🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <D1r0y5.38I@cruzio.com>,  <cycleam@cruzio.com> wrote:
)In article <dooshD1qvC4.5D4@netcom.com>, doosh@netcom.com (Tom Holub) writes:
)> 
)We are not talking about the merits of this needed bike way here in Santa Cruz.
)But I will address the points you make for the purpose of education.
)
)> 1: The claim that 20% of drivers would abandon their cars if given bikeways
)> is ludicrous.  Bikeways have no impact on transportational cycling because
)> they are nearly universally unsuited for transportational cycling.
)> 
)The quote to which you refer:
)A 10/90 survey conducted by Louis Harris and Associates concluded that if 
)bicycling routes are made available for people to use, 20% of America would 
)abandon their cars in favor of them.

Please provide a reference to this study, since the conclusion is ludicrous.
There are plenty of cities with bicycling routes, and I don't see practically
anyone abandoning their cars in favor of them.                               

)says 'bicycling routes', no mention is made of bikeways which I think you are
)assuming to read bike paths.                                                 

You assume incorrectly.

)> 2: Bikeways do nothing to promote safety, in fact are often more dangerous !
)> roads, and claims to the contrary are false and unsubstantiated.            
)                                                                  
)I disagree. Where can new bike riders or those who have been away
)from the activity go to sharpen their skills, to develop the     
)confidence they will need to mix it up with cars and truck and
)buses? As an example, where did you go the first time you drove a
)car? For most of us it was an empty parking lot.

I think an empty parking lot is a fine place to learn how to bicycle.
I think trying to justify bike paths with the argument that they protect
cyclists from cars, when in fact they make all interactions with cars
MORE dangerous, is ridiculous.  

)> 3: Cycling monies are much better spent on secure parking and intelligent
)> education than facilities designed for ignorant non-cyclists.
)
)That's fine for those bike riders who have made it into the inner 
)circle, the road warriors amongst us. 

I am no "road warrior"; I merely know how to behave in traffic.
Coincidentally, everyone who might give up their car for a bike also knows
how to behave in traffic.  It's nothing mystical.
 -Tom