> On all of this, I agree Michael. One thing: I'm probably more of a
> Fosterite than you or your buddy - when it comes to theory.
I'm kind of a semi-Foresterite. I agree with him that bikes belong *in the mix*, not in a kind of asphalt version of Special Ed. But he doesn't have any social dimension to his thinking; he really seems to believe that cyclists would be fine if they just convinced themselves they were cars, and acted accordingly. This leaves a lot of important stuff out of the picture. My take on him is that he's actually a very conservative guy who just happens to be a bike nut.
I had some correspondence with him years ago; a much nicer fella, one-on-one, than his rather rebarbative public persona would lead you to expect.
Curious fact: He's the son of CS Forester, who wrote the Hornblower novels and the screenplay for The African Queen.
> It's not that the bike lanes,
> etc. are designed to allow cars to travel faster. Rather, it is that lanes
> and signage, traffic signals, cautions, warning, flashing yellows, traffic
> calming devices are about safety, presumably getting drivers to slow down,
> obey the laws, pay attention to their environment.
It's a mix. Some things are clearly designed to move cars faster, on a net basis. To this class belong all the classic Golden Age innovations: traffic signals, one-way streets, lane striping.
Speed bumps get put in place because the local householders get tired of having their kids run over. Amazing how hard it is to get a speed bump. You can grow old and die going through that process. DoT just *hates* to put the things in, and the local Community Board will nearly always fight to the last ditch.
Red-light cameras are also an interesting story. In New York, the state legislature -- car-hounds, to a man, and woman -- forbids the city to install more than a certain derisory number.
> the safer we think the
> streets are, the worse we drive.
Sounds like the classic risk compensation effect:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risk_compensation
I noticed, when I stopped wearing a helmet, that drivers treated me less aggressively. Panniers also help, for some reason.
-- --
Michael J. Smith mjs at smithbowen.net
http://stopmebeforeivoteagain.org http://fakesprogress.blogspot.com http://cars-suck.org
When one does a foolish thing, it is right to do it handsomely.