I’m not sure if you ever used a bike lane, or watch the countless videos of people riding on them, but it’s very VERY rare to have unobstructed bike lanes. So… sure, one grandma who isn’t paying attention, who cares, ok a truck that has to do deliveries and forcing you to go on the car lane, not going to kill you… then again, and again, and 2 cars parked there, another delivery… usually before you finish your trip you even wonder if there was a bike lane in the first place.
Great point. I mostly focused on the power that cars give to people, revving the engine isn’t a random gesture, it’s a show of power when most people usually have… pen, papers, keyboards… few have power tools but even then, it’s not very powerful. A car or a truck though that’s typically what the average human can exert the most raw power. Nothing psychological or economical. It’s not like having a fancy house that cost a lot of money or showing of, no it’s being in control of a powerful machine. I do assume it is rewiring the brain of drivers… but now that you mention it, it is also coupled with effortlessness. It’s not like being strong when you go to the gym, here it’s entirely decoupled from your strength. This must rewire drivers even more than I initially imagined. Thanks for the hindsight!
I’m not sure if you ever used a bike lane, or watch the countless videos of people riding on them, but it’s very VERY rare to have unobstructed bike lanes. So… sure, one grandma who isn’t paying attention, who cares, ok a truck that has to do deliveries and forcing you to go on the car lane, not going to kill you… then again, and again, and 2 cars parked there, another delivery… usually before you finish your trip you even wonder if there was a bike lane in the first place.
And each and every one of these obstructions forces you to waste energy into your breaks and you physically have to push to get the speed back up.
If you’d have to pedal cars, people would also drive very differently.
Great point. I mostly focused on the power that cars give to people, revving the engine isn’t a random gesture, it’s a show of power when most people usually have… pen, papers, keyboards… few have power tools but even then, it’s not very powerful. A car or a truck though that’s typically what the average human can exert the most raw power. Nothing psychological or economical. It’s not like having a fancy house that cost a lot of money or showing of, no it’s being in control of a powerful machine. I do assume it is rewiring the brain of drivers… but now that you mention it, it is also coupled with effortlessness. It’s not like being strong when you go to the gym, here it’s entirely decoupled from your strength. This must rewire drivers even more than I initially imagined. Thanks for the hindsight!
Totally on your side with your arguments, just wanted to add what annoys me most with these obstacles on bike lanes.
The real bike lane was the detours we made along the way.