I am a multi-modal commuter. In equal parts, I choose walking, biking, public transit or driving for work and leisure. I own a car. I pay insurance and registration on a '98 Camry that I gas up once a month and use a couple of times a week. I have 15+ pairs of shoes, but let's be honest, I wear like 3 of them. They walk OK. I've got two bikes, a nice hybrid when making time is priority and another that I like to call my "ice cream bike", an Oxford Windsor equipped with Brooks saddle and wicker basket, perfect for a lazy Sunday ride. My money clip carries a MetroTransit pass that always has value stored on it. With door to door service and several bucks cheaper than downtown parking, bus riding is my preferred choice to get to work. Let this paragraph serve to fully illustrate: I know how to get around town and I have experience on all sides of this topic. Get it, got it, good?
Up until recently, I considered myself Pro-Bike. I wanted stronger biking facilities; be they bike lanes, bike parking or bike racks on buses. I wanted it all. I craved route options. I needed a safer way to travel via bicycle and a city government willing to make that a priority. And I yearned for acceptance on the road. What changed recently is not that I no longer want those things, I absolutely do (so you can change all those 'wanted's to 'want's for the same effect). What's changed is my frame of mind on the whole issue. I am not Pro-Bike or Pro-Car or Pro-Ped or Pro-Public Transit, I am Pro-People.
A few months ago I started serving Major Chris Coleman's office as a member of the Community Advisory Committee tasked with aiding the design of the new downtown Saint Paul bike loop project, an 8-80 initiative. Needless to say (but needed to say for this post, I guess), my interest in city planning has perked tremendously. My involvement in the CAC has increased my attention to other bike initiatives happening throughout the city and my ears are more open to what the communities around me are saying on the 'Car VS Bike' debate.
It ain't pretty. This issue is heated and often times downright hateful. While our governments (some better than others) are trying to find safer ways for ALL people to travel regardless of mode within it's boundaries, our communities stand heavily, strongly, and stubbornly divided on this issue. So as I am paying more attention to which roads might be getting bike lanes and more attention to what neighborhood Facebook page might be posting on the topic today, what I end up feeling - is pretty shitty. This topic can rapidly turn into horrible generalizations, an aggregate of misinformation and slips pretty quickly into direct personal attacks. Brutal, unnecessary attacks (thanks, Internet!).
I see both sides and I am neither of the extreme that people rant about. I am not the lazy, convenience centered driver, just as I am not the rule breaking ruffian on two wheels. And honestly, I think most of us aren't. I think most of us fall somewhere in the middle - where we try to follow the rules but slip up sometimes. Let's be honest with ourselves, most of us, on occasion, treat the rules of the road as guidelines. In driver's ed we learn to slow as we approach a stop sign, the front end of our vehicle cannot cross that stop sign and our vehicle must come to a complete and hard stop. That's how we passed our drivers test. Right? But when is the last time you did that? The rolling through, entering the cross walk "stop" is far more common than the aforementioned. I admit, I am guilty of this too. I will also admit that as a cyclist I often opt for the Idaho Stop when traffic isn't around, but when riding in traffic, I absolutely try my best to obey the same traffic rules of the vehicles around me. My point is we all break the rules, and some studies are showing at similar rates, so let's stop accusing the other side of being the only violators. We are just human, after all.
But if we embrace ourselves as HUMAN, than we must also embrace our own human nature for not being perfect and messing up sometimes (or a lot of the time). We get distracted. We might not know all the laws (like in MN, motorists must at all times maintain a three-foot clearance when passing a bicyclist) and we might even slip up the ones we do (ahem, speeding). We, as a society, inherently know this about ourselves, so now I transfer the onus to our city planning efforts.
The boom of the automobile has passed, and it's unfortunate that the design of our neighborhoods was a consequence of its heyday. We have to embrace that people are getting around differently today and we have to make that safe for EVERYONE, regardless of mode. Not having designated bike lanes on roads is like not offering pedestrian crosswalks. What bike lanes and pedestrian crossings do is give those people not in cars, a safe and predictable place to be. So the pedestrian knows where to find the bicyclist that knows where to find the motorist that knows where to find the pedestrian and round and round it goes. As a result, we can better prepare for our possible and inevitable encounters. Likewise, there is benefit to all to SLOW DOWN CARS. Narrowing traffic lanes to accommodate bike lanes, slows down vehicles and that's a safety win for all parties. Less accidents for drivers, for bikers, and pedestrians alike.
Let's face it guys, cars can be incredibly dangerous machines. Pair that with our likelihood to make mistakes and injuries result. I am not encouraging people to give up their cars with this post. But I am encouraging people to give the safety of every single person top priority. Convenience and speed, and all the other reasons we sometimes choose a car can come last. Today, I fight for city planning and executing infrastructure that embraces traveling of all kinds. I want to some day pass along my love of biking to my future kids without the fear of traffic. I want to minimize risk for all persons alike. Better design is possible. And believe it or not, accept it or not, it's happening, little by little every day.
For me, the bikes VS cars debate is not a road tax issue first or a parking space issue first, it is first and foremost a safety issue. We should all put safety first for the lives of our brothers, sisters, children, parents and loved ones. And for that, I will always choose people over bikes or cars.
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