City of Seattle and Cyclists? You Can’t Truss It
Bike friendly Seattle!
On the same day a judge tossed out a streetcar tracks lawsuit, Sound Transit announces a cycle track will accompany the 1st Hill Streetcar on Broadway in Seattle. At least they’re learning!
So what happened was, the SDOT aligned the tracks to the far right of the street where the bikes go. I’ve ridden along them and your front wheel plays chicken with the track. It’s bad civil engineering and inevitably led to crashes. So an attorney gathered up 6 cyclists into a lawsuit and a judge said
The cyclists hadn’t proved the city fell short of any design or engineering standards and the City is immune.
while the city attorney Rebecca Boatright said
We never disputed the tracks were a hazard.
PR tip to Boatright! You’re making your bones here in our town, sure, but probably don’t want to gloat about knowingly putting cyclists in danger.
A known hazard and to the point, riding on Seattle’s mean streets is not like you’re in Amsterdam or Copenhagen or even on a path along Greenlake.
You’re in danger at all times and should ride offensively. On that section of road, when I’m there, I’m riding right down the middle of the lane like the Fixie Guy in the Motherfucking bike video.
Get the F up off me and not going to ride along tracks
Middle of the street is where you’re gonna find me, a shitload of traffic backed up behind me.
You should ride there too on your motherfucking bike.
The City’s relationship with cyclists? Another quote and this time from Chuck D and Public Enemy
You Can’t Truss It
Where was the powerful Cascade Bicycle Club during this bike-friendy-city-transportion-engineering failure? Obsessing about Stone Way before their top lobbyist went to work for the Mayor.
Can we trust them on issues like cyclist’s safety?
Trust your self and no one else. In Seattle, at least.