Skip to content

4-way What? Huh?

I had a chance to speak with Dr. Richard Chenoweth, an environmental psychologist and professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, at the MSU Public Affairs Conference today. He has some interesting thoughts on what it takes to change behavior. We’re talking bicycling behavior.

Conversation with Dr. Richard Chenoweth Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (205)

Following my conversation with Chenoweth, I decided to park myself on the southwest corner of Walnut and South downtown just to see how bicyclists behave at that 4-way stop. I observed for about 30 minutes — roughly from 12:30 to 1:00. The video represents all but two bicyclists I saw during that time. I missed to two because I was giving someone directions, which is what happens when you loiter on a street corner.


4-way Stop at Walnut and South – Springfield, Missouri from acline on Vimeo.

Technorati Tags: , , , , ,

Comments 8

  1. Keri wrote:

    That was good! I’ve been wanting to do that on Edgewater Drive in Orlando, where nearly half the cyclists use the bike lane as a “safe haven” to ride against traffic.

    Posted 22 Apr 2009 at 7:56 pm
  2. Chris wrote:

    I loved the pod cast and the 4 way stop video experiment. I know that as a bicyclist myself I see a lot of cyclists doing things that just flat out scare me. *Plus I did actually make a cameo appearance I was the good lane placement guy*

    Posted 23 Apr 2009 at 1:03 am
  3. Matt L. wrote:

    I’m impressed at how many cyclists there were to observe.

    Posted 23 Apr 2009 at 6:20 am
  4. Andy Cline wrote:

    Chris… You were difficult to recognize on the tiny screen :-)

    Matt… We do have a fair population of bicyclists here. I just wish more of them followed the rules.

    Keri… Do it! Let’s try to encourage more videos of this kind. Let’s find out what’s really happening out there.

    Posted 23 Apr 2009 at 6:41 am
  5. Coy wrote:

    Good piece of work! Can you e-mail this to everyone on the Advocacy Committee / Ozark Greenways Sustainable Transportation Committee. I wanted to talk to everyone of the riders and wanted to give the gal ‘stopper’ a hug & a $5 bill … sorry, Chris, you just didn’t appeal to me that much. :-)

    Posted 24 Apr 2009 at 11:46 am
  6. Andy Cline wrote:

    Coy… I’ll send the link by e-mail. I would hope most of them are reading CT :-)

    Posted 24 Apr 2009 at 5:06 pm
  7. Steve A wrote:

    Pretty encouraging – in a twisted sort of way. We only get 700-800 bicycle fatalities nationwide DESPITE such riding!

    Posted 25 Apr 2009 at 10:45 am
  8. Bruce Adib-Yazdi wrote:

    Nice piece of work Andy. It shows how much work there is yet to do. And we are the ones to do it!

    Posted 25 Apr 2009 at 7:56 pm