Georgia State Bicycling for Transportation Initiative members are strongly encouraging bike riding on campus. While their aim is to promote bike riding and safety, they also want students to be aware of specific routes that lead them to school.
“Many people don’t know about bicycling, and there are a lot of safety issues surrounding the roadway, traffic and bike theft,” said Nancy Pope, the student leader of the initiative and master’s student in the Institute of Public Health.
With many health benefits, bicycling can be a great way for students to commute to school. However, not many women ride a bicycle. Pope and other bicycling advocates are also encouraging more women to begin cycling to school.
“In the future, we need to find out how to get women more comfortable with bicycling, and to create social support for those who aren’t, because while students who do bicycle know where to get information about routes and safety, there are those who just don’t know,” Pope said.
Spring has just begun and it is the perfect time for riders to ride their bikes. Because riding through a great amount of traffic can be dangerous, the initiative members are trying to help find ways to make this process safer.
Funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, members of the initiative ask people what they think about bike riding as a means of transportation. They are an active group that seeks to implement biking as an option to get to school and one student is using art to attract attention to the cause.
Georgia State graduate Spencer Murrill created the Gilmer Street bike rack for students and it sends a message.
“I wanted it to be something that would be attractive as a sculpture but also promote bicycling, with subtle, abstract letters,” he said. “But I also wanted it to be a rack where people wouldn’t be afraid to chain a bike to it.”
Murrill said that he has a great attitude towards the bike riding project that is taking place and he talked about how safety has increased.
“One of the main reasons I got in this project was because it was part of the bigger initiative to make it safer,” he said. “I just got involved. There’s active involvement. I ride my bike about twice a week to school. I generally feel safe. Around this part of town, things seem to be getting better. People have started to get use to bikers. The more people ride, that’s the more people get use to bikers and not fight them while on the road. I encourage other students to ride their bikes to school, and it was a really fun project to design the bike rack.”
The Georgia State bike team will go to EPA’s National Sustainable Design Expo in Washington D.C. For more information about this activity, contact University Relations specialist Jeremy Craig at 404-413-1357.
Georgia State bicycling club promotes transportation alternatives
Published: Monday, April 19, 2010
Updated: Monday, April 19, 2010 18:04
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GSU Bikes encourages students to bike to campus and leave the car at home.
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