Davis students and community members alike demand greater bike safety, and rightly so

Support the creation of Lincoln’s Loop and beyond 

By THE EDITORIAL BOARD — opinion@theaggie.org

Biking has been synonymous with Davis since at least 1967, when it became the first city in the United States to create bike-only lanes on its streets. Around the same time — as a result of a movement started by Davis residents Frank and Eve Child — UC Davis roads became closed off from cars, resulting in the academic environment the campus maintains to this day.

Now, the city proudly wears its title as California’s, and even America’s, “Bicycle Capital”: bike racks accompany every parking lot, there are over 102 miles of designated bike lanes across the city and returning UC Davis students set up lawn chairs at the beginning of each year to sit and watch first-years navigate campus bike circles. 

Despite these lively and deep-rooted traditions, students and community members alike have noticed a contemporary gap in the city’s love for its reputation and the effort it puts forth into maintaining it. Davis’ bike infrastructure — including protected lanes, specialized traffic signals, adequate lighting and cycle tracks — has not been noticeably updated to meet the needs and high concentration of both bicycles and vehicles in the constantly growing city. As a result, the safety of cyclists has continuously been on the line. 

On April 13, fellow student Lincoln Sabini, a second-year sustainable agriculture and food systems major, was killed in a collision with a vehicle on Hutchison Drive while biking. Sabini is remembered as a beloved and active member of the community, with strong passions for farming, art, fashion, cycling and much more. 

In honor of Sabini, friends, family members, peers and concerned local residents have mobilized to create the Justice4Lincoln movement. The group’s demands are a result of not only Sabini’s death, but the loss of UC Davis student Trisha Yasay in 2022, who was hit and killed by a garbage truck while biking in the same area. 

Following Yasay’s death, there have been no visible changes to improve the lack of bike safety infrastructure on Hutchison Drive — a road that students bike on daily in a common commute from the West Village area to the main UC Davis campus. With a 45 mph speed limit, the road has no protected bike lanes or physical barriers between cyclists, pedestrians and vehicles. 

Justice4Lincoln is now pushing for the creation of the Lincoln Loop: a series of protected and connected bike paths along Hutchison Drive, Country Rd 98, Levee Road and Hopkins Road that will work to prevent future collisions in the West Campus area. 

On April 20, UC Davis released the draft of its sustainable transportation plan, Moving Forward Together (MFT). The very first two sentences of the draft read: “There are campuses that accommodate bicycles. And then there is UC Davis.” 

While the campus prides itself on its commitment to bike safety, the plan draft fails to fully address the gap in bike infrastructure quality in the west campus area, as noted by The Davis Enterprise. In the draft itself, West Campus is almost entirely omitted from the maps denoting areas where the campus plans to make infrastructure improvements. 

MFT Representative Katie Ferguson Hetrick explained that the appendix addressing potential transportation improvements to West Campus are in the process of being finalized before publication within the draft plan. The lack of clarity as to what these plans are — and if they will even adequately address the concerns and demands of community members — is reasonably frustrating. 

As of now, UC Davis administration has not voiced direct support of the Lincoln Loop or announced a tangible plan to increase bike safety along Hutchison Drive. If UC Davis and the City of Davis want to continue advertising themselves as “bike-friendly,” they must do better. Our fellow students, campus staff and Davis community members should not have to fear for their own wellbeing on daily commutes to work, to campus or back home. 

In solidarity with the Justice4Lincoln movement, we encourage you to sign their petition in support of the Lincoln Loop and follow them via Instagram, @justice4lincoln, to stay updated on the group’s needs and demands. 

The current outpour of student and community support has allowed organizers to begin connecting with campus leadership, according to their recent post. As of now, the group is looking to receive letters of support from staff and leaders that work in the West Campus area to further demonstrate the collective need for protected pathways to campus planners. Anyone with connections to these members of the community can be of service by connecting them with Justice4Lincoln.

Continuing to be outspoken about not only the movement’s efforts and demands, but Sabini’s life and story, can help ensure that UC Davis is held accountable and acknowledges the necessity of improved bike infrastructure on its campus. All Davis residents deserve the right to bike, walk and move freely in an environment developed to adequately keep them safe — a sentiment that extends not only beyond West Campus and into the heart of UC Davis, but across the entire city. 

Written by: The Editorial Board — opinion@theaggie.org