I don’t have to ask you to try to imagine yourself, rushing down the sidewalk on your way to class in Wimberly. Suddenly, a random person on a bike almost runs you down. Instead of stopping or apologizing, they keep going. You watch, heart pounding, before resuming your walk. Maybe you’ll tell your friends about it once you get to class, maybe you won’t. Why? Because this is a common occurrence on campus. Now I’m not saying that all bikers a sadistic or looking to run over innocent walkers, not at all. I’m simply saying that when the streets and sidewalks get clogged before classes, where do bikers have to go?

Oftentimes, I see bicyclists weaving back and forth, trying hard not to hit anyone but inevitably becoming frustrated because they can’t get anywhere. The whole point of riding a bike around campus is to get to places faster.

I spoke to junior Mackenzie Jones about how she feels about walking on campus with bikers all around.

Jones said, “Two days ago, a guy on a bike almost swerved into me. It wasn’t a big deal or anything. Maybe some people just shouldn’t ride bikes.”

I think everyone has been in this position at some point. It’s not as if bicyclists are a huge danger to anyone.

Junior Emily Hutwagner said, “I think that they should more bike racks by the library and Centennial. I feel like the busier places on campus don’t have enough places to leave your bike, especially at the end of classes.”

When biking in the more residential areas of La Crosse, I typically see bikers on the sidewalk. While this is not necessarily condoned, I understand that most bikers don’t feel safe on the street with cars passing them by. But this means that walkers are forced to either move out of the way quickly or get run over. I myself have almost been hit on numerous occasions, and it frustrates me.

Personally, I wish it was possible for the city of La Crosse to have more bike lanes, but I’m sure this would backfire as people would more than likely just end up parking their cars in the lanes. That being said, most streets are too narrow to even think about adding the lanes anyways. Many people have improvised and created unofficial bike lanes, and I think this has been a great compromise of space.

With all the construction going on around campus, I don’t see how it would be so hard to create a few bike lanes here and there. Most of the roads aren’t even accessible by anyone other than campus staff and the police. Instead of clogging up the sidewalks with stray bikers, an extended bike lane in the street, ending at different sets of bike racks, would solve a lot of problems.

Instead of wondering whether you’re about to get smoked by a biker who’s trying specifically not to hit anyone, we could completely avoid this problem with a few bike lanes on campus and you won’t have to have a small heart attack before every biology lecture.