This article first appeared at Streetsblog California.
Our old friend, and current board member, Abby Arnold is taking the Week without Driving challenge in her new home in Santa Rosa. Read her first piece here, and the experience on her e-trike yesterday on Day 1 below.
The national Week Without Driving gave me the motivation I needed to finally get serious about getting out of my car.
Yesterday, (Monday, September 30) was the start of this year’s event, which is intended to raise awareness about “car privilege”: the extent to which our public infrastructure and policies leave behind those who can’t or don’t drive. This includes those who are too young or too old to drive, people who are living with disabilities, and those who can’t afford the cost of buying, insuring, maintaining, parking, and fueling a car.
I’ll be too old to drive in a few years, and my eyesight already keeps me from driving on freeways at night. Injuries to my left foot and my right hip make long walks painful. I’m an active, social person who lives alone, so I want to become comfortable getting out and about without driving. The Week Without Driving gives me a push to learn how.
This morning I headed to my weightlifting class at the gym, a little over a mile away. I rode my used, pedal-assist electric tricycle. I bought it close to a year ago but have not really learned to ride it.
The trike rides differently than a bicycle. Both the balance and the steering are different from a bike, and it takes some learning, especially when riding on the side of the street.
To get to the gym, I need to go on a busy street with a striped bike lane and a parking lane (Montgomery Drive) and another busy street with no bike lanes or parking (Farmers Lane).
I quickly found that the sidewalk felt much safer on both streets instead of using the bike lane or sharing the road with cars.
On Montgomery Drive there was only one car parked in the parking lane, so I used the parking lane, protected by the so-called bike lane, to get past a huge vacant lot. When I reached St. Eugene’s Cathedral, at the corner of Montgomery and Farmers, I rode up the driveway and joined the sidewalk. I rode the rest of the way on the sidewalk.
The sidewalk is dotted with tree wells and sign posts, but there was sufficient width for my trike. In some places the tree roots have caused the sidewalk to be uneven, but my trike made it over the gaps. Hooray!
At the top of Farmers Lane is the Flamingo Hotel, where my gym is located. The intersection marks the transition of 4th Street into State Highway 12, which takes cars to the town of Sonoma. It’s a big intersection, and I walked my trike across two streets, using the beg button to get a “walk” sign. I was able to ride safely into the parking lot of the hotel and gym.
Returning home I reversed the same route, riding on the “wrong” sidewalk on both Farmers and Montgomery, and I stayed on the sidewalk the whole way on Montgomery.
A few things that would be helpful: sweep the sidewalks and the parking lane; cut back the tree branches that touched my head at several spots; fix those darned sidewalks!
I confirmed that it is not illegal to ride a bike on the sidewalk in my neighborhood. I’m trained in civil disobedience and was ready to be challenged by the police, but that didn’t happen.
Unfortunately, I encountered zero pedestrians on both trips. Nobody walks in Santa Rosa!? I’ll challenge that tomorrow, my day to be a walker!
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Upcoming plans:
Tuesday: Walking
Wednesday: Taking the SMART train
Thursday: Using the Santa Rosa City Bus
