Biking is a way that can help a town reduce traffic congestion.  It can also improve the health of its residents.  Those are huge pluses.

 

The downside of biking is that it can be hazardous unless bike paths are separated from car traffic. 

 

Chapel Hill has several such bike paths.  Here's a picture of one of them near Umstead Park: 

 

 

In my view this is perfect, but some people will argue otherwise.  Environmentalists don't want paved surfaces close to streams ... because of flooding issues.  They have a legitimate concern, but bike paths must be paved, otherwise erosion will occur.

 

This is another example of the difficulty of local politics.  You can't can't make everyone happy and solve all the problems.

 

Bike safety

 

The 55 year old son of a friend of mine was severely injured on September 17, 2017 when an SUV collided with him while he was riding his bike.  He sustained 13 broken ribs, 3 broken vertebrae, a punctured liver, a punctured lung, his collar bone was broken in two places, and his skull was fractured in three places.  Somehow he's still alive three weeks later.  His father told me that his son's bike helmet ... which was a good one ... did no good.  It broke immediately and came off.  My friend said bikers should wear football helmets.  They provided far better protection.  That sounds like a good idea to me.

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