If you can’t walk and chew gum, you might consider spitting it out and hanging up your cell too.
In the same vein as Manuel Azevedo’s letter last Thursday about bicyclists slowing down, I would like to remind all you walkers on campus to remember where the bike lanes are. After your rant, Manuel, I certainly hope you’re not one of the people I have very nearly hit while riding in designated bike lanes.
I ride my bike to school every day, and every day I encounter the same problem. Some idiot on a cell phone steps off a curb into the bike lane without so much as a glance to see what might be coming. No matter how slow we’re going or how good our brakes are, we can’t stop instantly for a numbskull on a cell phone who thinks that their pedestrian right-of-way means they’re invincible to any sort of oncoming traffic. This is especially common in the bike lanes directly through campus on Via Carta. There is a pedestrian area and two bike lanes, people. If you’re walking, stay in the pedestrian area. If you need to cross the bike lanes try looking both ways first like your mommy taught you.
While I agree with Manuel that bikers should be more courteous to pedestrians, I think that pedestrians all too often forget that having the right-of-way doesn’t mean you can just step off a curb into oncoming traffic.
Caleb Caldwell
Computer engineering junior