Cyclists are important users of transportation systems

On Wednesday, I had the pleasure of addressing the National Bike Summit. I was invited to speak as a member of the Obama administration, but I have been a supporter of bicycling for many years and was a member of the Congressional Bike Caucus when I was in Congress.

Still, I don't think the League of American Bicyclists knew what to expect when they invited me to their summit.

I hope they were pleasantly surprised because I am committed to investing in programs that encourage bikes to coexist with other modes and to safely share our roads and bridges. And there’s strong support in Congress for these goals as well.

In the Department of Transportation, bicyclists have a full partner in working toward livable communities. We're excited that the Federal Highway Administration is looking at best practices in Europe to improve safety and mobility for walkers and cyclists. We're excited that a federally funded pilot project to study the effects of improved walking and bicycling facilities in four communities is underway. I think I conveyed that excitement to the summit, judging by the early response (BikePortland.org, Streetsblog.org)

I welcome the vigor of the bicycling community in advocating for bike-friendly measures in the upcoming authorization bill, CLEAN-TEA. Bicycles are a critical part of a cleaner, greener future in American transportation, so keep those wheels spinning.

Comments

[John Forester]

The governmental policy for bicycle transportation has for thirty-five years been based on bikeway designs and traffic laws for bicyclists alone that were designed by motorists. These failed to consider cyclists' safety or proper operating method, because the motorist designers of bikeways intended to clear the way for motorists. However, the general public (not well-informed cyclists) loves these because bikeways make them feel safe and legitimate.

The problem, then, is how to implement these designs without causing the harm to cyclists, the restrictions to cycling, intended by the motorist bikeway designers. The answer to that is to force the repeal of the three restrictive laws that force cyclists to sometimes operate improperly and dangerously when in the presence of bikeways, and are the source of much harassment by both motorists and even the police.

These laws limit cyclists to:
1: The edge of the roadway
2: The bike lane
3: The bike path.

Only when this is done can bikeways be beneficial for cyclists without the harm intended by motorists.

[Paul Adkins]

I missed the Summit this year, sadly. I am thrilled to see your interest in really working to move our transportation system toward greener and "least-cost transportation". As an advocate at the local level - I think your energy and commitment for making transportation fit with livable communities will help me locally as well.

[Don Burrell]

What a refreshing change from your predecessor! I am pleased that we have a Transportation Secretary familiar with, and supportive of bike/ped tavel as Congress begins reauthorization of the transportation act.

[Sarath Joshua]

It is wonderful to hear that bicycle users are recognized as equal users of the transportation system. Bicyclists and pedestrians form the single group of road users that experience the highest risk of injury or death on our roads. Their overall death/injury numbers are low simply because of low exposure -- meaning people are reluctant to take risks walking if they have a car (unless they have no other option). We invest billion$ in transit systems but seem to forget that each transit rider is also a pedestrian. I wish the Secretary could make bus system planners talk to city traffic safety folks in creating safer mid-block street crossings for transit riders and all pedestrians.

[ben]

Thank You,
I live in the autocentric valley of Maricopa. I don't own a motor vehicle. As the minority it is nice to see that someone recognizes my efforts and wants me to belong. I look forward to seeing the improvements.

[Mark Hertzberg]

Dear Ray,
I am an avid cyclist.I was delighted to hear about your remarks, and read your blog comments. I have heard many positive things about your thoughts on cycling. I would welcome the chance to ride with you if you are home when we are in the area.

[Clarence Eckerson Jr.]

Mr. Secretary,

As early response has shown, you may possibly be able to do something transformative on a country-wide level to turn our cities (and maybe even some of our towns!) into more livable, people places that function for all modes. Thank you for not only having such a great viewpoint, but for being out front and publishing it as well.

I hope sometime in the near future you are able to check out some of our 200+ transportation films at www.streetfilms.org (we are the sister site of www.streetsblog.org),

Best of luck,

Clarence Eckerson Jr.

[Jo-Marie Bonwell]

I think encouraging cycle usage is great; great for gas mileage, great for the environment, great for health reasons, great for traffic congestion. But is is about traffic congestion I want to comment. So many bikers that are encountered do not ride their bikes safely and they become an impediment or hindrance on the road rather than a help. If we are going to have more bikes on the road, be sure that drivers and cyclists exist in a peaceful manner, ensure that both heed the rules of the road, and are courteous one to another. That's all folks.

[Bill Hoffman]

I was in the audience when the Secretary made his comments. I hope that when he said "coexisting" he did not intend separation, but rather full integration with other modes. That is the best way to increase utility bicycle use and improve cyclists' safety at the same time.

Copying what Europe has done is not necessarily going to work in the US. Our cities are built much differently from those in Europe, and the cost of using private cars is, and is likely to remain, much lower here. Designing for bicycles in our environment therefore must take these very fundamental differences into account, otherwise we will create a system that will not be optimally used.

Bill Hoffman, League of American Bicyclists Region 2 Director, and League-certified Cycling Instructor (since 1980)
Lancaster, PA

[BobBayn]

My locality's efforts to encourage cycling for transportation are hampered by widespread misunderstandings about the real risks and best practices for effectively using a bike to get around town.
A newly recruited bike rider is just as liable to believe that they are safest when they ride on the wrong side, on the sidewalk or in the gutter. We can't post enough signs or apply enough paint to get them to ride safely as long as they have so many culturally-reinforced misunderstandings.
We need help breaking the stranglehold of myths.

[P.M. Summer]

I appreciate your willingness to address the bicycle as a valid transportation alternative, with full rights to the roadway. However, I encourage you to be wary of the non-cost effective "segregated" facilities that many cyclists and anti-cyclist want in common.

I look forward to a renewed day for bicycles and bicyclists.

[Adrian Hands]

THANK YOU! Roads & bridges are great. Please also support AMTRAK'S BIKES ON BOARD program. That program has lost ground in recent years, even as bikes and trains are growing in popularity as transportation options of choice.

[Carl Shoolman]

I offer a new way to Obamatize the "scary traffic" deterring most people from biking on roads.

Drivers don't want to hit or scare cyclists. They're quite skilled and patient handling slow moving vehicles.

But a bike is narrow. Cyclists tend to stay close to the curb, inviting drivers to squeeze into a lane too narrow for both.

Experienced urban cyclists usually discover that riding in the middle of the lane is safest (combined with being predictable and stopping for red lights and stop signs.)

What has been missing is a way to make the bicycle conspicuously fill the lane, like a motor vehicle.

The answer is from the lessons learned making motor vehicles conspicuous: two lights front and two back, day and night, that are bright, non-glaring, not-flashing
and placed high enough and wide enough.

The pairs of steady lights makes it easy for drivers to judge the bike's location, speed and direction.

Incredibly, the federal government has never tested the effectiveness of any bike lights at night or day. (The CPSC sets safety standards for new bikes as if they are toys, not vehicles....)

Come to Columbus. A five minute bike ride will change the way you think about biking on streets.

Drivers will patiently wait behind you, then pass in the other lane when it's safe. You'll be so safe that you'll feel comfortable biking in neighborhoods and beyond.

That's the kind of change we can bring now.

[Doug Oates]

Your comments are extremely good news. I hope there will be some follow through in Denver. After living in Wash/DC and Chicago, I must say the state of bicycling commuting in Denver is disappointing. There are plenty of recreational trails in the suburbs, but trying to bike to work or to the grocery store in Denver is akin to Russian Roulette. The Denver Bicycle Master Plan has not been updated for over seven years. This doesn't indicate to me a city that has any interest in bicycling as a key component of transportation. I hope there will actually be some focus on safety and awareness in the near future. At present, bicycles are invisible to motor vehicle drivers on Denver streets.

[Ted Moreland]

Thank you for your support for bicycling. Aside from the obvious health benefit of cycling, it has become an important means of transportation to more and more people in my area because of the tough economic times .

I would like to make one suggestion. In the williamsburg area we are blessed with the Colonial Historical National Park which includes Jamestown Island and the Yorktown Battlefield. The two are connected by the Colonial Parkway, a beautiful National Park/roadway that parallels the James River before it passes through Colonial Williamsburg to the York River and on to Yorktown. This has long been a favorite route for bicyclists, but in recent years it has also become more popular as a means for motorists to go from Point A to Point B. The result is that it is not as safe for cyclists as it used to be. Bike lanes on the sides of the Parkway would be a welcome addition.

Incidentally, every year on the first Saturday in May the National Park Service closes the section of the Parkway between Jamestown and Williamsburg to motor vehicles from 8 am to 1 pm. It is quite a sight to see cyclists of all shapes and sizes enjoying the safe biking environment. There are tricycles, bikes with training wheels, three generations of a family biking together, racing bikes, beach cruisers, 40 year old Schwinns, etc. Last year over 1300 people participated. Free helmets are given to children who complete a Bicycle Skills Rodeo.

Come on down and enjoy the fun. This years event is on May 2.

[Yan Lyansky]

Everyone at the Downtube Folding Bike appreciates your positive views on bicycles.

Thanks!

[steve crandall]

This is really excellent.

It is interesting comparing the amount of walking and biking in Europe and the US along with obesity...

http://www.6footsix.com/my_weblog/2009/03/walk-and-bike-your-walk-to-a-healthier-body.html

[Gail McGonigal]

From a US citizen now living in Vancouver, BC, Canada; I congratulate this radical support of political change in your transportation policy.
Cycling is a user-friendly simple method of encouraging exercise without it costing a fortune in continued expenses.
All it needs now is the motivation to get people moving on to bikes, instead of cars for small distances.
More positive advertising in this area will help.
Vancouver is a wonderful city for cycling, as I cycle all the time and I do not have a car.
However, safety needs to be alerted to all cyclists through wearing a helmet from the beginning.
All Cyclists must learn to be defensive through wearing the right protection gear.

[Labann]

Frankly, glad to see former motoring-biased administration leave. Funding for roads comes from many sources, not just oil consumption. They didn't represent any of my interests.

I wrote extensively over the last decade on cycling culture and issues in a free book available at my blog:
http://bike-n-chain.blogspot.com/

The key factors in improving the roadnet are fewer, wider travel lanes and retention of shoulders. Bicyclists legally share travel lanes with motorists and edge over to let them pass. The current trend of narrow travel lanes, no shoulders, and poorly engineered, maintained or patrolled bikeways won't increase safety for cyclist or motorist alike.

Despite federal laws already in place, local cities, states and towns blatantly defy them. Where I live, 25% of roads are outright or practically banned to bicyclists, pedestrians and wheelchair users. No new laws are needed, only enforcement and standards.

Good intentions aside, you have to begin making motoring licenses harder to get, revoking them after 3 strikes, and sentencing repeat suspended violators. Getting rid of the bad actors would improve both cycling and motoring for majority of law abiding citizens.

Motoring is a privilege to be earned and kept. Motorists are obliged not to kill other users of the road, such as construction workers and policemen. Traffic code was written to protect them against the deadly momentum of motor vehicles. Still, 44,000 traffic fatalities per year remains the 3rd leading cause of death in America.

Bicycling and walking don't require licenses because they are unalienable rights. All talk of vehicular cycling speaks to a small minority of elite racing cyclists, not children, the illiterate, and poor who principally make up the nation's 60,000,000 cyclists, a population 1/3 the size of motorists.

Yet you spend $200,000 for motoring for every $1 you spend for bicycling. This ratio is too skewed. True, cycling doesn't require the huge, unsustainable overhead of motoring, but a shift away from constructing highways in favor of implementing small bicycling connections and repairing and restriping secondary streets is long overdue.

[Shannon]

How to repair and preserve the elderly, overburdened Tappan Zee Bridge (a key NYC commuter route over the Hudson River)? Immediately devote one lane to pedestrians and bicycles - free of toll! - `increase the toll for vehicles - and increase the number of buses traversing between Rockland and Westchester counties.

[Hanna Cockburn]

Finally! A transportation leader who really gets it. It makes me proud to be a transportation professional. I look forward to reauthorization.

[Vishakha]

I think Some in Congress, state governments and even in the freight-trucking industry believe the time has come to consider a greatly expanded revenue source, whether a higher gas tax or more tolls, or a shift to a "vehicle miles traveled" fee, which drivers would pay based on how much they drive.

Vishakha

[Wheel Bearings]

We have some nice trails in our town to get into town for bikes and roller blades.
They are a ton of fun, and save precious gas money!
BIKING FOREVER!

[Rod Haenni]

Secretary LaHood,

Bicycles will never replace, to any significant degree, any vehicular mode of transportation. To pretend otherwise is to show profound naivete/cynicism (your choice) about American society and its fundamental functioning. Also, airplane travel is overwhelmingly the safest form of travel on the planet. Please have one of your junior staff compare and contrast injuries/deaths per mile traveled amongst air, car, bicycle, rail & mass transit. You might learn something.

[discount auto parts]

we were waiting this for sooo long! thank you, mr. secretary