Take the Lane

As discussed in the November/ December 2007 American Bicyclist, the various laws for bicycle use on the highway vary very much from state to state. Most states (41) require bicycles to ride to "as far to right as practicable". While this is certainly a case where bicycles are not treated equally and under certain situations it may create problems, it still provides the bicycle with a right to road but with some limitations. Naturally it most comfortable for the bicyclist and passing motorists to have a roadway with a bike lane or wide shoulder area so it is easy and safe for passing. The problem is what do you, as the bicyclist, do when the road narrows. How far to the right is "practicable"? This varies very much with the situation. Often in urban areas with, lots of what Phil Liggett calls "traffic furniture" or various lane dividers and barriers, etc., it is easier for the bicyclist to "take the lane" and force motor vehicles to follow and not overtake. Usually in these situations traffic is slower (turning or around a rotary) so that the speed difference between the bicycle and the motor vehicle traffic is not that significant. Outside of urban areas it is very annoying when the bike lane (or shoulder area) suddenly disappears. The problem is how close to the edge should you ride. I don't think you should ride too close to the edge but you really need to be aware of traffic behind and a rear view mirror really helps. I like the Bicycle Safe guide by Michael Bluejay. The applicable case is collision type 8. Fortunately this is a rare type of collision, at least during daylight. As noted in Bicycle Safe, for night riding proper lighting and reflective materials for visibility is absolutely required. Don't trust the little reflectors that the government requires.

Michael Bluejay's approach has some differences with the Effective Cycling method developed by John Forrester. The Wikipedia discussion on Effective Cycling highlights the difference and provides other related links. I don't oppose marked bike lanes because they may be considered like other defined traffic lanes. Just ones primarily for bicycles. The defined space created by the bike lane certainly makes cycling more comfortable for most riders because you are "not getting in any body's way" and auto traffic moves along pretty much the same as if there was no bike lane. The problem and challenge is how to deal with the situation when the bike lane ends and the state DOT posts those nice signs with bicycle graphic and "shared roadway". I'm not sure how much drivers notices these signs. This situation calls for careful riding and positioning and, as I said before, using a rear view mirror helps you to be aware of overtaking traffic. Notice the traffic that is approaching from the rear as well as on coming traffic and the available sight line. Usually if there is a poor sight line such as winding mountain roads then cars tend to be more careful and cautious about passing. What bothers me the most is when you have relatively good passing conditions and drivers just don't have the patience to wait for the on coming traffic and squeeze by with little clearance. In rare cases, in this sort of situation, I have had to take defensive action and ride off the paved surface (onto gravel or dirt).

Hope this guide item is helpful. I find it interesting to follow the Effective Cycling debate.

Paving the Way

One unusual fact from history, which most people are not aware, is that the bicycle paved the way for the automobile, both figuratively and literally. The figurative aspect is the manufacturing base and technology that was created in the 1880's and 1890's for the first bicycle boom transferred to the new automobile industry of the 1900's and 1910's. Most people don't appreciate the role that the bicycle and bicycle manufacturers played in creating the new automobile industry in the early twentieth century. The literal aspect of how the bicycle paved the way is through the "Good Roads Movement" The Good Roads Movement was started in 1882 by Albert A. Pope as an off shoot of the League of American Wheelmen to pressure government to improve the quality of roads. At that time (about 1890) most roads were simply dirt paths for farmers' wagons. Paving was a very new technology and only found in a few cities. To encourage the technology for road building, Pope gave six thousand dollars to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to establish a department of road engineering. He also paid to have a section of Boston's Columbus Avenue paved to demonstrate the benefits of asphalt.

The bicycle boom of the 1890's came to a rather sudden end around 1897 to 1898. The "bust" that ended the boom was rather classic lesson of economics. Production expanded so much that it soon exceeded demand and price cutting could not stimulate enough sales to maintain the number of manufacturers that existed at the peak of the boom. While a smaller American bicycle industry stayed around for a few more years, the publics fascination and interest quickly moved to the new automobiles produced by Henry Ford and others. Also unfortunately the American bicycle industry stayed in business by changing to building products for children since there was little demand for bicycles for adults. The result of this history is that too many Americans think of bicycles as toys for children and they don't appreciate the role that the bicycle played in creating the modern system of roads and highways that we have today.

The irony today is that bicyclists continue to have to struggle to have a right to ride on the roads that early bicyclists helped to build. A good example of the current struggle is the San Francisco - Oakland Bay Bridge. A new east span is being built from Oakland to Yerba Buena Island and will include a 15' wide bike lane. But the old west span from San Francisco to Yerba Buena Island will still be only for automobiles. This is a truly sad situation since the value of the bike lane on east span will be limited without the connection to San Francisco. Hopefully, the efforts to add a bike/ service lane on the west span will be successful. A good discussion on this is available on the SFBC (San Francisco Bicycle Coalition) web site at: http://www.sfbike.org/?baybridge

The struggle for the bicycle to use the public roads and park pathways started in the 1880's when the bicycle (and the was the "Ordinary" or high wheeler) was a newfangled machine the public was just becoming familiar with. Albert Pope supported the legal defense of three early wheelmen that defied Central Park's anti-cycling ordinance. While the Supreme Court eventually upheld the five-dollar fines imposed by the city, the attention gained by the long legal struggle helped gain sympathy from the public. Bicyclists are now in another struggle for the right to the road. With all the attention on energy consumption and global warming issues, as well as simple traffic congestion, perhaps politicians can again be moved to recognize the value of the bicycle in the transportation mix.

Pottersville and Bailey Park

A lot has been written about Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life" but ironically it provides an interesting view of our cities and town before and after World War II. I believe this movie was made in 1946 and it wasn't that successful at that time because it was thought to be to dark and pessimistic at the beginning of the post war boom. The town of Bedford Falls had the typical compact downtown area with stores, banks, etc. all near by. While there were cars and traffic people could appear to be able to get around the town by walking. However, the dream of home ownership and the beginning of the suburbs could be seen in Bailey Park. While that scene in the movie is before the war the reality of when the movie was made suggests an early post war suburb (perhaps in Orange County) assuming these were real houses and not a set. Another irony is that the greedy Mr. Potter was a banker but primarily a landlord. Why wasn't he lending money for people to build houses. That was the Bailey Building and Loan's function. What you obviously don't see is where was Bailey Park, where were the highways and freeways, etc. The dream of home ownership should not mean that we can't have livable cities and towns. Do we need the tract developments of Bailey Park? It is sort of funny to think but would we be better off in Pottersville? I don't mean the "sin city" aspects but rather the more compact town without suburban sprawl development.

We have what we have now and we can't go back in time. Someday we will run out of petroleum and costs for other fuels will be high and we will have to reconsider how we live. Perhaps then we can live in Bedford Falls but without the sprawl of Bailey Park.

First Post

As anyone who reads can tell I am new to this so please bear with me.

In this blog would like to discuss my ideas about transportation and our lifestyles and the future. There is lots discussion about ethanol and other non-petroleum based automobile transportation. I think that in the long run we will have to do a lot more. Unfortunately, in most communities we have let the automobile almost dominate our lives. This has largely happened in the last sixty to seventy years or more specifically after the second world war. Take a look at the way other cities and town were designed and the architecture of homes. Older areas have sidewalks and new newer developments don't. Children don't ever seem to walk to school. We demand that school buses pick up our children our door. We have made the roads too dangerous for our children.

What can we do? I think that we will need to learn to live more like people do in Europe. It will sort of be like going back in time and it will be very difficult and it will take a long time. I think that it will be a while before we really take the rather radical steps needed. Politics and our ingrained habits and lifestyle will get in the way. The most logical thing to do would be to significantly increase the gasoline tax, say to be closer to the taxes in Europe. Any politician that would support this idea would be out a job at the next election. And sad fact is that higher gasoline taxes would tend to hurt poor people in rural areas much more than the wealthy with big SUVs and McMansions. The only suggestion would be to vary the higher gasoline tax by county. Thus the wealthy in Westchester county NY (and similar locations) would pay more than those in poor, rural counties. Just an idea.

Getting back to my thoughts about cities and houses. It is interesting to note how the automobile has come to dominant our homes. In houses built before World War II, houses that had garages most often had detached one car garages. It was sort of like the garage was an out growth of the barn. People kept the car away from the house, like they kept the animals in the barn. With most new homes the garage almost seems to dominate the front. Perhaps we need to put the car back in the barn where it belongs. This may be both a physical and mental change.

Another interesting fact about the automobile and our lifestyle since the end of WW II. I am not someone that follows baseball but I heard on NPR last week that one reason the Brooklyn Dodgers moved to Los Angles fifty years ago was that Ebbets Field in Brooklyn did not have parking lots. With the rise of the suburbs in the fifties, baseball fans moved from the neighborhoods of the Levittowns on Long Island. No longer were they "Trolley Dodgers". Naturally, Los Angeles offered a new stadium with plenty of parking.

I guess this is enough for my first post. I will write more when I have more ideas.

So long for now.