One portion of a pedestrian friendly city is designing streets to be safer for cyclists as well as pedestrians. There is a reason for this. Quick, safe and easy movement around a city on a Cycle of some sort (I don't want to rule out a unicycle or tricycle) results in more pedestrian level traffic and 'window browsing' instead of the vehicular based destination traffic pattern (parking lot to store to parking lot) and also allows for quick and easy adjustments to plans to accommodate spontaneous events (So and so is over at the coffee shop? I can just roll/walk right on over and not worry about the added parking cost or increased walk distance back to my car!). This all results in more activated streets (safer!) and possible consumers for street level businesses. Think about it only as a business plan if you have to. More customers = more money.
As the weather warms up (eventually) and those of us who don't trust our bikes on icy pavement roll out our rides and begin the seasonal tune up motions, clean the leaves out of the helmet and sprockets and immediately become agitated thinking about how horribly dangerous it is to ride around our city.
In an effort to increase Bicycle safety Portland, Oregon has implemented (and started enforcing) a bike box at some test intersections. These "bike boxes" are marked areas in which motorized vehicles are not allowed to rest at during red lights. They are only for cyclists to allow them to safely initiate their riding when the light changes to green. These bike boxes are at intersections where you are not supposed to turn right on red and where complaints against cyclists by motorists and vice versa have been made. This is only in its testing phases right now and Portland Police Bureau’s Traffic Division has started the rigorous procedure of informing and enforcing of the new traffic legislation.
I know I have ranted about it before. How if given the location to safely and securely store my bike I would love to risk riding it to work (as I can always toss it on the rack in front of a bus if I get a flat). If there were some sort of designated bike traffic pattern or even enforcement of automotive operation that would cause me to think cycling would be a safe alternative that could even tip the scale.
We need to stop worrying about our cars and start thinking about how we are going to get people onto the streets to keep an eye out for each other. I believe that investing in pedestrian based traffic infrastructure plays a key role in increasing the density of urban areas which in turn would bring people back to the 'downtown' areas of their community and eventually to our major downtown. The city of Cleveland itself.
Resources:
Ohio City Bicycle Co-op has a new website!
And don't just toss us a bone, make sure that bicycle infrastructure makes SENSE!
Dumbest Bike Lane in America
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