Stronger policies to help bicyclists needed

A sincere thank-you to Froma Harrop for her Nov. 12 column and to the Daily Herald for your bold headline, “Bicycling and laws of basic common sense.” You have supported one of the five E’s from the League of American Bicyclists, and that is education.

The problem of America’s congested roads has long been answered with more concrete — billions of dollars of concrete. The bicycling community has been asking for only a fraction of that for shoulders, lanes and side paths to be completed at the same time as new and bigger roads. Not only is a bike facility low cost, it has better payback. The bicycle culture is growing, but so are bike and pedestrian deaths, while fortunately auto deaths are going down.

Harrop does have one misconception about rules of the road, however. The league’s Rule 1 is to follow the law. She sees too many bicyclists who do not understand that and seems to jump to the conclusion that bicyclists are able to make their own laws. The League of Illinois Bicyclists campaign is “share the road, same rights, same rules.” Following the law is the safest way to ride (and drive).

I agree separation is the ideal. Bicycle facilities are becoming more a part of every road project. Complete Streets is a policy to make a road safe for every user. Illinois and DuPage County each have one. All should ask their government if it has a Complete Street policy and insist that every road project will be safe for every user beginning with the pedestrian.

Next time Froma Harrop is in Chicago, she should rent a Divvy and experience the bike lanes of Chicago.

Terry Witt

Bartlett