Share the road with bikers

What is there about riding a bike that has become suddenly some sort of public threat? There is an effort underway in Iowa to make it illegal to ride bikes on county “farm to market” roads.

At the risk of driving traffic to a site promoting this awful idea, see: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/cfscofiowa

Yikes.

Some points to consider:
1) Most farm equipment can’t drive the speed limit. The “farm to market” roads are often crowded with slow-moving tractors, planters and/or combines. If it’s an argument that bikes (which travel at about 20 mph in open country) are “too slow,” what about a combine moving the same speed? It would be looney to ban farm equipment from farm to market roads. I think it would be equally wrong to ban bikes.

2) Bikers are not forced to pay the same taxes or having insurance. OK, but there are valid reasons for this: For one thing, a biker is more a danger to herself than anybody else. Granted, there are irresponsible bikers, bikers who ride two abreast or who don’t have lights at night—but there are plenty of dangerous car drivers too. Drivers only have to have liability insurance. Bikers aren’t forced to because they don’t cause the same kind of damage. A for not paying license fees or taxes that support roads, few bikers aren’t also licensed drivers so they pay anyway—but do you know how much damage and maintenance is required after a 200 pound human rolls across a road on a bike? None at all. Bikes don’t damage the road the way big SUVs, or, for that matter, Priuses do.

I’m not fond of some bikers. I don’t participate in periodic rides, that use, for example, a lane of traffic on First Avenue to emphasize the right of bikers to use the road too. Common sense, to me, suggests that I should avoid certain streets such as First Avenue.

But a law that bans bikes from farm to market roads? Get a grip. The road rage is misdirected. Calm down. Whatever happened to the Iowa attitude, “it will be there when I get there.” I won’t freak out if I’m behind your combine as long as you don’t freak out behind my Trek. I’ll do my best to stay out of your way, you do your best not to run me over, and let’s share the road.
On a sort of related note: Cedar Rapids wants to be a biker friendly city. Must make some farm-to-market people seethe with pointless, misdirected anger. For me, it’s already a pretty good city to ride a bike in.

One suggestion, however: There needs to be a way to trigger lights rather than having a biker wait for a car or run the red light, which is choice many of us face at many intersections in Cedar Rapids.