[SDCBC] Lane splitting and bike paths

[Serge Issakov]

On Mon, Mar 31, 2008 at 10:53 AM, Kathy Keehan <execdir at sdcbc.org> wrote:

>  To them it's kind of like watching someone mountain bike on a unicycle –
> interesting and entertaining, but not something they would ever want to do
> themselves.
>
>
>
> So as an instructional video it works pretty well. Which is good, since
> that's what it's intended to be.  As an encouragement/advertising piece for
> bicycling, not so well.
>
> So, what would be a good way to get people to ride? Let's build some good
> facilities! Well…
>
Just because the first time someone is exposed to an activity like that
demonstrated by Dan and Brian in their video their reaction is "interesting
and entertaining, but not something they would ever want to do" it is
reasonable to conclude that it is something they would never really consider
doing.  I think we have to remember that this method is not even popular
among regular cyclists.  If it became more popular, say among the
participants on this list, then the exposure to this type of cycling would
be much more prevalent.  There is no telling what effect that could have.

For those of us who do already regularly ride in this manner, we know that
on our own commutes motorists noticeably become accustomed to it.  I can
tell that most of them are used to seeing me out there, because they've been
encountering me day after day for over seven years along the same route at
approximately the same time of day.  And I noticed this effect early on.
That doesn't mean they're all inspired to do it too, but my point is that
even one cyclist can make a significant difference.  If these motorists
starting encountering more and more cyclists in San Diego riding in this
manner, then it would  start to be considered the norm rather than the
curious "bikers in the car lane" anomaly that it currently is.   There is a
sheeple aspect to people.  The more they see others doing something, the
more likely they are to try it.  That's why I think this type of cycling
needs to be advocated on this type of list - for we are the people most
likely to adopt it first.  Personally, I would like a concerted effort to
make San Diego a giant experiment testing my hypothesis that once you got
enough cyclists riding in the vehicular manner, that it would become more
and more acceptable, and would entice more and more people to try it.

> This is working in some places. Portland is a good example.
>
Yeah, and Davis is the other classic example, except that more people
bicycled per capita in Davis in the 1960s before the first bike lane was
painted than they do today.  Davis has grown, of course, and so the average
trip length is longer today than it was 40 years ago.  That's probably the
biggest factor.

In Portland I think the facilities serve as an icon of the effort to
popularize cycling, in which the factor of making motoring more
difficult/expensive cannot be ignored.   Perhaps all successful movement in
human culture requires icons.   Maybe center-of-lane sharrows could be the
icon for popularizing vehicular cycling in San Diego?

Serge

-- 
NOTE: Any opinions expressed above are mine and not necessarily shared by
any organization in which I am involved.
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