[SDCBC] Pershing and the I-5

[John Eldon]

My fundamental gripe with this and all similar intersections is that they give precedence to direction-changing motor traffic over straight through bicycle and pedestrian traffic. Well aware of the danger inherent in this intersection design, Serge will negotiate himself a gap in traffic and I shall patiently wait for a gap, and neither of us is likely to get hit, but John Q. Public gets caught unawares. Do we, as a society, really want our roads to be designed exclusively for those of us with Road II skills, or is there a better way? We cannot get John Q. Public to take a Road I course, because we can't even get him on a bicycle, partly because of intersections such as this one, whose body language and geometry send the loud and clear message that "roads are for cars," not pedestrians or bicyclists.

John E.

--- On Wed, 6/25/08, Serge Issakov <serge at issakov.org> wrote:
From: Serge Issakov <serge at issakov.org>
Subject: Re: [SDCBC] A good opinion piece in Voice of San Diego this morning about Pershing and the I-5


Thanks for the meeting reminder Kathy, but I disagree with your assessment ("good") of this opinion piece.   From the perspective of bicycling advocacy, my opinion is that this piece by Crawford Oates is a disaster, much more likely to discourage existing cyclists than to encourage non-cyclists to take up cycling, and highly unlikely to make cycling any more safe or comfortable for any cyclists.



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