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Old 05-26-15 | 12:45 AM
  #24  
Saving Hawaii
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Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 541
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From: Chico, Cali
I'd give mine an 8. This is a college town with about 80,000 people (a quarter of that is stereotypical college age). Mild weather and flat terrain means there's a lot of cyclists.

Our strongest point is driver behavior. Drivers here are typically extremely tolerant of cyclists. You can take the lane almost anywhere and ride in peace. I have never been honked at while taking the lane downtown and I do that e'ery day. Drivers here also tend to be laid back. It's pretty typical for the flow of traffic to be below the speed limit even if a road isn't congested. This also creates convenient opportunities for motorpacing. One really strong point in my mind is simple awareness. There's a badly designed Main Street near my house that forces cyclists to stop every block, run a stop sign every block, or very aggressively take a lane. Motorists get timed lights. 95% of cyclists choose option two. Drivers are acutely aware of this and are extremely adept at yielding to cyclists despite the fact that they have ROW. I wish the street would be redesigned but this is a working compromise.

Our worst point is also driver behavior. Cyclists get killed by drunk drivers here and that's a major problem. At the beginning and end of college season you also get a lot of new students and their out-of-town parents who are completely incompetent as regards coping with bicyclists. It's a good time to be on guard as a rider.

Our bike lanes mostly suck. Frequently in the door zone, often putting you in bad spots with turning traffic. But we don't have a ton of bike lanes. The city is more into bicycle boulevards and MUPs. These are great. The MUPs in particular are commuter oriented like nowhere else I've seen.
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