How To Get More Americans To Use Bicycles
In the U.S. regular cyclists are usually athletic men braving dangerous traffic. To get the rest of the population riding bicycles, the U.S. should look at successful solutions implemented around the world.
"Cycle tracks?...No! Those lanes are easily blocked by vehicles attempting to park. And they leave cyclists within inches of fast cars and monster trucks...Cycle tracks...are actually a separated part of the roadway yet distinct from the roadway, distinct from the sidewalk. In their purest form -- Odense, Denmark, where 50 percent of all city journeys are by bicycle -- the paths even have their own traffic signals."
"Another solution, tried on relatively wide streets in Bogota, Paris, London and elsewhere, is to move the parking lane several feet from the sidewalk, creating a new lane for cyclists between the sidewalk and parked cars."
"if the numbers of Americans who bike regularly remain overwhelmingly male and macho...huge portions of the American population -- women, seniors, children on their way to school, and men who use more caution -- will never join in."
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We are way behind...
When traveling in Vienna last year, I was absolutely awed by the system of bike lanes available there. Everyone rode their bkies, and they could do it without danger of being smooshed by some oversized behemoth. Granted, most of the cars there are considerably smaller than the tanks we see in the states. But the bike lane system left me very envious. I live about a mile and a half from where I work, however to bike there would mean playing chicken with cars zooming onto two freeway onramps in both directions, without even a painted bike lane for protection. I would love to do it, but it terrifies me.