Tuesday, December 25, 2012

The Banning of City Bikes in a Park

By Rob Sutter


People who enjoy riding their bikes from one place to another without fail certainly don't appreciate being told to stop. After all, you want to continue riding and when someone stops you, you can't help but feel the sense of flow become totally severed. However, one place in particular has seen a great ban in biking. At first, I thought it was unfair and after reading through the story itself, my feelings have not changed on the matter.

College Hill Park in Wichita, Kansas has seen a ban in people riding city bikes or otherwise. The reason behind this ban was that riders were seen as too aggressive on the terrain and that people were supposedly getting hurt. Signs were put up around the park, saying that biking of any sort was banned on the grounds. Many people have taken offense to this, and understandably so, and I can see biking authorities such as Linus opposing this movement.

The state of affairs is quite sad since the park was once used to help cyclists. For example, it let them move in a space that was free of chaotic streets where fast-moving vehicles were the norm. In turn, the cyclists could travel at their speeds and not worry about anyone coming up behind them quickly. Despite what people may believe, those who didn't take kindly to somewhat hectic bikers didn't support the ban, either.

Not being in support of the ban seemed to be enough but passionate bikers and those who support them went as far as to act out. If you want an example of this, 7 signs had to be replaced because they were vandalized in response to the ban. To say the least, this matter did not go over well with the public. One can only hope that some agreement will be met because who's to say if people will get hurt?

This is why people should watch the ongoings of the park to see if anything will potentially get out of hand. I don't believe that biking should be totally eliminated from this area because it seems like the one place these people can get to and ride freely in. The problem lies in those riders who abuse the right and potentially hurt others. If there are a select few who are ruining the experience for others, why punish the entire pack?




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