We have allowed the automobile to become far too dominant. Cars de-socialize us. Around 30,000 people a year die in automobile accidents in the US and tens of thousands more are injured. Cars pollute our air and warm the planet and we fight wars at staggering costs to procure oil to fuel them. Perhaps the future will not be completely car free; perhaps it shouldn’t be. Today’s car-centric culture, though, is pure poison.
It seems clear that bicycles cannot be the only answer but they will have to play a much greater role than they do today. As we reengineer our transit systems, perhaps bicycle highways, especially in urban areas, will play a greater role. In outlying suburbs, perhaps multi-modal systems that combine short-range cycling with longer-range rapid transit are the key to the future
Germany gives green light to bicycle highways