Amen!

The roads are public space. They are ours, too! They belonged to all people LONG before they were taken over and believed to be the exclusive domain of people driving cars.

BTW, check out this video Andy posted yesterday.

Yup! Until then we have to rely on vehicle operators using due care by slowing down when conditions warrant. Just as we will after our intrepid inventor has become a bazillionaire.

The problem we face now, as it has always been, is the lack of responsible behavior and how our society deals with it.

Right now, or society wants to give deadly irresponsible behavior a pass because “judging others” is frowned upon. Driving under the influence of text messages is socially acceptable. Bending the traffic laws in the name of Traffic Flow is encouraged instead. Motorists wish that the public roads were their exclusive domain, and so they operate as if they are.

These are not problems that are fixed by infrastructure. Law enforcement can increase the cost of a cavalier attitude, but it is a blunt and ineffective tool to change the zeitgeist.

To pursue liberty, we must change how society views public space and individual rights. tyranny awaits at the end of the road marked “infrastructure and ordinances will make you safe”.

One of the problems with attempting to separate bicyclists from motor vehicle traffic is that the separation device inevitably causes accidents. You mention the reflectors. My files are full of accidents caused by a cyclist losing control on small obstructions like reflectors. While I think potholes and debris are inevitable, and tell cyclists they have to look for them, I have a problem with paying taxes to install devices that will inevitably cause some cyclists to lose control and fall — and raised reflectors fall into that category.

There are other issues I won’t go into just now for reasons of time crunch, but that’s a small start.

John Schubert
Limeport.org

The idea that people should respect slower traffic is a great idea. And it has a foundation in the forgotten rules of the road. I was agreeing with you.

I do have an issue with anthropomorphizing cars because it releases human drivers of responsibility. It is also a framing trick to make them seem like threatening robots rather than vehicles driven by humans.

The reflectors are NOT a great idea. They are a bad idea. I have had to deal with them plenty and would very much like to shove them up the ___ of the person responsible for placing them on shoulder and “bike lane” lines. They cause bicyclists to crash. They also induce motorists to out-drive their headlights at night by lighting the road like a runway.

Have you noticed that you are the only person here that is constantly harping on fear of same-direction traffic? You have been reading this site for a long time. Have you noticed that our stories, our experiences, our videos and our lessons are all aimed at dispelling the mythologies of danger from same-direction traffic? Do you think we are all operating some vast conspiracy to lure you into danger?

Have you asked yourself why our experiences are so different from yours? Have you considered that maybe there is something you could learn from us since we don’t seem to have the constant conflicts and problems that you do?

Dennis, I’m not dissing you. I’m trying to REACH you. This is something we have clearly failed to do so far.

Not to disrespect you!

You know what I’m trying to communicate and they are fantastic ideas – especially the reflectors – and your dissing me only informs me about you.

Lots of those in Seminole County. The damned things cause bicyclists to crash when they need to leave the bike lane to avoid the debris, sand and broken glass that collects there. Introducing real hazards to calm irrational fears of same-direction traffic is foolish.

“cars being legally and socially forced to honor and respect slower traffic”

Cars are inanimate.

People should honor and respect other people in the public space, no matter their vehicle or their speed.

The prejudice is primarily social. The rule is first come, first served, and it’s not based on how fast you can go. The notion that faster traffic has more rights is a cultural disease.

Finally, when my parents moved to Europe in the early ’70s I was of the opinion that the USA was the greatest and all great things came from this nation. But when my parents drove on their streets there were these funny but really neat reflector things that warned you were crossing into other lanes and I had not seen them anywhere in the USA. How could any country come up with something so useful a thing before the USA which kicked Germany’s butt during the war. In addition, in Germany the law of slower traffic driving on the right is legally and socially strictly enforced.

How about reflectors separating bicycle and car traffic and cars being legally and socially forced to honor and respect slower traffic.

When I was stationed in Europe in the ’80s my car broke down and I was forced to buy another. In the interim I rode a bike. On a return trip home from work and while I was still in my camoflage uniform, a young german guy in a car passed me and clearly saw me and he made a right turn in front of me. I ran into his right rear and left a small mark on his car from the handlebar tape. We called the german police and they ended up siding with him even though he almost killed me.