Two months ago, a bicyclist careening the wrong way down President Street struck 72-year-old Bruce Steiner, who hit his head on the sidewalk and lost his glasses. The bicyclist retrieved Steiner's glasses and promptly rode away.
Steiner, a professor emeritus of history at OU, said police seemed indifferent to the incident, much as they had acted 10 years earlier when his late wife was bumped by a bike on College Green.
When people are irresponsible with bikes, local police seem to look the other way, he said.
Steiner's experience prompted several Athens City Council members to begin considering ways to curb bicycle-related problems, such as requiring bicyclists to register bikes and receive a copy of Athens' bicycle-related traffic laws, creating more bike lanes and asking local police to crack down on bicycle traffic violations.
In 2006, the Athens Police Department handled one bicycle-vehicle accident, Capt. Tom Pyle said.
The Ohio University Police Department handled about five bicycle-related accidents, less than half of which involved vehicles, OUPD Lt. Rich Russell said.
A new one-block bicycle lane at the south end of Court Street will be a test area to see how different modes of traffic interact when travel patterns are clearly designated for each of them, city Service-Safety Director Ray Hazlett said. City officials hope the lane will offer insight into how to develop safer traffic flow, he added.
Athens' physical layout contributes to the traffic tug-of-war among bicyclists, pedestrians and vehicles, said Tom Wolf, chairman of Athens County Bikeway Committee and a member of the Athens Bicycle Club.
Wolf suggested the city could create a better traffic flow by keeping roads repaired, creating more bike lanes, widening roads and making Court Street two-way. Wolf said he hopes to see more bike lanes on Union Street, on both West Union Street and Jeff Hill.
Most of the responsibility for traffic-related problems lies with pedestrians and bicyclists, Wolf said.
Steiner said he would most like to see stronger enforcement of local bicycle rules, along with more signage and the implementation of a bicycle registration program.
Student bicyclists especially don't know the rules for bicycling in Athens, said Jarod Thomas, an Ohio University junior who often bikes to class.
I know they frown upon riding on the sidewalks
he said.
In fact, the city's traffic code prohibits sidewalk bicycling on most of College, Congress and Court streets, with a $20 fine for violators. Biking is also prohibited on College Green.
The top reasons bicyclists do not follow traffic laws are lack of education and law enforcement, said councilman Paul Wiehl, D-1st Ward.
Athens police are not hard on bicyclists because by the time an officer could park and exit his vehicle, the offender would be gone, Athens Police Officer Adam Claar said.
Bicyclists breaking the law are not a high priority for OUPD and most likely would not be unless there were more accidents, OUPD's Russell said. 17
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Dianne Selden
Council members consider education, police crack-downs to curb traffic problems
