Originally Posted by danarnold

There appear to be at least two agendas in this thread, broadly defined they are:
1. anti car
2. pro cycling

That's a gross simplification of course. These two agendas are sometimes congruent, sometimes in opposition.There's probably a third agenda, making this world a better place.

Yes, I think we can and should try to improve the roadscape as you call it. I'm just not sure on exactly how to do that. For me, I'd like smoother pavement and better educated drivers and cyclists. I think sharrows and signs are simple, cost effective means toward that goal. Campaigns promoting taking the bike instead of the car and promoting the truth that cyclists have a right to the road, similar to anti smoking and anti littering are great.

Would I trade my car in for in for a utopia with perfect mass transit if everyone else did the same? It's a very tempting proposition, particularly if we narrowed all the wide roads with forest and garden, keeping rules of the road cycling paths, separated from pedestrians. But, it isn't going to happen, and if it did, I would be giving up a considerable amount of personal freedom and privacy.

So given the political and practical realities, we're back to tinkering with the current system a bit. What is the current percentage of adults who commute by bicycle in Seattle, in Washington, in the US?

Or the percentage of adults who ride bicycles even 4 days a week? How would those percentages increase if we had the best bike lane design everywhere, on every road? How much would it decrease auto use? I'd be interested in knowing answers to those questions.