Advocacy & Safety - Spreading the misinformation in LA. Road Wars!

Video from last night’s news story. About as worthless as I thought it would be.

http://video.nbc4.tv/player/?id=60821

This was discussed a little in the SoCal forum, but I thought everyone else might like to take a look.

I think it was typical of what the black girl said the beginning of the video " bicycles belong on the sidewalks " ...

EFF- you.

LOL

no mention was made to draw backs of bike lanes. and very little was mentioned about the cyclists legal rights to the road. they should have clearly stated what the law is at some point in the newscast.

Those were some stellar bike lanes they showed too.

I used to live in California, and in many respects I believe that LA may be a lost cause. The culture is very automobile centric - the city has grown up in the age of the automobile and as a result is totally designed around motor vehicles. I don't have the reference handy, but I believe that in LA county there is more land area set aside for cars (parking lots, roads etc) than for people (buildings, parks etc). There is a culture which pervades LA where people define themselves by the type of car that they drive and anything that threatens the auto-centric mentality is considered kooky. Eventually the government will have to stop subsidizing motor vehicle transport, and when that happens, LA is going to collapse as quickly as if a big earthquake were to hit it.

well, i know that the so-cal forum has a booming population of cyclists. so, there seems to be lots and lots of cyclists around.

i guess most of these people ride for fitness rather than transportation? it's such a shame given the weather is so nice. everyone could be riding around on bikes instead of clogged up freeways. *sigh*

Doesn't sound like LA is any different from any other area in the US. That doesn't mean you can't ride a bicycle there.

I used to live in California, and in many respects I believe that LA may be a lost cause. The culture is very automobile centric - the city has grown up in the age of the automobile and as a result is totally designed around motor vehicles. I don't have the reference handy, but I believe that in LA county there is more land area set aside for cars (parking lots, roads etc) than for people (buildings, parks etc). There is a culture which pervades LA where people define themselves by the type of car that they drive and anything that threatens the auto-centric mentality is considered kooky. Eventually the government will have to stop subsidizing motor vehicle transport, and when that happens, LA is going to collapse as quickly as if a big earthquake were to hit it.
And this differs from the rest of the US how?

Eventually the government will have to stop subsidizing motor vehicle transport, and when that happens, LA is going to collapse as quickly as if a big earthquake were to hit it.
I think you underestimate the value of comfortable, convenient, individual motorized transit.

Consider a driver who drives 15,000 miles per year in a 30 mpg car at $3/gallon.
That's $1500/year in gas, or about $125/month.

For new $30,000+ cars people are willing to pay $600+/month for 5 years.
That's an indication of how much they value comfortable, convenient, individual motorized transit.

If gas prices and other driving related costs go up, people might start driving a bit less or maybe not be able to buy new cars quite as often, but I suspect they're willing to absorb the costs by giving up a lot of other less important (to them) things in their lives before they'll be willing to give up comfortable, convenient, individual motorized transit.

Twenty years from now most cars will probably be electric.

i think it even goes beyond that for many people. owning a car is just something you do. i was raised like this. we equated it the same way as having a social security number. you just have one. period.

not having a car for some people is similar to being homeless. it's just not something you choose to do. they'll make any and all sacrifices necessary while complaining the entire time.

Depends where you are. A city with good transit & services properly dispersed, no car needed, in fact it can be a hell of a liability. Sprawl = need a car.

no mention was made to draw backs of bike lanes. and very little was mentioned about the cyclists legal rights to the road. they should have clearly stated what the law is at some point in the newscast.

The LA bike coalition woman mentioned the rights to the road along with being "bullied" out there everyday.

"Rights" we have to fight for, tooth and nail mind you.

the woman from Davis also said that if you "build the infrastructure, people bike more, then there's more incentive to put more infrastructure in and then it sort of builds on itself, until you've got the infrastructure and the culture."

Depends where you are. A city with good transit & services properly dispersed, no car needed, in fact it can be a hell of a liability. Sprawl = need a car.
I agree. I know more than one New York city native who did not grow up thinking they'd automatically have a car. One's dad has never owned a car in his life. But when bedroom communitites spread for 40 miles and there's few or no busses, no trains, clogged interstates, then a car is about the only way to get there.:(

the woman from Davis also said that if you "build the infrastructure, people bike more, then there's more incentive to put more infrastructure in and then it sort of builds on itself, until you've got the infrastructure and the culture."
Coming from a woman in a town where since they built the grandest bike infrastructure in the U.S. the per capita amount of cycling has decreased, that's not very compelling.

I know Davis fairly well. We used to visit a lot in the 60s and still have friends there. Cycling was HUGE in the 60s in Davis, before the bike lanes started coming in the late 60s and early 70s, bigger (per capita) than it is today.

It's a flat university town with great weather conducive to cycling. That's why cycling is so popular there, not because of the "infrastructure". What a crock.

Good God!!!!
I actually agree with you on something!


I think you underestimate the value of comfortable, convenient, individual motorized transit.

Consider a driver who drives 15,000 miles per year in a 30 mpg car at $3/gallon.
That's $1500/year in gas, or about $125/month.

For new $30,000+ cars people are willing to pay $600+/month for 5 years.
That's an indication of how much they value comfortable, convenient, individual motorized transit.

If gas prices and other driving related costs go up, people might start driving a bit less or maybe not be able to buy new cars quite as often, but I suspect they're willing to absorb the costs by giving up a lot of other less important (to them) things in their lives before they'll be willing to give up comfortable, convenient, individual motorized transit.

Twenty years from now most cars will probably be electric.

Thanks for the link to a dreadful piece of journalism which does nothing to promote vehicular cycling or "same rights, same roads, same rules." By the way, my wife and I lived car-free in west Los Angeles for the first 3-1/2 years of our marriage. We bought our first car one month after opening escrow on our first house.

Yea they should have put a graphic up that clearly stated the laws right after that lady said they need to be on sidewalks.

I know Davis fairly well. We used to visit a lot in the 60s and still have friends there. Cycling was HUGE in the 60s in Davis, before the bike lanes started coming in the late 60s and early 70s, bigger (per capita) than it is today.Maybe its just about baby boomers growing up and throwing off their bikes ... along with a few ideals.