Bicycle rider
A rash of fatal crashes in the Seattle area has reignited what some call a war between cars and bicycles. Mayor Mike McGinn is hoping to de-escalate the conflict with a road safety summit Monday night at city hall. (AP Photo/file)

Seattle hopes to de-escalate bike-car war

BY Tim Haeck  on October 24, 2011 @ 7:07 am (Updated: 9:40 am - 10/24/11 )

A rash of fatal crashes in the Seattle area has reignited what some call a war between cars and bicycles. Mayor Mike McGinn is hoping to de-escalate the conflict with a road safety summit Monday night at City Hall.

The first of three meetings will bring together bicycle enthusiasts, public health specialists, government leaders, and others to find ways to tone down the rhetoric and improve safety for all road users. Seattle also plans to look to other cities for help.

Transportation analyst Jeff Wood has seen some traffic safety strategies work in San Francisco, including dedicated roadways. Truckers know to avoid the bicycle streets and cars stay off the truck streets.

"It's a trade-off. You have your transit streets. You have your bike streets, and you have your auto streets, and I think it's worked out really well for the city [of San Francisco]."

Cascade Bicycle Club's government affairs director John Mauro says Seattle is way behind in what's called the Complete Streets Program.

"We won't, I think, in the near future see just a road for peds [pedestrians], and just for bikes, and just for cars. But I think the idea of separating users is a good idea" said Mauro.

Seattle has bike lanes, but beyond that, the city has put some roads on a diet, reducing lanes and slowing speeds. That has angered some drivers as has a renewed effort to cut speed limits in neighborhoods.

You can just imagine the outrage if Seattle does what's common in San Francisco and Portland: re-timing traffic signals to match the speed of bicyclists instead of vehicle traffic.

"This is nothing new for Portland [whose] downtown traffic signals have been timed to 12.5 miles per hour for years" said Portland Bureau of Transportation spokesman Dan Anderson.

Mauro loves that idea. "It actually can keep the same efficiency in moving cars through and it increases safety tremendously, and not just for bicycles, but for pedestrians, and also for cars."

In downtown Seattle, 2nd Ave. traffic signals are timed to help move buses.

Seattle is also looking at what are known as neighborhood greenways, open to cars but designed for pedestrians and cyclists. Portland has about 50 miles of greenways with speed humps and 20 miles per hour speed limits.

"When we lower speed limits, especially in our residential areas, we're not talking about an inconvenience for very many people. We're talking about keeping our communities safer," said Mauro, whose ridden the greenways in Portland. They have fewer stop signs to encourage bikes.

"They are great. It kind of puts the fun back in bicycling," said Mauro.

Seattle is the second fastest growing city for bicycle commuting in the nation. Portland's Dan Anderson thinks the war between cars and bicycles might just end when more drivers become bicyclists.

"When you have a larger percentage of your population who bicycles regularly, attitudes start changing along with it, because it's no longer us versus them when the [opponents] change" said Anderson.

The mayor hopes changing attitudes begin Monday with the first Road Safety Summit.

"I think we need to talk about this," said Mauro. "It's where we take the conversation that matters. Of course, everybody's going to be frustrated at times using our roadways, it's a limited amount of space but should that cost a human life?"

Tim Haeck, KIRO Radio Reporter
Tim Haeck is a news reporter with KIRO Radio. While Tim is one of our go-to, no-nonsense reporters, he also has a sensationally dry sense of humor and it will surprise some to learn he is a weekend warrior.
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Comments (26)


  • Add A Comment

  • HPD 5-0 wrote...
    ...a road safety summit Monday night at city hall.
    October 24, 2011 7:54 am
    Once again, liberals LOVE to meet, gather, discuss, study, study again, study one more time, analyze, gather input, study more...and in the end all we have is hot air. I see McSchwinn is no different.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Nickademas wrote...
    easy fix...
    October 24, 2011 7:57 am
    Get bikes out of the road.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • dori monson fan wrote...
    EITHER
    October 24, 2011 8:19 am
    OUTLAW BICYCLING ON STREETS OR LICENSE AND TAX THE BICYCLISTS! BLAH BLAH I KNOW, MOST BICYCLISTS OWN A CAR AND PAY FOR TABS, BUT EVERYTIME YOU PULL UP THOSE SPANDEX YOU ARE EVADING THE ENORMOUS GAS TAX US DRIVERS PAY!!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • WingNut2 wrote...
    Dori fan...
    October 24, 2011 9:12 am
    You got it all wrong.. It's not spandex, it's Lycra or high-performance nylon.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • gb1118 wrote...
    Stop.....
    October 24, 2011 8:44 am
    Pandering to the bike nazis in this town and get them off the roads and that will completely deescalate the "bike-car war". But mayor McDoucebag would have some stupid summit and berate the car drivers and kiss the collective arse of the bike nazis in the Cascade Bicycle Club.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Fuego wrote...
    For a brief moment...
    October 24, 2011 8:51 am
    I thought Mayor McSchwinn resigned based on the title of the article. Bummer.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • dori monson fan wrote...
    I HAVE AN IDEA MCSCHWINN
    October 24, 2011 9:19 am
    HIRE A BIKE CZAR AND HAVE HIM THREATEN CAR DRIVERS. HAVE HIM SAY THAT ANYONE IN A CAR SHOULD BE HUNG UPSIDE DOWN AND HAVE THEIR EYES PECKED OUT BY BUZZARDS. THEN TAKE LANES AWAY FROM CAR DRIVERS SO THEY ARE SUBJECT TO MORE CONGESTION AT THE HANDS OF THE CASCADE BIKE CLUB. THEN CLOSE DOWN SOME STREETS FOR GET OUT OF YOUR CAR DAY, AND RAISE CAR PARKING TO $4.00 AN HOUR. THAT OUGHT TO MAKE DRIVERS NOT WANT TO RUN CYCLISTS OFF THE ROADS.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Sean wrote...
    Un-do your ALL CAPS key, DoriMondon fan...
    October 24, 2011 10:14 am
    and you'll have a lot more people listening to you.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Jay Devereaux wrote...
    Picture Tells The Story
    October 24, 2011 9:48 am
    Notice where the bicyclists are in relation to the line on the pavement? Notice how their bodies are in the CAR LANE? Notice all that room to the right they could be in? Anyone besides me notice they ALWAYS do this? When I was a kid on a bike, we rode as close to the curb as we could without the crank pedals hitting the curb. What I see time and again are bike riders riding on the dang line when they have a bike lane 3-4 feet wide. But it's never the bike riders fault, always blame the car.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Hayduke wrote...
    Why don't you bike haters go to tonight's meeting?
    October 24, 2011 9:52 am
    Common now, don't be shy, stop hiding behind your anonymity on MYNW. Go to the meeting, and announce to all there how happy you always are to hear of another bicyclist being killed on our roads. And be sure to announce, as some of you have here, that you intend to use your vehicle to give the bicyclists "a little bump." I mean, you guys talk so tough about the "spandex fairies;" go the meeting and tell those fairies what you really think! I mean, you're not scared, are you?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Sean wrote...
    Please...
    October 24, 2011 10:19 am
    "how happy you always are to hear of another bicyclist being killed" Yeah, that's realistic. Give me a break. The vast majority of the bike/car problem in Seattle has been brought on by bikers, thinking they can weave and dart and run lights and etc. and not pay a penalty, and not start to really p*ss-off drivers. No one who's sane wants them to get killed, but when you ride your bike like an idiot, that's going to happen sometimes. The streets and cars were built for drivers, and bicyclists have always had the opportunity to harmoniously blend in. Too many of them just don't, and this is what happens.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • dori monson fan wrote...
    HAYDUKE
    October 24, 2011 10:04 am
    NOT SCARED, JUST REFUSE TO GO TO SEATTLE. TOO MUCH CAR CONGESTION DUE TO ROAD DIETS. PLUS I'M NOT PAYING $4 AN HOUR TO TALK TO A BUMBLING FOOL WHO'S ONLY CONCERN IS REWARDING THE CASCADE BIKE CLUB FOR GETTING HIM ELECTED. I GUESS I COULD RIDE MY BIKE TO THE EVENT, BUT I DON'T WANT TO TEST DARWIN'S THEORY BY RIDING A 20LB BICYCLE AMONGST 6000 LB SUVS.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • WingNut2 wrote...
    Dori fan,
    October 24, 2011 10:12 am
    You're my kind of people! I keep a jar in my shed with souvenir Spandex/Lycra that I pull from my grill, mirror and baseball bat after I "bump" bikers off the road. Whoops! I have yellow spandex, pink, red white and black. Keep up the good work, but I think you could up your game a little.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Sean wrote...
    Again...
    October 24, 2011 10:20 am
    Do yourself a favor and give the ALL CAPS a rest, would you?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }