[SDCBC] YouTube, etc.

[Tony Pietsch]

Adding just a little perspective on what a small change in income can make
on traffic, I have an excellent example from relatively recent travel to
Vietnam and understand from others that China is going through much the same
process.  Sarah and I toured the length of Vietnam from Hanoi to Saigon (Ho
Chi Minh City, but no one there calls it that) in 2000-2001.  We had heard
such great things at the time about the cycling from other eco-tourists in
the early '90s about how bicycle oriented the country was, and although
still 3rd world and communist had a strong capitalist wave that was making
the country prosperous and friendly.

Indeed, we encountered a great deal of hope for the future and tolerance
from the Vietnamese for the "slow" pace of improvement, but nearly everyone
benefited from the change in economic policy; the government was either
helpful or ignored. We saw that along Route 1 (the only paved roadway
running the full length north to south) that nearly every building had
electricity including some mud hovels with satellite dishes.

To our dismay, the small average increase in disposable income nearly always
went to converting the family mode of transportation from a bicycle to a
noisy, polluting name-brand knock-off motorcycle/moped -- no, not what we
think of here, but basically a bicycle with an underpowered gas engine on it
that was loaded with up to a family of five.  In major cities, a large
number of these recent "motorists" were wearing cloth masks to keep out the
thickest of the unburnt hydrocarbons.  Even between villages in the country
it was impossible to get away from these nuisances since everyone wanted to
pull up alongside and converse with us.  What had been a fairly egalitarian
(except for cars) society had split into the new middle class on mopeds and
those hoping to get a moped next year.

The air was hard to breath whenever congestion arose, and the traffic signs,
signals and striping were regarded (as near as we could tell) as
"suggestions", with even red lights being routinely run if the driver
thought that they could get away with it without getting killed.  

We were stunned at the transformation from a bicycle-centric society of
fairly uniform pace to one of "free-for-all" traffic and pollution so far
out of control in as little as five years!  Hardly bicycle friendly as we
nearly got hit cycling on the far right of the road by a car making an
sudden "illegal" pass from the opposite direction just because the driver
thought we would make yet more room -- over a cliff.  We won't be back.

But the lesson remains -- at the first opportunity this country of nearly 80
million opted for just a minor increase in transport speed and ease, even at
a huge cost to their environment and personal health.  The irony here is
that their newfound "freedom" of powered transportation had actually
DECREASED the average speed on the road because of the increased congestion,
and they were dealing with it by getting ever more aggressive with the
expected result that we saw and heard a large number of accidents and
deaths.  For us this was a shock -- but thinking of the "acceptable" number
of motorist deaths (not to mention bicycle and pedestrian) that we have
become inured to in this country (US society), one has to wonder whether
this has become an inevitable phase resulting from greater wealth and
isolation from one's neighbors?

I very much wish that more people believed in "road karma", both here and
abroad, but don't hold out much hope unless we become true communities
again, knowing our neighbors individually and personally (not necessarily
liking all of them, but at least knowing their beliefs and trying to find
common desires) and working toward what's in the best interest of our
society instead of the "where's my immediate gratification" that seems to be
fairly universal whenever income and power become paramount.  

I'm beginning to feel like an old fuddy-duddy and at the same time returning
to my roots in the '60s and '70s with "give peace a chance" and "what if
they gave a war and nobody came?"

Anybody else out there "getting the same vibes?"
Tony

-----Original Message-----
From: sdcbc-bounces at bikesandiego.org [mailto:sdcbc-bounces at bikesandiego.org]
On Behalf Of Thomas Magee
Sent: Sunday, March 30, 2008 7:37 PM
To: 'John Forester'; 'sdcbc'
Subject: Re: [SDCBC] YouTube - SoCal Arterials and Lane Splitting videos


".... Furthermore, the American bikeway program has been running for thirty
years, with very little switch from motoring to bicycling. I don't hold out
much reason to hope for a different outcome within the planning horizon."

--
John Forester, MS, PE

And this is due in large part to the commercial media promoting automobiles
-- fast, luxury, hot styling, you take your pick.  It's a big part of our
American culture, especially here in CA.

Who is there that will give John Q. Public, his neighbors and friends -- and
everybody else -- the encouragement to ride a bike in the first place?

My belief is that, in the short term, we continue bicycling by good example,
while making every effort to appear in the media to explain why America
needs to change the culture -- for a multitude of reasons.  It begins with
you and me.