Redesign
When I bicycle around Boston it’s mostly vehicularly. While the rules of the road generally give some order to the roads- I always need be extra vigilant and assume drivers don’t see me.
I’m experienced, follow the rules of the road, and best practices for bicycling. I can do everything in my power- but there’s no barrier if a driver is inattentive.
It is obvious that there is a better way. 
But why so much resistance to making the dream a reality?
No amount of education can fix an unequal match of people riding bikes next to cars. And only re-designing the roads will invite more people to ride a bicycle.
Bravo!
Thanks for this great posting. What little infrastructure we have in our cities leaves cyclists alone to fight traffic in many situations. Not only is that dangerous for cyclists, but it means that people driving cars are most likely to notice people riding bicycles in those situations most dangerous for everyone. This contributes to the twin myths that bicycling is unusually dangerous and that cyclists are reckless.
As for the vehicular cycling crowd that this blog seem to attract, I’d like to see them draw three illustrative panels that entertain, inform, and somehow perfectly address their every “safety” concern. While they are at it, I’d like to see them convince a City Council to suddenly switch from no infrastructure to Dutch infrastructure in a single step. It’s like being told you can’t have nice things until you pull a unicorn out of your butt.
So, Bikeyface, I’m just kinda curious: what prompted you to poke at this particular festering Internet boil? We all know it always leads to what it led to in this comment thread. I think the hardcore VCers are slowly fading away, anyway…no sense in riling ’em up.
Ummm… I’m thinking she wants more and better protected bike lanes (or other appropriate all-ages-accessible infra) so that bicycling in our cities can be extended to more people, such as children. That her beautiful artwork gives the VC people conniptions is just an entertaining side effect.
I was thinking about this on my way in this morning. Approaching (and thinking about alternate routes to avoid) a known dangerous intersection. It totally needs to be redesigned. And I thought, I bet the biggest argument against not redesigning it is how much it will cost. Many, many dollars. But, I thought, on the other hand, *not* redesigning will eventually and inevitably cost more in lives and injuries than any intersection is worth in dollars. What level of ‘sunk cost’ in lives will we have to reach for any given intersection to be “worth” (in dollars) redesigning?
I don’t ride for fun or commute like many people do, I’m a road racer and riding=training for me. Many of the places I ride can’t be ‘redesigned’ to have a totally segregated bike lane like that, you’re lucky if there’s a paved shoulder to ride on instead of having to share the traffic lane with cars going 55mph. Your idea would be nice in urban or suburban areas, but the only way anyone is going to go for it is if it’s built that way in the first place, or as part of a general renovation project; nobody is going to go along with tearing up miles and miles of city streets, snarling traffic, just to put in an actual barrier that prevents cars from crossing into it. Also, intersections! There would have to be breaks in your barrier at intersections so cars (and bicycles!) can make left and right turns, so you still have to understand *and observe* the rules of the road, kid or adult, and be safe. In the end it pays to learn to be vigilant anyway, most people drive as well and having the habit of being vigilant and having eyes in the back of your head pays off in the long run when it keeps you out of a dangerous situation. Take it from me, I’ve been riding bikes, riding motorcycles, and driving four-wheeled vehicles my entire life, and I’ve still got all my original bodyparts, 100% intact, despite the best efforts of some would-be bad drivers.