Originally Posted by cooker
I doubt it. Unless I'm mistaken, those "Beijing throngs" mentioned by Andy Bower in Slate magazine (in another thread) don't need a license and don't die by the dozens. My guess is that the more bikes there are on the street, the more car drivers will have to behave...sort of a traffic calming effect. And of course, after the "petrocalypse" (Like it? I made it up. It sounds cute, when in fact it will be a tough age to live through) there will be fewer cars to watch out for, and bike-on-bike crashes aren't as lethal.
Well I don't know. I wiped out yesterday to avoid hitting my stepson who wiped out just in front of me. It didn't feel so good, but obviously wasn't lethal.
You say the car drivers will have to behave. I'm a lot more worried about the bike riders. Around here they don't ride too well, most of them. My concern is that if a lot of them get hurt, or even if they just irritate the hell out of others, the government is going to step in to regulate us. It could be the old story, if you don't police yourselves, somebody else will police you.
Yeah, "petrocalypse" is cute. How bad it turns out to be depends a lot on how we respond to it.