The definition of “bicycle-friendly” at wikipedia begins like this:
“"Bicycle-friendly" describes policies and practices which may help some people feel more comfortable about traveling by bicycle with other traffic. The level of bicycle-friendliness of an environment can be influenced by many factors resulting from town planning and cycling infrastructure decisions...”
Notice those important words: “which may help some people feel more comfortable?” Hmmm. Is that how you would define “bicycle friendly?”
What I wonder is: How many residents even care if Fort Wayne is bicycle friendly? The 2008 bike survey - included the question: “Do you ride a bike?” There were 3,692 responses to this question. That’s not many in a city of well over 200,000 people. And 549 of those responses admitted they do NOT ride bikes!
My wife and I have ridden all our lives. Whether Fort Wayne is bike friendly or not doesn’t matter to us. We ride, and we're careful. Realistic risk assessment is the key to safety, and it always will be. Painted bike lanes are not protection against vehicles swerving into a cyclist. And when a bike lane hugs a row of parked cars, you never know when someone inside a car might suddenly open a door and cause a tragedy.
This photo of the bike lane on Wayne Street illustrates my point.
Any cyclist riding in this lane plays Car-door Roulette. Of course if he's only noodling along at one mile per hour, he's more likely to be able to stop, rather than hitting a door or swerving into the path of a car beside him to avoid the door.
Perhaps Fort Wayne needs "physically separated bike lanes." I realize we aren't New York, but the video does make some good points. And so do the people who left comments below that video. Go take a look.
My guess is some cyclists in Fort Wayne would appreciate being physically separated from potential traffic hazards. That's why I like the Rivergreenway. Of course there are a lot of places you can’t go if you stay on the greenway. However, more bike paths are being added from time to time.
The same video about “Separated Bike Lanes" is also posted on a website called The Oil Drum. The comments there are also well worth your attention, especially if you're a city official and have something to do with biking infrastructure in your city.
Keeping people safe is obviously easier in certain situations. Ultimately, selfish cyclists and thoughtless motorists are often at fault when a crash occurs. Many people like to demand their rights no matter what the circumstances. But a bicycle affords it's rider no protective metal box, so he had better be on the lookout for all potential dangers, or he’ll demand his right to ride in the road and a funeral.
Thankfully, many Fort Wayne streets are only congested during the morning and afternoon rush, and it's quite easy to find lesser traveled streets to get around. Biking on sidewalks is often an option, too, because we just don’t have many people walking. I realize that side- walk riding means slowing down, but, hey, you can’t drive a car as fast as you might want to, either.
Compare our auto filled streets to the virtually empty bike paths, and you’ll see how few bicycles are really being used. A car is still a time-saver and the interior climate is controlled. If it rains, who wants to get caught on a bike? And in winter, who wants the inconveniences that go with the season?
If you're a female, you might enjoy the video of Dottie at Let's-Go-Ride-a-Bike who talks about how she dresses for her daily, winter, bicycle commute in Chicago.
But Fort Wayne is not Chicago, and we don't have the kind of congestion that might tempt people here to bike to work, especially in the winter.
Australian film maker turned biking enthusiast, Mike Rubbo, is on a mission to inspire more people to bike for reasons other than sport. His blog: Situp-Cycle.com promotes the advantages of bicycles that don't force you to hunch over. Here's one of his videos:
Bike It Or Not
Another video from Rubbo about the creator of Copenhagen Cycle Chic
Mikael said in that video that people were hungry for the bicycle again, which goes to show how different conditions influence a society. We don't have the reasons Copenhagen had for becoming a bike culture. During the 30 years I've lived in Fort Wayne, I've seen little change in the number of people riding bikes. And the Rivergreenway has been in place for years.
Mike's video: "Talking to Mikael" provides more food for thought.
