Things to notice are the traffic lights, car parking, car traffic and intersections on this road.

A majority of complaints made against this segregated type of infrastructure is the dynamics of intersections  between bicycle path and motorised traffic. Remember that due to this infrastructure, a majority of people are on bicycles, not in cars, thereby reducing the volume of cars on the roads that lead to the supposedly friction at intersections. Moreover, there are laws in place to reduce this friction leading to one of the lower bicycle accident rates in the world.

Another complaint made by some Vehicular Cyclists is that this system gives cars and wealthy car owners more superiority. I dont know if car owners feel superior in this video but a substantially large and growing number bicyclists seemed to be enjoying a high quality commute involving zero emissions, absymally low financial burdens and a healthy body.

Note a woman with a small child on her bicycle pedaling down the street with no worries. This sight is almost never visible in USA where Vehicular Cyclists demand we rightfully take our position on existing roads with traffic. I have asked this question before (link) and continue to wonder why a mother would not ride her bicycle on car-traffic-laden-infrastructure-less streets with her new born!

Calling a much slower instrument a vehicle and placing it on the road with much larger vehicles only with a thin shear blanket of a law is lazy. I am of the opinion that the definition of bicycles as vehicles is flawed. If the law and motorist’s courtesy is all that sufficiently protects a cyclist on a road, then let’s remove sidewalks and place the pedestrians on the road as well. They can use the shoulder and save bucket loads of money on concrete sidewalks.

Projecting a vehicular cyclist logic forward, cars, motorcycles, buses, trucks, tractor-trailers, bicycles, wheel chair bound disabled people, pedestrians etc. will all be called ‘widgets’ and all widgets will share the road with each other. Why should pedestrians be separated from the road to make it easier for vehicles to travel safely? Why support vehicular superiority? Vehicular Cyclists do not aggressively support Shared Space (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shared_space), making their arguments hypocritic and selfish.

Living in any sprawled area with no infrastructure but the blind principles of John Forrester makes life friction-full. Yells and honks start becoming an itch that wouldn’t cease so much that you would wish to cut off your limb to ease the pain. Initially, optimism and gumption help overcome the constant reminder that you as a bicyclist are unwanted and unwelcome on the road. The hammering does not stop, not till a large organization (Eg. a government) recognizes it and makes plans to stop it. Such efforts are usually graced with positive and constructive outcomes as seen in the cities of Portland OR, Davis CA and New York City NY.

I have decided to stop getting hammered. I am buying a motorcycle and moving to a bicycle-friendly neighborhood further away from work. I am moving from the top of a pile of bicycle commuters to the bottom of the pile of motor-vehicle commuters. In my efforts to latch on to a higher dynamic quality, namely car-free bicycle commuting, I am degenerating to an activity of lower quality, namely motorcycle ownership for commuting. I have kept gas bills, insurance and depreciation on the motorcycle to a frugal low of $100 a month, which used to be my taxi fare budget.

Lastly, the people who continue to bicycle commute here, Jonathan, Jose, Rebekah and the couple others who I haven’t met, are bigger people than I am. They are true heroes.

Last year, I attempted riding on Southside Blvd between Deerwood Park Blvd and Touchton Rd. Twice. Being on the same road as cars traveling at excess of 50 mph seriously questions ones safety. I don’t mean to target Southside but it is the only road within easy reach of me and tends to portray a healthy mix of demography representative of the Jacksonville suburbs. The argument made below with Southside Blvd in perspective may be made for all major connecting roads.

More people start using bicycles as transportation when they have the option to use it to go to a place of business such as movie theaters, restaurants etc. Families prefer to visit such businesses with their family members. Workers such as bartenders, waiting staff, movie theater staff can save more if they incur less car-related expenses: gas, insurance, maintenance.

The map below shows residential neighborhoods in blue, Tinseltown with its movie theaters, bars and restaurants in pink and the direct route in red. The entire length of the red lined route is 4.4 miles, an easy ride.

The speed limit on this stretch is 45 mph. Cars usually travel here at 50 mph to 60 mph. There is some shoulder on this road. It is usually littered with debris and not very wide. Turning lanes at Baymeadows Rd, Deerwood Park Blvd, exit to JTB, entry from JTB, Gate Parkway etc cause a serious hazard for a cyclist in the shoulder.

The Challenge:

Lets assume that you are sold on the idea of bicycles as transportation. You are out with your family, kids on their bikes and are planning to visit a restaurant for dinner. Maybe you are single and are out with a date on your bicycles to Mellow Mushroom to catch the live band on Friday night. Maybe you want to attempt one less car trip to the movie theater to meet your friends for the new Harry Potter movie.

Here are two methods (A and B) of travel. Which one would you chose?

Method A:

The video below created by Keri from Commute Orlando shows how to ride on the road where the speed limit is 55 mph. The trick here is to not control the outside lane in the center but on the outer two thirds. Remember, you are not required to wear lycra or ride at +15 mph as is depicted in the video below. Normal clothes and a comfortable 10 mph on your beach cruiser is acceptable.

Pros:

1. Utilize existing road infrastructure for bicycle commutes. 92% of your Income Tax, Sales Tax and Property Tax pays for those roads anyway.

Cons:

1. Some of the cars switching lanes to overtake do so at a very close proximity to Keri’s bike. A slight oversight, miscalculation or distraction will lead to a crash that nobody wants. We all know how sparingly motorists use cell phones, radios and iPods.
2. During three minutes of the video, Keri gets yelled at only once. Firstly, this implies that Orlando traffic in that area is much much more civil than Jacksonville traffic in any area. Try riding on University Blvd or Southside Blvd to find out. Secondly, this questions the time of the day. Trying to ride like this in rush hour may not be as pleasant. Maybe the motorists could even see the video cameras strapped onto the helmets.
3. What we never see is cars once overtaken cutting back into the lane in an aggressive manner. That behavior is prevented by the presence of the second rider in front of Keri. Cutting in front of the cyclist aggressively is a dangerous move and is more prevalent in slower traffic.

These cons reduce what is called Subjective Safety: Are you near fast moving traffic ? Is it easy to make a turn across traffic ? Do you have to cycle "fast" in order to keep up ?

Method B:

Imagine if Southside Blvd and all similar roads with a speed limit of above 35 mph had a bike path separated from motorized traffic by a curb, a grassy shoulder and maybe even some trees. This, when complimented with appropriate forced yields at turning lane intersections and stop signs for the segregated bike path reduces any conflict with motorists.

Given such infrastructure, would you ride here with your children?

Would you let your children ride bikes to school?

Would you let your teenage son or daughter commute on these roads to visit after school programs, sports practice, friends etc?

Would you have a quality commute and in turn, a quality life?

Laws governing cyclists are sometimes loosely imposed. We see a lot of cyclists riding in the dark with no reflectors or lights. We see well dressed cyclists with headphones or riding against the flow of traffic or both! These are just some examples where a cyclist is being inconsiderate of the law and safety. When a cyclist does follow the law, occasionally, a law enforcement officer questions the interpretation of the law. This leads to unnecessary agony and irritation on the part of the cyclist.

For example, Fredrick Ungewitter (link), has a very well documented saga of mishaps faced due to police officers misinterpreting the law. He was riding his velomobile on a road of substandard width and was pulled over for impeding traffic. He was controlling the lane.

Read the excruciating debate that followed the traffic stop here: http://commuteorlando.com/wordpress/2009/02/17/impeding-traffic-the-audio/

Further,

In February, Fred was pulled over in Port Orange for controlling a narrow lane on a multi-lane road. He was informed by 2 officers that he was required to ride on the far right edge of the lane. The officers were not interested in actually reading the WHOLE statute which gives Fred the right to use the full lane. Instead they told him they would ticket him if they saw him controlling the lane again. They made good on the promise. Twice. And basically promised to continue citing him if he continued “testing” them. And it wasn’t just cops in the field, the impetus for this harassment was coming straight from the chief of police.

After consulting with Lawyers, the citation was eventually dismissed. See post here: http://commuteorlando.com/wordpress/2009/04/05/citation-dismissed/

When Fred is not being cited, he has to deal with impatient motorists on the road. I am sure all us bicyclists have seen this behavior.

When parked, his velomobile deals with members of his ‘fan club’!

I solemnly thank Fred for standing up for bicyclists. His videos and detailed records of encounters continue to advocate.

Fred’s story intrigues me and begs to ask if the above reactions are towards velomobiles specifically? They look like cars and the name sounds like what someone with a cape rides. I looked across the Atlantic to see what those Europeans do when they see a velomobile.

Here is a video of David Hembrow riding a velomobile through the streets of Assen.

Notice how motor vehicles stop for any one on the segregated bike path. It is a culture and a law that is enforced. The funny thing is, there is no misinterpreted language, no lost exceptions to rules [exception 3 to statuette 316.2065(5)], no gray areas (riding two abreast laws) and no doubts if a bicycle is a vehicle and has the same rights and responsibilities as other vehicles on the road. One rule: yield  to bikes. The segregated path keeps motorists out of cyclists way and vice versa. I am sure daily life in The Netherlands on a bicycle is not entirely friction-free but situations like the ones Fred was in never arise.

Moreover, there is a much higher quality of life when one can ride without having to carry laminated copies of official court documents (link). This logic isn’t rocket science.

Some people like to hypothesize that segregation implies motorist superiority. Repeated examples like priority to bikes at traffic lights prove the converse. I think they assume that once segregated paths are built, the city walks away. There is more science involved. For a detailed explanation, visit here: PDF link to Bicycle Policy, Cycling in The Netherlands 2009

Given a velomobile, where would you rather dance?