Bicycle should be a safe option

I support alternative transportation, especially bicycles, on the roads and highways of Charleston. The number of people who bike for health, economic and/or environmental reasons is understandably on the rise. Their safety and rights should be just as important as those of drivers.

That being said, I have a problem with the "growing pains" of this increasing bicycle population, which puts every user of the public right of way at risk.

It's my understanding that S.C. traffic rules and regulations apply for any vehicle using public right of way; not so in practice.

The police have passively encouraged this problem by presuming bicycle traffic was so discretionary and occasional that enforcement was either too difficult and/or expensive for reasonable results. Not anymore.

Lack of enforcement has encouraged some drivers to act out of belligerence and endanger legitimate bikers trying to follow the rules and share the road responsibly.

Lack of enforcement has also encouraged bikers to ride erratically and dangerously even when responsible drivers attempt to drive defensively.

Hence, downtown Charleston, especially, has become a carnival ride of unprecedented liability where bikes ride through red lights, in and out of parked cars, on the sidewalk to the street and back again, etc., with absolutely no consequences as long as they don't get run over while some vehicular drivers take a "WWE Smackdown" attitude by seeing how close they can come to scaring bikers off the road. Just pushing a bike can make someone a target, even a child.

All of us who use S.C.'s roads and highway would be safer if everyone obeyed some common-sense rules already part of our existing law:

1) No more than two bicycles should ride abreast;

2) All bikers should ride as close to the right as safety will allow;

3) Motorized vehicles should allow at least five feet to either follow or pass a bicycle in the public right of way;

4) The drivers of motorized vehicles which unsafely encroach or endanger bikers should be stopped, fined and prosecuted;

5) Sidewalks are for pedestrians, unless clearly marked otherwise;

It would also be helpful if municipalities encouraged their city planners to help identify and advertise convenient and safe routes for bike traffic off the major rush hour traffic corridors. This would enhance bicycle safety and expedite the movement of motor vehicles.

We can share the road safely, but it won't happen without a plan or at least some discussion.

Let's get started. We could all use the exercise.

Bikes may not always be the preferred method of transportation, but there's no reason to make it such a deadly alternative.

S.R. WHITT

Withers Drive

North Charleston

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