At 6:00 p.m. in winter on a Yum Center event night, a bicyclist riding on the sidewalk of an overcrowded bridge -- the only way for non-motorized vehicles to get across the Ohio short of using a dinghy -- hits a pedestrian, knocking him into traffic, and prompting the Jeffersonville police spokesman to utter the nonsensical admonition that cyclists should be on an expanse of asphalt which is entirely and absolutely unpatrolled in the best of times, and where cyclists previously have been killed and their killers not prosecuted by the cowardly local enforcement and justice arms.
I generally defend cyclists, and the one biking in this instance was right to use the sidewalk lest he be killed himself by distracted drivers (the only sidewalk exception I'm willing to tolerate owing to the danger of the area), but he was in the wrong when it came to the way he chose to use the sidewalk. One should only be cycling in saddle at full speed on that accursed bridge when visibility is perfect. Many is the time I've walked my bike across it in deference to pedestrians, because it is their sidewalk, not mine. Ultimately, all of it owes to the near comical shortsightedness of autocentric metro officials and political ciphers, but we already knew that, didn't we?
Pedestrian in critical condition after Clark bridge accident, by Harold J. Adams (Courier-Journal)
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4 comments:
agree. without a doubt, the cyclist was in the wrong. you always walk your bike on sidewalks, always. especially on the 2nd street bridge. they should feel like an idiot and guilty for their lack of respect for adding yet another arrogant strike against the biking community.
I travel the 2nd st bridge everyday about the time this happened. There is no way a bicycle can safely use the same lanes as cars at that time. Officer todd hollis said. “The bicycle should have been on the roadway, not the sidewalk,” as cyclists are supposed to follow the same rules as motorists." He has no clue!! You would be insaine to try it! The more I think about it the person walking across should have been looking were he was going an prob not messing with an IPOD! Secondly just riding a bike on the sidewalk of the bridge is dangerious anuff with the safety rails being so low.
that bridge is the only place I will ride my bike on the sidewalk. I'm having a really hard time understanding how this guy wasn't able to come to a stop. I've come up behind walkers on the bridge and they almost never hear me approach even when I call out to get their attention. Instead of trying to swing around them or run them over i just hop off and walk until they notice I'm there. Seems like simple common sense
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