bike lanes...

...ehhh

I have spent the last day or so thinking about the meeting the other night. First off, thanks to everyone that came out. Thanks to Sharpie for stopping me before I did something stupid (good friends are good). Thanks to Councilmen Jameson and Cole for having the meeting.

The issue comes down to the fact that Commander Nash is afraid to make a bunch of people angry if they get tickets for parking in bike lanes, and some of the people and businesses along roads with bike lanes do not want to lose parking spaces. I understand both. ...and not one business owner/manager/whatever came to the meeting to speak thier point. Only one person who lives along Porter Road came to speak against the bike lanes.

At this time we -Police and public- are waiting on Metro Legal (?) to interperate whether the signs marking the bike lanes which say, "bike use only" can be understood by a reasonable person (Commander Nash's words, not mine) that it is not legal to drive/park/block a bike lane. To me, this is pretty easy to understand, considering there are 2 Metro Ordinances that back it up. With that same thinking, and I brought this up at the meeting, I can park my car on the Demonbreum Street bridge, in the bike lane, and I cannot be ticketed.

This reasoning also allows a person to run a stop sign. WHAT? Yeah. If the public at large can not reasonably understand a sign denoting bike use only, how then can a reasonable person understand a stop sign? How about the speed limit? What if I thought the limit was the slowest speed at which you are allowed to drive? I am a reasonable person, it was just a missunderstanding because I ran a stop sign and traveled 10 miles an hour over the speed limit in the bike lane.

My reasonable understanding was that the bike lane was just a place for bicyclists to ride, out of my way, unless I was using it. Just as the speed limit sign did not denote maximum speed allowed, or minimum for that matter. It just said speed limit. Limit could be highest or lowest. Then the stop sign didn't have my name on it, nor the make/model/color of my car. How could this pertain directly to me without clear notation of it's intended message? This is really confusing.

This unfortunately is the way Commander Nash explained the issue. Not the stop sign and speed limit thing, but he used the term "reasonable person" many times. I would think that any reasonable person that was able to pass a driver's test and obtain the legal permission to drive could discern this quite easily. In fact, a 3rd grader can read the sign and understand it. Do you not have to pass 3rd grade english to be a police officer, or a lawyer, or be able to understand, "bike use only"?

As of now we are waiting for an update (Metro Legal) from Councilman Jameson and Cole. Jameson said it is obvious that the general publics opinion is that we want bikes lanes, and want them for bicycle travel only. Duh.

I have said this a thousand times, until this city's government and general public understand that bicycles are a viable form of transportation and cyclists and pedestrians are protected under the laws already on the books, Nashville will never be friendly to alternative transportation. This is really all I can say without becoming a complete asshole.