[SDCBC] FW: Bikes vs Cars. An NBC news story in L.A.

[Serge Issakov]

At least they acknowledged the concept of cyclists acting like vehicle
drivers, though they misrepresented what it is ("bikes acting like cars"),
did not give a hint about how well it works, and basically quickly dismissed
it ("just won't work in L.A" - no mention of why) and moved on to the tired
old "solution": separation of cyclists from motor traffic through the use
of  "facilities".

The clip of the KFI road cyclist Michael Clarke at 0:55 being closely passed
in a narrow lane looked like it was a typical southern CA arterial, the type
on which Dan Gutierrez and Brian DeSousa have filmed and shown dramatically
the effect of riding as far right as Clarke is shown to be riding versus
riding just a couple of feet further left.  In the former case  -- using the
Clarke "separation style", if you will --  most drivers are invited to pass
by squeezing into the narrow lane with the cyclist, just like it was shown
on this news report.  In the latter case, by riding in a lane-controlling
position, everyone changes lanes to pass, and the cyclist has plenty of
room.

In addition to his riding style, Clarke reveals why he has the issues that
he has through his own words of deference, "there is no sense of sharing, it
is a battle for space.  I have to battle for my five inches out there".
Battle?  Five inches?  Can anyone say, "self-fulfilling prophecy"?  At the
end of the piece, at 3:22, Clarke discloses more about his sense of
inferiority: "Right now the cars rule.  It's their road.  And it's my job to
go in there and figure a way in and out of them".

What can we do to get cyclists to stop talking and, more importantly, to
stop thinking like this?

Dan/Brian - any chance you can share a link to that clip?

Serge



On 2/8/07, Darryl MacKenzie <DarrylMacKenzie at cox.net> wrote:
>
> Interesting story from a former Cyclo-Vet.
>
> Hi All,
>
> I just saw a news story on NBC, Channel 4, LA.  It was called "Road Wars"
> and was a news exclusive about bikes vs. cars. I taped it and then had the
>
> story uploaded to YouTube. The news previews made it look like a hard
> hitting and scary piece for cyclists. They could have done a lot better
> with
> the story. Check it out and see for yourself.
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbeDxOHfT68
> Troy
>
>
>
>
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