Cyclist calls for protected bike lanes in Columbus after incident with driver
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- A cyclist is advocating for biking infrastructure in Columbus after a driver threw a drink at him while riding on Wednesday.
The attack marked the second in a week, after the first incident occurred in southwest Columbus. A suspect has been arrested and charged with assault. The second incident happened Wednesday night in the Linden area.
“When he decided to stop the car and get out of the car that’s where things got bad," Ben Keith said.
Keith was riding his e-bike back from some errands, including a community meeting where he talked with people about biking infrastructure in the city. His GoPro camera caught the incident. He said the driver of the car involved was tailgating and driving aggressively. The car drove past Keith then came to a screeching stop.
“There is, I'll call it a road rage problem in Columbus where there are drivers who believe the road is for their exclusive use," said Keith.
He said the driver yelled something at him, then he responded by saying, "Learn to drive." The driver then got out and threw a drink at Keith. Keith continued riding away. He has some scrapes and a bruise. He said he's thankful it wasn't worse, and said the incident is one of many examples of why Columbus needs more bicycle infrastructure.
“Columbus is behind its peer cities in building our protected bike infrastructure and building out bike infrastructure in general," he said. "We need infrastructure that allows people to ride on our roads safely and it's not just for people like me who can afford an e-bike, and who can choose to ride a bicycle instead of choosing to drive, it's for people who have no other option than riding a bicycle."
Vision Zero Columbus works to make the city safer for everyone.
"There's also people that have some road rage and that's inappropriate. Everyone has a right to commute however they choose whatever their means are, whether its biking, walking, driving, taking transit, we all have a right to get where we want to go and how we choose to do that," said Maria Cantrell, Vision Zero's Coordinator.
She said a pilot program for a protected bike lane on Long street is in the works. She also agreed the city overall needs more infrastructure for cyclists.
"We intend to increase protected bike lanes by at least 25 more miles of enhanced bike throughout the city. "Our only protected bike lane in Columbus is on Summit and we know thats nowhere near enough. We’re going to do better with the next phase of our Vision Zero Action Plan. That’ll be coming out in the next few weeks."