On Aug 4, 6:02 pm, "Tom \"Johnny Sunset\" Sherman"
<
[email protected]> wrote:
> donquijote1954 who? wrote:
> > On Aug 4, 2:15 pm, "Tom \"Johnny Sunset\" Sherman"
> > <[email protected]> wrote:
> >> donquijote1954 who? wrote:
> >>> ...
> >>> OK, with such a motivation (warning the novices against you), I ask
> >>> you (I hope there are many witnesses out there), WHAT THE HELL IS THE
> >>> SOLUTION, so we can go from 1% to, say, 30% ridership?...
> >> Google "Hubbert's Peak.
>
> > Oil production peak... It's gonna be fun to be alive and watch the
> > couch potatos finally pedalling when things finally start going down
> > hill (it'll be up hill for them though). I don't see much prevention
> > in practice, particularly when bicycles are mostly banned from the
> > dangerous roads --banned by fear, that is.
>
> How about stopping all the fear-mongering about how dangerous cycling is
> and the related promotion of h*lm*ts and segregated facilities? Chicken
> Little was wrong about the sky falling, and you are wrong about the true
> danger of cycling.
>
OK, let me put my week of watching predator behavior (Shark Week on
Discovery Channel) to the test... Some fearless people have learned to
hang from the pectoral fin of a shark and get a free ride! But one guy
was bitten in front of the camera and his calf was gone. And then we
have the majority of people who just fear the shark, period.
So how this majority of people want to approach the predator is up to
them, but I'd start by, a) TAMING THE BEAST (traffic calming
measures), and/or b) separating the predator from the prey (BIKE
LANES). And since some of you don't want to hear about the latter
(everyone has a phobia), then let's turn our attention to...
(all of these things are a package that comes with the revolution)
TRAFFIC CALMING
Traffic calming is a set of strategies used by urban planners and
traffic engineers which aim to slow down or reduce traffic, thereby
improving safety for pedestrians and bicyclists as well as improving
the environment for residents. Calming measures are common in Europe,
especially Northern Europe; less so in North America.
Traffic calming was traditionally justified on the grounds of
pedestrian safety and reduction of noise and local air pollution which
are side effects of the traffic. However, streets have many social and
recreational functions which are severely impaired by car traffic. The
Livable Streets study by Donald Appleyard (circa 1977) found that
residents of streets with light traffic had, on average, three more
friends and twice as many acquaintances as the people on streets with
heavy traffic which were otherwise similar in dimensions, income, etc.
For much of the twentieth century, streets were designed by engineers
who were charged only with ensuring traffic flow and not with
fostering the other functions of streets. The basis for traffic
calming is broadening traffic engineering to include designing for
these functions.
There are 3 "E"'s that traffic engineers refer to when discussing
traffic calming: engineering, (community) education, and (police)
enforcement. Because neighborhood traffic management studies have
shown that often it is the residents themselves who are contributing
to the perceived speeding problem within the neighborhood, it is
stressed that the most effective traffic calming plans will entail all
three components, and that engineering measures alone will not produce
satisfactory results.
A number of visual changes to roads are being made to many streets to
bring about more attentive driving, reduced speeds, reduced crashes,
and greater tendency to yield to pedestrians. Visual traffic calming
includes lane narrowings (9-10'), road diets (reduction in lanes), use
of trees next to streets, on-street parking, and buildings placed in
urban fashion close to streets.
Some additional traffic calming techniques that are often used are
speed humps, speed cushions, and speed tables. These devices vary in
size based on the desired speed. Humps, cushions and tables slow cars
to between 10 and 25 miles per hour.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic_calming
COMING SOON
http://atom.smasher.org/streetparty/?l1=Coming+Soon:&l2=the&l3=Banana+Revolution!&l4=
