MTSU Bicycle Lanes: Good or Bad Idea?
Starting your first semester of college and getting hit with a bicycle isn’t the ideal vision any student has. However, for some college students it is a reality. Many college campuses, such as Middle Tennessee State University, are packed densely with students. This makes maneuvering through campus to get to wherever one may need to be quite a hassle.
As a solution, some campuses, such as the University of Nevada, Reno have constructed bicycle lanes to keep the campus bicycle friendly and safe simultaneously. The University of Nevada, Reno portrays bicyclists as a part of the campus family as opposed to being the enemies. However, with constructing new bike lanes there are some unfavorable aspects that come along. Here are some pros and cons of constructing bicycle lanes on Middle Tennessee State University’s campus.
The pros of constructing bicycle lanes:
Collision rates drop. Pedestrian and bicycle collision rates will decrease. This will lessen the number of injuries that occur on campus involving bicycles.
Less of a crowd. The density on each sidewalk will decrease without the presence of bikers. This is quite an advantage because getting to class will be more of an ease than it would be a difficulty. It would also cut the time of students getting to their classes late. This brings us to the third advantage of bicycle lanes.
Bicyclists worry less. Pedestrians slow bicyclists down because of the fear of hitting them, or pedestrians stepping in the way. Bicyclists will not have to worry about pedestrians slowing them down with bicycle lanes as they make their way to class as a result of them being separated from each other.
Bike friendly campus. Middle Tennessee State University’s bike friendly campus will shine through even more overall. Being a bicycle friendly campus, Middle Tennessee State University could justify the claim even more so with bicycle lanes.
There is a lot of good that comes out of making bicycle lanes. However, creating new bike lanes could also cause even a bigger issue that sparks outrage across the Middle Tennessee State University campus.
The cons of constructing bicycle lanes:
Detours! Getting to classes will be more of an inconvenience with construction blocking roads or campus sidewalks. Students would have to find a way around all of the disturbances.
Students getting to classes late. Along the lines of students having to make detours, more students will potentially arrive to class later than expected. Therefore, students have to get out of their way to start getting to class earlier and find the best route to avoid being late.
Until now, there has not been any word on bicycle lanes potentially being an addition to Middle Tennessee State University’s campus anytime soon. However, there has been recommendations of many sorts that could be brought to attention campus-wide to officials. For example, a student whom attends Middle Tennessee State University recommended through a survey conducted by an English group on the topic of MTSU Sidewalk Safety,
“I would just like for there to be an affordable and relatively quick process to fixing this issue yet not creating more, such as painting a side of the large sidewalks.”
It was also found in the survey that 87% of students want something to be done, whether it is constructing bicycle lanes or painting the side of a sidewalk. Therefore, raising the question, will Middle Tennessee State University students take action for a change, or will they keep on yearning for one to come along eventually?
