Dear Dr. Gridlock:
A large majority of bicyclists ignore traffic signals, believing, I guess, that they are exempt from traffic laws because of their unlimited admiration reinforced by columns such as yours [Dr. Gridlock, Sept. 25].
In my hangout in Northwest Washington, bicyclists decide on their own whether they will use the streets or, much too common, the sidewalks or even, in a frenzy of indecision, adopt both routes willy-nilly, weaving in and out as the mood suits them.
When bicyclists use sidewalks, they do not reduce their speed, watch out for pedestrians (for whom the sidewalks are intended) or favor one side of the street or the other, going with or against traffic as it suits them.
Their presumption seems to be that pedestrians must make way for these superior beings. It’s up to us to guess as to where they will appear — either coming up from behind and whizzing past with no warning or, my favorite, aiming at you at speed and expecting you to jump out of the way.
St. John’s played Bishop McNamara High School on Saturday afternoon, and Oregon Avenue was somewhat congested at game time. The congestion was not caused by bicycles but by gasoline-powered vehicles. Should the attendees have opted for bicycles, they would have had to have started out quite some time before game time, and many would have arrived home at dusk or later.
Check out the dozens of other high school football games listed in The Washington Post and ask yourself whether the world really would be a better place had the fans used bicycles instead of cars, vans and trucks to get to the games.
You are inhabiting a liberal dream world where everyone holds hands, saves fossil fuels and rides their bikes to Whole Foods. In the real world, your advocacy of bicycling as an area-wide transportation alternative is patently absurd.
John Rippey, the District
DG: It’s wrong to bike badly but not wrong to bike, even if it’s to a high school football game. I wouldn’t recommend it for fans of Bishop McNamara, coming all the way from the Forestville area, perhaps, but it seems like a reasonable thing for some St. John’s fans to try if they’re in the District.
I’m not into transportation ideology. People don’t need to choose the greenest possible mode whenever they travel. But they’ll be better off in this congested region if they have some choices about how to get around.
There are other benefits besides congestion relief for everyone. Gabe Klein, the former D.C. transportation director who encouraged transportation alternatives, used to point out that in a city where it can cost a lot to live, he was making it easier for people to spare themselves the expense of owning and operating a vehicle. Put that savings into housing, a retirement fund or some of those high-class vegetables from Whole Foods.
bike routes
We have a more specific discussion [Dr. Gridlock, Sept. 22] about biking alternatives to the Clara Barton Parkway , where it’s banned by the National Park Service. One writer suggested nearby MacArthur Boulevard, but another says, not so fast.
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