A bicycle is an inanimate object. Its the bicyclist I worry about. I would like to see the Bike League change the name of our community-building program to "bicycling friendly communities" since its the activity that has to be made more friendly, and consider Commute Orlando's pyramid (see link for details) as a basis for the BFC model (from Keri Caffrey, with permission).
The pyramid demonstrates that we need to build these programs from the bottom up and ensure that the cyclists out on the roads are good ambassadors to cycling. So #1 and 2 are really quite intertwined. By building this pyramid, the legwork for changing motorist and police behavior, and the job of building well-designed cycling infrastructure will be so much easier.
2 comments:
Agreed, but we should all remember that, as cyclists, that #2 is the only one we can directly affect on a daily basis. And IT will lead to improvements in all the rest.
We can affect #1 on a daily basis by riding well and lawfully. Its not enough to proclaim our rights to the road as if its an entitlement. We have to act like we belong there.
I really don't think that demonstrating competence takes a nine hour LAB course as much as it requires common sense and a little less narcissism. Unfortunately of late, to steal and mangle a phrase from the USMC, common sense is an uncommon virtue.
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