Unfortunately, cyclists in general have a serious public image problem among
motorists who do not cycle. Foshee's idea of banning cyclists from Hefner
Trails is a result of that. The problem stems, I believe, from cyclists passing
walkers and joggers at a high speed on the trail. For cyclists, being passed
by a vehicle moving at a high rate of speed is normal--we're used to dealing
with motor traffic on the streets--but for walkers it can be rather unnerving.
And, of course, there are plenty of irresponsible cyclists out there who give
all of us a bad reputation just as there are is a small percentage of
irresponsible motorists. Unfortunately, a cyclist behaving in a moronic fashion
is
generally more noticeable than a motorist doing the same. I've often pointed
out that if some yahoo in a car decides to drive 60 mph through a school zone
there will probably be 2 or 3 people who see him. If, on the other hand, a can
collector decides to ride his Huffy down Northwest Highway at 5:00 PM there
will be 2 or 3 thousand people who see him. And while most people will see him
as just an irresponsible jerk there will be a number of others who see him as
"just another (expletive) bicycle in my way".

So what's the solution? I think the best thing we can do is to be couteous
to all drivers and pedestrians we see on the road and trail and, by all means,
follow traffic laws. If you're in a neighborhood and there is no traffic
anywhere around when you approach a stop sign nobody will fault you for not
coming
to complete stop. If, on the other hand, you're in traffic and approach a
red light with other cars at the intersection, wait your turn. Your time is not
so valuable that you need to risk fueling public resentment against cyclists
by acting like a jerk. And on the bike paths a courteous "on your left"
accompanied by a reduction is speed is appropriate. The trails are there for
all
of us to use and we all need to be aware of the rights of other users.