Bike Infrastructure on Campus: Students Desperate in Their Demands
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2024-05-15T17:46:23-07:00
Within only a few weeks of the Fall 2023 semester at the University of Delaware, news spread of a freshman boy who had died in a bicycle accident, after running a red light and being hit by a minivan. Daniel Bacsik was a stark representation of the campus shortcomings in terms of bicycle infrastructure and the safety measures implemented for bicycles.
When walking around campus, there are some streets with obvious bike lanes, but more often than not the major roads students and vehicles alike use are without this feature. Further, Main Street relies on “sharrows” which indicate a lane should be shared by both motor vehicles and bicycles, often leading the latter to travel at the speeds of cars. Vehicular cycling is not only unsafe in most cases, but uncomfortable for the biker depending on their ability as well as the level of control they lack when going so quickly. For cars, this speed may seem like nothing, but for bikes– without the braking mechanics of a car– sudden stops and turns can lead to more crashes than smooth riding. When picturing a pedestrian suddenly cutting in front of you, or the car in front of you suddenly breaking, a vehicle– if it does not brake itself as many new models have the ability to– can brake suddenly, and those within the vehicle immediately feel their seat belt lock so they do not fly forward. If you are on a bike, not only are you unable to rely on the handy new safety features of modern automobiles, but braking hard is not only a challenge but can be dangerous, throwing you over the handlebars as a result of your lack of seatbelt. With this situation in mind, and the knowledge that this is only one scenario of countless, how could a bike possibly be treated the same as a car, and be expected to drive side-by-side with those behemoth machines with the power to kill?
Despite these pressing issues, it appears the University is considered successful in their efforts to implement bicycle infrastructure, considering they have been awarded the silver-level Bicycle Friendly Community award. For students on the bikes themselves, this award may seem meritless.
--Grace McEntee
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