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Old 11-27-15 | 08:53 PM
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canklecat
Me duelen las nalgas
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Joined: Aug 2015
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From: Texas

Bikes: Centurion Ironman, Trek 5900, Univega Via Carisma, Globe Carmel

Education and information would be more effective than creating, changing or enforcing laws. People drive cars and ride bicycles the way they do because they've been conditioned that way. Reconditioning would take time and consistent effort.

Public service announcements on TV, during radio drive-time, signs, etc., in the languages most common to each region, would go a long way toward that reconditioning.

I suspect it will be easier to retrain people riding bicycles than car drivers. There's almost no commercial influence that conditions the way people ride bikes. People ride bicycles the wrong way, facing traffic, or on sidewalks, because of old wives tales and persistent myths. My mom still believes you're supposed to ride against traffic or, preferably, on the sidewalk. She's sure that's what she was taught in school 70something years ago. There are no TV ads from the major bicycle manufacturers encouraging reckless riding. So people ride according to the information they've received.

But we're subjected to a barrage of advertising that encourages selfish, anti-social driving. Ads for performance vehicles, including trucks and SUVs, tend to demonstrate loners driving fast on picturesque roads blissfully free of any competition. If another vehicle is shown, it's for the purpose of the loner to pass while isolated in his/her narcissistic speed/entertainment cocoon. If we need any new laws it would be in the way vehicles are advertised, to encourage or reward ads that feature responsible driving, and discourage selfish, anti-social driving behaviors. But that would be a tough sell in the U.S.

Last edited by canklecat; 11-27-15 at 09:01 PM.
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