In his letter last week, Robert Lane, himself a bicyclist, posed a question similar to the one that I have been asking myself for quite some time: Why are the Street State planners so committed to making State Street a bicycle freeway? Why are we catering to the interests of a very small sector of the Santa Barbara community: recreational bicyclists who want to race up and down State Street.
These bicyclists are not shopping at retail stores or eating at restaurants. Most of them are simply joy riding as fast as they can go on electric bikes. They do not stay in the designated bike lanes, and they do not obey posted signs or yield to pedestrians trying to cross State Street. They expect you to watch out for them.
On Farmers Market days, when there are signs erected in the middle of State Street prohibiting bicyclists, the bicyclists simply ignore them and weave in and out of the vendors trying to set up their stands and the people trying to walk from stand to stand.
Calling State Street a “pedestrian mall” is a complete misnomer. The pedestrians stay on the sidewalks for fear of being run over by the bicyclists.
Instead of making State Street a 10-block bicycle freeway, why not encourage bicyclists to use the new bike path stretching from Goleta Beach to Hendry’s Beach? It’s a safe and scenic roadway for bicyclists where they can ride for miles.
