Comments on: Share the Carpath, I Mean Bikeroad http://www.portlandoctopus.com/share-the-carpath-i-mean-bikeroad/ Everything Portland Mon, 07 Nov 2011 13:14:52 +0000 hourly 1 By: Honey http://www.portlandoctopus.com/share-the-carpath-i-mean-bikeroad/comment-page-1/#comment-144 Honey Tue, 22 Jul 2008 18:35:23 +0000 http://www.portlandoctopus.com/?p=1123#comment-144 It's certainly tense on the streets of Portland these days, a sure sign of this city's inability to handle additional load and to scale appropriately to the increased number of bicyclists during the active months of summer. Disappointingly, just as more people are venturing out on their initial attempts to discover life on the bicycle, they are immediately frightened right back into their car. Portland has done a ton to make bicycling an accessible and safe commuting option for anyone willing to brave the two (or more) wheels. The city's support is the first step toward overall change, but it's a slow and painful growing experience. This city has been designed to accommodate and enable cars, not bikes, to travel easily from start to destination. All the add-ons for bicycles are mere afterthoughts, and will only serve to encroach on drivers' perceived entitled space in the form of streets and avenues everywhere. Driving is already stressful - and then to have to share the road as well - it's maddening! There are too many drivers who are waiting for the opportunity to let it out on a bicyclist, and they feel all the more bold behind their thick shield of glass and metal. How much of their aggression has anything to do with bicycles at all, let alone whether a bike dares to ride in front of them on a one lane street with no bike lane? Bicyclists are unpredictable, and will likely remain so forever. They will always feel somewhere in between motorist and pedestrian, and will consider their basic rights to remain in the pedestrian category. Because bicyclists have no protection, just like a person walking down the street, they expect to be given the same respect. In so doing, some bicyclists feel they are only required to follow the laws pertaining to pedestrians, thus running stop signs and red lights, etc. I don't believe that any amount of education will stop bicyclists from refusing to wait at a red light in the middle of the night with no traffic for miles in any direction. I'm a driver and a bicyclist. When I'm in my car, I respect bike lanes (it would be nice if everybody did this), follow the rules of the road, and be careful around bikes. I'm in a huge machine and they are vulnerable, just like people, just like children. Maybe if everybody could just chill out and respect each other, bicyclists and motorists wouldn't be at such odds with one another. It would also help if the city transportation layout was designed for bikes and tweaked so that cars could use the roads too. It’s certainly tense on the streets of Portland these days, a sure sign of this city’s inability to handle additional load and to scale appropriately to the increased number of bicyclists during the active months of summer. Disappointingly, just as more people are venturing out on their initial attempts to discover life on the bicycle, they are immediately frightened right back into their car.

Portland has done a ton to make bicycling an accessible and safe commuting option for anyone willing to brave the two (or more) wheels. The city’s support is the first step toward overall change, but it’s a slow and painful growing experience. This city has been designed to accommodate and enable cars, not bikes, to travel easily from start to destination. All the add-ons for bicycles are mere afterthoughts, and will only serve to encroach on drivers’ perceived entitled space in the form of streets and avenues everywhere. Driving is already stressful – and then to have to share the road as well – it’s maddening! There are too many drivers who are waiting for the opportunity to let it out on a bicyclist, and they feel all the more bold behind their thick shield of glass and metal. How much of their aggression has anything to do with bicycles at all, let alone whether a bike dares to ride in front of them on a one lane street with no bike lane?

Bicyclists are unpredictable, and will likely remain so forever. They will always feel somewhere in between motorist and pedestrian, and will consider their basic rights to remain in the pedestrian category. Because bicyclists have no protection, just like a person walking down the street, they expect to be given the same respect. In so doing, some bicyclists feel they are only required to follow the laws pertaining to pedestrians, thus running stop signs and red lights, etc. I don’t believe that any amount of education will stop bicyclists from refusing to wait at a red light in the middle of the night with no traffic for miles in any direction.

I’m a driver and a bicyclist. When I’m in my car, I respect bike lanes (it would be nice if everybody did this), follow the rules of the road, and be careful around bikes. I’m in a huge machine and they are vulnerable, just like people, just like children. Maybe if everybody could just chill out and respect each other, bicyclists and motorists wouldn’t be at such odds with one another. It would also help if the city transportation layout was designed for bikes and tweaked so that cars could use the roads too.

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