[SDCBC] What where they thinking?

[Eric Converse]

More thoughts:

I agree that we should base safety programs for facilities on sound science and analysis, but that will not ensure those facilities will get used (if there is a perception of danger).

I'd suggest that policy be dictated both by safety and perceived safety.  If it takes separated bike paths for people to start riding their bikes then that should be the direction organizations like SDCBC take.

I believe "actual safety" is irrelevant if the public perception doesn't match up.  Take the freeway as a perfect example (most people think I'm crazy if I rode a bike on the freeway).

Eric

----- Original Message ----
From: John Forester <forester at johnforester.com>
To: "Big50_1 at yahoo.com" <big50_1 at yahoo.com>
Cc: sdcbc at bikesandiego.org
Sent: Thursday, March 27, 2008 1:40:35 PM
Subject: Re: [SDCBC] What where they thinking?

It is all very well to argue that we should base our safety programs on 
potential dangers. In a case such as the Apollo program, one has to do 
such analyses because there are very few chances for success. However, 
when discussing a highway safety program, one has a long experience of 
crashes on which to base one's program. I would suggest, though I 
haven't the source for all the data required, that a program of more 
right-turn-only lanes would produce a greater reduction in car-bike 
collisions than would spending an equal amount of money building Jersey 
barriers along roads with high-speed travel.

Big50_1 at yahoo.com wrote:
> I've been following this thread and several items came to mind: (a) 
> biking for exercise, (b) biking for transportation (safe) and (c) 
> biking for transportation (not-so-safe). (A) Biking for exercise: SR56 
> and San Luis Rey River Trail are two examples of continuous 
> bike-friendly roads that kinda' start nowhere and end nowhere but are 
> great in-between (by the way I'm working a training plan on SR56 to do 
> a metric century, I love that road!).  (B) Biking for transportation 
> (safe): examples are Pacific Beach and over-seas urban locations 
> (China, Philippines, etc.) where road congestion is high and car speed 
> is low.  Bikes and cars intermingle safely and bikes are used to get 
> around the local area with more efficiency than cars. Then there is 
> (C), biking for transportation (not-so-safe): this any place where the 
> car-bike speed differential is high.  Kinda' every place else.  You 
> can spin it any way you want but the fact is that unless there is a 
> physical barrier between high-speed cars and low-speed bikes, there is 
> potentially extreme danger to the bike rider.  Even with the best 
> bike-friendly road markings. Poorly laid-out road markings for bikers 
> may increase the danger but again, unless there is a physical barrier 
> between cars and bikes, there is always potential danger for the biker 
> that can never be removed.   Why the angst re road markings? Better 
> road-marking will (may?) lower the instance but NOT eliminate biker 
> damage from bike-car accidents.  Barriers, class 1 roadways and maybe 
> better technology (bike-avoidance radar in cars) would drastically 
> reduce biker fatalities/injury.  Just my $.02.
>
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-- 
John Forester, MS, PE
Bicycle Transportation Engineer
7585 Church St, Lemon Grove CA 91945
619-644-5481


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