STAR Team members David Hutchison, Coy Hart, and Valerie Griffen wrote an op-ed for the News-Leader to do a little myth-busting following Springfield’s earning a bronze-level bicycle-friendly community award.
The chatter in the comments has been interesting so far — most concerned with bicyclists following traffic laws.
I think it is clear that (in the American context as it now stands) riding in traffic as traffic is the safest way to ride a bicycle. A little respect all around would go a long way toward making all our experiences on Springfield’s streets safe and pleasant.
I do not believe, however, that all of the grousing about, say, bicyclists running stop signs has much to do with safety or traffic flow or rules following. I think there are many car drivers out there who resent any slow road users (including “slow” drivers who drive the speed limit).
We are people, not objects.
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Comments 10
I’ve been involved in so many of those comment section arguments that I can predict how they play out.
“Bicyclists don’t belong on streets” [refuted with data]
[first fall-back argument] “Bicyclists don’t obey the rules of the road” ["So those who do follow the rules should give up their right to the road?"]
[third fall-back argument] “Bicyclists don’t pay gas taxes.” [easily refuted]
[fourth argument] “Cars are bigger than bikes.”
[etc, etc, etc]
Only viable solution: train more and more vehicular cyclists so that people come to see it as a norm.
Posted 02 Jun 2010 at 9:08 am ¶BTW, I read an article some time ago arguing that one should not attempt to “bust” myths by repeating them and then refuting them. The myth is simpler than the explanation, so it’s easier to remember. Better to avoid the old myth and replace it with an equally simple and positive statement.
Like this:
Control Your Vehicle (maintenance, bike fit, bike handling skills)
Posted 02 Jun 2010 at 9:14 am ¶Follow the Rules for Vehicles
Stay Out of the Margins (vertical hazards, surface hazards, conflicts)
Make Sure They Can See You (positioning and conspicuity)
Control Your Space (lane control, control & release, using gaps)
Mighk… I think that’s good advice re: myth busting.
Posted 02 Jun 2010 at 9:40 am ¶Agreed.
I’m spending the summer back in my home state of Connecticut, and I haven’t really been here for an extended amount of time in several years. So now, I notice things I never did before, including the conspicuous lack of commuter cyclists when compared to Springfield. Part of it has to do with urban design. Things aren’t laid out quite the same and it takes a little longer to get around. Geography is another issue, and all the hills would make it tiresome. But the most serious issue is what I’d call the traffic culture.
Traffic culture isn’t the same as car culture, and it doesn’t stand as a contrast to bike culture. I’d describe it as the way people navigate to their destination, and the general demeanor and behavior through which they do so. Springfield, MO traffic culture is very much laid back, even on busy roads like Battlefield and Glenstone. Not to say that a cyclist wouldn’t be an issue, but it’s generally understood that you drive safely, and nothing bad will happen.
Here, I see drivers take far more chances. They drive much faster on smaller and shorter roads, and there is no sense of patience; there’s an underlying rhythm of movement that demands people discover shortcuts, cut corners, and behave assertively on the road (where the extremes border on aggressive). Consequently, cyclists who lack the torque to move it, the speed to keep up, and the presence to dominate a lane are merely in the way.
These drivers (who are also relatively lacking in manners) have no interest in obeying the law, merely exploring that fuzzy grey space between what’s legal and what they can get away with. They’re not indigenous to Connecticut either. People who talk about sharing the road with a disdainful note of scorn, complaining about cyclists skirting the law, are rarely saints themselves. People on bikes are additional obstacles to be overcome, like a semi-truck or that guy with the windows down and a booming sub-woofer. It feels good to get ahead; the virulence of a region’s traffic culture is the reaffirmation of car culture; a driver’s supremacy over their environment and anyone or anything who doesn’t get the hell out of the way.
Ultimately it’s not the laws that matter, but the way people behave, which has more to do with their preconceptions of what the road is for (getting me where I want to go now), or what a bike is (a toy people ride in silly costumes), or even what their car means to them (mobile ego projection).
Posted 02 Jun 2010 at 11:35 am ¶Not to be picky, but the myth “Bicyclists should cross intersections on the right side of the roadway” is absolutely correct in the USA. Motorists are required to do the same. The only time I ride on the left side of the roadway is on a one-way street when I plan to be turning left in the near future.
Otherwise, I mostly agree with Mighk’s comments, except I don’t like the idea of trying to train vehicular cyclists. We should train regular cyclists to operate in a vehicular manner. We don’t train vehicular motorists or vehicular motorcyclists, we train regular people how to operate their vehicles properly on the road – in a vehicular manner.
Posted 02 Jun 2010 at 6:59 pm ¶That was actually a fun comment thread to read. It’s easy to see that Caad9 “won” the debate with Larrs. The only problem is, when you win a debate like this, the loser doesn’t seem to get it.
Posted 02 Jun 2010 at 8:39 pm ¶Zombie: I feel so alive.
Posted 02 Jun 2010 at 11:24 pm ¶Human: Sorry but that’s a myth. You’re actually dead. See, you don’t have a pulse or brain activity. You’re just reanimated tissue that isn’t technically alive.
Zombie: But it’d be unsafe to be dead, so I’m alive.
Human: Again, it’s safer for you to be dead and in the ground. That way the human race is safe from flesh eaters such as you.
Zombie: That’s just like you humans, thinking you’re the only ones who have a right for living.
Human: Living is a privilege and not a right, but if you were to be alive, you’d have to stop eating us. That way we can all live happily and safe.
Zombie: Well that inconvenience of me not eating you just disqualifies you from telling me I’m not alive.
Human: Here’s a video on how easy it is to peacefully live amongst the humans and not eat us.
Zombie: Well you just proved my point that you think you’re the only one with a right to live.
Human: I feel sorry for you, I really do.
I think what’s lost in all of that is that a VAST majority of Springfield drivers are courteous, pass safely, and don’t seem to mind cyclist as other courteous road users.
The only unsafe thing about that video posted was the outfits. I bet larrs is merely a spandex/lycra hater.
Posted 02 Jun 2010 at 11:29 pm ¶A.J. You’re a playwright at heart!
Posted 03 Jun 2010 at 11:12 am ¶If only there were a demand for parody in the world of Accounting.
Posted 03 Jun 2010 at 2:22 pm ¶