City of Kirkland needs to respond to growing problem on the Cross Kirkland Corridor | Letter

Published 1:45 pm Monday, July 13, 2015

My husband and I are frequent users of the Cross Kirkland Corridor trail, hiking for an hour at a time on a daily basis. A serious and growing pedestrian safety issue is emerging, and it’s time the City did something about it.

Lately, during our daily walks, we’ve experienced multiple incidents of being nearly run over by cyclists who are speeding down the trail but can’t be bothered to alert the pedestrians ahead of them. There was one time several days ago when my husband literally had to jump out of the way of a guy who was going so fast but wouldn’t take the time to ring his bell or yell “on your left” to give us some warning; we heard the sound of his bike approaching too late. Yesterday morning during the course of an hour, five bikes passed us from behind with no warning whatsoever – nothing. This is not how they do it on the Sammamish Slough trail, nor at Green Lake. It’s extremely ironic that one of those dangerous cyclists who didn’t alert us was wearing a helmet with a flashing light – for his personal safety, of course. We’ve taken to constantly craning our necks behind us to make sure there are no bikes in view, which is still not a foolproof method since the trail has some blind curves.

The failure of many cyclists to follow proper protocol warning pedestrians ahead of them is becoming a major problem. I don’t see this situation getting better; in fact, as the trail gains popularity it’s going to get worse. Serious accidents are inevitable, and I can see pedestrians eventually opting out of using the trail because of irresponsible cyclists. Wouldn’t that defeat the purpose of the trail? We are, however, grateful to those few respectful bikers we’ve encountered who are safety-focused and give ample warning of their approach, slowing down as they pass the foot traffic.

What can the City do to address this problem? Put up signage at regular intervals requiring cyclists to warn pedestrians? Contact major employers in the area (e.g., Google) to educate their cyclist commuters on “rules of the road?” Restrict the trail to pedestrians only? Help.

Zita Petkus, Kirkland