Last night PBS aired the two-hour NOVA special “Darwin’s Darkest Hour,” about Charles Darwin’s struggle to finally decide to complete and publish On the Origin of Species. Part of his struggle was trying avoid running afoul of his wife Emma’s faith in God. In an early letter to Darwin, Emma wrote, “My reason tells me that honest & conscientious doubts cannot be a sin.”
My wife, who was believer when we met, expressed a similar sentiment about my agnosticism.
Respect for honest doubt would go a long way towards mending the huge rifts among the two main bicycling “camps.”
Bikeway proponents must respect the doubts of vehicular cycling proponents about the benefits of facilities, because there is significant objective evidence to support that doubt. Since decisions about bikeways are done by governments, objectivity is essential.
Vehicular cycling proponents must respect the doubt of others about the effectiveness of vehicular cycling. While vehicular cycling can also be measured objectively, it is experienced subjectively. There is significant subjective evidence to support that doubt; those many personal experiences in traffic which reinforce our culture’s taboo about cycling. Since cycling itself is done by individuals, many of whom are not trained, comfortable with, or prone towards objectivity, we vehicular cycling proponents must take a softer, subjective approach.
Respect and caring are the foundation.
“Certainty divides us; doubt unites us.”
– Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy, The Laughing Jesus
Posted in
Bikeways,
Politics
This chart is from the Netherlands Interface for Cycling Expertise.
I have estimated the percentages from the chart and converted it to numbers showing percentage increase from the historic low to 1995.
For those who believe The Netherlands’ and Denmark’s high cycling numbers are due to facilities, you might consider that many of these places never dropped below 20% cycling mode share. Cycling has always been a prominent component to their traffic environment.
Take a look at what they themselves say about the effectiveness of bikeways to increase cycling:
“Since 1990, the total length of cycle paths has increased to almost 19,000 km, doubling the length in 1980.”
“Results: In 1994, the total distance cycled was 12.9 billion km, compared with 12.8 billion in 1990. The number of km traveled by car was 125 billion in 1990 and 129 billion in 1994.”
“Expansion and improvement of the infrastructure does not necessarily increase the use of bicycles.”
From “The Autumn of the Bicycle Master Plan”
1994, Dutch Ministry of Transport
And
From “The Economic Significance of Cycling”
The Netherlands Interface for Cycling Expertise
“Experiences in Amsterdam show that the increase in bicycle use in the city centre in the last 10 years is mainly due to increased parking rates.”
“The policy of reducing car traffic in city centres therefore often consists of reducing parking facilities, and this method is used to cut car use.”
“Many cities have started to reclaim space from the car in the last 10 to 20 years. … A good example of this is Copenhagen where, between 1962 and 1996, the number of parking spaces was reduced from 3,100 to 2,000…”
The existence of an extensive rail transit system is also a very important factor:
“In 1991, 44% of [transit users] went to the local train station by bicycle.”
From “The Autumn of the Bicycle Master Plan”
If you start with different ingredients for two recipes, then add the same new ingredient to both recipes, do you end up with the same results?
Posted in
Bikeways,
Transportation Cycling
“If you don’t stand up, you don’t stand a chance.”
– Genesis, Squonk
A woman walks into a marketing and public relations firm and sits down to talk with their lead strategist.
“Our organization has a fun, safe and healthy activity we wish to promote, but we’re struggling to figure out the right approach,” she says.
The strategist thinks for a moment, then responds, “I recommend the approach bicycle advocates have been using for the past 20 years; reinforce the public’s fears about your activity.”
The woman is taken aback, pauses for a moment, then says, “Oh! You had me going there for a moment!”
“What do you mean?” asks the strategist.
“Well, you were joking, right?…”
If only.
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Posted in
Politics
