OPINION & EDITORIAL
Bikers should follow rules, too
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Also by Susie Strzelec:
- Tipping over mopeds is not a victimless crime (November 14, 2002)
- City's bans hurt our freedoms (November 25, 2002)
- America desensitized to terrorist reports (October 16, 2002)
- Bikers should follow rules, too (September 16, 2002)
- Tantrums on Wisconsin's political playground (September 4, 2002)
Related Stories:
- A plea from a biker (September 10, 2001)
- Mopeds a danger to all (February 14, 2002)
- Bikers' safety in jeopardy (February 12, 2007)
- Bikers have rights, too (February 14, 2007)
- Plans promise more treats than tricks (October 27, 2004)
by Susie Strzelec
Monday, September 16, 2002
The other day, while walking down the sidewalk of State St to go to Library Mall, I was minding my own business, thinking about how much I just got ripped off for a book that I don’t even want to read.
No traffic was coming either way down Lake Street, so I figured it was safe to walk. Besides, any traffic would have a stop sign and would legally have to stop to make sure that no accidents occur.
Halfway through my street crossing, I was nearly run over by some guy on a bike who went straight through the stop sign on State Street. Before I even got a chance to shout an expletive in his direction, I was startled by the loud shriek of a whistle.
I turned around, and low and behold, there he was, my hero, a young cop standing on library mall, signaling for the irresponsible biker to stop so he could get a ticket for running a stop sign.
I am not one who necessarily enjoys the invasive behaviors Madison cops tend to follow. They take up valuable space in bars, and whether you’re doing something wrong or not, they always make you feel uneasy whenever you see them.
For once, I was thrilled to see a cop, and very grateful to him for scolding the biker who nearly ran me over.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I know that people break traffic laws all the time. Everyone jaywalks, moped drivers drive in gutters to pass people and cars on campus rarely ever yield to pedestrians. However, every car and moped does something that both students and bike riders alike seem to fail to know how to do — they stop at stop signs and stop lights.
I have heard so many lame excuses from bike riders as to why this is a common practice, from the difficulty of putting on the brakes to the complaint of having to start pumping the legs again after a stop. No matter what the excuse is, it’s lame, and somehow I doubt any of them would get a biker out of a ticket.
If this wasn’t something that was such a common occurrence on campus, I would have just gone on with my day and not worried that it would happen again. However, that same day, not even more than two hours later, I saw some totally clueless biker, with no regard at all for anyone but himself, cut across Charter Street, diagonally across the intersection right in front of a car.
It’s probably safe to guess that at least 90 percent of the students on this campus have their driver’s license, and thus have gone through the boring hours of driver’s education. Why then do people on bikes continuously follow such risky and stupid practices? Do they not know the laws?
Should Madison have some sort of freshman-level biker’s safety class that everyone has to take along with English 100? Somehow I don’t think that would go over very well. Until something changes, all I have to say is yeah to cops for giving tickets to those bike riders who ride so stupidly.
Susie Strzelec (sstrzelec@badgerherald.com) is a senior majoring in psychology.
