I recently saw my friend Chuqitta. It had been a year since I’ve seen her last. We used to work together at my previous job in the HIV community. She is a lovely woman that I can’t say enough about so we had a lot to catch up on. Chuqitta currently lives in Dearborn Heights but most of her life was spent in Detroit and her heart is definitely still here.
She picked me up to go out to eat and when we got on third she was surprised that it was two way. It had been a little while since she had been in the Cass Corridor and this was an interesting development to her. She also noticed the bike lanes. When Chuqitta and I used to work together she would say that her bike consciousness rose because, “I never know if that person riding could be my Jason!” Sharing the road became more of a priority to Chuqitta because she knew someone that commuted by bicycle.
So this led Chuqitta to ask me about the bike lanes she saw – “So if that lane is empty can a car drive in it? Because I was in a back up and there were no bikes! I could have used that!”
I informed Chuqitta that cars shouldn’t drive in the lanes except when approaching intersections to make a right turn (as indicated by a dotted white line). But what struck me is that Chuqitta is asking herself this question, so what is everyone else doing that doesn’t think about bicycles?
The question is answered for me every time I bike down Trumbull. I should start counting, but I don’t think there has been one time that I’ve ridden down Trumbull and NOT seen a car driving in the bike lane. I’m not talking about making a right turn, I’m talking about someone driving in the lane for blocks and blocks. Early this year someone was hit on Trumbull while riding in the bike lane. Darrin, who manages The Hub, found and waited with this person until an ambulance came. It was a hit and run.
So what am I getting to? I often framed our summer youth riding program as a way to teach the youth of Detroit to use all these bike lanes that are popping up around the city, but who is teaching the drivers? I mean, the kids that come to our shop will grow up to become the drivers of tomorrow, but what about all the kids that will never step foot in Back Alley Bikes? What about all the adults driving around that have never ridden a bike before?
I don’t want to get down on all the bike lanes. They have obviously changed the biking landscape of Detroit. There are way more people biking around the greater downtown area than I have seen in the past five years and I’m sure the bike lanes are part of this. But with all the bike lanes we’ve gotten, we’ve also received miles and miles of parking lanes. When you ride in the bike lane and people are getting out of their cars you can get doored. When the parking lane is empty other drivers see it as an empty lane that bicyclists are “clogging”.
So I guess what I am saying is what do we do? What can we do? How many people are we okay with getting hit on Trumbull until it becomes a problem? I am having trouble finishing this article because I don’t have the answer. I’m looking towards all of you. Because as my friend Chuqitta made me realize – motorists are asking these questions about bike lanes. Who is going to answer them?
We’ve drawn a sold white line down the side of the road, but sometimes it seems like the invisible line you draw down the seat between you and a sibling on a long road trip.
– jason x
PS – if you are into that punk rock type music, I went to see the band Propagandhi recently and on their new album they have a great song about riding bikes through winter in Winnipeg where they live. Check it out.