[SDCBC] YouTube - SoCal Arterials and Lane Splitting videos

[John Forester]

What the prospects may be for increasing bicycle transportation in 
American cities, and how those prospective results may be achieved, is a 
very complicated subject. Not only is the subject itself quite complex, 
but the field is afflicted with many people who are so enamored of their 
dream that they ignore realities. These enthusiasts believe that the 
danger of interacting with motor traffic is the major factor in 
preventing other Americans from using bicycle transportation as much as 
the enthusiasts do. The two parts of this belief need to be considered 
separately.

The bicycle advocates argue that a system of bike lanes and bike paths 
so reduces the interaction between cyclists and motorists that the 
cyclist no longer has the need for the standard traffic-cycling skills. 
No practical system does that, and any system which might do that is 
impractical. Almost the only positive effect of bike lanes is that they 
reduce the fear of same-direction motor traffic, which is the least 
dangerous of the interactions between cyclists and motorists. However, 
bike lanes also introduce more complications into the driving task, 
which probably counter any possible reduction in car-bike collisions and 
certainly complicate the social task of making cycling safer and better.

The second issue is whether a large number of Americans, persuaded 
(though falsely) that bike lanes and bike paths make cycling safe for 
beginners, will transfer motoring trips to bicycling trips in sufficient 
numbers to make a significant change in American personal urban 
transportation patterns. In short, will typical Americans take to 
bicycle transportation in similar ways to those of the enthusiastic 
bicycle advocates? The analysis needs to consider both motivation and 
utility. The enthusiastic bicycle advocates love what they do; the 
typical American does not love that same activity. The enthusiastic 
bicycle advocates have modified their lifestyle to suit the capabilities 
of bicycle transportation. The typical American does not want to modify 
his lifestyle to suit the capabilities of bicycle transportation. 
Indeed, the typical American has patterned his life so that only a small 
proportion of his trips would be suitable for bicycle transportation. 
The typical American would change his lifestyle to suit cycling only if 
he came to love cycling so much as to motivate himself to do so.

Reasonable consideration of bicycle transportation is a complex subject 
that is not suitable for discussion in simplistic quick notes to email 
lists.

-- 
John Forester, MS, PE
Bicycle Transportation Engineer
7585 Church St, Lemon Grove CA 91945
619-644-5481