Bike Lane Diary: January 2006

Saturday, January 28, 2006

A List for Change

-Mandatory side guards of trucks
-Ban automobile advertising which promotes speed or agressive driving
-Limit the power and speed of licenceable automobiles
-Design requirements for reducing harm to people outside of the
vehicle in a collision, removing the most
dangerous vehicles from the road (ie SUVs)
-Extensive driver training requirements, with ongoing training and
testing. Significant training on driving in the presence of cyclists
and pedestrians, and education on the consequences of hitting
vulnurable road users
-At least 50% fault automatically assigned to any driving hitting a
pedestrian or cyclist, 100% if they hit a minor or senior (as in
Germany). Even with no-fault insurance, there is an important effect
of assigning responsibility.
-Changes to road design, particularly in residential areas, which
-Limit vehicle speed
-Increase use of long-term and lifetime driving suspensions
-Increase the minimum driving age
-Public campaigns advertising the dangers of speed and careless
driving, akin to the relatively successful anti drinking and driving
campaigns.
-A shift in media and public perception away from blaming the victims
of road crashes when those victims are pedestrians or cyclists
-A shift in media and public perception towards seeing reckless and
dangerous driving as *deliberate* criminal acts, like drinking and
driving or assault.
Feel free to add other ideas. (thanks to Levi Waldron for the list)

Thursday, January 26, 2006

It's the Car, Stupid.

The Universal Cyclist

"Many hundreds of cyclists ride the roads, despite the traffic jams, the run-down roads and the hostility of drivers and the police. There is no sport that is healthier, friendlier, more aesthetic, more ecologically sound or less violent.
The thoroughfares of civilized countries are graced with bright splashes of color on weekends as cyclists hit the road. Here they are honked at, cursed, subjected to every kind of intimidation that daredevil drivers can think up.
The police offer no protection. Bicycle riders are considered a burden and a nuisance. All a passing police car will do is bark at them to 'move to the right'.
-Hanoch Marmari-