Conversations with the League of Michigan Bicyclists

Mark Huizenga: Well, here, ⁓ here we are again with another episode of conversations with Mark today. We're really excited to have with us, Bill Brennan. Bill is an active member of the league of Michigan cyclists. Bicyclists. Yeah. LMB. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. ⁓ well, what an exciting time to be a cyclist because in West Michigan, we have a lot of trails ⁓ and we have a lot of new trails, but we also have connections coming on right now. And I remember when I was a kid biking on the side of the road, Wilson Avenue, ⁓ 11. There's like a small strip of pavement and semis are whizzing past you or I was in middle school driving down 28th Street with a big maybe seven or eight inches of roadway to go by. Absolutely insane taking your life in your hands. Today we're making it safer, better and more connected. the goal. mean, cycling for ⁓ most of us was our first real dose of freedom as a child. Like you could leave the block, you could go a mile away and then still get back home. And we all have memories of our first rides and our first crashes and our groups. different now and it needs to be different. ⁓ know, people need to wear helmets nowadays because of the recognition that even a low speed fall over can really painful and be a real problem ⁓ if you're wearing a helmet. But You know, having dedicated trails and green spaces on long side of roads is a big advantage for being able to get around on a bike nowadays recreationally, but also I think real importantly is to be able to use bicycles for transportation. cheap way to get a few miles in, to get to work, to get to stores for people who don't have the extra money for a car or a second car to be able to get around. ⁓ We need to consider all of those uses when we set our public policy nowadays. Well, we've got this greenway bill that we passed a number of years ago where we're going to start to see ⁓ all these different trails converge and connect. ⁓ We're going to see this in Grand Rapids. So you'll able to take bike from downtown Grand Rapids all the way out to Holland beach. You can take it out to a Millennium park and go north on the Fred Meyer trail and get on the, the trail to the west and go right to Muskegon, or you can go to. Get on the white pine trail and go to Cadillac and then a big one is this tunnel and the connectivity out to Lowell and and communities to the east so the connectivity that's happening right now is really unprecedented. it's it's fantastic the the trails This this tunnel that's going to go under Northland Drive. I think it's just ⁓ north of Kansasburg Road It's going to be a big deal because crossing the Beltline is not safe. I do it frequently and you're always you have to have like six eyes to make sure that you aren't causing any problems but having Tunnel there and you know, we'll be able to get to Lowell But then there's a trail that goes from Lowell to Greenville and there are trails up there that go further east so connecting Michigan I think ⁓ is going ⁓ be an enhanced opportunity for You know more dollars spent on people coming into the state and enjoying our natural resources Well, I don't think we can underestimate the impact of safety too. I remember when I was mayor of Walker, we did that tunnel underneath M45 Lake Michigan drive in Standale, right? Just east of downtown Standale. And I remember asking some donors for some money and they said, well, we have to go out and lay eyes on this and do our due diligence to make sure this is good. Now there was an intersection about a quarter of a down the road, but it's human nature to say, let's take the path of least resistance and let's just go right across. And this organization, sent a few field people out there to check out the field and see once how safe it was or not. And what did they find? They said, we're going to give you the money because this is like watching Frogger people crossing over these lanes, trying to get through to make sure they don't get hit. to create safe passageway is really important. And we've done a really good job of that in West Michigan. Yeah. And, and ⁓ use is developed. It's, actually a, a growth industry right now through the electric bikes. So electric bikes are giving greater access to cycling. to a lot of people who would be reluctant to ride or ride very far from their homes. And it's an important part of the league of Michigan bicyclists work right now is advocating with respect to how to regulate electric bikes because there is some confusion right now regarding what's an electric bike and what's into area called e-motos, which are bikes that are going faster than 30 miles an hour. What we're to do is make sure that Policy setters like yourself and throughout the state both statewide and in local communities understand the differences between what's a true e-bike and what is an e-moto and what needs to be regulated and what already is under a regime of regulation that really works well. So right now we have a lot of confusion about e-moto. it almost like saying like e-moto is like the mopeds from like maybe when I was a kid. Yeah, they had a little motor on them. They'd go a lot faster than the regular bikes. And if I understand it, I've never ridden an e-bike, so I don't know, but it seems like the e-bikes are really like, you still need to pedal them. And you're still part of that process. Maybe not quite as much, but they give you the assistance to make it up and down the big hills. But it also helps you get out there. You're still getting exercise and it lets you get around. So in 2017, Michigan passed a law. I don't know if you were part of it back then, but it's still a solid law and it works. And it separates e-bikes into three classifications. Class one is under 750 watts. It can't go faster than 20 miles an hour. It has full working pedals and no throttle. So, and those bikes are allowed on like the White Pine Trail. Class two is the same thing except it does have a throttle. So they don't want throttled bikes on the White Pine Trail. And class three has full working pedals as well, but it can go up to 28 miles an hour and they don't want those faster bikes on the White Pine Trail either. But these new e-motos go beyond 30 miles an hour and actually a lot more than 30 miles an hour. Some of them go up to 60 miles an hour. they're being marketed as class four bikes. there is no such thing as a class four bike under the law. And they're being, they're working in a gray area with respect to registration, calling them dirt bikes and the like. But you see young people using them on the roads and there's no limitation as to how old you need to be to buy one of these things. So you've got people under driving age, unlicensed, who can drive 45, 50 miles an hour on these bikes. And they just aren't being actively regulated in the state. And ⁓ it's gray area of where new technology is kind of bypass the regulatory framework. And what we're concerned about is that people see these things and say, oh, those are bad e-bikes. We need to change the law on all e-bikes. And if we do that, we're going to really cut off what's been a great growth in the industry, a growth of use, and usefulness in terms of cycling, which happens with our traditional e-bikes. Well, and then you run into the issue of enforcement. Who's going to enforce the bike on the trail? Do we need to have? law enforcement on there and it's complicated. as, as technology continues to progress, as new technology is out there that people want, maybe the, the legislation has to catch up to it and, and put things in place. And I mean, I think that's the, that's the long-term, that's why we have legislators that meet all the time anyways, because technology and things happen and change. I mean, if you think about it, you really don't want the family ⁓ like two young kids and the mom and dad going down some trail and all of a sudden. suddenly having somebody going 60 miles an hour, that's just way too fast. Little kids out there for their first bike ride, you don't want them to be hit. Or even 35, Mark. And as we have this fabulous trail system being built for us, I mean, there people walking their dogs on those trails as well. We can't go too fast on them and we can't vehicles, which is what they really are, two-wheeled, but vehicles that aren't designed for that kind of usage to be out there. We do need to think through the regulation with respect to this that's ahead. But it is exciting. mean, having bicycles more engaged with everything that we do. I mean, those of us who have been fortunate to go to Europe and walk in Amsterdam and see what it's like to have a real bicycle-centric community. It's just alive and people are healthy and it's something that we should, ⁓ West Michigan its Dutch heritage should aspire to. Well, I think we're embracing it. Obviously by the ⁓ just the notion of using these trails and connecting them. So we're we're moving in that direction is just taking us a little bit longer than the Europeans, I guess. You you were in my office a couple of months ago with your advocates talking about policies that you like and don't like. And you brought up something to me that sounded absolutely absurd. But the more we talked about it, the more I gave pause. And I think that's It's a normal response that people have of like, wait a minute, does this even make sense? And you call it something like the Idaho stop. Idaho stop law. Yeah. So in the eighties, ⁓ the state of Idaho passed this law, which made no sense. It's it allows a cyclist to treat a stop sign like a yield sign and a stop light a stop sign. And ⁓ the reason isn't to give ⁓ cyclists any favorable position, but Actually, intersections are by far the most dangerous places for cyclists. 26 % of all accidents, fatal accidents happen at intersections. And the reason is cyclists are stopped and they're basically ducks. So they're open to the traffic that's passing. Every second that a cyclist stays in an intersection, they're exposed. And then they have to restart. And when we restart, you're going very slow at first, you gotta get your speed going, and you're out in the intersection at that point, and you're going your slowest pace. Then you're a real outlier, you're not going really slow. Then you're really exposed. Then you're that everybody coming to that intersection sees you and respects that you're going as fast as you can, and you're trying to get out of their way. So what this law does is allows a cyclist to use their momentum for their own safety. Obviously, as they enter the intersection, they have to yield to traffic that's got the right of way. And if a cyclist fails to do that and gets themselves in an accident, that's a cyclist's fault. But cyclists also knows that any crash, they're gonna lose. So they're paying very close attention to all directions, but they can use their momentum to clear that intersection as quickly as possible. What Idaho found very quickly is the fatalities dropped by almost 15%. Delaware then did it and found out that fatalities dropped the next year by 23%. So 11 states have now allowed the Idaho stop to be part of law and it's dropped bicycle accidents everywhere it's been adopted. So we're trying to get awareness here in Michigan and hopefully it can be passed here eventually too. It's one of those really counterintuitive ideas. I remember when somebody told me once that if you had a five lane road, two lanes in one direction, two lanes the other direction and a center lane, that that was not the most efficient way to travel and not the safest. And again, this was back when I was mayor and they were talking about it. So, well, what is the safest? And they said, well, if you had a bike lane on one side, on each side, then you had a single lane, each moving direction, and then you had a center turn lane. So really a three lane road, that that's actually a better and safer way for traffic to flow. It doesn't even make any sense. Well, because we've been so accustomed to what it looks like. And it's kind of like when you're in elementary school and the police officer comes in and talks about bicycle safety, you have to follow the same rules as the cars and things like this. But as technology changes, as the mindset changes, realize that not everything is the same. so ⁓ outside the box is important. And so once told me that, I thought I thought you were crazy, honestly, at first. Well, a lot of people think I'm crazy. But the idea sounds so counterintuitive because we've been so ingrained by it, but recognizing that 11 other states have done it and there's data to support it. We'll see once where this goes, but I'm intrigued by it a little bit. That's encouraging. I mean, again, we're hoping to create an environment that everybody can enjoy on a bike ⁓ and at least respect those people who are out there on a bike. But I was just talking to my dentist today. He just moved back to Rapids Charleston, South Carolina. He said he loved Charleston when he moved there. He had a 15 minute commute to work. became a 50 minute commute to work. And that's why he left and came back to Grand Rapids. And we are happy to have him, but we don't want Grand Rapids to become a place where, you know, this focus on ⁓ automotive transportation turns us into a gridlock community. And it's, ⁓ could happen if we just let it. So you've had a chance to ride on bike trails and things all over the place from West Michigan to Europe. Do you have a favorite trail that you or favorite ride that you recommend? Yeah. One of my favorites is one I do frequently here right in Kent County. It's in your district. ⁓ We start out at ⁓ Forest Hills High School and we go a little south from there to Two Mile Road and then start heading east and a number of roads that are winding going east and west and further east. all the way to Alden Nash and then we'll work our way back. And we finish, it's almost finished on a real steep hill on Three Mile Road, which is just west of Egypt Valley. it is a lot of hills out there. Yeah. It's a butt kicker hill and it really, get to the top of that hill and you know, you're done with all the challenging parts of the ride. It's kind of slightly downhill all the way back to the high school. And it's just a fantastic ride. do it either 19 miles or 26 miles, depending on whether we go all the way East and Honestly, that is an absolute favorite. I do it frequently and when you get it in the evening in the autumn, wear headlights ⁓ and into the night. And it's just a wonderful place. In all of Michigan, I think my favorite ride is a road ride out of Harbor Springs. Everybody knows it as the Tunnel of Trees up to Cross Village. It's 21 miles each way and it's just and not very heavily trafficked at all. Worldwide, you know, I've done Alpe d'Huez a couple times in France and that's a very special piece of real estate and again, a real challenge. So lots of great cycling and, but you know, a lot of great cycling right here in East, in West Michigan. Yeah. It's fabulous. I got to tell you, when I was a kid, I used to do the rides with the Rapid Wheelman. ⁓ yeah. And we do, you know, like a hundred mile ride ⁓ in a day. there's a ⁓ hundred grand, called it. And did, I did the ⁓ Michigan national 24 hour. marathon once, but I didn't make the whole 24 hours. I made it the whole ride around Kent County, up those hills that are just killing you. And the first hundreds, a lot of work. And then you get to the second loop and then the third loop is smaller. And it just, I said, I'm going to just take, I'm going to just lay down in my tent for just a minute and rest. that was, yeah, but something for everybody. There's something for everybody in West Michigan. And thanks for sharing your stories today. Bill Brennan. Thanks for your time. Thank you. Thank you for your service.