A few weeks ago, one of my friends was struck by a car while riding his bike on South Limestone. (I will refer to him as Carl to protect his privacy.) He was on his way to work on campus at UK.
Carl was swiped by the sideview mirror of a vehicle that passed him too closely, and he was launched from his bike and skidded on the road. His bike was left mangled on the side of the road. Mercifully, Carl only suffered relatively minor injuries and has been able to resume riding (he had a backup bike!), but his accident has been sobering to me (also a bike commuter) and many others in our community.
Lexingtonians choose to bike for many reasons. Some bike for recreation — our country roads that wind through horse country over rolling Bluegrass hills are a cyclist’s paradise. Others bike for exercise — my six-mile commute is my only consistent exercise; building it into my work schedule protects my evenings and weekends for family time. Others may bike to reduce their environmental footprint—I avoid as much as one metric ton of CO2 emissions annually by riding my bike rather than driving to work. And others may bike for economic reasons — I probably save the cost of three gallons of fuel weekly by biking to work, and I can also pass on paying for a UK parking pass…