Bike Craziness

Saturday morning I went to the Atlanta Bicycle Campaign's meeting about a new plan for creating a bike plan for Atlanta. It was interesting, but I don;t hold out a lot of hope for Atlantan's embracing a bicycling lifestyle en mass. There were about 30 of us there. The leader of the group gave a 30 minute talk about transportation in Atlanta. He talked about the study the city conducted in the 50's that concluded that if Atlantans all wanted to drive cars the city would be screwed. Welcome to the future, they do and we are.

In 1995 the city assembled a 15-year bike plant that included 200 or so miles of bike lanes and paths. We have 19. There's not much hope to create the missing 180 or so in the next two years, so we'll develop another plan. Maybe it will work this time. I think it will be hard for a couple of reasons. First, Atlanta roads were laid out by a crazy person. Rather than nice straight parallel lines, the roads twist and meander, often linking up destination by only one pathway rather than creating several choices. With only one road, cars, trucks, busses, bikes and motorcycles must share the same often narrow road. It would be far easier if we could choose to bike on less-traveled roads, but they just do not exist. Second, there is a certain stigma associated with not driving a car if you live in Atlanta. Whether it is a racial or an income distinction I don't know. I can say that there is quite a bit of advertising on MARTA that is encouraging folks to give up the train in exchange for a car with a 25% interest rate loan. Doesn't seem like such a great trade to get off MARTA in favor of being abused by car dealers abusing usury laws. Third and related, all those dispart neighborhoods also do not have sidewalks. There's a long history of keeping people in their cars as opposed to trying another transportation method. And finally, it's freakin' hot here. Most businesses do not have shower facilities, so for much of the year you might be a tad sweaty when you arrive at work.

The most interesting thing I heard though is the gripes of bikers, that I totally agree with, that road engineers design roads so that unskilled and inattentive drivers do less damage to themselves when they crash. Bulb-outs, curbs, wide roads at the expense of bike lanes, and unenforced speed limits all contribute to roads that are less safe for inexperienced riders. We all have our places where we will ride and not ride. I obey all the traffic laws when I ride, yet roads are made safer for negligent car drivers talking on their phones, eating, reading, and applying make-up. Seems pretty dumbass to me.