KANSAS CITY, Mo. — When it’s time to take his three daughters to school, Ryan Mott doesn’t load them into a minivan. Instead, the Kansas City, Missouri, man straps helmets on his children - one aged 10 and 7-year-old twins - then places them in the cargo section of his e-bike.
The family lives less than one mile from school, and Mott often passes parents in cars stuck in the school pick-up and drop-off lines while using bike lanes.
“It took a while [for the girls] to get their balance, they were a little shaky at first,” Mott admitted.
He first started commuting to school via e-bike in the fall of 2021. Beginning in late 2021, Mott began recording footage of his rides with a new 360-degree camera. He’ll post videos highlighting interesting aspects, bad drivers and bicycling obstacles on his Twitter account, @omnay.
In one video, he bikes to school in 16 degree weather, proving you can bike during the winter.
“It’s all about layers and planning,” Mott said.
Most videos seem to showcase car drivers who don’t check bike lanes and pull in front of him, or begin turning without looking for bicycles. Mott recently installed a car-style horn on his bicycle.
“If anybody’s getting mad seeing a bike go by, it’s like you can do it too,” he said.
Mott hopes his videos encourage more people to bike. He didn’t begin biking until 2019. He got rid of his car in 2020 and would love to see more people follow suit.
He said the best way to encourage biking is to build and plan for it.
In 2020, the Kansas City, Missouri City Council adopted a “Vision Zero” initiative to prevent all traffic fatalities by 2030. Part of the plan to achieve the goal is to build more protected bike lanes. A cycle track along Gillham Road is one recent example.
“Laws and paint and signs can only do so much, but what we really could do is build more separated facilities,” Mott pointed out.
He’ll continue riding the kids to school, and running other errands on his bike, recording and posting each ride for anyone to follow along.
Kansas City is asking people to highlight problem areas it could address as part of the Vision Zero goal by using an interactive map on its website.
