Cyclist John Andrew Williams says he felt confident riding around Houston, until one night two years ago when he was rear-ended by a truck. The accident left him with head and spinal injuries.
As for the driver who hit him, Williams said he didn’t get cited until three months later.
“The fact that I was on a bike and the guy could just say, ‘Well, I didn’t see him.’ I felt like that’s a get out of jail free card,” Williams said.
Houston City Council approved a Safe Passing Ordinance in 2013, but Bike Houston’s Regina Garcia says cyclists remain apprehensive, considering there were four bikes fatalities during a recent three-week period.
Appearing on Houston Matters, Garcia says the city’s aging infrastructure is also a problem.
“You know if there are a lot of potholes and gravel, that can kind of throw you off balance,” said Garcia. “And just the aggressive driving more than anything. I think its what kind of gets under your skin and puts the fear into you.”
Garcia says Houston has a good bike trail system that can get riders lots of places. But there are other areas you simply can’t get to on a bike, like the Galleria.
The city says it’s addressing those issues as it works to update Houston’s Comprehensive Bikeway Plan, which was first adopted in 1993.