Bicycle Safety In Lafayette Parish Still Deficient

With more bicycle related accidents and fatalities being reported in Acadiana we asked bicycle enthusiast Phil Barnidge to join us on 'Mornings With Ken and Bernie' to discuss the state of local bicycle safety.

Given the benefits of bicycle riding for exercise when we asked about safety Barnidge replied,

That's one of the down-sides of bicycle riding anywhere, it's not exclusive to Lafayette.  I think as a parish and as a city has made great strides in the past couple of years about awareness but there's still people out there that are blind to a big fat guy in bright Spandex!

Detailing a recent incident Barnidge said,

We had an incident last Thursday where this person in a vehicle passed dangerously close to us....less than an arms-length to us.  I don't know if she didn't see us or intended to hit us but there was a very aggressive move to swerve in front of us and putting on the brakes.

According to Barnidge the incident was ironic in that,

This happened on a stretch of Saw Mill Road that was just dedicated by Lafayette Consolidated Government and the Council as a 'share the road' pathway.  There are signs all up and down the road alerting motorists that the road is frequented by cyclists.

 

Barnidge had more information and bicycle tips which you can here in this the interview: