AngeloDolce

To me posts #40 and #63 give the answer to the question in #71 ,

Why would I give up my right to bicycle for transportation on roads in the US now because they have better laws and facilities in other countries?



If you have well designed facilities that go everywhere, why do you need to make them mandatory?



To answer the question in post #71 , US cyclists oppose facilities because 99% of the facilities we see are designed by motorists to keep bicyclists out of the road. Facilities supported by cyclists in other countries may be usable for bicycle transportation, but I don't see that as a reason to support motorist designs to keep bicyclists out of 10 mph traffic (see Philadelphia below).


There are a few short (250 yds) MUPs between developments where I live that are can be useful and scenic in the summer. However, I'm not always riding from my house, and the paths aren't plowed in the winter. There is another path that is designed to be longer to give recreational bicyclists more miles of path. However (i) it starts and stops in the middle of nowhere (ii) it is technically closed after dark and (iii) path users are required to yield at every road crossing.

I'm not willing to give up my right to bicycle to any destination day or night because a few isolated paths were paved. We're not saying we don't want a car because we've only experienced a Trabant. We're saying even if Trabants are the only cars available they still don't work. If no one has managed to build a working bicycle infrastructure in the US, why would we agree to make it mandatory or even use it before seeing the final implementation on the ground? Too many designs are reduced before completion. It doesn't matter if cyclists understand how Dutch designs can work if planners here won't imagine their installation or use here.

MD and NY have aggressive mandatory use laws because their facilities have so many problems bicyclists can't stay in them. CrankyOne gave list of a problems in New York; storm drains, parked cars and turn lanes are problems in Baltimore. A Philadelphia councilman is proposing a MBL because bicyclists keep leaving bike lanes blocked by parked cars (and recent bike lanes painted inside turn lanes on to I-76). The mandatory use laws are imposed because the facilities don't work, not because they do.

kickstart

You're arguments and so called conclusions are pure textbook VC propaganda, hyperbolic fabrications that any options or choices other than doing nothing are an attack on "real" cyclists.

Luddites unite....the sky is falling!

daihard 

FYI, bicycles are required to take two-step ("Copenhagen") turns at intersections in Japan (where the picture was taken). Turning directly from the general travel lane (or turn lane) is illegal. It makes the design in the picture more reasonable.