Wow. Looking over the results of my various past neighborhoods on NatureScore is fascinating and not what I expected. My current (closest) city says all the "bike-friendly" things but all their solutions have actually made everything worse.
I'm interested in "bike-friendly" improvements that accomplish the opposite. If you get the chance, please tell me the kind of mistakes other cities need to avoid.
I don't live "in town" any more but this is what I remember. They added bike lines between parked cars and the sidewalk. Passengers and pedestrians aren't used to looking for bikes. And visibility is lowered for both cars and bikes, not to mention the madness of trying to turn from there.
A lot of problems came from removing car lanes to make room for bike lanes without any other systemic changes. So no one is encouraged to ride a bike and are even discouraged because the drivers are angrier that there is the same traffic in fewer lanes.
A bike trying to turn left at an intersection is a bit scary, actually. No one really knows where the cyclist should be (well, new cyclists and most drivers). The changes they implemented seemed to increase aggression between cars and bikes in part because of confusing signage and a lack of community education. It certainly discouraged me from wanting to bike around town without a more experienced cyclist to guide me.
Ha! Yes, change LA to "your city" and I am sure that these problems apply most places in the US. Same as when I lived in Seattle (which is also ridiculously hilly to add to the biking problem).
Wow. Looking over the results of my various past neighborhoods on NatureScore is fascinating and not what I expected. My current (closest) city says all the "bike-friendly" things but all their solutions have actually made everything worse.
I'm interested in "bike-friendly" improvements that accomplish the opposite. If you get the chance, please tell me the kind of mistakes other cities need to avoid.
I don't live "in town" any more but this is what I remember. They added bike lines between parked cars and the sidewalk. Passengers and pedestrians aren't used to looking for bikes. And visibility is lowered for both cars and bikes, not to mention the madness of trying to turn from there.
A lot of problems came from removing car lanes to make room for bike lanes without any other systemic changes. So no one is encouraged to ride a bike and are even discouraged because the drivers are angrier that there is the same traffic in fewer lanes.
A bike trying to turn left at an intersection is a bit scary, actually. No one really knows where the cyclist should be (well, new cyclists and most drivers). The changes they implemented seemed to increase aggression between cars and bikes in part because of confusing signage and a lack of community education. It certainly discouraged me from wanting to bike around town without a more experienced cyclist to guide me.
Yeah, that sounds like NY City, and apparently also Los Angeles. See this story on the real risk of being "doored to death" by an oblivious motorist: https://news.yahoo.com/being-doored-death-cyclists-nightmare-110047062.html
Ha! Yes, change LA to "your city" and I am sure that these problems apply most places in the US. Same as when I lived in Seattle (which is also ridiculously hilly to add to the biking problem).