Originally Posted by
Jim from Boston
Hi [MENTION=227213]wphamilton[/MENTION] ,
Thanks for the reply. My first understanding of that post, on the thread, “Commute by bike? But that's dangerous!”was a seemingly double negative proposition: self-selected (? inexperienced) bicycle commuters choose based on miconceptions (? of the dangers), rather than what seasoned (experienced) commuters want (? perceived advantages, benefits, protections).
I inferred that people decide likely NOT to cycle commute based on those (negative) misperceptions.
You wrote further on that post: seeming to confirm my impression. I have posted previously about impressions and the decision to cycle commute, including on that particular thread:
Don't mistake it for something deep. You know when someone asks you about commuting, and then they say "I'd like to, but ..."? Whatever it is after the "but", too much traffic, too far, angry drivers, and so on, are often the same things that we face daily without any particular issue or concern. They
seem like impediments to the non-cyclist, but to people who commute aren't the actual impediments.
So in effect, we often decide in the beginning on cycle commuting based on local conditions, so yes that is self-selected on conditions. But then, after we stick with it, we learn that those same conditions that we were concerned about aren't necessarily impediments after all and we're NOT selecting based on local conditions. It's a kind of dichotomy.