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

  • Camanoresident wrote...
    Here’s a idea that would help McGinnville
    October 24, 2011 10:28 am
    1.Bike rider license and testing every year $25 2.Bike license fee $100 per year 3.Mandatory safety inspection $25 per year 4.Mandatory insurance $500 per year 5.1st safety or moving violation $100 6.2nd removal of all licensing for 2years. 7.3rd violation must take a ride from Southcenter to Northgate on I5 at 4pm
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • dori monson fan wrote...
    WINGNUT
    October 24, 2011 10:37 am
    Up my game? Au contraire Mon frere. Who's shed do you think houses mcschwinn's wife's missing bicycle? ;-)
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • dori monson fan wrote...
    AGREE WITH CAMANO RESIDENT
    October 24, 2011 10:41 am
    ALSO, ONLY JOKING ABOUT MCSCHWINN'S WIFE'S BIKE. PLEASE DON'T SEND THE BIKE CZAR TO MY HOUSE WITH A SEARCH WARRANT AND THE BUZZARDS.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Seattle Dad wrote...
    Bicyclists are dangerous
    October 24, 2011 11:14 am
    to themselves. They don't follow some of the most basic safety rules that I most of us learned as a child. Most of the cyclists do fine, but there is a significant percent that ride into traffic without looking. Coast through stop signs. Ride in blind spots. They need a license just like a motorcycle needs a license. They've already reduced traffic flow on streets for cars to make new bike lanes. That was stupid. Now they want to designate entire streets to bicycles. Brilliant plan everyone!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Sailmaker wrote...
    Following the law
    October 24, 2011 11:47 am
    I would have more sympathy for the bikers if they FOLLOWED the law themselves. Many times I have watch people on bikes run through red lights and dodge around people walking through crosswalks. If you want to be taken seriously, get your own act in order first. The other thing I note is that you want the money we drivers pay in to the system to be used to make YOUR lanes and widen the roads for YOUR benefit. If you really want the changes, start taxing and paying YOUR FAIR SHARE of the charges.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Str8Thinking wrote...
    Not much hope for the meeting...
    October 24, 2011 1:11 pm
    considering all the tough guy forum posts here. Since I stay out of seattle I guess I miss most of these evil cyclists, but do see all bad drivers or just distracted drivers. Thus the problem is the self centered people in general vs. whatever stereotype people don't identify with and thus blame.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Judy L wrote...
    Problems on both sides...
    October 24, 2011 2:07 pm
    I see the bad drivers, and I see the bad bicycle riders as well. With every bicycle sale should be a required safety course about rules of the road. Every child should be taught those rules from the first time they climb on a tricycle. Part of the problem is that adults are breaking the law, so their children learn to do the same. Bicycle riders won't get much respect from car drivers until they follow all highway rules and give the same respect to those driving the cars. We can get along together, but the bicycle riders have to get over thinking the roads were put there for them.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Judy L wrote...
    Where is the enforcement?
    October 24, 2011 2:15 pm
    I didn't get my first bike until my birthday toward the end of 7th grade. I loved that bike, especially for the freedom it gave me to get around the village I lived in. One day, I was going to a friend's home. She lived on a busy street, so I thought it would be safer to ride from the corner to her home on the shoulder of the "wrong" side of the street (her house was the fourth one on that side, so I didn't have to go far). I was between the 2nd and 3rd homes when my father passed me on his way home from work. Later, when I got home, I was told in no uncertain terms what would happen if I ever did it again, including not being able to sit for a week, and losing my bike forever altogether. I never rode the wrong side again. Parents need to set a good example AND enforce the rules as well.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • ScottyDoesntKnow wrote...
    cyclists...
    October 24, 2011 2:59 pm
    I have no beef with you...I think you should be allowed to weave through stopped traffic as a right for not adding to our congestion. However...When you run redlights and stop signs, go the wrong way down a one way street. Decide to ride up onto the curb and back into the street or kick our cars for when we had to slam on the breaks for a pedestrian...Then I have a problem with you. In order for US to coexist on the streets of seattle, I feel that you need to be held accountable for your actions and issued moving violations as well!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • murr wrote...
    Ummmm someone should tell him.
    October 24, 2011 3:11 pm
    He has created it, an its too late. Already in the trenches. Try another pair of glasses. Our ms. (we have a surplus, two years ago) might have a pair for you. (i ment glasses)??????
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
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