AnnArbor.com recently noted that Major Hieftje is considering a proposal to ban bikes on downtown Ann Arbor sidewalks. The 70 some comments after the article show that this truly a topic worthy of discussion.
This is an interesting issue–no one wants to be run over by bikes when walking down the street, and there are quite a few places in downtown where you can’t see around corners, making bike and pedestrian crashes more likely (heck, I was walking around a corner at Main and Huron the other day and crashed into a pedestrian!).
Of course, the issue of banning bikes on sidewalks brings up the perpetual question of how best to solve social problems. I think the Mayor is doing the right thing bringing a lot of people together to talk about this, including the DDA and the City’s Alternative Transportation Committee.
The question I have is, why are people biking on sidewalks to begin with? Some of the reasons I have heard is that people don’t feel comfortable biking on the street and think the sidewalk is safer. For others, it’s just faster to use the sidewalk than the street because you don’t have to deal with cars and traffic lights (I am not immune to this temptation–there have been times when I have ridden my bike on a one way street rather than taking the time to ride on the street to get going in the right direction).
Why else might people ride on sidewalks? Because bike parking is located there? Because they won’t get in trouble? Because they want to do what is easiest for them rather than what is best for everyone? The answers to these questions require different approaches–some punitive, some cultural.
Again, this brings up the issue of where bikes belong in Ann Arbor. Where is their place and how do we show people where it is ok to ride your bike and where it isn’t? And how do you deal with the fact that we have so much turnover of students? A ban on riding bikes on the sidewalks could solve some of these issues, but what about the others?
As you can see, I have a lot more questions that I do answers. I applaud the Mayor for bringing this issue up and will be interested to see where it goes.