The latest news about the 72 year old woman who was hit by a car while riding her bicycle across a busy intersection in Pleasanton is another scary example of how dangerous it is to ride bicycles around here. I am 73 and rode my tricycle from Fircrest Drive to the Walmart shopping center five blocks away. Now I worry that similar accident could be waiting for me.
As some of my readers know my driver's license was suspended last December. I need to go to Oakland to retake the driver's test. I moved to Villa San Ramon expecting to use the shuttle here to get around, but it only goes on certain days and requires signing up in advance. So I used my Tricycle to ride to the nearby Walmart shopping center.
The ride itself is easy. That's not the problem. The problem is the traffic on Alcosta Blvd and Fircrest. This isn't a heavy downtown intersection like the one in Pleasanton where the woman was hit, but there are still enough cars driving past me on Fircrest or making a tight right turn from Alcosta to Fircrest to worry me about the possibility of being hit.
I ride on the sidewalk along Alcosta to the Walmart. Even though there's a bike lane on Alcosta, I wouldn't take a chance of riding in the street.
I commented in my last blog about the slope of the driveways to and from Alcosta, but I'm not too worried about someone turning into or pulling out of a driveway while I'm walking my trike across it.
My biggest concern is the intersection between Fircrest and Alcosta on the ride back. There's no sidewalk on either side of Fircrest and cars are frequently parked along the sides of the street. Cars going up Fircrest so far don't speed and they go around my trike, but cars making a right turn from Alcosta onto Fircrest often cut that corner even when I'm crossing with the light. The fire station on the corner also has vehicles pulling in and out even if there isn't a fire.
I really need to get the suspension taken off my Driver's License. I'll feel safer in my truck than I do on my Trike.
