At Facebook, on the topic of Jeff Speck's Downtown Street Network Proposal, a person who lives in Jeffersonville and works in Louisville wrote, "I love downtown New Albany! Please no bicycles."
Including Bike Lanes
Cycling is the largest planning revolution currently underway. . . in only some American cities. The news is full of American cities that have created significant cycling populations by investing in downtown bike networks. Among the reasons to institute such a network is pedestrian safety: bikes help to slow cars down, and new bike lanes are a great way to use up excess road width currently dedicated to oversized driving lanes. When properly designed, bike lanes make streets safer for drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians alike -- page 39, Speck New Albany proposal.
So, why single out cyclists?
Moreover, why do drivers become so angry with cyclists? The BBC's Stafford says it is because cyclists "offend the moral order."
Do you agree?
The psychology of why cyclists enrage car drivers, by Tom Stafford (BBC)
Something about cyclists seems to provoke fury in other road users. If you doubt this, try a search for the word "cyclist" on Twitter. As I write this one of the latest tweets is this: "Had enough of cyclists today! Just wanna ram them with my car." This kind of sentiment would get people locked up if directed against an ethnic minority or religion, but it seems to be fair game, in many people's minds, when directed against cyclists. Why all the rage?
I've got a theory, of course. It's not because cyclists are annoying. It isn't even because we have a selective memory for that one stand-out annoying cyclist over the hundreds of boring, non-annoying ones (although that probably is a factor). No, my theory is that motorists hate cyclists because they think they offend the moral order.
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