Bicyclist Working to Make Roads Safer for Newtown Cyclists

Danbury bicyclist Dave Fine is working to make the roads a safer place for fellow cyclists in the Greater Danbury area.

At a recent Housatonic Valley Council of Elected Officials (HVCEO) meeting in Brookfield, Fine, along with 13 other residents in attendance, advocated for improved bicycling and pedestrian programs in the Greater Danbury area.

The HVCEO includes representatives from the following towns:

• BETHEL
• BRIDGEWATER
• BROOKFIELD
• DANBURY
• NEW FAIRFIELD
• NEW MILFORD
• NEWTOWN
• REDDING
• RIDGEFIELD
• SHERMAN

Fine said attendees at the Oct. 1 meeting wanted to know how best to encourage HVCEO, DOT, and town leaders to add bicycle road engineering to make riding a bicycle safer. Attendees said bicycling becomes safer when there are more cyclists.

Additional suggestions were for participating towns to develop a “Bicycle Friendly Community” effort per the League of American Bicyclists. Fine said he is hoping the new HVCEO bicycling study will be a “catalyst for change for all the towns that participate in HVCEO.”

According to the HVCEO Greater Danbury Regional Bike plan, the total number of bike trips in the U.S. tripled between 1977 and 2009. The goal of the plan is to expand opportunities for bicycle transportation and to foster bicycle travel as “a realistic transportation option [that] requires a concerted effort in engineering, education and law enforcement, along with a lot of encouragement,” according to the plan.

Fine credited Bethel First Selectman Matthew Knickerbocker and Brookfield/Bethel CT State Rep. David Scribner for being advocates for safe cycling in the community.

“We should thank Representative Scribner and First Selectman Knickerbocker for their continued efforts to get proper bicycle parking at the Bethel train station. Five local bicycling advocates (unfortunately, none from Bethel) attended the DOT meeting and discussed our disappointment with this oversight. The lack of bicycle parking does not comply with the Complete Streets legislation that DOT should be supporting.”

To learn more about the Bicycle Advocacy of Greater Danbury, click here.

Photo: Dave Fine

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