My voice: City’s policy changes make bike riding safer

This month, Lincoln County Commissioner Dan King began a My voice column by saying he had previously been “pretty ignorant about the details and inner workings of local government.” The balance of his column demonstrated that he has more work to do.

His main concerns are the hazardous conditions bike lanes create on city streets and the stealthy manner in which a tiny group of planners and consultants have brought them into being.

As an instructor for the League of American Bicyclists, I agree bike lanes can be hazardous. Sometimes they guide riders to the right of right-turning vehicles. They can put riders out of sight and out of mind of drivers. Often after a season of gathering debris, there can be surprises and obstacles in them. To avoid all of this, a rider is often better off in a driving lane where drivers making turns are less a factor for safe operation, where visibility is maximized because the rider is directly in the line of sight of nearby drivers, and because driving lanes tend to be free of debris and therefore can be ridden more predictably.

The commissioner invites readers to contemplate the terrifying image of a raw egg slamming into a soup can to argue that bikes and cars sharing the same roads is a utopian vision and does not mesh well with reality. It might be helpful to inspect six recent car/bike crashes that were rather traumatic for our community.

■ 2006 – 28th and Minnesota: Traffic-facing sidewalk rider, left-looking right-turning driver – fatal.

■ 2010 – Near 57th and Galway: With traffic road rider, intoxicated driver – fatal.

■ 2011 – 10th and Fairfax: With traffic sidewalk rider, intoxicated driver – fatal.

■ 2014 – Private drive near 49th and Kiwanis: Traffic-facing sidewalk rider, left-looking right-turning driver – fatal.

■ 2014 – Private driveway near 41st and Marion: Traffic-facing sidewalk rider, left-looking right-turning driver – non-fatal.

■ 2015 – Private driveway near 41st and I-29: Traffic-facing sidewalk rider, left-looking right-turning driver – fatal injuries.

I don’t think it’s utopian to ask:

■ Drivers – stop driving intoxicated.

■ Riders – stop riding facing traffic.

■ Drivers – look both ways.

Riders are not dying because they are trying to share space with soup cans. They are dying because they are being wrongly advised that sidewalk riding is safer. Riders who ride in the roadway courteously and according to traffic laws are far more visible, predictable and communicative. Therefore, they are far less likely to be injured or killed by anybody’s drunkenness or unwillingness to actually look where they’re going.

The commissioner says he’s equally concerned about the seemingly secretive bike facility planning process. Please let me help alleviate ignorance by listing a handful of key developments over the past few years.

In July 2015, the City Council and mayor adopted a Complete Streets policy. Complete Streets are designed to accommodate all potential users. This is a big deal because it strives to make streets safer for people, not just for those users with big trucks.

When planners and roadway designers look at making streets complete, they will likely refer to the 2015 Sioux Falls Bicycle Plan and the Shape Sioux Falls Comprehensive Plan. These plans were written with community involvement and presented multiple times in public open houses to the community. They were approved by the Sioux Falls City Council and Mayor through the normal council processes as good ways forward for the city.

There have been changes in laws, too. In 2012, the Sioux Falls City Council made helpful changes to a number of bicycle ordinances. It became a requirement that drivers must provide a minimum of 3 feet of space between the right side of their vehicle and the left side of an overtaken rider. In 2015, the South Dakota Legislature adopted a minimum 3 feet passing law where speed limits are less than 35 mph and a requirement of a minimum of 6 feet when limits are greater.

Because of these policies, plans and law changes, Sioux Falls is becoming a great place to ride and live. I am happy for the future and what Sioux Falls can become.

MY VOICE

Michael Christensen, 45, Sioux Falls, is a software developer at DAKOTACARE and a League Cycling Instructor, League of American Bicyclists and former vice chair, Citizens Advisory Committee, Metropolitan Planning Organization.