Buy Walking Videos801-FAT-BIKE: UDOT Misses The Mark
When I saw this billboard in my town, I was kind of ticked off. The Utah Department of Transportation had kind of a good idea. The billboard read:
Burn Fat,
Save Gas
Get Started
801-FAT-BIKE
Suggesting that you can lose weight and save gas money is exactly what will happen if you ride your bike to work. Unfortunately, billboards don’t solve the problem of “Why don’t more people ride their bikes to work?”
Honestly, it’s because of the way YOU have designed the roads, UDOT. Your so-called bike lanes are merely gutters with style. There is NOTHING preventing cars from swerving into our lane, using it as a turn lane or swishing past us with such speed that the wind could knock us down. What we need are WIDE sidewalks that can accommodate bikes AND pedestrians. Or maybe even completely separate bike lanes with dividers that give us a little space and protection from the cars. Billboards aren’t the answer.
Ironically, on Wednesday when I called the number on the billboard, the phone just sat there ringing. No one answered and the voice mail that came on was a generic plea to leave a message.
Hello, people of Utah. It is possible to ride your bike to work safely and efficiently. Here is a list of tips that will help you get to work without getting in an accident or stinking to high heaven.
Since the UDOT website is completely useless, hopefully one person will see this and have some hope that it is possible for them.
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August 31st, 2008 at 5:55 pm
Boo hoo. If you’re going to use “the crappy roads” as an excuse not to ride your bike, chances are you probably don’t know how to ride a bike anyway, and if you did… you’d probably cry and ask mommy to fix your boo boo if you fell. mountain bikes are durable maybe it won’t kill you to ride a little in the road. Yes, Utah isn’t the most biker friendly town but it’s very doable and people do it every day.
December 20th, 2008 at 11:38 am
UDOT may have approved and sponsored the advertising, but it was the Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective who came up with the concept and if you call that number — it is their main line. Thanks to UDOT, the Collective was offering free Smart Cycling courses (www.bikeleargue.org) for people trying to get back on the bike.
Because cars don’t stop and the sidewalk and then at the road — statistics show you are safer in the middle of the road as opposed to places where cars aren’t looking.
December 20th, 2008 at 11:41 am
sorry, http://www.bikeleague.org