ASUM educates cyclists about tricky intersection

As a bicyclist barreled over the sidewalk and through the intersection of Maurice Avenue and Fifth Street South, ASUM Vice President Tara Ness frantically tried to inform him he was going against traffic on a one-way street.

“Wrong way! Wrong way!” Ness screamed.

Ness was trying to prevent what could have been another incident in an increasingly dangerous area during afternoon rush hour for bicyclists riding to and from campus.

“There’s been a lot of accidents. If you stand here for over an hour you’ll see at least two or three kids who almost get hit by cars,” Ness said.

The ASUM Office of Transportation is trying to raise awareness of the dangerous intersection by setting up a table with free cookies and information about bicycle safety from 1 to 3 p.m. this Monday through Friday.

Director of the ASUM Transportation Office, Nancy Wilson, said that the two-hour period has the highest traffic and presents the most danger to bicyclists.

“We’ve noticed it’s really dangerous, particularly in the afternoon,” Wilson said.

Just two weeks ago, UM sophomore Danielle Wickman had a run-in with a motorist who did not see her riding her bike across the street at that intersection.

“I just basically ran into her door and she ripped me off into the street,” Wickman said. “It was a nasty spill.”

She indicated a few major problems with the intersection that have contributed to accidents recently, including the mistaken belief that the shoulder is actually a bike lane on Maurice Avenue.

“Bicyclists think that where the white line is painted on Maurice is a bike lane. It’s not,” Wilson said.

She also said that the direction of traffic at the intersection has motorists looking south and away from oncoming pedestrians.

The curb cut that was installed on the corner of lot P in the Adams Center parking lot is intended to get bicyclists out of the way of traffic faster and without obstructing pedestrians on foot. It is best used, however, when the bicyclist follows the crosswalk and does not just cut across the intersection.

Wilson mentioned that there are some solutions being put into place to make the intersection safer for motorists and bicyclists, like adding warning signs for drivers to watch out for bicyclists and pedestrians.

She also said they would like to have the sidewalk widened in the near future, though it may take a while to get state, city and University officials to work out the details.

“It is a multiple agency endeavor, which takes time,” Wilson said.

As for the baked goods, Wilson said she figured everybody needs a cookie.