You probably wonder what the heck is being taught in drivers' ed when someone honks at you as they pass and a young voice shouts, “Use the f***ing bike path.” I know I do.
At least in Illinois, though, the students are being taught all the right things.
The League of Illinois Bicyclists is distributing copies of its 7-minute video for new drivers on what to do and not do when encountering bicyclists — in other words how to share the road. High schools and private driver's education programs are getting about 900 copies, and another 900 copies are going to 900 police and sheriffs departments.
The video is narrated by former US Postal Service cyclist Robbie Ventura. He warns drivers that cyclists normally ride on the right, but sometimes they'll take the lane on narrow roads or to avoid parked cars or debris on the road, and that's OK. He also warns about how to avoid making left and right turns into cyclists. Be patient, he says. It will only cost a couple of seconds.
If you'd like to watch the video, you can check it out at theLeague of Illinois Bicyclists website. I'd like to see it distributed around the nation, not just in Illinois. Its concepts would apply just about anywhere.
As for sharing the road, one of the best explanations I've seen about why bicyclists have a right to the road was printed this summer in Seattle Weekly in a story, Vicious Cycle, by David Neiwert. He wrote:
“So briefly, a reality check: There have been several studies (including one in 1995 from the Bicycle Transportation Alliance) that have established that bicycle riders actually subsidize the roadways for people in cars, and the logic for this is fairly simple. Nearly all bicycle riders also contribute, whether as property owners or renters, to the property-tax systems that underwrite most of our roadways, as well as other taxes—federal and state— that do so as well. Most also own cars, so they're also paying licensing fees and other associated charges that contribute to roadway construction. The only tax they're not paying—when they bicycle, anyway—is the gas tax, which only contributes a portion of the cost of roadway construction. In contrast, the amount of road wear that bicycles cause is insignificant next to that produced by cars and trucks. So bicyclists wind up paying significantly more in road costs than automobile drivers.”
So the next time some young punk yells at me to get off the road I'll know I'm in the right but keep it to myself. As a teacher's guide to the Illinois Share the Road video suggests, avoid road rage.
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