share the road?

well this is going to put quite a damper on my main area of training this summer.

and I quote...

"Riding in Barrington Hills

 

From the Barrington Hills Police Department 

During the spring and summer months, large numbers of bicyclists ride throughout the Village of Barrington Hills. A 2008 Barrington Hills Police Department survey indicated that bicyclists were a major concern for members of the community. Large groups of bicyclists frequently occupy entire lanes on roadways and impede the normal flow of traffic. Complaints of bicyclists disobeying stop signs and other rules of the road were also raised in the survey. The Barrington Hills Police Department responds to a number of bicycle related complaints during the spring and summer. In response to these issues and in the interest of public safety for all bicyclists and motorists, the Village of Barrington Hills recently adopted two new ordinances that pertain to bicycles and their safe operation on roadways. The first is the mandate of single file bicycle riding.  This ordinance states that persons riding bicycles upon a Village maintained roadway are prohibited from riding side by side and shall only ride single file. The second ordinance is negligent operation of bicycles which states that it shall be unlawful for any person to operate a bicycle upon any public roadway (Village/County/State) in a manner which is negligent or creates a risk of bodily injury or damage to or loss of property. These new ordinances aim to ensure that both bicyclists and motor vehicles can share the roadway in a safe and responsible manner.  The Barrington Hills Police Department will be enforcing these ordinances especially during the spring and summer months as the weather gets warmer. 
Any requests for additional information on these ordinances may be directed to Officer Sabas Parada at (847) 551-3006"


I have never been big into the rights of cyclists on the road, mainly because I have never been affected to greatly by them.  Well I am affected now, and here is my argument with this...

If there are problems in an area with cyclists, runners or even walkers in a neighborhood, why are new laws created that give more power to the cars, and never to the pedestrians/cyclists?  If a neighborhood is overcrowded with cars, a city would build and widen roads.  But in this case, where there is obviously an abundance of cyclists trying to escape the already crowded roads of suburban Chicago, why would the city not consider building more dedicated bike lanes on these roads, or more bike paths?  This is just crazy to me.  When I was in Belgium there was almost never a road without a bike lane on it, or a wide bike path right next to the road.  Everywhere they had these!  You could go anywhere the main roads went, on a bike, and not have to worry about any "mandate of single file bicycle riding."  Why can't that be the case here?  When do you ever hear about a incident of a cyclist causing a car wreck, yet how many times do cyclists get killed by motorists each year?  So until the proper lanes and paths can be constructed to share the road, cyclists have as much right to be on the road as cars do, in the same lane, riding 2 abreast!

Any thoughts from anyone on these rules or how to combat them?

• In New York, 70-92% of drivers were at-fault in killing pedestrians and cyclists, but 74% didn't even get a ticket. (RightOfWay.org, 1999*
• BUT The gain of 'life years' through improved fitness among regular cyclists, and thus their increased longevity exceeds the loss of 'life years' in cycle fatalities. (British Medical Association, 1992)*
• U.S. cyclists are three more likely to be killed than German cyclists and six times more than Dutch cyclists, whether compared per-trip or per-distance traveled. (Reuters, Aug. 28, 2003, by Maggie Fox)*
• Riding on the sidewalk is several more times more dangerous than riding in the street. (William Moritz, 1998) Another study says it's twice as dangerous. (Bicycling Life, 1985-89)*
• Streets with bike lanes have a significantly lower crash rate then either major or minor streets without any bicycle facilities (38 and 56% respectively). (William Moritz, 1998)*
• Streets with bike lanes are safer than those without. Article also has information about the safety of bike paths. (BicyclingInfo.org, 2004)*

*FACT SHEET - Here's the source of the interesting fact page of motor vehicles killing cyclists, each other, and how American drivers kill more cyclists than European drivers.