<story><title>Cambridge&apos;s Ambitious Protected Bike Lane Law</title><url>https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2019/04/protected-bike-lanes-traffic-safety-cambridge-bicycle-plan/586876/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>rayiner</author><text>&amp;gt; We need to slow down auto-traffic and encourage more non-vehicular use of the roads, while making those roads safer for pedestrians, cyclists, scooter riders, skate boarders, etc.&lt;p&gt;Is that the most efficient use of the roads? Especially in a place like Boston, where most people in the metro area don’t live in (and can’t afford to live in) the city itself. At a certain point doesn’t creating a preference for pedestrians and cyclists actually end up being a preference for wealthier people who can afford to live downtown, versus those who need to access the city but can’t live within walking or biking distance? (Note that bicyclists and skateboarders also slow down busses, which are what lower income people use to get around.)</text></item><item><author>bluejekyll</author><text>I&amp;#x27;ve experienced this same anecdote in similar situations for the past 20 years as well. There has been a long push by auto manufacturers to make anything other than cars that use the roads seen as both illegitimate and illegal. For example, see the history of Jaywalking laws: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.bbc.com&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;magazine-26073797&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.bbc.com&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;magazine-26073797&lt;/a&gt;. Starting around 1920&amp;#x27;s the auto-industry encouraged laws around the US to make crossing the street illegal. These laws have the downside of making car drivers feel entitled to the road.&lt;p&gt;Cyclists and other non-car users of roads have a deep hole to climb out of to change these laws, and to change the perception that streets are only for cars. Infrastructure is probably the only real mechanism we have that can make tangible changes, that don&amp;#x27;t allow the personal feelings of car drivers to get angry at being inconvenienced by cyclists and other road users.&lt;p&gt;We need to slow down auto-traffic and encourage more non-vehicular use of the roads, while making those roads safer for pedestrians, cyclists, scooter riders, skate boarders, etc.</text></item><item><author>just_steve_h</author><text>I&amp;#x27;ve lived in Cambridge or neighboring Somerville every year but one since 1989. The cycling infrastructure is much improved and still deadly.&lt;p&gt;Just yesterday, I approached an arterial Street from a side street at 6pm. Cars on the arterial were moving about 8 MPH. I dismounted my bike, and began walking across the arterial in the crosswalk. As I re-mounted on the other side and resumed riding, a white man in a mid-size SUV leaned out his window and said loudly to me, &amp;quot;I hope you get hit!&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;This morning on my way to work, a driver popped out of a side street from my left side directly in front of me. As I was along side of him, he swerved hard to the right and into a parking lot (no signal of course).&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;ve been a daily bike commuter in Cambridge for 12 years. We desperately need infrastructure that forces drivers to respect cyclists as equal road users. There is hardly a day that I don&amp;#x27;t &lt;i&gt;almost&lt;/i&gt; get hit by car while cycling.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>bluejekyll</author><text>It depends on what you mean by efficient, I guess. I like the graphic on this article, &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.treehugger.com&amp;#x2F;urban-design&amp;#x2F;how-much-space-do-people-take-different-modes-transport.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.treehugger.com&amp;#x2F;urban-design&amp;#x2F;how-much-space-do-pe...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;It shows how many more people can efficiently use roads while on bikes than in cars. So, if we define efficiency by that measure (obviously this matters more in cities and congested areas), then yes, it&amp;#x27;s more efficient.</text></comment>
<story><title>Cambridge&apos;s Ambitious Protected Bike Lane Law</title><url>https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2019/04/protected-bike-lanes-traffic-safety-cambridge-bicycle-plan/586876/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>rayiner</author><text>&amp;gt; We need to slow down auto-traffic and encourage more non-vehicular use of the roads, while making those roads safer for pedestrians, cyclists, scooter riders, skate boarders, etc.&lt;p&gt;Is that the most efficient use of the roads? Especially in a place like Boston, where most people in the metro area don’t live in (and can’t afford to live in) the city itself. At a certain point doesn’t creating a preference for pedestrians and cyclists actually end up being a preference for wealthier people who can afford to live downtown, versus those who need to access the city but can’t live within walking or biking distance? (Note that bicyclists and skateboarders also slow down busses, which are what lower income people use to get around.)</text></item><item><author>bluejekyll</author><text>I&amp;#x27;ve experienced this same anecdote in similar situations for the past 20 years as well. There has been a long push by auto manufacturers to make anything other than cars that use the roads seen as both illegitimate and illegal. For example, see the history of Jaywalking laws: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.bbc.com&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;magazine-26073797&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.bbc.com&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;magazine-26073797&lt;/a&gt;. Starting around 1920&amp;#x27;s the auto-industry encouraged laws around the US to make crossing the street illegal. These laws have the downside of making car drivers feel entitled to the road.&lt;p&gt;Cyclists and other non-car users of roads have a deep hole to climb out of to change these laws, and to change the perception that streets are only for cars. Infrastructure is probably the only real mechanism we have that can make tangible changes, that don&amp;#x27;t allow the personal feelings of car drivers to get angry at being inconvenienced by cyclists and other road users.&lt;p&gt;We need to slow down auto-traffic and encourage more non-vehicular use of the roads, while making those roads safer for pedestrians, cyclists, scooter riders, skate boarders, etc.</text></item><item><author>just_steve_h</author><text>I&amp;#x27;ve lived in Cambridge or neighboring Somerville every year but one since 1989. The cycling infrastructure is much improved and still deadly.&lt;p&gt;Just yesterday, I approached an arterial Street from a side street at 6pm. Cars on the arterial were moving about 8 MPH. I dismounted my bike, and began walking across the arterial in the crosswalk. As I re-mounted on the other side and resumed riding, a white man in a mid-size SUV leaned out his window and said loudly to me, &amp;quot;I hope you get hit!&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;This morning on my way to work, a driver popped out of a side street from my left side directly in front of me. As I was along side of him, he swerved hard to the right and into a parking lot (no signal of course).&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;ve been a daily bike commuter in Cambridge for 12 years. We desperately need infrastructure that forces drivers to respect cyclists as equal road users. There is hardly a day that I don&amp;#x27;t &lt;i&gt;almost&lt;/i&gt; get hit by car while cycling.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>stefan_</author><text>You mean the roads downtown should be inaccessible to people living downtown so suburban people can commute in on 2 ton steel boxes that they then store for the day in downtown?&lt;p&gt;No, that is indeed not the most efficient use of the roads. The most efficient use of the roads would be to rip them out and use the space for vastly more efficient public transport.&lt;p&gt;(Bus transport is also not slowed down by cyclists, or of all things, &lt;i&gt;skateboarders&lt;/i&gt;.)</text></comment>