Word to wise on bike trails: onyerleft!

2 men on a mission hope to spread courtesy, safety

Steve Lutz and Dave Kuhlmann are men on a mission who think they can change the world with three little words, which they actually have turned into just one little word to make it even easier for everybody.

Onyerleft.

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Sun-Times columnist Mark Brown

That's "on your left," short for "passing on your left," for those who don't recognize the lingo.

It's a basic item of etiquette they believe is too often missing on recreation paths in the Chicago area.

Some of you think of these as bike trails, and others as walking paths, and therein lies the problem.

Throw in the joggers and the roller bladers and the families out for a summer stroll with the kids or the dog, and you've got conflicting uses, tons of them, with no well-defined rules of the road to resolve the conflicts.

And that's where the "onyerleft" campaign comes in.

If nothing else, Lutz and Kuhlmann say, a lot of potential problems could be solved if folks just took a moment to politely announce their presence by calling out "onyerleft" before passing -- on the left.

Lutz and Kuhlmann came to the conclusion that something needed to be done after years of running and biking on the Illinois Prairie Path, the 61-mile recreational jewel that runs from Maywood to Wheaton with branches to Elgin and Aurora. As they started to bring their own families along, they noticed it was getting dangerous out there.

"People just have no clue about any etiquette about what to say or do," said Lutz, 44, of Glen Ellyn.

It's the same story if you're on the Chicago lakefront path or, as my wife and I were Sunday, on the path through Busse Woods.

We had a great time biking. I couldn't believe how good Busse Woods looked, better than I could remember seeing it. The trash picked up. The bathrooms in working order. Lots of smiling faces. If the Forest Preserve could keep all its properties in that condition, it wouldn't need any silly ad campaign to prop up the commander in chief.

But the trail was crowded, and that always creates a certain amount of tension. On top of your basic congestion created by the sheer numbers, you've got your cyclists in the nifty outfits who think they're training for the Tour de France as they zip past unannounced at top speed, as well as couples cluelessly riding side by side while yakking without any recognition that there are two lanes and they're using both of them.

Throw in the folks walking on the left because they truly don't know any better, and it can get a little tense out there.

While I'd like to see somebody develop a simple code of courtesy that could be posted on signs at all the area bike paths, I agree that calling out "onyerleft" is a great place to start.

"What we found is that people appreciate it," Lutz said.

What I've found is that some do and some don't, but either way, they know you're there -- assuming they can hear you through the music coming through their ear buds.

Actually, maybe the best place to start is with the basic recognition that everybody has the right to be out there -- from the fastest to the slowest -- as long as they take into account the safety of others.

That means facing the fact the speedsters might have to slow it down some during peak usage periods or that the slowpokes should walk or ride single file when someone is trying to pass -- whether oncoming or travelling in the same direction.

"Everybody should know that you don't own the path yourself," Lutz said. "It's safety first out there. It isn't your own private playground. It's for everybody to enjoy."

Lutz and Kuhlmann, who work as phone clerks at the Chicago Board of Trade, have pitched their onyerleft campaign to the Chicago Park District and put it on T-shirts to advance their cause. They've also started a Web site to try to sell onyerleft gear, which doesn't float my boat, but I can't blame them for trying.

I'm not trying to tell you this is the most important cause in the world, but I'd like to think if we got more people to follow their lead, our little part of it would be safer and happier.