MILWAUKEE — The executive director of Bublr, a local bike-share service, is joining in on the conversation aimed at making Milwaukee streets more safe, not just for his customers but for the safety of everyone on the roads.
There are more than 800 Bublr bikes spread out across more than 100 stations throughout Milwaukee, West Allis, and Wauwatosa.
"When you have a protected bike lane, you narrow the travel lane a little bit," said James Davies, Executive Director of Bublr.
Every time a rider uses the bikes, they are sent a link to a survey.
"We hear a lot from our users about their experience with reckless driving," said Davies.
The survey results now have Davies calling for more protected bike lanes in the cities Bublr serves.
"Folks are saying, I would ride more, I would ride further, I wish I had safer places to ride," he said.
The idea that protected bike lanes could help Milwaukee fight reckless driving is backed by research. Davies points to a 2019 study published in the Journal of Transport and Health.
"They did a big study over 13 years in over 12 U.S. cities and they found that the number one thing that cities can do to decrease traffic deaths is install protected bike infrastructure," said Davies.
Davies said when more people are biking, drivers are more attentive.
"You make that extra look over your shoulder before you turn right so that you don't hit a cyclist but you also don't hit a pedestrian and you also don't hit a car that was maybe doing something it shouldn't have been doing," he said.
Protected bike lanes also narrow the lanes, slowing drivers down. Davies is now asking local and state leaders to use pandemic-era funding to invest in bike lanes, not only for the safety of cyclists but for the safety of everybody on the roads.
"If you want to address it, you've got a street that's really problematic, put in a protected bike lane. That's the thing to do," Davies said.
A well-researched suggestion from a transportation game-changed based right in Milwaukee.
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