Following increased complaints from Hanover residents about Dartmouth cyclists and dangerous riding practices, the Hanover Bike and Pedestrian Committee has recently teamed up with Hanover Police, Dartmouth Safety and Security and the Dartmouth Wellness Committee to put on a series of events to raise awareness about bike safety, committee chairman Bill Young said.
The committee plans to launch a campaign to make individuals riding bikes at night more visible to drivers and pedestrians around campus, Young said. The campaign aims to educate students about the importance of bike safety while encouraging those who are already exhibiting safe behaviors, he said. On May 16, a tent with representatives from the safety organizations will be outside of Robinson Hall and will be giving away 500 reflective bracelets for bikers to wear while riding at night, Young said. Young said that due to Green Key events at the Collis Center next door, he hopes to draw students from the large crowd that will already be there.
Later in the day, the organization will hold a “very visible” run around campus and a nighttime bike ride to exemplify safe nighttime bike riding, Young said.
Such awareness events will be repeated many times in the future, Young added, especially during big weekends and occassions such as first-year orientation in the fall. The group hopes to use outlets such as the Stall Street Journal and the Vox Daily email, as well as collaborate with student groups to further spread their message, Young said.
The committee is also working to add signs on Main Street and other high-traffic areas discouraging cyclists from riding on the sidewalk, which is illegal for those over age 12, Young said. The signs will go up over the weekend, he said.
The Hanover Police Department will also be more rigorous in reminding cyclists about what is and is not allowed, Young said, describing their planned actions as “gentle enforcement.”
Young said he had received a number of complaints from Hanover residents about Dartmouth students riding on the sidewalks. There are numerous accidents per year with pedestrians and cyclists, with mishaps occurring most commonly on West Wheelock Street and Crosby Street, Young said.
“I can’t tell you how many staff and faculty on campus and people in town have called and thanked me for doing this because they just saw a student do something unsafe,” Young said.
The majority of bicycle accidents in Hanover are caused by Dartmouth students, Young confirmed.
The College’s director of fitness Hugh Mellert, a founding member of the Hanover Bike and Pedestrian Committee, emphasized the importance of bike safety, saying he hopes to encourage bike riding for health and fitness — as long as it is practiced safely.
Advance Transit drivers, who circle campus daily, have also repeatedly reported run-ins with student cyclists, Mellert said.
“It’s not just campus but it spills over to downtown,” Mellert said.
Mellert said he hopes to hold programming to reach the freshman class every year in order to educate the thousand new members of campus.
Student pedestrians also cause issues, Mellert added, noting that a particular problem was students looking at their phones while walking into the street.
“It almost gets to the point that if you drive frequently on campus, you caution yourself in your driving,” Mellert said. “You’re always looking for that one student who’s going to pop out in the middle of a block and run across in front of you. You kind of have to drive differently when you’re around campus.”
Hanover town manager Julia Griffin said the problem of bike safety is prevalent in any college town. Hanover’s downtown is “relatively compact” and has especially narrow streets, she added, making for a challenging cycling environment.
Hanover has several roads which are simply not equipped to accommodate cyclists, and every time the town gets the opportunity to repave a road, they look to narrow the travel space for vehicles in order to create more space for bicycles, she said. Harsh seasons have kept recreational cyclists off the streets up until 10 or 15 years ago, Griffin said.
The majority of Hanover’s “bike versus vehicle” incidents have been Dartmouth students, Griffin said, though there have not been any incidents involving a collision with a cyclist and a pedestrian in a few years.
“Young adults tend to have this sort of ‘I’m immortal’ feeling about life,” Griffin said. “They’re young, and they’re not always as cognizant of risk, so they’re often taking chances on bicycles that an older adult wouldn’t feel comfortable taking or that a younger child would be told not to take.”
