respect of at least one more motorist the next time we're out riding. --Brian Graham

1.  I will obey all vehicular traffic laws.  I will stop at all stop signs and red lights.  I will signal all my turns.  I will make lane changes correctly.  I will use front and rear lights when riding at night.   I will not ride on sidewalks.
2.  When cycling with others, I will proactively ride single-file if necessary to accommodate motorists.  I will endeavor to create sub-groups and/or to dynamically create gaps in cycling groups when needed to provide motorists a way to pass safely.
3.  I will ride as far to the right of the road as can be safely practiced.
4.  I will not advance my position in a line of motorists stopped in a lane unless a bicycle lane is available to me for doing so.
5.  I will be alert to opportunities to provide courteous communications with motorists that promote safety in sharing the road, such as the "wave-around" gesture.  Conversely, I will never make discourteous communications with motorists.
6.  I will be attentive to all vehicular traffic around me.  I will not use headphones or a cell phone while cycling.
7.  I will wear a helmet at all times when cycling.
8.  I will ride defensively for my own safety, but I will also ride with the expectation that motorists, too, will operate their vehicles in accordance with the law.
9.  I will encourage others to follow this Code.

“Imagine Greenville”- The County’s Comprehensive plan

This is something that I completely missed until today when I saw a message about it on the Spinner’s list (thanks Nigel for getting this info out). Greenville County is in the process of updating its comprehensive plan and is holding a series of public meetings to get input from the community. Bike lanes were discussed at the meetings that have already taken place, so we need to make sure that the cycling community is represented at future meetings. Bike lanes, Greenways, and the County “Share the Road” effort are all topics that are worth bring up in this public forum.

Each meeting starts at 6:30pm and should end at around 8. A couple of the meetings have already taken place, but here is the schedule for future meetings:

Monday, April 7th Mauldin High School

Tuesday, April 8th Berea High School

Thursday, April 10th Carolina High School

Thursday, April 17th Hillcrest High School

Tuesday, April 22nd Travelers Rest High School

Thursday, April 24th Woodmont High School

Find out more about “Imagine Greenville” on the County’s website. I will make it to at least one of the future meetings and I hope that some of you can attend these as well. As Nigel pointed out in his message to the Spinner’s list, “It is crucial that we as cyclist get involved and make a difference about the future of Cycling in Greenville, before someone else does it for us!”

STR update

As I mentioned before, new Share the Road signs are up on Chick Springs Road. In the City of Greenville, signs are soon to be up in Cleveland Park, on Roper Mountain Road, and on Villa Road to name a few locations. As you know, the effort is moving a bit slower in the County, but I did recently hear from SCDOT that they are going to “make up work orders for sign maintenance crews to implement installation” based on the list of locations that the Spinners members helped to put together. The SCDOT district office can’t promise to include every route that we mentioned, but I am glad to hear that they are going to try to “fulfill the current list.” I will continue to post updates on the County Share the Road effort as I have them.

More Share the Road news

In a recent post, I mentioned a few places in the City of Greenville where “Share the Road” signs will soon be installed. I just found out about one more road, Chick Springs. It sounds like two signs have been approved for that road and are currently being fabricated by the City. Many local cyclists use Chick Springs as a route from Altamont/ Paris Mountain to downtown, so it will be great to have the signs there to remind motorist of the presence of cyclists. Thanks to the City Staff for getting this done. I hope to see many more STR signs popping up in the City limits as the year progresses

So far, my attempts to get more “Share the Road” signs in the County have not been very successful, but I still consider that to be a major advocacy goal for 2008. I don’t want to blame the County entirely though; part of the problem has probably has been that I have not had the time to spend and have not been talking to all the right people. Any help that all of you can provide with contacts would be greatly appreciated. “Share the Road” signs are a cost effective way to spread the message that cyclists have a right to use the roadways, so there is no reason that we shouldn’t be able to get signs installed on the routes that we most often use.

One thing that all of you can do is use the form that is shown here (click to enlarge) to let the SCDOT know which roads in Greenville County need “Share the Road” signs. I encourage any of you who have a specific route in mind to identify specific locations on that road (with pictures if possible), fill out this form, and send it to the SCDOT (or just send it to me and I will forward it for you). As I mentioned before, Old Buncombe is the highest priority road in my opinion. Let’s work to get signs installed along that road before the US pro races in August.

Share the Road update

In September, I asked members of the Spinners email list to suggest roads in Greenville County that would be good candidates for “Share the Road” signage. Many of you responded to help me put together a great list. Some routes on that list stand out as clear priorities and work still needs to be done to get signs installed in several of those locations. To be honest, the effort to get additional “Share the Road” signs in the County has been slow, but I do want to share with you a few locations where you will see new signs soon in the City of Greenville.

Cleveland Park will get six new “Share the Road” signs very soon, most likely by the end of February. Many local cyclists ride through Cleveland Park so we all owe Greenville’s Urban Designer Andrew Meeker a big thanks for his efforts to get these signs approved and implemented. In this case, the City's Traffic Engineering Division is doing the sign fabrication and installation, so I think we can expect to see them installed without much delay.

Another location where signs have been officially approved and will appear soon is on Roper Mountain at the 385 bridge crossing and also on Roper Mountain as it crosses Woodruff. Though this seems like a busy location for cycling, it is a route used by several cyclists (myself included) to get to the ICAR/Millennium Campus/Verdae area. As this area develops further, bicycle traffic on the roads leading in will greatly increase, so it is important to get out the Share the Road message early. I brought this location to the attention of City Councilman Sudduth, and I really would like to thank him for his prompt attention to my emails on this subject and for his support of cycling in general.

In my mind, the next big priority for “Share the Road” signs is Old Buncombe. That road is heavily used by local cyclists and came out at the top of my informal poll. As I mentioned early, efforts to get signs in the County have been slow, but I think we can do it if we focus on locations one at a time. I don’t know if it will happen, but my goal is to have new “Share the Road” signs installed on Old Buncombe before the US Pro Championships at the end of August. I’ll let you know in the future what you can do to help make this happen. It is a slow process and it takes a lot of support from the public to get these things done. Thanks again to those of you who have helped so far. Trust me, I will be calling on you again.

I also owe you all an update on the progress toward new bike lanes, both downtown and beyond. Some of the news is good and some is not so good, but I will save that for a future post. Again, making Greenville a bike friendly place is something that we can do if we work together as a cycling community. I would love to see it all happen faster, but sometimes it takes baby steps to make a positive change.

Threats to cyclists, here and elsewhere

Some of you may have seen the December 27th article by Matthew Parris in the London based paper, The Times. The column, titled What’s smug and deserves to be decapitated?, has sparked a bit of outrage among cyclists on the Internet. In his column, Parris says "A festive custom we could do worse than foster would be stringing piano wire across country lanes to decapitate cyclists." In the course of his article he goes on to make several more threatening statements aimed at the “panting, sugar-gulping, chocolate-chewing, Lycra-clad leisure-cyclist?” Read the article for yourself to see how truly sickening it is.

Bike Biz, the British trade journal for the cycling industry, now reports that the Press Complaints Commission has received over 200 complaints making this the 3rd most complained about article of 2008. Parris has since apologized saying, “It was meant humorously but so many cyclists have taken it seriously that I plainly misjudged. I am sorry." Yeah right. It just sounds to me like he just wants to keep his job (for the record, I don’t think he should).

Since Parris' column appeared in a major world newspaper, it has received a lot of attention. When I first read it though, it reminded me of the article that was recently written by a columnist in the nearby Boone, NC newspaper, The Ashe Mountain Times, about cyclists on the Blue Ridge Parkway. The author of that column, Ron Fitzwater, though less directly threatening, was just as ignorant as Parris saying things like, “Roads are made for cars and are not safe for bikes, these are facts that are not debatable and it is time cyclists came to grips with them.” Fitzwater also suggested to cyclists, “when cars are coming, get off the road. After all, having to stop and start over again is better than getting a real close look at the undercarriage of a Cherokee.” For those of you who have not seen the Fitzwater article, The Incidental Cyclist posted about it a month ago and his post includes a link to a pdf file of it.

The Boone article hits closer to home than the London one, but even closer to home for cyclists in Greenville are the repeated threats and attacks on individual riders that have been made by the driver of a white truck on the route to Saluda. As has been mentioned on the local cycling clubs’ email lists, several local cyclists have had altercations with this driver who obviously wants us off the road. Hopefully, with renewed attention on these incidents, the driver will be caught and off the road himself soon.

Though only one of the people I mentioned in this post is physically acting on his aggression, the behavior of all three of these cyclist-hating individuals should be cause for great alarm. Unfortunately there are others out there who feel the same way and don’t want us on the roads. Personally, these attitudes only increase my resolve to work on “share the road” initiatives and other local cycling advocacy issues. I hope that many of you will join me in 2008 to really push for a cycle friendly Greenville County. We may not be able to win over everybody, but we can definitely work make the streets of Greenville and the surrounding area safer for all users.

Share the Road TV ads

Recently, I posted what I thought were a couple of interesting and effective ways that bicycle advocacy groups in other cities are spreading the “share the road” message throughout their communities. Here is another really great example. The San Luis Obispo County Bicycle Coalition recently created a set of Public Service Announcements that will run on local TV channels. On their website, they point out that the TV spots will hopefully “encourage civility among bicyclists and motorists and to better educate the public on safe and responsible behavior on our roadways.” They also point out that the new spots will “complement past accomplishments with the campaign, including our safety messages in local movie theaters and ads on county buses.” Great idea; take a look at the ads here.

Via Cyclelicious

Recent Greenville News articles

I have been meaning to post this for the last few days, but I haven’t had the chance. If you have not already seen it, check out the article about the Greenways plan that ran in Tuesday’s Greenville News. I liked this quote from Ty Houck toward the end of the article (referring to the County greenways plan):

"We want to build the trails that are fastest and easiest first. Then, once people get to use those, they'll hunger for more."

I think that is a great approach. Of course, I want to see the greenway trail development balanced with more on-street bike lanes and “share the road” signage as it is being developed. Without the other two components, the presence of greenway trails alone can falsely reinforce the impression some drivers have that cyclists do not belong on the roads. Don’t get me wrong, I think that greenway trails are great, but I think that an effective share the road campaign becomes even more important once they are in place. The City and County jsut need to make sure that there is a balance as they facilities are being built.

Also in Tuesday’s paper was an article about Spartanburg’s bronze BFC designation. I was glad to see that the Greenville News picked up that story. We can learn something from our neighboring city as we work toward the goal of designation.

Share the Road related links

In keeping with my recent “Share the Road” post, I want to pass along a few related links that I have come across in the last week or so.

The first link I want to mention is the “Share the Road for Rachel” website. Just over a year ago, fifteen year old Rachel Giblen was tragically killed while riding a tandem with her brother during a charity ride here in South Carolina. Rachel’s family set up the website to raise awareness about the presence of cyclists on our roadways and to push for improved education and legislation for cyclists. Read more on the website for Rachel and also at Biking Bis.

Last week, I also noticed an interesting safety campaign on Bike Portland called “And we bike”. The website for the campaign, which was inspired by the death of Washington cyclist Tim O’Donnell, explains:

“The campaign will include life-sized cutouts of people with their bikes that will remind motorists that bicyclists are their relatives, friends, coworkers and neighbors “and we bike”. The cutouts will be placed around in front of businesses and community gathering spots around the county. The message is, “Be careful; the cyclist could be someone you know.” Printed material will include a list of ways motorists can more safely interact with bicyclists. Presentations will be made to community groups throughout the month.

I was in Atlanta a few weeks ago and took the picture, seen here, of the back of a MARTA bus. The “I’m on that bike” message comes from the Atlanta Bicycle Campaign (a group that I belonged to many years ago when I lived in Atlanta). This bus signage is another great of example of personalization of the Share the Road message. As I have said before, I think that Share the Road traffic signs are effective, but putting a human face with the message helps to reinforce the point that cyclists are real people; friends, parents, neighbors, etc. I think that these are both great driver education campaigns and that Greenville can learn a lot from the efforts by these groups in Portland and Atlanta.

The last link I want to mention is a little different than the previous ones. In a post not too long ago, I mentioned the weak but often heard argument that cyclists don’t pay their fair share for use of the roads. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer recently ran a good article to refute that very argument.

“Share the Road” in Greenville County

A little over a week ago, I asked the members of the Spinners email list for input on locations in Greenville County where they think “Share the Road” signs would be the most effective. I received quite a few responses, and I plan to pass the list on to County Planning and to County Councilman Jim Burns. I should note that County Planning has done a great deal of great work in planning for bicycle lanes and “Share the Road” signage. Many of the proposed routes that can be seen in the bicycle and pedestrian element (chapter 6) of the GPATS plan are a result, in part, of input from members of the Spinners a few years ago. The long-range plan is great, but I am asking you for additional input now because I would like to see more “Share the Road” signage in the short term as well. Your responses are helpful in establishing priorities to push for. If you have not yet provided your input, or have comments or suggestions about the responses so far, please leave a comment on this post so that your suggestion can be added to the list.

Here is the list that I have received so far:

US Pro Route, particularly Old Buncombe toward Paris Mountain- Old Buncombe was the most popular response. Seven different people mentioned this particular road to me. I personally ride this road most weekends as well, so I know that it is a visible spot for cyclists with a few fairly narrow two-lane sections.

Bakery Route, include both Dividing Waters Rd. and Callahan Mtn. Road - This was another popular response. I don’t ride this route often, but I would like to hear specific locations where signage might be needed.

Old US 25 watershed- another location mentioned by a few of you. Any suggestions for specific spots?

Little Texas Rd- mentioned by 3 people.

Roper Mt Rd- I ride short sections of Roper Mountain when I commute to work; once between Riley Smith Rd. and Independence Blvd and again to cross 385. The first section has narrow lanes with fairly fast automobile traffic, so I was glad that one other person mentioned Roper Mountain as a road that needs “Share the Road” signage.

Hwy 14 from Pelham on to Simpsonville, Roe Ford Rd- I have never ridden on Hwy 14, but a couple of you mentioned it.

The remaining roads were each mentioned as well, by at least one person (there may be some overlap with the routes already mentioned):

River Road

Belue Mill Road

Oak Grove Road

Hwy 11 between Gowensville and the western border of Greenville County

Tigerville Rd from TR up to NGC and Hwy 11

Hwy 101

Hwy 414

Stallings Road

Anderson Ridge Rd

Abner Creek Rd

Stallings Rd

North Main St from downtown to 291 N.

Groce Meadow Rd toward Lake Robinson

Reedy Fork Road in Simpsonville

Jonesville Road in Simpsonville

Miller Road

Georgia Road

Holland Road

Verdin narrows from 5 lanes to two lanes and changes names to Holland (S-23-333) with some rolling hills. A sign on one of the uphill stretches south of Bethel Road would remind motorists of the presence of bicyclists.

Rutherford, just after crossing Locust Hill Road

That’s the list for now. Again, please comment if you have anything to add and thanks for the responses so far.

Share the road (warning: a long rambling post)

Any of you who subscribe to the Spinners email list have seen quite a few messages in the past few weeks about recent instances of tension between cyclists and motorists in Greenville County. It is unfortunate that the subject has to come up, but I think that it is something that is not going to disappear on its own. Greenville’s cycling community is growing all the time and for good reason; the topography of the region truly makes this a great place for cycling. Most residents recognize the value that the cycling community brings to this area, but there will always be a vocal minority of people who simply do not want to see any change. Events like the US Pro Championships and developments like Pla d’Adet will continue to fuel the growth of cycling in Greenville, so drivers need to get used to seeing more and more cyclists on the roads. As cyclists, we need to be courteous road users, but so do drivers. Unfortunately, the importance of that mutual courtesy is not evenly balanced. If a cyclist acts irresponsibly, drivers will most likely be inconvenienced. If a motorist acts irresponsibly in the presence of a cyclist, serious injury or death can be the result. We DO have the right to use the road, but it is easy to point out, as some have, that rights don’t really matter if a confrontation occurs between a rider on a 20-pound bike and a driver in a 2000-pound car. That is why I think driver education is extremely important. Some (very few) drivers are just belligerent and don’t care about the rights of a cyclist, or anyone else for that matter. A larger group of drivers out there just don’t realize that bicycles are vehicles and that we have the right by law to use the roads. The latter is the group that we need to reach with the “Share the Road” message. The members of the former group just need to be prosecuted when their behavior leads to an “accident.”

I posted a message to the Spinners group last week during the thread about courtesy. Many of you probably already saw it, but if not here is an excerpt:

I commute on some fairly busy suburban 2-lane roads for short stretches. I ride fast on those stretches to minimize anydisruption to traffic flow, but I also ride about two feet to the leftof the white line so that cars are forced to go wide if they want topass me. Not every driver is a good judge of the width of his or hervehicle, so hugging the white line can be a recipe for disaster, aloneor in a group. Cyclists should be courteous to other road users, butwe do not need to have an inferiority complex just because we areoperating slower vehicles. A small percentage of drivers may honk oryell if they think you are taking too much of the road, but it isbetter to make them wait a few extra second to pass than to give themthe temptation to squeeze by and put you in a ditch. I have beencycling on the road for over 20 years and I do feel like drivers ingeneral are getting more and more impatient these days. The US has ahorrific traffic fatality rate per capita compared to otherindustrialized nations and, unfortunately, South Carolina is one ofthe worst states for fatalities in the nation. The bottom line is thatdrivers need to slow down and get in the habit of waiting until it issafe to pass another road user, whether it be a cyclist, a group ofcyclists, or just a slower moving car.

I received a few offline emails from other cyclists in response to the posting. Most were positive, but a couple of them were negative. I was really quite shocked to hear that some cyclists think riding a couple feet to the left of the white line is somehow antagonizing motorists. I consider myself to be a very courteous road user whether I am riding my bike or driving a car, so the negative comments kind of got to me. Anyway, as I rode to work on Monday, I thought about the discussion and I was conscious of my position in the lane. Most of the time, I was riding 1 to 2 feet from the edge of the white line. During the short but heavily trafficked stretch of my commute, I was (as always) careful to ride far enough to the left to avoid being sideswiped by a car trying to squeeze by. After that stretch, I settled back in to comfortable riding on a 2-lane road without much morning traffic. While I was riding about a foot or so from the line, a driver in an old red Cutllass passed me very closely (maybe within a foot). The driver did not gesture. He did not honk, yell, accelerate, or do anything to indicate to me that he was trying to send a message. He simply stayed in his lane and passed me uncomfortable closely because another driver was approaching in the opposing lane maybe 50 yards up. Even though I know that hugging the edge is not a safe way to ride (especially during rush hour), I let my guard down and put myself in a dangerous situation.

I am rambling a bit, but the point of this post is to stress the importance of driver education regarding the rights of cyclists. A few drivers just don’t like to see cyclists on the road, and we will never change their minds. Those few people still need to understand that they HAVE to comply with the law or they will face consequences. The bigger group that needs to be educated consists of drivers who are simply unaware of the laws regarding cyclists. I have commuted by bike in other cities and have seen first hand the positive effect of “Share the Road” signage. It may not seem like much, but a simple visual reminder that bikes do belong on the roadway can help to alleviate a few of the driver/cyclist confrontations that are often born out of frustration and misinformation. I would like to see “Share the Road” signage throughout Greenville County and I consider that to be a major goal of my advocacy work in the coming year. Of course, that is just the first step in a comprehensive driver education plan. If any of you have other ideas, let me know. I would live to hear them.

PS: Here is a link to a great website for bicycle safety tips. The site addresses common bike/car accident scenarios and offers tips for avoiding those situations. Thanks to Chris McCarter for sending me this useful link.

Who is subsidizing whom?

When cycling is discussed on the editorial page of the Greenville News (or any local paper for that matter), someone often follows up with a letter to the editor pointing out that cyclists do not pay gas taxes or vehicle registration taxes and therefore are not paying their fair share for use of the roads. You can see the latest letter along those lines right here. Of course, cyclists DO have the right to ride on the roads, but I understand that there will always be a few people who do not believe that should be the case. Those who don’t like the presence of cyclists on our roadways have the right to express their opinions, but I just want to point out that the financial argument against cyclists using the roads is a very weak one.

The first and most obvious point to bring up is that most cyclists are also drivers. Most of us own cars and do see the situation from the driver’s point of view. We pay the same taxes as other road users, with the exception of a little less in gas tax if we choose to replace some car trips with bicycle trips. For the sake of argument though, let’s look at the situation of a cyclist who does not own a car. That person still pays income, sales, and property taxes that heavily subsidize the construction and maintenance of the federal, state, and county road systems that we all use. Furthermore, the bicycle that he or she rides does not cause the damage to roadways that cars and large trucks do (when is that last time you saw a pothole caused by a bicycle?). Each year in the United States, 20 billion dollars is spent just repairing our existing roadways. Only a small amount of that money comes from our relatively low taxes on gasoline, especially in a state like South Carolina that has one of the lowest gas tax rates in the nation. If nationwide user fees such as gas taxes and tolls cover less the 20% of the cost of driving, then where does the rest of the money come from? It comes from all of us in the form of other taxes. The US spends 200 million dollars a day constructing, improving, and rehabilitating roads, so maybe those of you who are so concerned that all road users pay their fair share should start lobbying for higher gas taxes to cover those expenses. I doubt I will get many takers on that, but really, please stop falsely accusing cyclists of getting a “free ride” on the roads.

I could go on, but I don’t want this post to turn into a rant. The point I want to make is that bicyclists, like all citizens, DO help pay for the roads that we all use. Let’s get that issue behind us so that we can discuss the real obstacles that prevent us from creating roads in South Carolina that are safe for all users. As a cyclist, I am happy to share the road with motorists. I just hope that my fellow motorists are willing to give me the same consideration when I am out on my bike.