Author Topic: Chad doesn't like bicycles  (Read 4918 times)

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Offline Sal Atticum

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Chad doesn't like bicycles
« on: October 10, 2006, 10:08:38 AM »
Quote from: Chad, in the Dakota Student online comments
The next thing we need to ban on campus is bikes on the sidewalks. People like Renee who don't feel they need to use a street, where bikes belong, and just barge through crowded sidewalks expecting people to get out of the way. Nothing like a tire to the back of your calf to wake you up in the morning. Every building on campus can be accessed from the street, were bikes belong. Bikers cruising through campus on the sidewalks create a dangerous situation, and its time to put an end to it.
link

Good luck with that.  Although I agree with you completely that some people who ride on campus are idiots, there are many who are not and who want nothing more than to get to class quickly.  Regulating them to the streets is antithetical to bicycling culture--the point is that a bicycle is an infinitely more economic mode of transportation than driving or walking, and should be able to go wherever it can.

I for one disagree with people riding on the sidewalks in other areas of town, but the fact remains that if you are an inexperienced rider (read: most of Grand Forks and the student body) who refuses to ride a helmet (read: most of Grand Forks and the student body), you're safer on the sidewalk.  It shouldn't be that way, but until people stop being assholes on the road (both as inexperienced idiots on bicycles and as drivers), GF and UND will not be a safe place to ride in the street.
« Last Edit: October 10, 2006, 07:19:01 PM by mburtonk »
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Offline Red

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Re: Chad doesn't like bicycles
« Reply #1 on: October 10, 2006, 11:49:06 AM »
39-07-01. Bicycle or ridden animal to be deemed vehicle.  North Dakota century code.

39-10.1-02 of the north dakota century code states that traffic laws apply to persons riding bicycles.

One of the things that shocked me when I came to North Dakota were the bikes on the sidewalks.  Where I live you are ticked immediately.  People up here have forgotten that bikes are cars.  You can't drive a car on the sidewalk, you can't run a red light, and you can't speed, yet bikes do it all the time when they shouldn't.

I understand that you want to get to class quickly, but I can walk anywhere on campus in 10 minutes, baring aerospace, which is the usual minimum time people have between classes.  Being a graduate student I would think you would have more.  The point being that it wouldn?t take more then an extra 30 seconds or so on a bike to go from say gamble to okelly taking the road and not the sidewalk.

But in a month it isn?t going to matter, its difficult to ride a bike on ice.  I guess between the two, smoking, or bikes on the sidewalk, I would rather see bikes go.  At least there would be a clear reason, safety.  This anti smoking deal, despite how pissed off I get when people toss their smokes on the ground when they finish, is ridiculous.  But for you smokers, you could probably view this as a policy that will be enforced as well as the current rule that says you can?t smoke within 20 feet of the entrance to a university building.  Even the faculty don't pay attention to that one.
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Offline Sal Atticum

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Re: Chad doesn't like bicycles
« Reply #2 on: October 10, 2006, 12:08:47 PM »
I ride on the grass when there are people on the paths on campus.  No harm there.  I never ride on the sidewalk.

Yes, people here don't understand that bicycles should ride on the road.  They don't understand that they need to follow traffic laws.  It pisses me off to no end because I actually know the laws and follow them when I'm on a bicycle, and I get lumped in with idiots who don't know they can't run red lights, have to stop for stop signs,  should turn from the turn lane, and most importantly have to ride on the right side of the road--even if they are in a bicycle lane.

However, campus is a different matter in my opinion.  I'm against the roads running through it in the first place, and i think that "sidewalk" (i.e., a pedestrian walkway alongside a vehicular road) is a wholly different thing than a "path" (i.e., a paved area nowhere near a road).  Riding my bicycle across the quad should be legal, while riding it on the sidewalk on University (or anywhere else in the city) should not be.

Talk to me about smoking versus bicycles in two months.  I'll still be riding wherever I feel like it and not being in anyone's way, and you'll still have to put up with breathing smoke.
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Offline Red

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Re: Chad doesn't like bicycles
« Reply #3 on: October 10, 2006, 12:27:10 PM »
I would rather see a littering policy then a no smoking policy.  Smoke doesn't bother me personally, just the trash on the ground.  I think the whole "wellness" thing is  :bs: .  We are going to ban smoking when a high percentage of our athletes chew, its just nonsense.  I wonder how many people who support the ban go to bars every weekend.
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Offline wxgirl

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Re: Chad doesn't like bicycles
« Reply #4 on: October 10, 2006, 10:30:42 PM »
Just be happy that your university did not pay $180,000 to paint two white lines on the wider sidewalks to deem the edges as bike lanes.  LOL LOL LOL no one ever followed it at all.  However I think that on University people should use the bike paths on the side of the road because well ... it is just for bikers and in my opinion would be easier to ride your bike down that then screaming on the sidewalk to get people to move.  Although I am a walker on campus or bus user anyways.  But I do agree with mburtonk, for places where there is not a street nearby like the quad it is OK to ride your bike there ... as long as your are not being an asshole that is ^^.   As for smoking ... the people are outside ... unless they are blowing it right into your face let them at least have outside.  Then again I am bit more tolerant to smoke because in Michigan bars will let you smoke in them, restuarants too, and my parents smoke too ... so I am already doom to possible  lung cancer.  Oh yeah and some dorm rooms let you smoke too ... I forgot that one.
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Offline lynsey

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Re: Chad doesn't like bicycles
« Reply #5 on: October 11, 2006, 01:01:00 AM »
You know, I've never been bothered by the bikes. Perhaps a bit jealous because I've usually been on foot, but never bothered. It's the roller bladers that bug me. 

Offline red hibiscus

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Re: Chad doesn't like bicycles
« Reply #6 on: October 11, 2006, 07:37:29 AM »
should rollerbladers be on the street too then? that seems a little unneccessary...
i think they're fine on the sidewalks, as long as they aren't being stupid. 

Offline Red

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Re: Chad doesn't like bicycles
« Reply #7 on: October 11, 2006, 09:28:09 AM »
Quote
But I do agree with mburtonk, for places where there is not a street nearby like the quad it is OK to ride your bike there

But there is nothing in the quad.  You pass through the quad to get to where you are going, and every building on campus has street access.  I am with mburtonk when he says he isn?t crazy about the streets running through campus.

Quote
i think they're fine on the sidewalks, as long as they aren't being stupid.

And what if they are being stupid?
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Offline Sal Atticum

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Re: Chad doesn't like bicycles
« Reply #8 on: October 11, 2006, 09:46:33 AM »
Quote from: red
And what if they are being stupid?

Clothesline them?
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Offline wxgirl

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Re: Chad doesn't like bicycles
« Reply #9 on: October 11, 2006, 05:19:27 PM »

Quote
i think they're fine on the sidewalks, as long as they aren't being stupid.

And what if they are being stupid?


If they are being stupid ... kick thier tires .. watch them fall and tell them to stop being an ASS!  or just yell at them and not cause bodily harm.
"Celebrate we will for life is short but sweet for certain"~DMB

 

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