KALAMAZOO (WKZO-AM/FM) — The Kalamazoo Bicycle Club has printed up 100 yard signs promoting the five-foot bicycle buffer that local motorists are required to observe in some locales.
Kalamazoo, Portage, Oshtemo and Kalamazoo Township have all approved the ordinance.
The signs, funding by the Dalmac Fund. have all been distributed, but others are available at local bike shops. They say they hope to make rear window or bumper stickers promoting the buffer available for cars.
Grand Rapids has a similar buffer, but legislation sponsored by state Sen. Margaret O’Brien, R-Portage, imposing it statewide has failed to move, Texas Township actually rejected the idea and no other local township has taken it up.
The driver involved in this week’s bike fatality on Portage Road came from Hartford and it’s not clear if he knew about the local ordinance or whether it would have made a difference.
