Thursday, October 16, 2008

Portland Reporter Overcomes Fear of Traffic

Oregonian Reporter Shelby Wood offers an interesting perspective on taking the bike commuting plunge. Read about her story on the Bike Portland Blog.

1 comments:

Dr. Phila said...

I think this video highlights the fundamental differences btwn what it's like biking in pdx vs. phila.

Did you notice how the woman was pointing out how the driver was making a right turn without stopping? Well in Philly that would happen at a Left turn too!

Point is, If people are afraid to bike in a place like PDX, it highlights the amount of work we have to do here in Philly to make people feel safe.

Personally, I don't believe that will be accomplished through the provision of painted bike lanes. I believe, in this city, total bike separation needs to take place, taking entire lanes on streets such as pine and sansom and physically separating them from auto traffic.

High population densities and a relative lack of street space(along with learned driving habits) means that people end up double parking and/or simply driving in bike lanes. in Phila. That, is absolutely unheard of in PDX...and if it did, a driver would hear no end from passing bikers.

So while lanes may work for portland, the myriad of unsafe conditions in Phila make the case for separated bike facilities a necessity and not simply a nicety.