It depends on who the Star of the video is. If it is Keri or the BOBies, it would be easy to watch!

When I’m sitting in front of an hour of video from trips on University Blvd. and Goldrenrod Rd. and all that video has are perfect interactions — motorists changing lanes and giving us plenty of space, I’m faced with this dilemma. How do I show this? I mean, it’s really the entirety that makes it so significant. The entirety of uninterrupted good behavior, as well as the long gaps during which we are utterly alone on a 6-lane arterial road (at rush hour) are what I want to show.

How do I show that? No one is going to watch hours of boring video where nothing dramatic is happening.

People who want to prove that cycling is dangerous can ride in ways that invite danger. A series of close-calls can be captured with relatively little riding time. They can be cobbled together into a short and dramatic video that people are drawn to. It will resonate with the audience because it confirms their belief system (and everything they’ve been told about cycling).

Teaching mindfulness entails the hands-on approach. Many people are incapable of mentally projecting themselves into a new situation; (e.g. vehicular cycling and lane control). Keri & I both come from a graphic arts background, so we may be better attuned to the challenge of having someone understand a concept without seeing the final product. It’s one thing to create a mock-up of an ad to show a client; it’s quite another to try to get someone to do something they are fearful of. Video will work with some, but it’s still too easy for the inexperienced and fearful person to discount. “So you showed me 5 minutes of video; so what.”

Of course this isn’t an either/or problem. People are on a continuum of being able to imagine themselves in the new situation.

It was relatively easy for those of us with many miles of roadway cycling experience to accept and attempt the “new” concept of lane control. We were already doing it in situations like left turns.

(To go back to the graphic arts analogy. In the old days before computers, we’d first do a rough sketch of the idea and get the client’s preference, then work up a few “comps” which were more detailed and get the client to choose one, then work with the printer to develop an image of exactly what the piece would look like. At every key step of the way we made sure the client was comfortable with the product before making a more expensive (riskier) decision.)

You have to start with where that individual is and bring them along incrementally, introducing them to faster and more complex roadways only when they are ready.

Which means that WE as INSTRUCTORS must be MINDFUL.

And we must do that when we’re WRITING as well.

Bravo Keri!

Cycling to school by primary and middle school-aged kids has dropped dramatically in the last couple of decades, not because parents are afraid for their kids to ride their bikes (although there is some of that), but because they are afraid of pedophiles (another media-hyped fear campaign).

The drop in 8-18 year old cyclists has had a positive impact to a lot of cycling “activists”. It has caused the number of cycling fatalities to decrease. Some prominent bicycle safety organizations think that reduced cycling by children is a positive trend.

The two primary causes of young childrens’ auto-related fatalities on bicycles are ride outs and failing to yield right of way at intersections. Segregated facilities have no impact on the driveway ride-outs, and will exacerbate the intersection problems.

This works at a low level of satisfaction when the competition is between cycling and walking, but it is absolutely useless when the competition is between cycling and motoring. This is the typical case in modern cities, and is particularly so in the USA.

To say nothing of the fact that facilities said to be designed for safe use by children are, in origin and all to frequently now, merely intended to make motoring more convenient.

“Fortunately, engineering our public spaces and roadways to make them safe for children to travel also has the effect of protecting me in that 2% of the time that I’m not mindful.”

So you choose to be mindless your 2% of the time when you know that you are with children and are protected on some bikeway with 0% possibility of collision with motor vehicle. Or, you advocate 100% segregation so that you can be mindless 100% of the time. I pity the other bikeway users.

I’m not convinced the Dutch treat bicycles like vehicles; they are more like rolling pedestrians. Bicyclists there have inferior rights to even mopedists, who with a max speed of 45 kph (I hit 60 kph everyday on my bike) are granted broader use of the roads than bicyclists. Woo hoo! The thought of riding my bike at 8 mph in order to have the illusion of safety (mindless) on Dutch style urban facilities makes my brain scream in pain for conscious mindfulness.

Wayne

Many cities ranging from Copenhagen to Montreal to Seoul to Bogota to New York have taken complex urban roads that were dangerous for children (and adults!) to ride on and transformed them into safe routes. Note the wide variety of continents and cultures in these examples.

Public space, such as roads, is just that, public. And should be safe for children and everyone else.

“There are those who say it cannot be done. Then there are those who go ahead and do it” – Rudyard Kipling

The creative imagination; unrestrained fancy. See synonyms at imagination.

Something, such as an invention, that is a creation of the fancy;

A capricious or fantastic idea; a conceit;

An imagined event or sequence of mental images, such as a daydream, usually fulfilling a wish or psychological need;

An unrealistic or improbable supposition;

Bicycle infrastructure suitable for children along complex urban or suburban/arterial roads.