Promoting pedal power

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Another month, another "bottom of the heap" ranking for Memphis by a national magazine.

This time, it's Bicycling magazine that has rated Memphis as one of its three "worst cities for cycling," along with Dallas and Miami.

As always, the usual caveat applies to this type of ranking. "Best of" and "worst of" lists are extremely subjective.

That said, Memphis could and should be doing a lot more to make local roads safer for bicyclists.

Bicycle lanes would be an obvious place to start. So would a few more bike racks in public places. And some signs urging motorists to share the road and reminding them to give bicyclists at least 3 feet of room. (Despite what some drivers might think, they aren't within their constitutional rights to run slow-moving bicyclists off the road.)

The timing couldn't be better: With gas prices climbing, people are looking for alternative forms of transportation.

And who knows? If more people in Memphis rode bikes, maybe we wouldn't fare as poorly on some of those "unhealthy city" rankings. - Commercial Appeal