Bike Lane Logic

As Monty Python says...and now for something completely different!

As I was driving back from The City tonight, I noticed the sidewalks along the main drag...that are never used. And the bike path that is hardly ever used...and thought of all the wasted money, just because some DOT engineers came up with a concept called 'urban profiles'. The way this works is that if a road is of a certain size, in a certain place, it must have a median, curb and gutter, bikepath and sidewalks on each side.

Think about the crisis we have in infrastructure and you begin to appreciate what a crime it is, really, that scarce public funds get spent on an 'ideal' road profile that, apart from the road surface itself, doesn't get used! Not only is the money spent wastefully installing these unused/little used appurtenances, but then they have to be maintained...in perpetuity. If we could just curb wasteful actions like these, and tailor and right-size the infrastructure, then we could address REAL needs...not wants, or desires, that drain the public treasury.

Another way to highlight how unquestioned assumptions like this drive and drain our resources is to think of it this way:

We mandate that bicycles, which, when I was a kid, drove on sidewalks, must drive on the road (with or without bikelanes, in this case, we will assume, with), with the flow of traffic. Meanwhile, there is a perfectly good (and much safer) underused sidewalk a few feet away. Think about this! Would any of you agree that we should, to save money, eliminate sidewalks as an improvement and mandate that the pedestrians walk in the BIKE LANE, along with the bikes?! I doubt it! Madness, you say! But...

All a bike rider is...is a pedestrian on a bike! Sharing the roadway with up to 10 ton trucks, travelling up to 45 mph in most urban sections. The bike rider even must go with the flow, so he can't see what is going on behind him.

Wouldn't it make more sense (silly me, as if that would make a difference to an urban transportation planner!) for BIKES and PEOPLE to share the much, much safer sidewalk? After all, they are about the same size, close to the same weight...and the bikes and people can walk in any direction they like, as long as it is safe. Which it would be!

Think of the savings, eliminating all those unnecessary and INTRINSICALLY DANGEROUS bike paths. We are talking major capital improvement bucks... and saving on YEARS of maintenance. Billions, over time. BILLIONS.

And what kind of society says that 1,000 pound motorcycles (and those are BIG ones!) can share the roadway with those 10 ton trucks? Why not stick the bicycles out there too! All a motorcycle is is a BIG moped---a motorized bike. And worse, if the motorcycle owner buys a minimal insurance policy, he doesn't have to wear a helmet!But oftentimes, bicyclists do! CRAZY.

And then there are the laws that allow 6 year old children- FIRST GRADERS, for crying out loud- to operate 500 lb. 4-wheelers, no helmet required, no parental supervision required...off road! Uneven surfaces! Trees! Ditches! If that isn't a form of parental neglect, at the least, I don't know what is.

Why is common sense so...uncommon!

The unquestioned, un-rational assumptions cost lives and money. Blood and treasure. We grow livid at a few thousand combat deaths among our military who are trained for , and expect to be, in hazardous situations, where their lives are at risk.

But, we don't even think about 50,000 traffic deaths a year...most totally avoidable if only a seat belt was worn, or the driver was sober.

Crazy. And we don't even question these assumptions.

CRAZY...just scratches the surface on our institutional lunacy.

M.C.