ROOM WITH A VIEW: THOUGHTS ON FINDING COMMON GROUND AMONG CYCLISTS & ADVOCATES: At the surface, members of this group view safe cycling behavior and cycling infrastructure differently from the majority of cyclists and cycling advocates who clamor for their own separate space. But it has occurred to me that at a deeper level we all want the same things which could be characterized as room with a view. 1. We all want ROOM to keep our bikes upright, which requires constant wiggly steering corrections. 2. We all want ROOM to maneuver around road debris and hazards that can send two-wheeled drivers toppling, resulting in serious injury or even death (the most common cause of bike crashes). 3. We all want ROOM to provide a safe buffer between us and opening car doors and pedestrians darting out between parked cars. 4. We all want ROOM to separate us from faster, bigger and heavier motor vehicles. 5. We all want ROOM to give us more time and space to avoid the mistakes of other road users. 6. And we all want ROOM to give us long sight lines to see a potential conflict before it becomes an imminent danger and to make us visible to other road users. I dont think any cyclist or bicycle advocate would disagree with any of the above (although some may not fully appreciate the value of no. 6). But what we dont agree on is how to provide this room and view for cyclists. The disagreement among cyclists and advocates, I believe, results from different default lane positions. A cyclist who typically rides on the edge of the lane near the curb or close to parked cars has insufficient room to achieve the six desiderata listed above. For the edge cyclist, a bike lane, no matter how narrow, will provide MORE ROOM and all its many benefits. And a sidepath separated from motor traffic provides even more room from motor vehicles with perhaps a physical barrier, too, at least where there are no driveways and intersections (although the side path may well have worse sight lines than this cyclist already has riding on the edge of the travel lane). But a cyclist who typically practices lane control by driving his bike near the center of the lane already has lots of room to achieve the six desiderata above. For the bicycle driver, operating in a narrow bike lane or side path means having LESS ROOM in almost all respects. Where before he had plenty of room both from overtaking motorists and opening car doors, in a door-zone bike lane he now has to allocate his more limited room to one side or the other. Where before he had plenty of room to pass slower cyclists, he now may be stuck behind them in a narrow sidepath. Or if he is the slower cyclist, he must now tolerate being passed closely by faster ones. Where before he had good sightlines to see potential left cross threats, he now may be hidden in the side path behind a row of parked cars or obscured in the bike lane next to an overtaking bus or truck and not see the car turning across his path until it is too late to avoid. So while the narrow bike lane or sidepath provides more room for an edge riding cyclist, it provides less room and a poorer view for a default lane-controlling cyclist. There are two ways to resolve these differences. The first way is to convince cyclists who are comfortable with lane control to give up some room so that cyclists who prefer riding on the edge will have more. Giving up room by riding in (and supporting the installation of) narrow bike lanes and sidepaths may also attract more people to bicycling and could make cycling safer overall through the supposed (and controversial) safety in numbers effect. For a lane-controlling bicycle driver, this approach may be characterized as taking one for the team. The second way is to convince cyclists who are not currently comfortable with lane control that they can get more room with a better view by simply moving left several feet in the travel lane. The fear of same-direction motor traffic and getting rear ended is, however, a serious obstacle to this approach. Fortunately, there are methods for this second approach with demonstrated effectiveness. Good traffic cycling education programs, such as that provided by CyclingSavvy, has convinced countless cyclists throughout the U.S. that lane control will get them more room with a better view. And traffic cycling videos (such as the one included here of lane control on a busy arterial at morning rush hour in a large city) can demonstrate to thousands via the Internet that lane control works to provide cyclists with all the room and view they need to operate safely and comfortably anywhere. I do not, however, know of any way to convince successful cyclists to give up the the very attractive ROOM WITH A VIEW that they currently enjoy, using their bikes to go anywhere they want, particularly since it is likely that they all know very well what its like (from earlier cycling experience) to ride on the edge and sidewalks with scant room and a lousy view. vimeo/99948841
Posted on: Sun, 13 Jul 2014 01:16:53 +0000
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