Would you bike more if you had a separated lane?
Riding your bike everywhere is a great way to get some exercise, save money on gas, and reduce your carbon footprint, but let's face it -- it's no walk in the park. Most cities don't have adequate bike lanes or shoulders to separate bike and motor traffic. Because of this small oversight by city engineers, there's somewhat of a war going on between motorists and bikers on the roadways each day: drivers annoyed at cyclists for slowing up traffic and bikers annoyed -- and frightened -- at the high speed traffic swerving around them constantly.
Is there an easy answer to end the hostility between bikers and drivers? I don't know how easy it would be to execute, but creating separated bike lanes would no doubt go a long way toward preventing cars and bikers from coming into physical contact -- and that's never a pleasant experience. This video from StreetFilms takes a good even-handed look at what could be done in NYC, but the debate seems to be going on all over the country. Maybe it's time for city planners to start looking at the bike as a legitimate form of transportation?
[via Treehugger]
Is there an easy answer to end the hostility between bikers and drivers? I don't know how easy it would be to execute, but creating separated bike lanes would no doubt go a long way toward preventing cars and bikers from coming into physical contact -- and that's never a pleasant experience. This video from StreetFilms takes a good even-handed look at what could be done in NYC, but the debate seems to be going on all over the country. Maybe it's time for city planners to start looking at the bike as a legitimate form of transportation?
[via Treehugger]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-26-2008 @ 11:16AM
Miker said...
I would bike more if there was a better job pulling bad drivers off the street.
All too often I see people on their cell phones weaving in and out of bile lanes... Or whipping around a corner without stopping... Just way too dangerous for my tastes..
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3-26-2008 @ 2:32PM
Roger said...
I do ride my bike for certain errands. I would ride more if the bike lanes were wider - preferably protected from auto traffic which is pretty fast around here. And like an earlier posted wrote, it's common for drivers to make really fast right turns in front of me while I'm in the bike lane. I've tried riding on sidewalks if there are no pedestrians, but I've noticed that more cars seem to turn right in front of me probably because it's harder to see me.
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3-26-2008 @ 3:28PM
Chris M. said...
The timeliness of this article is uncanny considering my City just announced today that they're going to be spending a million a year for the next five years. Still probably not enough:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/calgary/story/2008/03/26/cgy-bicycle-plan.html
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