Read UIC's policy on "Policy on E-Scooters and Other Low-Speed, Motorized Personal Transportation Devices on Campus" - https://policies.uic.edu/uic-policy-library/facilities-and-safety/policy...
Here are some links that direct you to UIUC's bike safety quizzes!
Links to Share – share these links with anyone who’s interested in taking the quiz. Feel free to post on social media, websites, etc.
Daily Illini published an article on the recent cyclist collision with an MTD bus by Transit Plaza: https://dailyillini.com/news-stories/2023/02/13/mtd-campus-resources-res...
MTD, campus resources respond to recent cyclist collision
A student races past on a bike on South Wright Street in one of the University’s many bike lanes.
February 13, 2023
Following the recent incident on Wright Street involving a cyclist and an MTD bus, MTD said that the bus “was operating safely” and not at fault for the collision.
“We do not know what caused the cyclist to swerve toward the side of the bus, but we do know the bus was operating safely outside the bike lane and did not take action to cause contact,” said Amy Snyder, chief of staff at MTD, in an email.
According to Snyder, road safety is one of the MTD’s top priorities which they achieve through training.
“MTD maintains an extensive training program to on-board and retrain current Operators to drive safely in our busy campus environment,” Snyder said. “It involves classroom curriculum, simulated environments and on-the-street instruction.”
The overall number of bike crashes has significantly decreased over the past few years, according to the Illinois Climate Action Plan portal. That may be due to improvements in bike infrastructure on campus, according to Steven Breitwieser, a spokesperson for University Facilities & Services.
“In the last 10-15 years, the University has improved bicycle infrastructure to provide a safer, more convenient and enjoyable experience for bicyclists,” Breitwieser said. “These efforts emphasize better connecting the campus bike network with surrounding communities.”
Most of those infrastructure changes are a part of the University’s Campus Bicycle Master Plan published in 2014.
However, the accidents still occur and, according to Campus Bike Center Coordinator Jacob Benjamin, students continue to express concerns regarding road safety.
“Most of our education really is face to face with folks that come in,” Benjamin said. “Generally, the safety concerns are related to being able to be seen well at night.”
To increase safety and spread awareness among cyclists, the Campus Bike Center provides various resources.
“We try to educate folks more on defensive bike riding, as well as predictable bike riding,” Benjamin said. “There’s the Illinois bike safety quiz that the League of American cyclists puts out. We encourage everybody to take that. And we have a bike map that was put together and distributed by Champaign County bikes that we’ve been giving out, and this has all the safe bike routes listed on it.”
Regarding road safety concerns, Campus Bike Center recommends avoiding “busy” streets on campus, considering the increased traffic.
“We’d certainly recommend riding on quieter side streets and less busy major streets because traffic is just a lot higher,” Benjamin said.
According to Benjamin, bike and road safety depends on both the awareness of cyclists and infrastructure on campus.
“Infrastructure improvements are always welcome, but awareness and education about how to ride safely is important as well,” Benjamin said. “Transportation systems are kind of an ecosystem of cars, cyclists, pedestrians, buses — all play a role in creating a safe transportation system.”
In fall 2022, the university has seen a great increase in the number of e-scooters, skateboards, and e-bikes on campus. Sarthak Prasad reached out to University Housing in summer 2022 to discuss whether University Housing has any plans to install any infrastructure for students living in Residence Halls to charge their e-bikes or scooters or skateboards batteries in their dorm rooms.
Other universities have also seen similar situation on their campuses, however, due to the fire safety risk involved, they also do not allow these in their dorm rooms.
University Housing confirmed that at this time, they have not received any query from students regarding the charging of their e-bikes, scooters, or skateboards. They also emphasized that the University does not allow these vehicles inside university facilities, including dormitories, (see CAM FO-35: In-Line Skates, Roller Skates, Skateboards, e-Scooters, and Self-Balancing Personal Transportation Devices).
They also shared the same concern regarding these batteries being fire hazards and referred to the Fire Safety policy (see attached) created in 2020 in collaboration with F&S Safety & Compliance.
The Conference of Conduct Governance (CCG) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has approved the changes proposed to the §2-605 Operation of Bicycles section of the Student Code during their June 2021 meeting. The Student Code will be updated with the following information over the summer 2021 in digital and printed format.
Please see attached the previous version of this section versus the updated information.
The University Bicycle Ordinance was updated in October 2020. Please see attached the document or go to go.illinois.edu/bikeordinance.
Parkland students may want to consider biking, as it affords them an opportunity to exercise and is an ecofriendly way of getting around. There are dangers associated with cycling though, and there are laws that must be followed to ensure your safety while cycling.
Link to the article: http://www.prospectusnews.com/2017/09/06/cyclists-have-same-rights-as-cars/
The University Bicycle Ordinance, referenced in CAM VIII-22. Bicycle Regulations, was approved by the CAM committee on May 15, 2014. The plan was to have enforcement of the ordinance to begin at the start of the Fall 2014 semester. During the fall semester, enforcement would be focused on education, with only safety-related citations being issued.
The link below is the approved version of the ordinance.
