Neighbor News
Bike Lanes on Old Georgetown Road
Encouraging bikers to ride on roadways with cars, buses, and trucks will increase accidents and fatalities for bikers.
By Peter Hebert
Opinion / Commentary
Biking is a seasonal activity in North Bethesda, Maryland. Rain, sleet, snow, and wind blowing sideways will as sure as the brilliance of local government keep those aluminium and carbon fiber bikes up on the rack and in the garage.
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That brilliance from an unelected branch of government - the State Highway Administration - reduced six lanes of traffic on Old Georgetown Road down to four, and in return gifted local drivers with two full lanes dedicated to bikers, skate boarders, and riders of electric scooters - all of whom tend to be out in agreeable seasons and in good weather - Spring, Summer, and Fall, but not when it is raining or snowing.
That brings us to the Winter doldrums for bikers. And, that brings us to the doldrums for commuters forced to suffer decreased road capacity as a result of the State Highway Administration.
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Driving is as American as the Commerce Clause is to the U.S. Constitution. But, what do affluent suburbanites insensitive to social equity and addicted to driving cars know? They only have common sense, and certainly not the training and expertise lodged within the State Highway Administration.
In the neighbouring jurisdiction of Arlington, Virginia, bike lanes exist and in point of fact do not take up an entire car width lane, nor are they "protected" by bike lane barriers that will never survive a snow plow that keeps the roads free of snow and ice for cars to be able to drive back and forth from work and shops. Those bike lane barriers, flimsy at best and designed to give way to a wayward car's bumper, surely will not protect a biker from a driver who is texting while driving even if it is snowing. No such equivalent exists for bike lanes. When the plows clear the roads, the curbs, the sewers, the sidewalks, and even those bike lanes get piled high with snow, slush, and ice. And, surprise of all surprises, the bike lanes in Arlington - with or without snow - are also mostly empty in Winter.
