Elsbeth: "Pay attention bicyclers."

Elsbeth suggests: "Pay attention bicyclers."

Blog Staff Two: This is a good one, but like some of my other responses, I think it's a little too shallow. First, I don't think it's always about just inattentiveness, although that's something I'm victim of too often. Most folks on campus are justifiably occupied with lofty Ivory Tower pursuits, and it's understandable that they'd be distracted. So, what do we think might bring the attentiveness back? How about we start a volunteer program where people randomly sit along sidewalks and paths, shouting "look out!", or "pay attention!"? Probably not, but it's a thought.

Blog Staff Three: First, people need to realize that when you are crossing a bike path or sidewalk on campus you ARE crossing a busy street and should respect it as such. Everyone should be watching where they are going. People have the right to choose which mode of transportation they commute with and if you choose walking first, good for you, but many of us need a little more speed. By no means does that justify reckless riding, everyone should be paying attention and commuting safely. People seem to be generalizing all bicyclists and boarders as DIRC's, not wearing helmets, flying down hills, not signaling or stopping in traffic, and not using lights but I think that's a very unfair judgment. Those are the small few of the population who are giving the rest of us a bad name.

Blog Staff Four: Like I said in a previous post, EVERYONE needs to take more responsibility for their actions; cyclists, skateboarders, and pedestrians alike. Granted the cyclist is usually traveling faster and accompanied by a heavy-ish metal object with sharp parts and therefore should take an extra level of responsibility for watching out for others, not traveling too closely to anyone else, and signaling when passing.


Blog Staff Five: I often wonder how a hyper-attentive world may play out, and all considerations seem frightening. I agree that riding a bicycle necessitates a certain amount of awareness, but can we enforce attention spans? Consider the demographic, college students, and it quickly becomes unattainable. Not to say that college isn't the place for cultivating higher awareness, but sometimes a bicycle serves as an opportunity for relaxation and decompression. I wonder where the middle ground lies? A cyclist must realize their vehicle has potential. If one rides campus weaving aimlessly, jumping curbs, and recklessly endangering pedestrians their putting themselves at risk, while giving the bicycle a bad reputation. As well, if one signals, communicates to others, and maintains common courtesy, their actions reflect positively. I'm just not sold on a campus where everyone rides one speed and has their heads on a constant swivel. It seems to stiff and formal for my free spirit; let's search for balance.

Blog Staff Six: I don't think that attentiveness is the root off the problem here...let's face it, who really pays attention when going to class. No amount of encouragement is going to force people to actually pay attention when commuting to class. People have other things occupying their thoughts when commuting, like schedules and deadlines...and often times the commute is the only time to filter these thoughts and process information. I think the actual problem here is the speed at which people are commuting to class. The campus has decided to address this problem using a strategy learned from several German campuses which actually seems pretty effective. They have decided to paint super cool murals on the ground at busy intersections on campus (such as the Ekeley kiosk and the underground Broadway bridge to the Hill), in the hopes that people will slow down to admire the art. Several studies on the German campuses have revealed that people are actually slowing down to check out the art, so hopefully this will work on our campus! (Although it definitely will not help the attentiveness issue.)