We are not anti-cycling. We are not anti bike trail. But we feel quite strongly that the gentlemen who were interviewed in the Thursday January 31st, 2008 edition of Main Line Times should practice what they preach: safe cycling. A front page photo op with a newspaper photographer should not preclude bicycle and motorist safety, should it? Here, look for yourselves:

Q:What is wrong with this photo?

A: The cyclists are riding in front of traffic as if they were cars! Considering the photo location, this was a very dicey chance to take just to get a photo in the paper cycling together, wasn't it?

Peddling a smart idea to LM Township government
By Richard Ilgenfritz

LOWER MERION - For Ted Goldsborough of Bala Cynwyd, a bike ride to shop in Norristown beats battling the expressways by car.But that journey can be far from safe. "I sometimes go from my house in Bala Cynwyd, down by the Union Fire Company and the Tavern Restaurant, and out to the BJs store in Norristown," Goldsborough said...The trail in Philadelphia, called the Schuylkill River Trail, runs along the east side of the river. So why hasn't anyone considered building a trail system along the Lower Merion side?

In fact, it has been considered.....But more then three years after the study was completed, most of its recommendations have been shelved as other topics dominated public discourse.

That could soon change as interest from some township officials and a group of residents has begun reigniting discussions of a Lower Merion trail system.

"The study has not received a lot of attention, until recently," said Lower Merion Commissioner Scott Zelov, chairman of the township's Park and Recreation Committee. "I do want to make [implementing the bike system] a priority.....a group of residents came together and formed the Lower Merion Bike Committee. Although the committee is not affiliated with the township government, members say their goal is to work with Lower Merion Township in order to help push the trail system forward.

"What we've done is to come to the township and say, 'You have this [study], we are residents who ride our bikes and walk throughout the township; let's move it forward,'" bike committee member David Broida of Haverford said.

"Our basic goal is that we want biking to be safe for residents of Lower Merion Township," Broida said.

More on safe cycling?

Bicycle Information
Pennsylvania Bicycle Driver's Manual - Chapter 2: Where to Ride on the Road

We've all seen bicyclists who wander from left side to right, who go from the sidewalk to the street an dwho weave in and out between parked carsd. From moment to moment, nobody can tell what these bicyclists are about to do. Pedestrians jump back, and car brakes squeal as such bicyclists approach....Riding right begins with riding on the right. Some bicyclists think they're safer on the left, where thy can see cars coming, but riding on the left is actually one of the biggest causes of car-bike crashes.

If you ride in violation of the traffic laws, you greatly increase your risk of a crash. You also may give up all of your rights. If you get into a crash, the courts will almost always find that it was your fault!

If you ride on the left, both you and oncoming driver must come to a comlpete stop to avoid head-on collisions. When you ride on the right, drivers behind you only have to slow to your spped -- and they have three times as long to react. Also, drivers and pedestrians about to pull out from side streets and crosswalks will be looking toward you -- in the direction traffic noramally comes from.

Title 75 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes contains the laws which govern the operation of vehicles on Pennsylvania roads.

In Pennsylvania, a bicycle is considered a vehicle and, as such, is governed by a general set of rules (common to all vehicles) and a specific set of rules (designed for bicycles). The following annotated list provides all of the important sections of the Vehicle Code which a Pennsylvania bicyclist should know...

We are sorry if it upsets the two hardworking cycling gentlemen, but that photo taken of them made us think twice. And we are entitled to that opinion. Also, when it comes to the proposed trails, a lot of work still must be done. We encourage all to attend the meetings! Trails are a great idea and hopefully it will all work - and hopefully the trails won't all just be asphalt paths, but real trails - or like the way the Nature Trail is at Haverford College where they use pebbles and gravel pressed into the ground and not asphalt. Also, isn't it great that if the Lower Merion Bike Committee isn't a formal standing committee of the township, yet they get to hold their meetings in the township builing? Maybe more groups can avail themselves similarly and also use the township building to meet? What a great idea!