Originally Posted by
Digital_Cowboy
John,
I would be very curious to know what "formal" training our local Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Coordinator received before taking the job. As I've said in my conversations with them it doesn't seem that they really have an understanding of the challenges that a cyclist or walker face on a daily basis.
And as I said, it would be helpful if a person holding such a position actually spent a fair amount of time riding/walking so that they had a good understanding of the challenges facing those who choose to get around in that manner.
Otherwise it is like putting a person who isn't blind in charge of designing homes for those who are blind. It can be done, but those of us with sight don't fully understand the challenges of those without sight.
There is an organization named Association of Bicycle and Pedestrian Professionals, which is the trade organization (it has none of the characteristics of a technical society) for bike planners. I was a member for about two months a year or so ago, until they threw me out for inquiring for the scientific support (merely inquiring, nothing else) for their claims. Other competent people I know have reported the same events. I once took a seminar given by one of their leading lights, Mia Birk, and noticed the same lack of scientific knowledge. And one of their leading professorial advocates, Prof. John Pucher (planning, Rutgers), when speaking in San Diego had to answer my questioning with the statement that he paid no attention to engineering, he did just what was popular. The probability that any bicycle coordinator has any technically sound training is very low indeed.