Monday, April 18, 2011

BSU Campus - closed to bikes?

On Saturday my granddaughter and I rode a stretch of the Greenbelt, including behind the BSU Campus. I noticed a new sign on a "sandwich board" sort of thing (temporary-looking) that said something like "no bicycling beyond this point." Hmmm...

1104-Spring-1

I've commented before about the sometimes-disturbing carelessness of pedestrians. (The Phone Zombies are particularly dense on campus.) But I've got to admit I've also seen, and had close encounters, with some careless cyclists. (There are places to go 25mph... and there are places where you go 5mph. It takes judgment - and not particularly acute judgment, IMO - to make such determinations.) I can confidently declare I've never caused a hazardous situation in my occasional rides across campus. (There have been times when a Zombie would've walked straight into me... or into the side of a brick wall, or an open manhole, for lack of paying attention.)

I don't know what the specific restrictions are on bicycle use. I would hope that students on bicycles don't have to walk 'em clear across campus. It's fairly narrow north-to-south, but it's probably a mile from east to west.

Ironically, a recent article at the Arbiter (student newspaper) website lauds the recognition BSU got, as one of the Top 20 Bike Campuses. And the timing is bad - a bike ban on campus as gas prices approach $4. (Everybody knows how poor college students are... right?)

Like many rules, this one is going to penalize many conscientious citizens, because of the actions of a few irresponsible citizens.

2 comments:

Marcus said...

Here is a long on the tooth link:

http://www.boisestate.edu/policy/policy_docs/9010_PedestrianSaftey.pdf

In a nutshell, some incidents have occurred that have implement this new policy. In due time there will be paths to move the wheeled folks around the most populated area of campus.

Bikeboy said...

Thanks for the info, Marc.

(THIS is the same link, maybe easier to access.)

I got to thinkin', if the "quad" is the Danger Zone, the sidewalks are nice and wide and maybe they could paint a strip in each direction, designated as "bicycle priority." The ped-zombies might notice it and pay a bit more attention.