John Forester

That is incorrect. I am not an elitist cyclist, not by any means. Yes, it is correct that the current American social situation shuts the door to most, but that is the fault of the current American social situation and has nothing at all to do with the actual skill of traffic-safe cycling, which is not difficult, is easy to learn, and can be done by quite young people. (2-lane residential roads for 8 year olds; 4-lane roads for 10 year olds). There are several reasons why Americans don't bother to learn traffic-safe cycling: they don't think that bicycle transportation would be particularly useful for them; they believe the motorists' discriminatory propaganda that traffic-safe cycling is so difficult that cyclists must not use it, but hug the curbs or ride on paths instead; they believe the motorists' discriminatory propaganda that traffic-safe cycling is very dangerous; they believe the bicycle advocates' vociferous repetition of the motorists' propaganda along with the bicycle advocates' propaganda that bikeways make cycling safe for those who do not obey the rules of the road; they believe the government's propaganda that its bikeways make cycling safe for those who do not obey the rules of the road. In short, there are many false official and near official arguments presented against riding according to the rules of the road, and the poor man in the street has no means of determining otherwise.

If the bicycle advocates would start advocating for the good of cyclists instead of pursuing their anti-motoring agenda, the public pressure against traffic-safe cycling would be significantly lessened.