Deforest City Blues: We don’t have enough roads, bike paths and sidewalks

You’d think, by looking at some of the monster cars, houses and backyard pools in this town, City Hall would have enough tax money to satisfy everyone’s wishes related to their personal transportation choices - but it doesn't.

And I think it never will.

City streets aren’t plentiful or wide enough to accommodate every car, bus, SUV and bicycle in our possession. Bike paths are non-existent in some areas and many cyclists are afraid of getting killed on crowded arteries. And sidewalks are apparently too narrow, leaving pedestrians and the occasional cyclist to duke it out in their undershirts.

The total number of summer cyclists must have increased this year because about half the letters to the editor in The London Free Press are entitled ‘Cyclists, get off our sidewalks’ and encourage responses like ‘But I’ll get killed by a Dodge Ram.’

Everett H. from St. Thomas recently wrote:

“Bicycles belong on the street. Sure (as a cyclist), I am a little scared too. Some drivers seem to ignore bikers’ left turn signals. That is very dangerous. If you’re too scared...walk or use public transportation. To city police: Please ticket offenders.” [Aug. 14 issue of the Free Press]

[Keep in mind, Everett is 70-years old, so he’s a seasoned pro. And he’s from St. Thomas, where traffic is a fraction of what it is in London. Even so, he’s still alive, and staying that way is the main goal of many of us.]


["Me and my Uncle Louie": Just kiddin']

I’d agree with him if the tarmac, curbs and traffic in this town weren’t so miserable.

And because we’ll accommodate cars over mass transit (e.g., my favourite, an electric-trolley system) until I’m dead or the cows come home (I think that means when we’re all dead and cows will rule the earth and do away with personal transportation altogether), and cry out for lower taxes until we’re blue in the face, we’ll never lay down enough bike paths to get cyclists off the streets and sidewalks.

To city police: Don’t ticket all offenders. Many cyclists travel very safely on city sidewalks.

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Do you agree that most cyclists can safely co-exist with pedestrians, on most streets?

Do you live in a city that faces some of the same problems with people traffic?

What to do?

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