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Slow Down for Fairies

As a BWANH board member, we are encouraged to volunteer for the Granite State Wheelers annual Seacoast Century bike ride. By the time I signed up for a work assignment, only 2 positions remained unfilled. Both involved holding a sign for 5 hours along Marcy Street near Strawbery Banke and Prescott Park. The sign read: “RIDERS SLOW DOWN FOR THE FAIRIES.”

At best, I thought the text on the sign that Volunteer Coordinator Paula Fines provided seemed at risk of misinterpretation. Since there was already a paid Portsmouth police detail at the site, the 2 additional volunteers required seemed redundant to me. Thousands of 4000-pound motor vehicles travel through that section of Marcy Street every day without the requirement for a police officer and two volunteers. So, I initially thought, what’s the big deal with a thousand bicyclists?

The answer became clear when I arrived at Marcy Street at 10:00 am. Due to the annual Fairy House Tour, adults and children crossed Marcy Street between Strawbery Banke and Prescott Park all day, at the location where bicyclists and motorists tend to pick up speed from the higher ground, in both directions. Bicyclists especially, preparing for the impending elevation gain, may resist giving up their speed in order to yield at the busy mid-block crosswalks.

A wonderful Portsmouth police officer and 2 volunteers worked along a 750–foot segment of Marcy Street for the next 5 hours. Despite the shared lane use markings painted on the Marcy Street surface, …

….   bicyclists almost predictably tried to cut in front of the stopped line of motorists by squeezing down the curb line, only to threaten pedestrians in the crosswalks ahead. Other bicyclists would try to cut in front of a stopped motorist line by crossing the double yellow center line.

Most offending bicyclists were simply over-exuberant about this fun activity on this crisp, sunny and beautiful fall day. Most bicyclists apologetically complied with corrective instructions. Some bicyclists demonstrated a degree of belligerence, but generally even those bicyclists reluctantly complied. Only one scofflaw bicyclist all day deliberately ignored my directions, and got by me on my watch, fortunately with no incident downstream.

Hundreds of parents walking their children glanced over to acknowledge us and thank us for our presence that day. Beyond the prevention of needless injury to pedestrians, our presence as volunteer ambassadors for bicycling, and our work to control traffic that day, helped to lift both bicycling and bicyclists in the hearts of hundreds of parents and children.