Carbon Trace

Mighk Wilson, of Bicycling Is Better, has decided not to renew his membership to the League of American Bicyclists. He’s a guy with a lot of serious bicycling cred. So when he says the following, I’m inclined to listen:

I don’t want this to be seen as a League-bashing exercise.  I’ve been wondering if I should even post this.  Still, I feel the need to express my discontent in a meaningful manner.   Some have been working to “reform” the League, but I see that as a huge time-sink.  I’d rather focus on bringing forward new ways to teach and encourage people to be better cyclists.

I have to ask where my strongest loyalty rests.  It rests with bicyclists, far more than with bikeway proponents.  The League’s loyalty seems more strongly tied to bikeways than to bicyclists.  I am feeling dispossessed from the League, so I must leave.

As Carbon Trace readers are aware, I’m not a fan of vehicular cycling (I prefer the Hurst variation) in large part because I’m not a fan of John Forrester and his book — both of which are too grumpy for my tastes. It’s not that I disagree with VC or EC principles, I simply think much of the program comes with a certain amount of grumpy baggage (and mouth-foaming in some cases) that is thoroughly unproductive.

I also do not have a knee-jerk aversion to properly-designed bikeways (as opposed to lanes) that give bicyclists priority over cars.

OK, let’s get back to Mighk’s post. I rode with Mighk and shared beers with him during my trip to Orlando in January. He’s out there making things better for bicyclists. And one of the ways he’s doing that is resisting the urge to throw paint on the roads. The key, as you’ll see in his post and from the numerous comments, is education.

I’m particularly excited by the education program Keri Caffrey, of Commute Orlando, is designing. I’ll have more to say about this as soon as she tells me it’s time. A big part of her program is building confidence on the road.

Now it is true that a lot of novices (and even a few roadies) are frightened by the idea of riding a bicycle in traffic. How do you overcome this? One answer: Paint bicycle lanes. As I have been discovering, however, such lanes usually cause more problems than they solve. Further, poor designs can get you killed.

What I believe today: Painted bicycle lanes cannot be made safe; bikeways can be made safe if properly designed.

Since we are not going to build Dutch-like bikeways in this country, we are left with only one answer that I can think of to the novice question: Education for roadway confidence (especially starting in grade school, which, BTW, they do in the Netherlands).

This is where the loylaity thing Mighk is talking about kicks in: What are you going to do to help people choose bicycles? I have a suggestion: Take personal responsibility for helping people learn. Take your friends and neighbors riding. Show a co-working that riding to work is not only fairly easy in many cases, but better than driving. Stop and talk to other bicyclists. Learn their stories. Be visible. Demonstrate how normal it is to ride a bicycle for basic transportation. Ride like you mean it.

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