Bikes are everywhere!

Friendly reminder — spring is here, idiots like me are out on the road, and when was the last time you read over the New York State bicycle and pedestrian laws? It’d been a while for me, so even though I knew there was a new law (really reinforcing the old law), completely and utterly ignored in this state, that gives pedestrians in a crosswalk the right of way, I did not know that a bicycle must be equipped with a bell, horn or other device that can be heard 100 feet away. No one has been dragged away to jail on that one in a while, I’m thinking.

I don’t usually let bumper stickers change my life, but many years ago I saw one that said “Look Twice / Save a Life / Motorcycles Are Everywhere,” and ever since then I’ve been especially conscious of double-checking my mirrors before changing lanes, because a bike could be sitting on your corner and not be especially visible. Excellent advice. Applies to bicycles, too . . . so look twice, and don’t run me over by accident. (On purpose is entirely a different thing.)

In fact, I find about 90% of drivers are pretty good about sharing the road, but one does tend to remember the others who think it’s funny to run you off the edge, or who throw bottles at you, scream out the window, etc. (There’s also a percentage who go way too far out of their way to give you room, way off in the other lane, far more likely to cause a massive accident than if they just gave you an extra foot or two.)

Hey, that deer carcass that was lying out by the firehouse on Phillips Road last fall? Deer skeleton now. Big old pile of rib bones really makes you look twice when you’re flying by. Somewhat alarming sight.