Commuting - Commuting Proposal

I live in what may be the least pedestrian/cyclist friendly area in the world. A large percentage of the vehicles on the road are Suburbans or larger driven by inattentive cell phone users. The rapid growth of the town I live in has caused major traffic problems. The city's answer to most traffic issues is to install a signal light. Near me, one major road has four signals in a one mile stretch, three of them in the last 1/2 mile. One of the neighborhoods on the street is clamoring for an additional signal after a motorcyclist was killed last month.

I commute about 4 days a week, 5.5 miles each way. I use the sidewalks for 4+ miles of this. I know you are supposed to ride in the street, but to do that here would be suicide. I noticed in the local paper that tomorrow night the city council is having a meeting to hear citizen input on the traffic problem. I was thinking of proposing something to make commuting and errand running by bike safer and more convenient. There are currently bike paths in a couple of city parks which are nice, but useless for commuting. I want to suggest adding bike lanes to the major thouroughfares and an awareness program for drivers, maybe some signage to "watch for cyclists". An added bonus for cyclists, if the technology exists, would be some sort of mechanism to measure mileage and usage of bike lanes and a tax break or at least that portion of the cyclist's road tax could go to bike lane maintenance and additions. As much as I hate "big brother" I wouldn't mind having a "chip" on a commuter bike.

Does anyone think this is a good idea? Any opinions or experience welcome.

They have traffic in Oklahoma?

Your ideas sound good. Good luck with it!

In London, signs have popped up to advised drivers to "Think Bike". However, it does sound as if your area is a long way from even getting to this stage.

In the UK the widely accepted wisdom is that in order to encourage and increase cycling in an area you first need to work on infrastructure and facilities. Infrastructure needs to extend to all potential cycling road users (this is not the place to argue VC) and therefore would consist of such things as reduced speed limits, channeled chicanes, cycle lanes of a minimum of 1.5 meters wide and cycle parking (almost all new cycle parking in London is exclusively a variant of the Sheffield stand - upside down U).

For information, Transport for London, the public authority for all transport management in London have a Cycling Centre of Excellence which among many things monitors cycle lace usage and road usage via automated technology, no chips required. Details on the technology, studies, results and so on should be publically available. I understand that interest has already come from other cities around the world in London as a begining model for cycling provision so you wouldn't be the first to come asking.

Also I wouldn't advise doing this alone. If you are serious and passionate about improving cycling in your area then try and involve other local cyclists by forming a campaign group.

That sounds like a plan to me. It would be nice if we could do something like that here as well in Omaha.
I have seen more and more commuters since the gas hike. GoodLuck.

where is "upstate" Oklahoma? There are lots of cyclists in Tulsa.

Try to make your pitch as a solution that benefits all users of the road, because 99% of the people can't imagine themselves riding a bike transportationally. Studies have found that mass transit enjoys popular support not just among those who use it, but among those who don't use it but benefit from reduced congestion. Too many people have trouble with big-picture thinking, so they think of a bicycle on the road as only an unnecessary obstruction. The key is to get them to think of a bicycle on the road not as unnecessary, but as a trip that would have otherwise been taken by car -- the old "one less car" idea -- and that for a given number of trips, they are better off sharing with bikes than with cars. Bikes take up less of the road, use otherwise unusable areas of the road, and don't compete with cars for parking. When a road is congested, bikes are pretty much the only way you can add more capacity without widening the road.

Thanks for all the info. "Upstate" is kind of a joke. Anything north of OKC. I live in Edmond which considers itself an upscale suburb for OKC. Did a google on the London info and it is very extensive. Thanks again.

I use the sidewalks for 4+ miles of this. I know you are supposed to ride in the street, but to do that here would be suicide. I want to suggest adding bike lanes...
Does anyone think this is a good idea? Any opinions or experience welcome. --- If the street is not wide enough for a cyclist to safely share the road, then painting in a bike lane will not make it safer.
I like well-engineered bike lanes on streets wide enough to safely accomodate them. It gives notice to the motoring public that the bicycle has arrived as a street vehicle.

I live in what may be the least pedestrian/cyclist friendly area in the world. A large percentage of the vehicles on the road are Suburbans or larger driven by inattentive cell phone users. The rapid growth of the town I live in has caused major traffic problems. The city's answer to most traffic issues is to install a signal light. Near me, one major road has four signals in a one mile stretch, three of them in the last 1/2 mile. One of the neighborhoods on the street is clamoring for an additional signal after a motorcyclist was killed last month.

I commute about 4 days a week, 5.5 miles each way. I use the sidewalks for 4+ miles of this. I know you are supposed to ride in the street, but to do that here would be suicide. I noticed in the local paper that tomorrow night the city council is having a meeting to hear citizen input on the traffic problem. I was thinking of proposing something to make commuting and errand running by bike safer and more convenient. There are currently bike paths in a couple of city parks which are nice, but useless for commuting. I want to suggest adding bike lanes to the major thouroughfares and an awareness program for drivers, maybe some signage to "watch for cyclists". An added bonus for cyclists, if the technology exists, would be some sort of mechanism to measure mileage and usage of bike lanes and a tax break or at least that portion of the cyclist's road tax could go to bike lane maintenance and additions. As much as I hate "big brother" I wouldn't mind having a "chip" on a commuter bike.

Does anyone think this is a good idea? Any opinions or experience welcome.

You ride on the sidewalk because you fear getting hit from behind, but most car-bike accidents occur at intersections. If you ride on the sidewalk you basically have to stop at every intersection because motorized traffic will not look for you or expect you there before making turns. (especially the inattentive cell phone types) I would think it safer to ride vehicularly and visibly, and throw in an air horn to wake up the morons.

I think its good to add a cyclist perspective to your traffic meeting. Are there any other cyclists around your parts? Its always good to get change in numbers. While bike lanes may encourage new cyclists, if there are currently no cyclists using those roads it will seem unlikely you'll be able to convince the powers that be to add them. If there aren't many cyclists where you are, it will probably be helpful to get on side with others that have the same goals you do. For instance if the roads are dangerous because people drive too fast, people whose kids need to cross these roads on foot will definitely have a vested interest in getting traffic slowed down. In Toronto bike lanes were added on one road (Dundas Street east) where suburban drivers were using a neighbourhood road as a speedway. The bike lanes removed one lane of traffic from the road, which slowed down the speed of the road. While using cyclists as speed bumps may not be the best way to get results, its the same results in the end.