Ventura: Pedaling for the planet

From the Ventura County Reporter, 02.28.08:

Many Ventura County residents want to ride bicycles for transportation as gasoline prices rise and to help combat global climate change, but conflicts with stressed out motorists on busy roads is a growing concern for bicyclists and police.

That’s why bike enthusiasts recently met with Ventura police and city officials about dangerous confrontations, including one that left a bike rider injured. Now they’re teaming up for a public outreach campaign to help ensure riders and drivers get along...Police plan a crackdown on drivers who intimidate bike riders and break the law.

"That's a big issue with bicyclists who choose not to ride more frequently because they feel like they're being harassed," (Ventura Transportation Engineer Tom) Mericle said.

"There's a kind of camaraderie when you're bicycling, you go slow enough and you're not in your little encased metal box so you can say hello and wave to people, and see things and smell the roses," said (Rachel Morris, president of Ventura Climate Care Options Organized Locally, or VCCOOL). "It's a healthy thing for a community to have a lot of people bicycling." (Read more.)

Article from SoCal on efforts by bicyclists and law enforcement to improve cooperation on public streets, with a motivation to save the planet.

Image: Web capture.
Visit: Paul Dorn's Bike Commuting Tips Site