To the Editor:
In hopes that this may help reduce our downtown traffic stress, save a ticket, a hospital visit and perhaps even a life... please follow pedestrian and bicycle laws. This goes for drivers and pedestrians alike. This especially includes cyclists not driving bicycles on the sidewalk. I did this once while traveling down Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. in front of the police station. Just before turning onto the Bolin Creek commuter trail I was stopped and warned by a police officer. He pointed out that a woman had died doing the same thing because cars have a limited visibility for cyclists on the sidewalk. I thanked him and have not ridden my bike on a sidewalk since and have experienced as a driver exactly what he was referring to when turning left onto a busy Franklin Street and a cyclist approached at high speed on the sidewalk. There is also a great deal of cars driving beyond the speed limit on Franklin Street and not stopping for the flashing crosswalks. Equally disturbing and dangerous is the growing jaywalking. It does not take rocket science to see where things are heading fast for campus and downtown traffic experiences. It is growing more dangerous for commuting cyclists, pedestrians and drivers due to these common traffic violations and increased commerce and residency. Let’s all please try a little harder and improve the downtown Chapel Hill experience wether on foot or wheels, motorized or non.
Jason Gayton
Chapel Hill Resident
