Your "ride" does not have bumpers.
I've lost track of the times I've seen a bicyclist nearly make contact with someone or something else during walks along McKinley Avenue. And not crotch rockets, I mean pedal-powered mountain bikes and similar sets of wheels cruising down Ball State University's sidewalks.
Bike riders do not need to be collectively shunned. Some riders are courteous, law-abiding citizens. Others are straight-out public hazards. These are the ones who need a lesson in two-wheeling etiquette.
I'm not the first, nor likely the last to mention this, as other columns and article comments have made note of this situation. An Oct. 15 Daily News article illustrated the lack of understanding we have for bicycling manners and policies. The university is reportedly considering alternatives to keep bikes off of a narrow McKinley Avenue and other campus streets. That narrowness mostly eliminates the option of adding a bike lane, which means bike traffic must take to the sidewalks or share the roads.
So: Risk hitting a person or a car. The appeal of sidewalks is obvious. It's courtesy to those you share the road or brick with that's the flaw.
There's no reason to be zooming along campus sidewalks, weaving in and out of pedestrian traffic like a New York City taxi driver. Everyone is trying to get somewhere, and your mission is no more important than the person you cut in front of only to immediately brake because you almost hit someone else.
Good luck scoring with them at the bar.
Reckless cycling may get you to your destination a few seconds faster, but it also increases the likelihood of you hitting a pedestrian. Not only does that cause injury, but it also turns the bike rider - driver, really - into a massive fool.
We speed in our cars when traveling, so "defensive biking" may seem like a great approach. There's a major problem with this theory, though. Your typical mountain bike lacks a few features modern vehicles have, including airbags, seat belts and - oh yeah - a giant metal frame around the passengers.
Darting across roads gives you an opportunity to become a MITS bus grill ornament, or maybe you'll smack right into another biker. Either situation will inevitably cause onlookers to gasp, see if you're OK and then proceed to awkwardly laugh at you under their breath.
The easiest way to avoid this scenario is to treat fellow students and non-motorized travelers with some respect. Walk your bike if you're in a heavily trafficked area of campus, take a diverted route like the Cow Path or just be patient. Don't speed and weave around sidewalks like you're at the X Games.
Ball State is not a large campus. As most of us hail from places where bikes were more for recreation than transit, our lack of biking awareness is understandable. Calls to the Department of Public Safety yielded no luck in terms of finding university-supported biking policies, and that's likely because there's never been a need.
It may be time Ball State University administrators and student leaders (re)visit such a discussion.
This is not to criticize the thought of riding a bike to campus compared to walking from 14 blocks away or driving to park in a commuter lot that's still about 5 blocks away. Kudos to those people looking to save the environment or avoid spending money on gas, and even those who just want a quicker way to campus. The efficiency is understood and valid.
The lack of courtesy is not.
Write to Dave at heydave@bewilderedsociety.com
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