Published: July 14, 2008 11:27 am         

Bikeway

It would be a big help to everyone on wheels

The idea, as it was stated, is to make Cumberland "the most bicycle-friendly Victorian city" by connecting neighborhoods to each other and to the C&O Canal towpath and Great Allegany Passage.

The widespread use of bicycles has already become a fact of life here, and nobody should be surprised to see more of them on our streets and roads because of the higher cost of gasoline.

Like automobiles, bicycles also are powered by carbon-based fuel that is becoming increasingly expensive, but people who ride bikes are going to eat anyway. A bike gives you the option of leaving your car parked, and it doesn't pollute the air. Riding a bicycle is also a good way to enhance your physical fitness, assuming you are already fit enough to do so.

In many other parts of the world, particularly Asia, the operators of bicycles and motor vehicles have long since grown used to sharing crowded streets and roads with each other. This is something Americans are really just now beginning to learn.

Motorists who are in a hurry to get somewhere may find themselves irritated by having to drive around bikes on narrow streets - of which Cumberland has many - even though the bike has just as much right to be there.

For their part, bicyclists must realize that they also have to obey the rules of the road. Few things are as unnerving to a motorist than to signal a right turn before pulling into a parking log, only to have a bicycle suddenly pass his car on the right just as he is turning.

If it comes to pass, a Cumberland Trails and Bikeway network would make life easier for bicyclists and motorists alike.