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Alan,
I was completely agreeing with your message, because I’m always frustrated with bicyclists who fly through red lights, and don’t seem to understand that as vehicles, we have the same rights AND responsibilities as motor vehicles.
But the end of your e-mail was just wrong…there are certainly more than “one or two” bicyclists in Knoxville who bike for transportation not recreation. There are more and more people biking to work, to school, going to concerts downtown, running errands, etc. We aren’t exactly Davis, CA or Madison, WI…yet…but our numbers are increasing. I don’t know why you felt the need to make the distinction in the first place because it doesn’t seem to matter why we are riding—if one bicyclist disobeys traffic laws, then motorists who see that are going to think bicyclists don’t belong on the road.
Related to what to do when you’re in one of those situations (and the motorist is the bad guy, not the cyclist), I had a meeting with KPD recently and clarified what bicyclists who are harassed should do. The response was get the license plate if you can, and a description of the car, and then get away from the situation and call the police. If you are in the City, call KPD. If you’re in the County, you’ll need to call the Sheriff. I’ll try to get phone numbers for each of the KPD districts and post them on the Bicycle Program website, www.knoxtrans.org.
Kelley Segars, AICP
Senior Transportation Planner
Knoxville Regional Transportation Planning Organization
400 Main St, Suite 403
Knoxville, TN 37902
(865) 215-3815
-----Original Message-----
From: Alan Rigby
[mailto:alanprigby@...]
Sent: Thursday,
August 05, 2004 9:57 PM
To: smw@yahoogroups.com;
knoxvelo@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Knoxvelo] Re: [smw]
Complaints
Well written Chuck. In the same vein, I have been on several rides in the area where riders have been behaving in a manner which invites confrontation with drivers. The Tennessee Highway code gives us the SAME rights and regulations as an automobile on all but Interstate and some limited access highways. It does not give us the right to ride spread across the entire road, to blow through stop signs and red lights just because the riders in front of us did so, and it certainly does not give us or them the right to pick fights on the road. Respect the rights of drivers as well as your fellow cyclists, and try to ignore the few morons who make riding unpleasant. If you do have problems, make sure that you get the license plate number of the vehicle and let the driver know that. Otherwise, remember that for all but one or two cyclists in the Knoxville area, this is a purely recreational activity, and a social one. Any actions on your part may be taken out on the next cyclist a driver sees, so in your friends' interests, keep yourself under control, and enjoy the ride,
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Alan Rigby
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