Originally Posted by
Bekologist
john's wacky theories do not make sense. There are MANY bicyclists- that know full well how to ride 'according to the rules of the road' that understand bicycling infrastructure can be a benefit to bicycling in communities.
I hypothise john foresters' claims of 'competant or incompetant' bicyclists is flawed and does NOT accurately represent the bicycling public.
There are many, many bicyclists that 'understand how to bicycle according to the rules of the road'
that will not ride all roads all the time.
'inferiority complexes' have little to do with personal choice regarding safety while on a bicycle.
vehicular bicycling is smart, aware bicycling, including use of bicycling infrastructure when appropriate without judgment or political analysis.
remember, bicyclists like john can ride in bike lanes in cities like lemon grove as a vehicular bicyclist, riding according to the rules of the road for vehicles. slower traffic keep right....
forestorite VCism- cult of personality, a politically polarizing ideologue that attempts to find fault with those that disagree with the foresterite POV.
"There are MANY bicyclists- that know full well how to ride 'according to the rules of the road' that understand bicycling infrastructure can be a benefit to bicycling in communities." It matters not whether or not these persons know how to ride according to the rules of the road; that's irrelevant to the discussion. The issue concerns how bikeways (which is the only part of bicycling infrastructure that I oppose) "can be a benefit to bicycling in communities." Benefit to bicycling in communities? What on Earth does that mean? Does this entity "bicycling" have like and dislikes, pain and satisfaction, psychological needs, or for that matter hunger? Your statement is just weasel words, words that sound as though they mean something when all they do is transfer superstition.
If bikeways confer benefit, the benefit that should be first considered is that to cyclists, who are people. The benefits to people have not been accurately described. Of course, bikeway construction benefits cities by bringing in money that has been collected nationwide, but I think that is rarely considered openly, except in political meetings.
You claim that " There are many, many bicyclists that 'understand how to bicycle according to the rules of the road' that will not ride all roads all the time." So what? The reason that you give is that: "'inferiority complexes' have little to do with personal choice regarding safety while on a bicycle." This claim is completely false. The choices made by the majority of people regarding safety while on a bicycle reflect their own opinions, and their own opinions do determine the kinds of roads on which they will cycle. I suspect that you agree with this statement, as I do.
While I think that we agree about the power of opinions in influencing behavior, there is a basic disagreement about facts. The opinions about cycling safety held by most people are largely based on the volume and speed of same-direction motor traffic, which is only a minor factor in accidents to cyclists. Basing one's actions regarding supposed safety on the minor factor instead of on the sum of all the major factors is a psychological error, accurately described as the cyclist-inferiority phobia, according to the standard criteria for phobias, except that of rarity.