🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <Jym.11Feb1993.0906@naughty-peahen> Jym Dyer <jym@mica.berkeley.edu> writes:
>>>> = jordan@IMSI.COM (Jordan Hayes) writes:
>
>>>> An excellent point.  But, even with well-designed bike
>>>> routes, you *still* see lots of ("too damn many") bicycles
>>>> on College Avenue in Berkeley during rush hour for instance.

Hmm.  Might it be that there are too damn many cars on the road?  ;-)
Why do people who travel only a few miles to work need to bring
2,000 lbs of metal with them?  Think about it...

>> = josh@Happy-Man.com (Joshua_Putnam) writes:
>
>> Bike paths and separate bike trails almost always have
>> miserable intersections with ordinary roads, which is one
>> reason bike paths are generally more dangerous than ordinary roads.

>Heretics like myself keep asking how likely it is that a road 
>from Point A to Point B is going to have fewer intersections 
>than a bike path from Point A to Point B.

Josh did not say *fewer* intersections, just miserable ones.

The problem is this: If a sidepath closely parallels a road, it forms 
its own intersection with any cross streets that road intersects.  
Traffic motions at this path/street intersection are complex due to 
bike traffic entering and exiting the path from the cross street, 
linked with bike motions at the main street to cross street intersection.
For example, a cylist heading south on the main street turns left onto
the side street and immediately right into the path entrance.

Also, while from a rules-of-the-road standpoint such a path entrance is 
lower-priority than any street (like a driveway), inexperienced cyclists 
don't know to yield in such a situation.


>=o= The cover story of the latest (Jan/Feb 1993) _World_Watch_
>gives a *global* perspective on bicycles as a means of trans-
>portation.  One point that's brought up is, "when bikes and
>cars are given their own space, the risk of death is 500 times
>greater in cars" (and this doesn't include health problems from
>exhaust, stress, etc.).

With few exceptions, there is simply no way to give bikes their 
"own space" in an already built-out urban or suburban area.  As a
counterpoint, a British Medical Journal study concluded that the
life expectancy and quality improvements from lifetime cycling 
outweigh any added risk by several times.  Hmm - "Live longer and 
better -- use a bike?"

-- 
John Ciccarelli           Adobe Systems,  1585 Charleston |    _~C      __C
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