[SDCBC] all road users need education

[Serge Issakov]

I agree, John, but only to an extent.

That is, better education of all motorists is an excellent idea, but I think
the alleged "need" for it tends to be way overblown, particularly with
respect to making cycling in traffic "safe".  I have a particular distaste
for the implication that riding in traffic is not safe, and will not be
safe, until motorists are better educated, or cyclists are physically
separated.  That implication makes cycling seem much more dangerous than it
actually is, and is hardly a boon to making cycling be more popular.

But as far as Gene's point about reaching all road users regarding the
spreading of the knowledge that Dan wrote about, yes, training through
existing channels is probably a good idea.  But I don't know how we get that
to happen.  In the mean time, I would like to at least see the information
spread within the cycling community through the existing channels that we
have, like this one.

While even the advocacy leaders like Monica Howe don't know approaching a
place where a right turn is authorized obviates our legal requirement to
keep right, or understand why, and the "hardcore" 34 miles/day commuters
like Michael Clarke choose lane position based on the premise that the cars
own the road and his job is "to go in there and figure a way in and out of
them", then I think we still have a lot of house cleaning to do within the
cycling community, before we can do much consistently and effectively about
the lack of knowledge and understanding by non-cyclists...

Serge



On 2/11/07, John Eldon <j.eldon at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>
> Thank you, Gene. Spot-on. I read every day, and occasionally encounter,
> motorists who desperately need education on bicyclists' rights, not to
> mention on their own moral obligation to drive attentively and responsibly.
>
> John E.
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Gene Carman < gcarman at san.rr.com>
> To: serge Issakov <serge at issakov.org>; sdcbc at bikesandiego.org
> Sent: Sunday, February 11, 2007 5:57:27 PM
> Subject: [SDCBC] Fwd: Re: FW: Bikes vs Cars. An NBC news story in L.A.
>
> Here Dan points to the fundamental problem of lack of education...  of
> users of the roadway.  As long as all the users of the roadway are not
> familiar with each others rights and the rules involved...  then the problem
> will continue to exist.
>
> You and Dan and even John Forester will continue to insist that cyclists
> must be trained in some separate manner from motorists and that motorists
> don't need any further training... but since there is very little
> infrastructure to reach cyclists, more new cyclists will hit the road than
> can ever be trained in a life time, by the current methods.
>
> The ideal way to reach *all users of the road* is to simply incorporate
> training in an already well established "path" of training... either into
> the current school system where "use of the roads" should be a subject as
> important as health classes and PE, or in a longer form of drivers ed that
> goes beyond the basics and teaches the ethics and responsibilities of all
> the road users.
>
> Until then, only a few cyclists will ever gain the knowledge of which Dan
> speaks.  Apparently even Monica Howe, the outeach coordinator of the LA
> County Bicycle Coalition, who should be well familiar with this
> information...  was not.  How then do we expect college freshmen, just
> cycling to class, to ever gain this knowledge?
>
>
>
>
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