By Doug Miller
Gil Penalosa hit it right on the head.
“It’s a political problem,” he said, referring to the difficulty encountered by those who try to get around this county on foot or on bicycles. Penalosa directs the advocacy group called 8-80 Cities. He was here last week as part of the Columbia Association Speaker Series.
“We need to inform our leaders, build partnerships with them,” he said.
That’s begun to happen, particularly among cyclists, who have been galvanized by martyrs like Nathan Krasnopoler. The Johns Hopkins University sophomore from Ellicott City has been in a coma since he was struck by a car as he rode his bicycle on University Parkway in Baltimore. He is not expected to recover.
Cycling advocates won a victory in Annapolis this session in getting a bill passed that would allow prosecutors to seek stiffer penalties against drivers whose negligence kills cyclists. They have begun to feel their oats as a political force.
But politics is about conflict, remember, and motorists who see cyclists as a self-important impediment to the daily commute are pushing back, railing in print and online against their presence on roads built to accommodate auto traffic.
And if that backlash ever coalesces, watch out, riders. Such a force would be to the bicycle-riding public as the Republican Party is to the Greens.
If politics is the art of compromise, some artistry is called for here.
https://www.explorehoward.com/blog/dougout-chatter/132/wheel-politik/oldId.20110415102228586
Biking in Baltimore