Originally Posted by
andrelam
...Since the average school in the USA does nothing to teach people how to behave on a road, and even the DMV drivers training books tend to be exceedingly thin on bike and pedestrian safety, I see no other way than to put out some public anouncement, and then start ticketing those who clearly can't follow some basic rules.
Hopefully as cyclists start to behalve more predictably and ride the way they are supposed to, there will be less hatred from motorists.
I think something like this is where we are heading--or at least should be heading. It's not the wild, wild west in the US anymore. We're all in this together. There is plenty in the media about alternative fuels; seems like alternative modes of transport should get more play, as well (of course, that's potentially dollar$ out of corporate pockets). One way to begin is to try to get some standards of conduct (probably not the correct phrase for it, but that should be the intent) put in place for all users of the public ways: peds, joggers, cyclists, power-assisted folks, motorcycles, cars and trucks. If all users are +/- on the same page perception-wise, then maybe the needed infrastructure changes might be easier to bring about.
Seems like the advocacy groups around here are more concerned with bike lanes and trails, and public parking for bikes, rather than actually getting people on similar wavelengths as to how everyone can get themselves around.