I almost caught up with her at Cole, but she again ran the red light, again right in front of traffic turning left. This time the motorists definately had to hit their brakes to avoid hitting her. Then to top it off at Milwaukee she rode up to the light in the bike lane that is on the left side of the right-turn-only lane, then turned right onto Milwaukee, directly in front of a SUV that was in the process of making a right turn. She then cut across Milwaukee into REI, where I went in and chewed her out for giving bicyclists such a good name. Her excuse was that she was late for work. That makes it OK to be reckless?

And how much time did this reckless behavior really save her, especially since this pot-bellied, balding, middle-aged gray-beard kept catching up with her?

I’ll admit that we don’t do a very good job of promoting the class though: I’m lousy at marketing. However the Treasure Valley Cycling Alliance (TVCA) has recently started helping with that. We recently put on a class in Boise, and plans are in the works to hold more classes in the spring.

If you are interested in taking the class, keep an eye on the TVCA website: http://www.biketreasurevalley.org/ We’ll post the schedules for the classes there. Or even better, come join the TVCA an help us work on making bicycling better in the Treasure Valley.

Cyclists can coast through a stop sign (yielding, of course). Cyclists must stop at a red light. Then they can proceed cautiously after yielding. (It was intended as a work-around to non-responsive signals, NOT to allow cyclists to ignore the light. If cars are waiting for a light to turn green, I will ALWAYS wait with them. I’d rather work with motorists who don’t resent my presence. Gomers on bikes give ALL cyclists a black eye.)

I think a lot of Idahoans would complain because for the most part, the drivers here wish the bikes were not using any road. I doubt I would commute to work on my bike in traffic here if there was not a Greenbelt. I have had too many ugly drivers rage at me for just using the road. I wish the canal roads could be paved and used for bike traffic.

One also has to remember that risk is involved when using two wheel transportation. Here in Boise, just being a pedestrian is a risky form of transportation.

Idaho actually has one of the more progressive bicycle statutes on the books, 49-720 – pretty regularly quoted by out-of-state bicycle advocacy groups looking for similar statutes.

This state law permits bicyclist to proceed through red lights after assessing the safety of the situation (sort of like treating it as a flashing red) – and even taking right-turns-on-reds and left-hand turns onto to one-ways against reds, if the intersection is clear.

I ride a bike pretty regularly, and have the scars to prove it (three facial & dental reconstructive surgeries from one accident – the hardway to learn the value of a helmet). But what’s tough on cyclists in downtown is the number of one-way streets and alleys. If we could just adopt a ride-on-the-right regardless of the direction of motor traffic, it would be a lot easier.

Who knows, maybe I lost more brain cells than skin & bone in my accident…

I can’t count the number of times I’ve had kids swerve directly in the path of my car — and avoided hitting them because I was going the posted 20 mph speed limit and was anticipating they might do something foolish.

All the training in the world isn’t going to prevent kids (particularly adolescent boys) from horsing around and all motorists have a responsibility to drive defensively, especially in areas that are school routes.

Getting back to Joe’s comment about the licensing, as a kid, I rode my bike every where and never got hit, nor do I recall anyone else getting hit either. BUT back then, motorists drove the speed limit, yielded to kids on bikes, stopped at crosswalks, slowed down when passing cyclists, stayed in one lane instead of changing every 5 seconds, and didn’t race through red lights without looking.

Ada County motorists are the worst drivers I have ever seen in my life and if any education needs to happen, it has to start with the people behind the steering wheels.

In contrast, Boise is a large city, where everyone owns a car, but with streets made for the 1950’s. Rush hours resemble NASCAR rallies and the downtown area often looks like a parking lot. The mayor and city council should ask the police to see that all bike riders are helmeted and obey all traffic laws or be fined . We have, since Bush took over a plurality of police agency’s; perhaps one of them could be put to work on the above. The life you save by doing something positive here might be someone in your family!

Compared to cities our size using any generally accepted numbers we are 50-100 officers behind where we should be. (Goes back to that growth thing!) With all of that being said I still maintain that we can do better and I will make an effort to get the word out to our officers to take the time and at the least issue warnings when they see dangerous and/or illegal behavior regarding bicyclists. If you have specific concerns regarding areas of town, etc. that are repetitive please feel free to call BPD and leave me a message and I will help where I can.

Why bikers like Hill Road is beyond me – it is seriously unsafe because of the narrowness of the bike lane. I use that road a lot, in my car, and try to give the bikers all the room they need, even if I have to go really slow for awhile until there is room to pass safely. I have seen some really odd behavior on the part of bikers too. All I can say is that they need to remember that cars have a really big weight advantage – don’t take chances even if you are in the right. And thanks for not adding pollution to the valley. 🙂