University Associate Librarian Mark Martin has not owned a motor vehicle for the past 20 years. An avid bicycle advocate, Martin rides his bike to work, the grocery store, the movie theatre and virtually everywhere else he goes.Martin is a part of a growing group of commuters who rely on their bicycles not just for leisure purposes but as their primary mode of transportation.Commuters like Martin and many students who make the trek to campus via bicycle will see some welcome changes as the city implements various incentives to make bicycling throughout Baton Rouge easier. Governor Jindal signed House Bill 725 into law creating the “Colin Goodier Protection Act.” The bill mandates motor vehicles leave at least 3 feet of “safe space” between vehicle and bike when passing a bicycle on the street. Under the new law, violators of will be fined no more than $250.Martin is the chairman of Baton Rouge Advocates for Safe Streets, a Baton Rouge bicycle advocacy group, and said 3 feet is a safe distance depending on the speed at which cars are traveling.”When cars are going at high speeds, they need to [move over to] pass in the other lane,” Martin said. “I often drive my bike to Winn Dixie on Burbank, and cars need to pass [bicyclists] in the other lane because they are just traveling too fast.”Moshe Cohen, mathematics graduate student,  commutes on his bike to campus daily. Cohen said cars often pass bikes so closely and at such fast speeds that it makes bikes temporarily lose control often leading to a crash.”There shouldn’t be a specific amount of feet for a car to leave when passing,” Cohen said. “If you are driving on a country road and want to pass a tractor there are laws for passing that slow moving vehicle. The same rules that apply for cars passing a slow moving car should apply for cars passing a slow moving bike.” Cohen said he has had multiple experiences where cars ran him off the road by passing too closely and pointed out that by law bikes are, “to be to the right of the road as practical.””This doesn’t mean the bike has to be in the gutter or riding in the ditch,” Cohen said. “Because a bike doesn’t normally take up a whole lane cars often pass them up in the bike’s lane running the bike off the road … so the big thing about this law is to give bikers this buffer zone.”The Colin Goodier Protection Act also makes it unlawful to “harass, taunt, or maliciously throw objects at or in the direction of any person riding a bicycle.” Violators could face a fine of no less than $200 or could face up to 30 days of jail time.”[Being harassed by a motor vehicle] is not a daily occurrence, but it happens enough to be considered regular,” Martin said. “I guess because people are in such a hurry and they think they should be the only ones on the road. And for the last six decades that is pretty much what the city has done [by advocating] nothing but automobile traffic.”The bill was introduced by Rep. Michael Jackson, Ind.-Baton Rouge. Jackson said the bill is a part of a citywide and nationwide effort to make streets more safe for residents who choose to bike for their commute. Sidewalk Road RageSeeing a bicycle illegally blow through a crosswalk or zoom down a narrow sidewalk into the quad is a common complaint among University pedestrians and vehicle commuters. University policy specifically prohibits bikes riding on sidewalks and the quad. Lt. Jeffrey Metzger leads LSUPD’s mountain bike force and said students that ride their bikes in unauthorized areas could be subject to a fine of $5 to $7.”Especially around the quad, bikers come around the corners really fast and are inconsiderate,” said Mary Hodgkins, chemical engineering freshman. “If I had a bike I would want to ride it around, but they really should realize that they need to slow down.”Metzger said the LSUPD mountain bike unit set up in the quad and issued warnings to bikers illegally riding last year.  Although it is against University policy students commonly ride through the quad and on sidewalks because they don’t see any harm in it. “I ride my bike through the quad because I am not just going to get off my bike just to walk a little and get back on,” said Mark Duplessis, communication studies senior. “Most of the time I walk around campus and bikers are not a problem to me … people [who complain about bikes] just want to find something else to bitch about.”Another complaint involving bicyclists on campus is that they dangerously weave through traffic and blow across pedestrian sidewalks as if they were walking.”When a biker rides across a crosswalk, it is [considered] the same as driving a car through a crosswalk,” Metzger said. “However if they get off of their bike and walk across, they are considered pedestrians.”Metzger explained that if a bike gets into an accident with a motor vehicle while using a pedestrian crosswalk the bike is legally blamed because it is not legally allowed to ride across the crosswalk. Although specific statistics are not available, Maj. Helen Haire of LSUPD said two to five accidents typically occur on campus during a semester.Metzger explained that bikes need to act like motor vehicles and motor vehicles need to treat bikes as motor vehicles to commute properly.I think [bikes and cars getting along] is completely dependent on behaviors on both sides,” Martin said. “People who ride bikes need to ride properly need to pay more attention and need to not blow through crosswalks because they are not pedestrians. But I think a lot of people do that on bikes because they are scared to be in the road.”—-Contact Xerxes A. Wilson at [email protected]