Alligator Online: Bike blues - Cyclists shouldn’t be second-class citizens - 29 November, 2006

There are two kinds of people in Gainesville - the ones who drive cars and the ones who ride bikes. The first group cruises around town in climate-controlled comfort, listening to the crappy indie band of the moment in full, rich surround sound. They even have cup holders.

The second group pedals to class in rain, sleet or, well, sleet. They dodge children and stray dogs, Humvees beached in the bike lane, clueless pedestrians and the occasional pothole. They have no six-disc CD changers, no cup holders - just bottled water and iPods, if they’re lucky.

But don’t let a cop catch you with those white headphones in your ears. You’ll get a ticket.

In fact, it seems the Gainesville Police Department and its on-campus counterpart live to harass student cyclists. No light on your bike? That’s a citation. Ride past a stop sign? That’s a citation, too. And don’t even think about letting go of the handlebars.

If these infractions seem petty and ridiculous, it’s because they are. Sure, riding around in the dark is dangerous - but at UF, the vast majority of bicycle accidents are caused by careless drivers. Out of 12 accidents this year, only two were caused by cyclists.

Unfortunately, Gainesville is hostile territory for pedal pushers. How else do you explain the lack of bike lanes on University Avenue? Or the alumni who clog every sidewalk on campus with their cars - why don’t they get ticketed too? Clearly, there’s a double standard at work.

When a car hits a cyclist - even when the cyclist is injured or killed - the penalties for drivers are often light. Cars rule the road, in other words. The rest of us just bike on it.

It’s not entirely a local issue, of course. The cult of the car is alive and well across the country - but Florida is especially bad. In fact, we led the nation in cyclist fatalities last year, with 124. But sometimes, it seems GPD and the University Police Department go out of their way to make life difficult for bike riders.

That’s a shame, because Gainesville needs cyclists. Lots of them. With traffic congestion at an all-time high and available parking nowhere in sight, the city should encourage everyone to bike - to class, to work or just down to the grocery store and back. Why not?

After all, Gainesville has a better shot at becoming a bike-friendly town than most cities. Think about it - warm, sunny weather, no hills and dirty hippies as far as the eye can see. It could be a bike rider’s paradise if we just gave the issue some thought.

Best of all, the Gainesville City Commission wouldn’t have to take any drastic steps. Set up bike lanes where they don’t exist, widen them where they do and - presto chango - you’ve got a hospitable environment for cyclists. If GPD targeted reckless drivers, we might even have fewer deaths each year.

Besides, bikes are the way of the future.

From the obesity epidemic to the next gas crisis, there’s no problem that can’t be solved with a 10-speed and some common sense - a lesson all cities should keep in mind in the coming years.