On 2/16/2020 5:57 PM, Joerg wrote:
On Friday afternoon during a road bike ride I came by two schools right
at the time when they were letting out. The bike lane was full of parked
cars hurumph ... grumble which is probably legal in California
although I'd never do that. All nice cars, bought by dad I guess. Then
there was a large file of cars with soccer moms and dads in there. A few
school buses here and there. Kids on bicycles? Zip, nada, not one. Same
at the next school and that even had two pick-up lanes.

Why?

When I grew up at least half the high school students living more than
walking distance away commuted by bicycle. So did I and my siblings. And
we didn't catch the sniffles the minute winter broke out, we just rode
through the snow.

IIRC, you grew up in Europe. The bicycling culture has always been
stronger there.

But kids' riding is way down in the U.S. from decades ago. There are
probably many reasons, but it's hard for me to believe the "danger!"
warnings are not a huge part of it, and probably the biggest part.

Until about 1990, few parents thought that simply riding a bike was a
huge risk of permanent brain injury. Since then, they've been "educated"
to believe that's true, despite readily available data. And many states
emphasize that phantom danger with helmet laws.

Until about 20 years ago, few parents thought that riding on a street
without a bike lane stripe was terribly dangerous. Since then, they've
been told it is.

Until about 10 years ago, few parents thought that an ordinary bike lane
was too dangerous. Since then, they've been told only barrier protected
bike lanes are safe enough.

Those promoting barrier segregated bike lanes assure us lots of people
will ride as soon as those are built on all four million miles of
roadway in America. In other words, they're being taught that bicycling
will be dangerous forever.


--
- Frank Krygowski