Why is Riding a Bicycle in the City Turning Into a Culture War
Why is Riding a Bicycle in the City Turning Into a Culture War
Here are some key reasons why a safety and efficiency issue is turning into a bicycle culture war.
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Forcing bikes into conflict with cars is of course going to create problems. When I first started riding being on a sidewalk was fine. If that wasn’t available there was usually a sufficiently wide breakdown lane. Only fools and couriers rode in busy urban environments. But with the big push for bikes both municipally and on the basis of personal preference they had to get bikes out of conflict wirh pedestrians on sidewalks, but in built-up urban environments where there isn’t any room to put in proper bike lanes. It’s just a recipe for inflamed tempers. Even on roads that are more suburban, a couple of 18mph bikes blocking a 45 mph road is stupid even if they have a right to be there. But we need more bikes.
This is such a crazy take. You want me going 15mph on the sidewalk?
No, we'd want cyclists going a sensible speed on the sidewalk when the road is too dangerous to cycle on.
Frankly if a road has traffic going >30mph on it, I'm not cycling on it without a dedicated cycle lane, and I don't just mean a thin line painted in the gutter.
I literally said we had to remove the bikes from sidewalks to separate them from pedestrians. What’s crazy about that?
what is crazy is 45mph stroads in the suburbs
Why is that crazy? Busy roads in suburban areas are quite often in the 45-35mph range. My street is 30. The main road it connects to is 45. The major road that connects to is also 45. Where I lived previously was 40.
it's far too fast for residential areas, even for access roads they should probably be restricted to 30mph until you get out of the residential area. The main problem is of course the high speeds are dangerous, discouraging mixed use of roads in residential areas. it's one of the reasons americans in suburbs can't imagine walking somewhere, along with zoning law issues of course.
it's really part of a couple of interconnected issues with american suburb design (in my opinion as a non-american who has only visited some suburbs in the us)
No, riding on the sidewalk was never "fine". I know it FEELS more safe, but cyclists are struck more often and killed more often per km of sidewalk than road. And I am never okay with pushing risk off on other people because I'm afraid to accept it myself; even if riding on the sidewalk were safer for me, it is less safe for everyone else, so I don't fucking do it.
Dude(ette), I’m over 50. It was “fine” in the sense that it was what we all did and there were rarely any rules against it. I don’t know where you’re getting that I said it was acceptable in the modern context, in fact I stated pretty much the opposite. You’re making controversy where there really isn’t any.
I am 47 and this has been the case my entire life. We have data.