Ferris has made me fearful of a lot of things: deadlines, textbook prices and not being able to avoid people handing out pamphlets on campus.
However, the thing I’ve been most afraid of during my time here has a thin frame and two wheels.
If you see a girl walking across campus with eyes the size of dinner plates as a bike whizzes past her, that is definitely me. My heart races when the sound of bike tires on the sidewalk crescendo as they approach me.
I’m afraid of being clotheslined by a student flying past me on a bike and falling on my ass in the middle of the crosswalk.
I totally understand why people get around on campus via bicycles. The car parking situation is subpar and having to hike uphill on a hot day is not exactly enjoyable. There have been plenty of times that I wished I was in or on something with wheels when having to do the hell march from Bishop to Prakken in 90-degree weather.
The issue I have with people who bike to class is that many of them are not paying attention.
When you’re pedaling your bike at the speed of light, with a cell phone in one hand and a peanut butter sandwich in the other, I find it hard to believe that you see me walking down the same sidewalk in the same direction.
I also think an issue is that some of these bikers do notice someone in their way but they do not care at all and just hope that somehow pedestrians have eyes in the back of their heads and know to get out of the way.
There are plenty of courteous ways to travel on a bike in the same herd as pedestrians. For one, it is appreciated when a biker says, “On your left!” with adequate time for the pedestrian to process what was said and then continue to stay out of the biker’s way.
Another way bikers and pedestrians can peacefully coexist is by traveling at similar paces. If you’re on a bike, it’s obvious that you will be moving faster than someone on foot and I get that.
Slowing down a little bit when riding through a crowd of people can prevent any disastrous collisions.
Although this rant has been mainly about my fear of bicycles, don’t feel victimized just because I only called out people on bikes, because I really don’t like longboards either.