I stand corrected. I guess I made a mistake. Not the first time. Won’t be the last. And I thank those of you who so adamantly pointed that out to me. I’m not perfect.
I guess the laws regarding bicycles have changed over the years. However, I will stick my neck out once again saying that when the current laws were enacted, the lawmakers likely assumed that they were dealing with a situation that involved another source of “transportation.”
And at the time, that may have been true. Today, there are many communities where the bicycle is a good alternate source of transportation, for which I think it was originally intended. Even Honolulu shows that bicycles have helped with the traffic situation in town and in Waikiki.
But here on Kauai? I don’t see it at all. Here on our island, bicycling has become primarily a “recreation.” I know there are some that do use their bikes for transportation, like the editor of this newspaper. But I’m guessing that he is only one of a very few that rides his bike to work.
Of the 50 or so bike riders that participated in the Rice Street ride, I wonder how many of them ride their bikes to work. Or is it just a “recreation” thing.
People drive motor vehicles to drive to work and back home; to take their kids to school and to pick them up after school. They use them to go to a doctor’s appointment; or go shopping; they drive to church, and many other reason. They’re not driving for “recreation.” It’s our primary source of transportation and I don’t foresee that changing during my life time or anytime soon.
The main point of my “opinion” printed in the Feb. 15 Garden Island newspaper was to stress the extreme dangers of bicycles sharing the street along side of, and sometimes (too many times here on Kauai) directly in the vehicular lanes.
I may have been in error about the laws pertaining to bicycles, but I was expressing my concern for the safety of cyclists and never mentioned the problems they cause for vehicular traffic. Yet some have rudely and disrespectfully berated me for my opinion mentioning “my attitude”; called me a “fool and fanatic”; a “troll”; all this from anonymous individuals that likely don’t even know me. Wow! Such nice people we have living on Kauai nowadays.
I wonder why “Bikes on Rice” decided to use Rice Street. We all know that Rice Street is a substandard street with substandard lane widths and substandard striping and no designated bicycle lanes.
The taxpayers spent millions of dollars purchasing additional right of way and building nice wide bicycle lanes on Kaumualii Highway, and on Kapule Highway, making it safer for cyclists. Millions of dollars have been spent on the “multi-use” path which was primarily built for bicycles. Why didn’t the group just settle to ride in one of these safer location? One that was specifically built for their safety.
And to the individuals that commented that I should try riding a bicycle . I do own a bicycle. And I do ride from time to time. Just for the exercise.
But I ride on the residential roads in our neighborhood. I don’t even go out onto Kuamoo Road because I don’t want to put myself in danger and more importantly, I don’t want to cause any inconvenience for people driving vehicles along Kuamoo Road.
I feel that their journey is likely more important than my “recreation”. But that’s just me. It’s called “consideration.”
It’s part of “courtesy, consideration and respect.” That’s what “aloha” is all about.
•••
Larry Arruda is a Kapaa resident.
