I have been quoted as saying: “If I could either have my bike or my laptop on campus, I would choose my bike.” Recently, though, I have been worried about the safety of bikers and pedestrians alike after having several riding friends take terrible tumbles, and several walking friends have expressed to me the fear that whizzes by them as bikers do.
Therefore, I propose three rectifications for Vassar College to stay a campus where people can bike and walk together, in beautiful multi-speed harmony, chains rattling, cowboy boots clomping, leather messenger bags squeaking and wheels turning all in one big chorus of safe, luxurious efficiency.
- Signaling
Oh, woe! The embarrassment of coming face to face with someone, not knowing which direction each of you is going to go: the steps to the same side, then the same side again, then a third, also the same side. It is a classic source of awkwardness. Oh, the danger when one of you is on a machine, hurtling 10 times the speed of the other. One of you will get run off the road.
Let’s rectify this by signaling. Can you bike one-handed? If so, indicate your turns. If not, go out and practice until you can. Give even just a little point. Show that you are turning. My favorite time to do it is while crossing the street. I do not want to get hit by a car; they do not want to hit me. Assuage the preemptive terror of all parties by making a decision, sharing that decision with the public and sticking to it. You are significantly less likely to collide with another biker, to have to unexpectedly brake for an indecisive walker or be run over in the Raymond Ave/Fulton rotary on your way to MyMarket. If it still happens even though you signaled, at least your communication skills were not to blame. How often can that be said about conflict?
- On your left
I thought my disdain for slow walkers would only be magnified when biking. Instead of disdain, I feel pity—if only you could teleport instantly to your classes, like I can on my bike. At the same time, you are impeding my teleportation, forcing me to slow my extremely chill no-handed ride through the quad, to brake behind you. I will bike walking speed behind you for a while, until I finally decide I have had enough, and weave in the wider spaces where the paths cross.
Or, I will hop off the path, onto the grass. But the moment when I come back onto the pavement is the moment of greatest danger—when a wheel catches the side of the pavement and throws me overboard. So, for the safety of everyone involved, I have started saying “on your left.” Or, if the walker is walking on the left already, just saying “coming up on you” or ringing my rusty bell will usually suffice. It is easy. People move over for you without fear that they are going to be sharing the path with a reckless driver. You have shown that you are not reckless by showing that you care about not running them over.
- Helmets
This point may be the most controversial at all—so controversial, in fact, that I cannot even bring myself to commit to it in my personal life. Helmets are objectively a safer way to ride a bike. Why have we decided that it is the worst style choice in the world? Workwear is in—what makes a bike helmet different from a Carhartt jacket, except that one is actually being used for its original purpose? Never have I seen someone wearing a helmet on campus and judged them as a loser. Instead, I have always admired their individuality and willingness to do what is right despite social pressures. Is that not what we are all going for anyway? I may not end up wearing my helmet when I bike from the Gordon Commons to Taylor Hall, but I know that I should be. I feel its absence on my crown. Maybe one day, I will end the hypocrisy. For now, I know that I can commit to points one and two. And, if some braver soul than me commits to point three, I will happily join you.
If you bike, you are like me—fast and allowed on the walking paths. But, since you exist in this fast, privileged state, you need to use it responsibly. Tell people when you are coming. Show people where you are going. And wear your helmet. Be safe out there.