Tina Panza, education and Safe Routes to School director with Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition, recently made a presentation to the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office about training and resource options. Her recent visit is the subject of a post by “Sonoma Sheriff” on Facebook.
Along with Sonoma Sheriff’s emphasis about the importance of bicycle safety, it’s important to note that bicycling is not only a “popular sport.” Every day, people rely on cycling to commute and otherwise get around.
We have some cycling infrastructure, but it is not nearly enough. To get everywhere that we need to go, we have to “share the road” with motorists. And talk about “shifting culture”; where we really need to focus is “one MOTORIST at a time.”
In Santa Rosa I’ve observed many motorists abuse the privilege of driving. They run red lights and barrel through turns across intersections — cutting off or nearly hitting pedestrians and cyclists.
“Looking both ways” before entering an intersection is no guarantee of safety — not when a motorist who is well down the street abruptly begins to accelerate and barrels directly at us because he wants to complete his turn while the light is green. Our “green light” to cross as pedestrians is entirely irrelevant to him.
As a society, we must remember that the cars that motorists operate are potentially lethal weapons weighing several thousand pounds.
City bicycling infrastructure needs to be expanded and law enforcement needs to direct its efforts toward motorists’ aggressive behaviors that endanger pedestrians and cyclists.
There are many people out there who, quite simply, should not be allowed to drive a car. Not now; not ever again. Driving a car is not a “right,” it’s a privilege that for many should be revoked.
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