Eugene
area
bikeways
m
Ptx>to by Gfogg Weed
New bike rules may bring:
‘Was I speeding, officer?’
It used to be the bicyclist
was a rare bird whom no one paid
much attention to and who could
pedal around town in any old
fashion without much regulation.
Then the bike boom it and ail
that’s changed. Bikers are
subject to traffic regulations just
as real as those governing
automobile drivers. The story
Over-50 crowd joins students
bicycling on campus streets
Bicyclists on campus have
become so common that to the
pedestrian, they are nothing more
than one faceless, whizzing
crowd on wheels. But oc
casionally one catches the eye.
“Well, look at that,” you say to
yourself. “There goes my English
prof.”
Normally, the older the prof,
the more amazed his students are
to see him pedaling through
campus. But bicycling is old hat
to several University professors.
“Bicycling has been my main
and preferred mode of tran
sportation for years,” says Orval
Etter, a 62-year-old associate
professor in CSPA who began
riding when a student at the
University in 1932.
Although he doesn’t ride the
mile stretch between his home
and campus every day, Etter says
he does ride most of the time.
His bike is “an old clunker,”
but that’s the way he says he
likes it because he doesn’t have
to worry about someone stealing
it.
Another avid bicycling
professor is James McWilliams in
the German department. His
household, he reports, owns one
car, driven mostly by his wife.
“I drive our car about 20 miles a
month,” the 52-year-old prof
says. “My wife does all the
shopping and driving and I ride
the bike.
“I’ve been riding a bike to
campus for about 10 years and I
find it a lot faster than driving,
parking and then walking to my
offioe.”
Another member of the bike-to
work crowd is James Kezer,
professor emeritus of biology. At
age 69, he’s still pumping to
campus every day from his home
a mile away.
“There are weeks on end when
my car remains in the garage,”
Kezer says. “Sometimes it gets
so bad I have to go out and run
the engine a while to keep the
battery up."
Kezer, who considers himself
“an old dog but still on the ball,”
says the secret to riding on
campus is maintaining a slow
speed.
He recalls one incident while
riding his bike when a car made a
U turn in front of Oregon Hall and
plowed into him. The accident
demolished his bike, but Kezer
sustained only a broken rib.
Although he hasn’t had any
bike accidents during the 21
years he’s biked to campus,
chemistry professor Raymond
Wolfe, 57, says he’s had a few
close calls.
He warns bikers of situations
such as of riding by angle-parked
cars, riding in right turn lanes
when going straight through an
intersection and riding by parked
cars when the driver suddenly
open their car doors.
The reasons professors give for
riding to campus each day mirror
those students give. Parking,
exercise and speed rank high, as
does pure enjoyment.
“It’s lots more enjoyable than
jogging,” says Richard Noyes,
the 58-year-old chemistry
department head who bikes one
and-a-quarter miles to and from
campus each day.
“As I look around at some of
the joggers, they don’t seem to
be enjoying it.”
Still another reason profs cite
for biking to campus is the shot
of brisk alertness it gives them in
the early morning.
After biking to campus in the
early morning, they say, they’re
more prepared to face those 8:30
a.m. lectures.
about the polioeman writing up a
bicyclist for running a stop sign
is no longer fiction.
Under Oregon law, bicyclists
on public streets are subject to
the same rules and regulations as
drivers, and have almost all the
same rights. The law states:
-Always ride with the flow of
traffic.
-Obey all traffic signs and
signals.
-Ride as close to the curb as is
safe.
-Never ride more than two
abreast.
-Park in safe, unobstructing
places. Parking on sidewalks, at
building entrances, in roadways
or in driveways is illegal.
-Yield right of way to
pedestrians.
-Signal before turning or
changing lanes.
-Equip your bike with brakes
good enough to skid on clean,
dry pavement.
-Do not ding to a motor vehide
in motion.
-Use a white light visible 500
feet in front and a reflector visible
600 feet in back when riding at
night.
-Yield right of way to all
vehicles closely approaching
when at uncontrolled in
tersections.
-Use bike paths and lanes
whenever they exist.
Licensing also is a necessity.
All bicycles must be registered
with the City of Eugene for a fee
of $2 or with Campus Security.
The University registration is a
new procedure this term and is
offered free by Campus Security
as an attempt to aid recovery of
stolen bicycles.
Kelly McKirdy, bicycle patrol
coordinator, says prior to the
campus registration, only 20 per
oent of the bicycles Campus
Security found were returned to
the original owners.
A higher recovery rate
hopefully will come when all
bicycles on campus are
registered with Campus Security,
he says. Last year 124 bicycles
were reported stolen at the
University.
Another 1,294 bicycles were
reported stolen to the Eugene
Police Department during the
same time period.
Tickets for bicycle violations
run $2 from Campus Security and
$15 from the police department.
Campus violations include
blocking traffic, ramps and
building entrances; parking in
yellow zones, landscaped areas
and areas posted “No Bicycle
Parking"; and failing to register a
bicycle. Any bicycle impounded
can be recovered for $2.
Bike notes
The Eugene Parks and
Recreation Department will offer
three courses this fall for
bicyclists.
A bicycle repair course is
scheduled for 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.
Thursdays from Nov. 3 to Dec. 8
at Sheldon Meadow Community
Center, 2445 Willakenzie Road.
A bicycle touring dinic is set
for 7 to 9 p.m. Mondays from Oct.
31 to Nov. 28 at Edison
Elementary School, 1328 E. 22nd
Ave. Registration fo both
courses is $5.
A free workshop on cold
weather riding will be held at 7
p.m. Oct. 28 at the Celeste
.......
Alternate transportation
FREE EUGENE AREA BIKE MAPS
Pick up at COOPERATIVE PRINTING
726 E. 13th 485-4899
copy shop, FAST printing
Co-operatively owned and operated
7:30 am to 9 pm Monday thru Friday
9 am to 6 pm Saturday Noon to 5 pm Sunday
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3o
o
Campbell Senior Center, 156
High St.
All courses are open to the
public. For more Information,
contact Mark Bondurant in the
Parks and Recreation Depart
ment, 687-5333.
Bicyclists who are tired of
being treated as second-rate
commuters may be interested in
an evolving citizen group called
Advocates for Bicycle Tran
sportation.
The group's main thrust is
legislative although it has a focus
on general bicycle issues such as
safety, too. Peggy and Bob
Waite, a husband-wife team,
established the group and are
interested in recruiting members.
“There’s so many bicyclists in
Eugene," Peggy Waite says,
“they really need to band
together. A lot of them don’t
think they have a voice in bicycle
issues, but they do if they would
just get together."
Persons interested in joining
Advocates for Bicycle Tran
sportation may contact the
Waites at 343-9306.
The Rotary International of
Eugene-Springfieid is sponsoring
free bike inspection Saturday as
part of Bike Safety Days. In
spection sites will be in the
poking lots of Autzen Stadium
and Springfield High School from
10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The inspection will include
examinations by bike mechanics,
written reports of repairs needed,
instruction on bike visibility, “hot
spots” to place on bicycles for
better visibility and bike safety
booklets. City officials also will
be on deck to license bicycles for
the regular $2 registration fee.
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