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Are urban bicyclists just elite snobs?

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Started 5 months ago by 0Angle
Latest reply from upstairs

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0Angle
A brewery or my kitchen or my bicycle.
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SUNDAY, DEC 4, 2011 12:00 PM EST
Are urban bicyclists just elite snobs?

BY WILL DOIG

In March, New Yorker columnist John Cassidy blogged about the city’s new bike lanes. He was annoyed that they made it harder for him to drive his Jaguar around Manhattan, and bemoaned the city’s bicyclists as a privileged, insular aristocracy, a “faddist minority intent on foisting its bipedalist views on a disinterested or actively reluctant populace.”

READ MORE: http://www.salon.com/2011/12/04/are_urban_bicyclists_just_elite_snobs/singleton/

Posted 5 months ago #
leftovers

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I live near some popular restaurants and a lot of the immigrant kitchen help commute by bicycle. I have noticed that they tend to use the sidewalks and not the bike lanes.

just adding some observations

Posted 5 months ago #
vestanpance
Harrison West/at work OSU
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here we go..

anyone?

Posted 5 months ago #
Coreroc
Egoville USA
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YES! 2 cents

Posted 5 months ago #
leftovers

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;)

Posted 5 months ago #
Snarf
Dystopia
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Urban bicyclists are even worse than urban runners, that's low.

Posted 5 months ago #
paktinat
WP
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"Let's take a mostly sensible article and put an asinine headline on it:"

Posted 5 months ago #
upstairs
Old Town East
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In Portland, a majority of downtown workers ride bikes for transportation. It's beautiful to see hundreds of people ride bikes down the avenues home from downtown.
So, it's about the strength of the individual, the healthy people and the sense of responsibility being taken by a great number.

Posted 5 months ago #
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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That's the bait-iest headline I've heard of in awhile.

Posted 5 months ago #
Mister Shifter
Lewis Center
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In before page 10.

Posted 5 months ago #
vestanpance
Harrison West/at work OSU
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Walker said:
That's the bait-iest headline I've heard of in awhile.

I would agree except last week I read a story called...

Are urban vegan graffiti artist bicyclists just elite snobs?

;)

Posted 5 months ago #
0Angle
A brewery or my kitchen or my bicycle.
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paktinat said:
"Let's take a mostly sensible article and put an asinine headline on it:"

Walker said:
That's the bait-iest headline I've heard of in awhile.

I wondered if I resembled that remark.
I thought the article was thought provoking and not at all as judgmental as the title.
I ride like a law abiding dork who likes to go kinda fast, in the opposite of stealth mode.
Elite snob? Maybe.

Posted 5 months ago #
Twixlen
Westgate, Columbus
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Huh. So, The Atlantic has a biking article today as well...

The Uncomfortable Relationship Between Bikes and Red Lights

Posted 5 months ago #
lifeontwowheels
Highland West
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Both interesting articles and both make some interesting points. As far as the image of cyclists, I admit it can be well deserved. This part especially touched on something I tend to see:

"In many cities, writes Dave Feucht, editor of the bicycling blog Portlandize, “being able to get around by bicycle is seen as elitist because you have to have money in order to live in a part of the city where it’s even possible to ride a bicycle.”"

I think traditional advocacy orgs and politicians follow the money when it comes to cycling. They promote and cater to those with the luxury to choose cycling and what we end up with, in terms of infrastructure, largely reflects that. Those who are "forced" (really hate using that, as it implies cycling is a lesser choice) by whatever circumstances to ride instead of drive are left to get the trickle down, the fat and gristle of the projects that benefit others.

What all this leads to is the need to have a massive culture shift/change that sees all transportation modes as equal options. If one doesn't appeal or work for your situation, you should be allowed to make that choice freely and without coercion. That means better design, higher levels of thinking that incorporate all modes rather than selectively excluding certain types.

Posted 5 months ago #
labi
Weinland Park
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(Could a special filter be set up on this thread so you could only use the comment box once you'd clicked through and read at least the first article posted? Save us all the waste of time of plowing through a whole thread of "what I said last time" posts.)

It's an interesting and evenhanded article, although not really 100% applicable to Columbus, given the infancy stage of our cycling infrastructure.

As far as the Atlantic article, I would happily support stricter enforcement of traffic laws for cyclists. I think one of the big problems with that is that most people, cops included, really don't feel that bikes should be in the street, in the lane with cars, even though that's where city law says we're supposed to be.

It's also really interesting that the Portland research showed that more cyclists run lights when there are dedicated bike lanes.

Posted 5 months ago #
lifeontwowheels
Highland West
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labi said:
(Could a special filter be set up on this thread so you could only use the comment box once you'd clicked through and read at least the first article posted? Save us all the waste of time of plowing through a whole thread of "what I said last time" posts.)

It's an interesting and evenhanded article, although not really 100% applicable to Columbus, given the infancy stage of our cycling infrastructure.

As far as the Atlantic article, I would happily support stricter enforcement of traffic laws for cyclists. I think one of the big problems with that is that most people, cops included, really don't feel that bikes should be in the street, in the lane with cars, even though that's where city law says we're supposed to be.

It's also really interesting that the Portland research showed that more cyclists run lights when there are dedicated bike lanes.

I would love to see stricter enforcement but haven spoken with officers in multiple Central Ohio jurisdictions, it's a low priority given not only other issues but the difficulty in stopping the cyclist.

It should also be noted that, historically, traffic laws and traffic controls came about due to the advent of the motorized automobile. Should laws largely intended for faster, heavier and more dangerous vehicles be applied equally to a bike? There are already legal exceptions (fought in court) that differentiate between bike and car, notably how speed applies to each vehicle. You can be cited tooling down High at 5 MPH in your car for impeding traffic but the law allows discretion when it comes to a bike.

You know what would be great? Bike specific traffic lights, which many cities have, that allow bikes to advance. Another improvement would be tuning lights to bike speed, allowing bikes to hit greens. I do favor Idaho style stop laws which would allow cyclists to treat stop signs (not lights) as yields. Makes a lot of sense.

Posted 5 months ago #
Snarf
Dystopia
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This thread needs a poll, bad!

Posted 5 months ago #
TomOver
herenowbeyond.org
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Many a good cause takes on what some of us might regard as ironic and contradictory forms. Take, for example, the movements for organic, local, and fair-trade food and crafts.

In some contexts, those causes call upon our sense of justice, fairness, compassion and a recognition of the sacredness of our planet.

But in the aisles of a Whole Foods store, (depending on the location), it wouldn't surprise me if some people mentally associated--maybe subconsciously--the terms 'organic', 'local food' and 'fair trade' with snobbery.

Some of us might also mentally associate those terms with other ways in which people base self-worth on having what others don't---focusing on what one thinks is best for oneself and one's family, while the rest of the world might as well go to hell.

Similarly, to those for whom 'green' hasn't yet become a shibboleth,--- the word may conjure images of someone in a Prius or maybe someone zooming on High Street in Lycra on a $4,000 bike.

Posted 5 months ago #
TomOver
herenowbeyond.org
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labi said:
(Could a special filter be set up on this thread so you could only use the comment box once you'd clicked through and read at least the first article posted? Save us all the waste of time of plowing through a whole thread of "what I said last time" posts.)

It's an interesting and evenhanded article, although not really 100% applicable to Columbus, given the infancy stage of our cycling infrastructure.

As far as the Atlantic article, I would happily support stricter enforcement of traffic laws for cyclists. I think one of the big problems with that is that most people, cops included, really don't feel that bikes should be in the street, in the lane with cars, even though that's where city law says we're supposed to be.

It's also really interesting that the Portland research showed that more cyclists run lights when there are dedicated bike lanes.

As for cyclists going thru red lights:

(1) how much of motorists' concerns are based on issues of safety; and

(2) how much of it is based on motorists' sense of entitlement being challenged by a cyclist who seems to be getting away with something he or she can't do while operating that toxic-gas-spewing box of metal, glass, and plastic ?

Posted 5 months ago #
leftovers

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I think some of the traffic signals are setup to remove as much of the decision making out of the hands of the drivers/bikers/pedestrians as possible. Pedestrians are not supposed to cross into the crosswalk when the light is green no matter how little traffic there is. I think allowing bicycles to run red lights would just add more variables that could lead to trouble. I think simplicity and consistency are the way to go.

Posted 5 months ago #