Down North Main Street, I went up Smith Street, past the State House and then the iconic New York Systems diner, when all of a sudden I’m nearly hit by a moving vehicle. Mind you, this is not the first time I’ve come close to being hit by a driver while riding through downtown or the surrounding areas. I throw my hands in the air in disgust and yell, “Slow down.” Yet to my surprise, said vehicle was a marked Providence Police vehicle, a sports utility van to be exact.
Much to his surprise, the officer turned his lights on and pulled him over. After being stopped, the cyclist
asked why he pulled me over, he responded with an emphatic and irritated, “You shouldn’t be on the road!” I asked, “Where should I be?” And then I tried with all the patience my cold and wet body and numbed mind could muster to explain that I have every right to the road. He responded with, “You’re going to cause an accident if you continue to ride in the street” and immediately called for back-up.
His request resulted in six police vehicles, not including the unmarked vehicle that also arrived momentarily, all of which surround me, while one officer checked my identification.
During the traffic stop, the cyclist tried to
explain my rights as a cyclist I was told that it is apparent that I do not like police officers and that I was trying to tell them how to do their job.
What I find most disturbing about the whole incident, despite having taken over 30 minutes of my time and taxpayers’ money, was that all of this could have been avoided had the initial officer, who happened to be a sergeant, or any of the assisting officers, been aware or at the very least familiar with Rhode Island bike laws, which clearly state a bicycle’s right of road.
This is certainly not the first time I’ve read or heard such a story. Hopefully, someone from the Providence Police Department actually reads the Projo and realizes this is a serious problem. With seven police vehicles involved in the stop, this means there were at least seven police officers who either don’t know that cyclists have every right to be on the road or willingly choose to ignore these laws.
A report released by the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission calls for a significant federal gasoline tax increase of up to 40 cents implemented over 5 years. On top of this, a number of states are considering their own gas tax hikes. Would this finally be enough to reach the breaking point for most Americans?
The issue is highly contraversal and has already mobilized people on both sides of the issue. In my opinion, even those that are supporting the tax hike are missing a fundamental point. Often, the first words out of their mouth are that the hike is needed to fund increasing capacity in an effort to reduce congestion. The phrase, “if you build, they will come” instantly comes to mind. When is the nation going to wake up and realize it’s time to focus on building good mass transit systems?
The opponents largely claim that we don’t need an increase in gas tax, rather a reduction in spending. What, are we going to reduce the amount of money spent on schools or health care? Others claim that instead of gas tax, we should focus on toll based systems. Great, apply tolls on the major highways and force the people who are too cheap to pay the tolls onto back roads that are now used by cyclists trying to avoid cars.
One notable proposal in the report is for an Intercity Passenger Rail program which would provide a stable, dedicated source of funding to improve and expand Amtrak service. Just yesterday, I was out on a ride over lunch with a friend and we noticed works pulling up rail that passed under the Henderson Bridge at one point. How ironic would it be if they were to turn around and lay that all back down in the next 10 years.
I suspect it will be a while before we see how this one shakes out. No candidate in their right mind would openly support a gas tax hike heading into an election.
Amid growing reports nationwide of fatal car accidents tied to cell phone use, Rhode Island lawmakers are considering a pair of bills that would ban hand-held mobile telephones and prohibit text messaging while driving.
As we reported earlier, there was a teen killed in Taunton not long ago, where the driver admitted to sending a text message while driving. If nothing else, perhaps an act like this would result in at least a fine.
A 2007 survey by AAA and Seventeen magazine found that 46 percent of 16- and 17-year-old drivers said they text message while driving and 51 percent talk on cell phones while driving.
It’s not just teenagers. In a recent Zogby poll, 66 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds said that they’ve driven while texting. And now that Blackberries and other PDA devices have become more popular, many adults are also guilty of driving while typing, legislators say.
Yikes! No wonder I see so many people on the phone while I’m riding along in traffic. While the legislature is banning things, perhaps we could add reading, watching movies, dressing, etc. to the list of activities one should not do while driving.
A friend of mine recently sent a link to the following video of a time lapse video of a student rush hour in Cambridge, UK.
It sparked a rather interesting discussion between the two of us. Does this video show complete chaos (bikes all over everywhere, cars being cut off, and cyclist taking unnecessary risks) or does it show the advantages of a critical mass of bikes (cars drastically outnumbered, stopping for pedestrians and bicycles, and generally being made to wait)? Read the rest of this entry »
Carlton Reid over at BikeBiz.com is reporting that there will be an Interbike East Coast Demo Day in 2008. The dates will be October 21st - 22nd and it will be held at Roger Williams Park.
The Interbike Outdoor Demo East event will be based on the Interbike Outdoor Demo held before Interbike, Las Vegas and will include product testing, National Bicycle Dealers Association (NBDA) seminars and networking events. The new event is aimed at servicing retailers who do not attend the West Coast event.
There was talk of hosting a consumer day around this event, but this appears to have been dropped. Still, it is a great boon for Providence that they are hosting this event.
Sram-Zipp/Orbea Clinic Coming to Providence Bicycle on Thursday January 10th at 7:00pm the SRAM/ORBEA / ZIPP WHEELS TECH CLINIC. We will have as our guests Butch Balzano from SRAM NEUTRAL SUPPORT, CJ Bradbury with ZIPP and Derrick Griggs of ORBEA USA. Butch will introduce Srams new RED GROUP for road bicycles and compare it to the current Force and Rival kits. He will showcase the time-trial bar end shifters and brake levers as well. Derrick will highlight Orbeas 2008 product line including the redesigned ORDU triathlon frameset. There will be discussion on materials, technology and design which, when combined, create the legendary Orbea ride. CJ will be on hand with ZIPPS 2008 products. He will explain their new CARBON BRIDGE technology and have cross sections of some rims so you can see what its all about. It will be a total bike geek night. Refreshments will be served. Contact Joe at 331-6610 or joe@providencebicycle.com for more info or to let us know you’re coming. See Ya.