Skate, bike policy bogus

The Metropolitan
Editorial

News: Auraria added cement blockades on campus to enforce its dismount policy for skaters, bikers and skateboarders.

Views: The policy is stupid.

So much for alternative transportation.

Aurariaās policy, supposedly instituted for the safety of students, makes it next to impossible for students to ride bikes or rollerblade to school. Sure, blades, bikes and skateboards arenāt banned ÷ exactly ÷ itās just that students must quit using them once they arrive on campus.

Ridiculous.

This not only encourages students to drive to school, which pollutes the air, adds to gridlock and, most important to Auraria ÷ adds money to parking revenue ÷ it makes alternative transportation less appealing to the few who choose to use it.

The little blue signs that served as notice to dismount have gone largely ignored, hence the new yellow versions at nearly every entrance.

Students had the right idea ignoring the blue signs.

One of the benefits of biking or skating to school is not having to arrive early to park a car and walk the extra 5 to 10 minutes to class.

Auraria will have you believe itās concerned with the safety of its students and that bikers and skaters present a threat. Granted, an idiot on skates or a bike could hurt someone. But as with driving a car, the person controlling the bike or skates is responsible for making sure no one gets hurt. And the person riding the bike or skating is in just as much danger of being injured as the person on foot. Not so with cars.

So with Aurariaās rationale, cars should not be allowed in the parking lot because the driver might be careless enough to run down a pedestrian.

It makes no sense to restrict bikers and skaters, who by virtue of their own vulnerability to injury, are far more careful than most drivers.

And with the strict new ban ÷  why do we still have Auraria employees zooming around campus in little golf carts?

Campus officials should spend more time dealing with real problems such as bike theft and car break-ins rather than making life difficult for students who use alternative transportation.
polypolypoly