tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1588280325775325323.post3913991609156796183..comments2023-12-24T05:26:48.861-05:00Comments on The Pittsburgh Comet: Munich, Amsterdam and Pittsburgh: Differences as seen through Bicycling N'atBram Reichbaumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05620172942925293407noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1588280325775325323.post-66900009776772322782013-10-13T22:59:44.476-04:002013-10-13T22:59:44.476-04:00In city traffic sure. The whole point of the busw...In city traffic sure. The whole point of the busway is to let the bus move faster than city traffic. I guess bikes are better idea than the guy who wants to turn it into an HOV lane for cars, but the idea was to keep the buses from from traffic. It works very well as it is.MHnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1588280325775325323.post-6640800601490615052013-10-13T22:50:53.751-04:002013-10-13T22:50:53.751-04:00A bike is equally as fast and rapid as a bus on ma...A bike is equally as fast and rapid as a bus on many stretches. <br /><br />Bikes do not need to slow down buses. Mark Rauterkushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17157914569686528007noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1588280325775325323.post-419068083091589702013-10-12T22:45:47.813-04:002013-10-12T22:45:47.813-04:00That's not entirely fair. National politics a...That's not entirely fair. National politics and Wander asking to be in a mayoral debate he isn't sure he can come back to the country for are both wronger.MHnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1588280325775325323.post-40566644715112617022013-10-12T22:09:43.779-04:002013-10-12T22:09:43.779-04:00That's not the wrongest thing I've heard a...That's not the wrongest thing I've heard all week only because this has been an exceptionally wrong week, national politics-wise. The busways are for buses and need to be kept that way as they are the closest thing to rapid mass transit in the whole East End.MHnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1588280325775325323.post-58705852767357128242013-10-12T20:29:52.392-04:002013-10-12T20:29:52.392-04:00I have insights into cycling in Christchurch, New ...I have insights into cycling in Christchurch, New Zealand, and Chengdu, China. Those two cities, as well as Amsterdam, are often the tops in the world in terms of bike favorability. Likewise, Beijing. Been to them all with extended trips. <br /><br />We have a long, long, long way to go. <br /><br />My big wish is that we can get bikes onto the bus ways and into the PAT tunnels too. Open up the Wabash Tunnel and the light rail tunnel under Mt. Washington, and the bus ways, east and west, and we'll be making some headway. Mark Rauterkushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17157914569686528007noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1588280325775325323.post-72198345836072278472013-10-12T18:33:16.165-04:002013-10-12T18:33:16.165-04:00It's got nothing do to with me. I don't ri...It's got nothing do to with me. I don't ride bikes because the last two times I tried, it caused me huge migraine headaches of a kind I've never had before or since. And I don't do Columbus Day parades because my deep respect for Native American cultures and their traditions of leaving Saturday morning for rest.MHnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1588280325775325323.post-73568066172467521722013-10-12T18:32:46.477-04:002013-10-12T18:32:46.477-04:00MH, you'll be the death of me. I'm going o...MH, you'll be the death of me. I'm going on record as saying: neither that parade accident, nor the sensational spectacle we're about to witness (paging talk radio!!) ever would have happened in Holland.<br /><br />Partially in this case because nobody's in that big of a hurry, that if they hit someone they'd hospitalize them. If they hit a pedestrian, it would be terribly rude; the pedestrian would almost certainly stumble, and stumbling always involves at least some chance of a fall. We don't know the fact s about this accident victim's concussion but I'm imagining a severe jolt.<br /><br />I love the idea of more Americans getting into more upright-bicycling, it probably conveys to every one in streets as well as to the bikers themselves a sense of balance, proportion and poise.Bram Reichbaumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05620172942925293407noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1588280325775325323.post-20640511168090408392013-10-12T17:25:31.768-04:002013-10-12T17:25:31.768-04:00Cyclists should always were a helmet and an Italia...Cyclists should always were a helmet and an <a href="http://triblive.com/news/adminpage/4854202-74/parade-cyclist-cimino#axzz2hXrapHlu" rel="nofollow">Italian detector.</a> MHnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1588280325775325323.post-38726226849000405122013-10-11T16:42:41.335-04:002013-10-11T16:42:41.335-04:00If you look at something like the debate over bike...If you look at something like the debate over bike helmet laws in Europe, you'll see a lot of people arguing that wearing helmets discourages riding, which is bad from an overall public health perspective, and maybe even a bike safety perspective on the theory that more riders leads to safety. You'll also see theories that helmet-wearing may adversely affect driver or rider behavior, and so on.<br /><br />Personally, I am persuaded that wearing a helmet is a very good idea. But I wouldn't necessarily try to impose such a requirement on other adults if it really might deter them from biking (with kids, on the other hand, I think they should be required).BrianTHnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1588280325775325323.post-3823047705172012032013-10-11T16:26:05.690-04:002013-10-11T16:26:05.690-04:00I'm going to go with the co-location of govern...I'm going to go with the co-location of government drones and officially-sanctioned prostitutes not necessarily being a coincidence.<br /><br />I don't know any formal stats or anything like that, but my experience in European cities has also been that streetcars and such will often defer to pedestrians and bicyclists. That said, I think there may be informal rules to all that which I didn't necessarily understand, and I also suspect my experiences may have been biased by spending most of my time in walkable, tourist-friendly areas.<br /><br />That said, the mere fact a lot of those places can seemingly operate safely with all sorts of different modes mixing together without a lot of official rules to govern their interactions (or without anyone bothering to enforce whatever official rules might exist) has informed my thinking on these issues considerably.BrianTHnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1588280325775325323.post-91100821796133392752013-10-11T11:52:36.657-04:002013-10-11T11:52:36.657-04:00There must be many factors which lessen the percei...There must be many factors which lessen the perceived advantages of helmets, and one is surely the absence of hills.<br /><br />The steepest gradients in A-dam involve the arching bridges over narrow canals. I spotted one cyclist really laboring up one of those from low-momentum... given she was also holding an umbrella overhead with a whole arm.Bram Reichbaumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05620172942925293407noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1588280325775325323.post-49747379681098994512013-10-11T10:55:20.476-04:002013-10-11T10:55:20.476-04:00I've ridden (literally) thousands of miles on ...I've ridden (literally) thousands of miles on Pittsburgh streets, but my only significant accident was solo (hit gravel at the bottom of a steep hill). And I cannot imagine how f***'d up I'd have been if not for my helmet (as it was the folks at Shadyside Hosp. thought I'd wiped on a motorbike). In fact, my only other accident of any notice ended with me skidding helmet-first into a telephone pole.<br /><br />Which is to say, I'm baffled by the Dutch prejudice against helmets. 0% of my accidents involved careless American drivers, and 100% would have involved head injury if not for helmets. I suppose there's something to be said for going really, really slowly (that goes to clothing as well), but at 10 mph I'd just as soon drive.<br /><br />Also, I don't know how one could ride in Pittsburgh and never exceed speeds that would be (extremely) unsafe without a helmet. Even on a clunky, Dutch-style bike, going down Liberty Ave. is a ~20 mph experience, and that's plenty fast enough for a pothole to turn into a coma.JRothhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02907678721004244892noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1588280325775325323.post-50241983894213651722013-10-11T10:25:18.987-04:002013-10-11T10:25:18.987-04:00very nice and good work, keep it up, thanks
Car fo...very nice and good work, keep it up, thanks<br /><a href="http://www.expatscarfinder.com" rel="nofollow">Car for Sale in Saudi Arabia</a><br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16543104087924912937noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1588280325775325323.post-43794676507231782013-10-11T10:24:10.058-04:002013-10-11T10:24:10.058-04:00That all makes sense to me, Brian. Over a week in ...That all makes sense to me, Brian. Over a week in Munich I witnessed the aftermath of one serious bike-car accident and one seemingly innocuous pedestrian-bike frackup. Over two days in Amsterdam I've witnessed nothing more serious than two cars honking at each other.<br /><br />As a 'Burgher I have limited familiarity with light rail. Tell me, is it commonplace for light rail to slow down deferentially when it looks like a pedestrian might possibly be considering crossing a street?<br /><br />On the down side, Amsterdam organized its entire street grid and city plan to capitalize fully on water traffic and trade -- which does not exist anymore (except for a lot of lame-looking Just Ducky Tour knockoffs). Combined with how all streets are labeled with brown signs bearing a thin white font posted haphazardly against brown buildings only every third or fourth city block, and it's a little hard to get around.<br /><br />Oh, and the red light district is right alongside the major government offices.Bram Reichbaumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05620172942925293407noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1588280325775325323.post-44009036770591364652013-10-11T01:08:36.019-04:002013-10-11T01:08:36.019-04:00As an addendum, it is probably also worth noting t...As an addendum, it is probably also worth noting that not all serious accidents involving bikes also involve motorized vehicles. Bicyclists can have serious accidents involving pedestrians (which can harm either the pedestrian or the bicyclist or both), and serious accidents involving no other party at all (just falling down, running into something, and so on).<br /><br />That's part of why if bike speed increases significantly on bike lanes/paths, there may be offsetting negative safety effects, even if the risk from motorized vehicles specifically is reduced.BrianTHnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1588280325775325323.post-13153182030782978282013-10-11T00:27:46.257-04:002013-10-11T00:27:46.257-04:00So just a few basic themes I have gathered from lo...So just a few basic themes I have gathered from looking at some bike safety studies:<br /><br />1) The biggest determinant of bike safety is usually driver behavior, and the biggest determinant of driver behavior is usually the number of bikes in the traffic mix. The basic mechanism appears to be that drivers are best-behaved when they are aware there are bikes around and are accustomed to dealing with them. In other words, the more bikes there are, the more drivers will be looking out for bikes and prepared to safely share the roads with bikes. <br /><br />2) Dedicated bike lanes may do less to improve bike safety than many assume, and may actually increase the serious accident rate at least in some common cases. Possible mechanisms include changes in bicyclist behavior (e.g., riding faster) and increased risk at key conflict points like intersections. That last point actually goes along with (1) because among other things, drivers may be paying less attention to bikes and behaving more poorly at conflict points like intersections when there are dedicated bike lanes removing bikes from normal traffic flows.<br /><br />But even crediting (2) as a real concern, all this gets very complicated when you consider these points together on a long-term basis. In particular, bike lanes can greatly increase possible bicyclists perception of safety, which can lead to a lot more bike riding, which can lead to greater real safety per (1).<br /><br />So in U.S. cities like Pittsburgh, where bike riding by international standards is very low, it could well be a better strategy to invest a lot in dedicated bike lanes, with the expectation that the safety benefits of increased ridership will outweigh the potential safety drawbacks of dedicated lanes.<br /><br />But in the Munich versus Amsterdam case, apparently Amsterdam already has a higher bike presence, AND they appear to be also getting the benefits of slower speeds, greater awareness among other road users, and so on. So that is why I would bet on Amsterdam having better accident statistics than Munich. <br /><br />However, again that doesn't mean Pittsburgh can go straight to an Amsterdam-like situation. Still, there may be some applicable lessons if all this is true. The basic point would be that Munich is not necessarily the ideal end point, and while we may need a lot more dedicated bike lanes to get more people riding, we should perhaps also be looking for opportunities where cars and bikes and pedestrians could be more mixed together (preferably at relatively low speeds).BrianTHnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1588280325775325323.post-5063212144781376552013-10-10T12:33:27.833-04:002013-10-10T12:33:27.833-04:00Although it seems likely that taking tons of proje...Although it seems likely that taking tons of projectile mass out of the coordination mix might be far more important than good willed intermovement or cultural expectation, as you might have been thinking.<br />Helen Gerhardthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07010369817073080001noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1588280325775325323.post-13987890236943145962013-10-10T11:10:52.483-04:002013-10-10T11:10:52.483-04:00I second that interest! Brian, if you're right...I second that interest! Brian, if you're right, strange and wonderful how echolocation and good-willed, informal "coordination" may sometimes work so much better than many rules and regulations.Helen Gerhardthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07010369817073080001noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1588280325775325323.post-83019101199990640542013-10-10T09:54:01.319-04:002013-10-10T09:54:01.319-04:00I'd be interested to know which of Munich and ...I'd be interested to know which of Munich and Amsterdam has lower accident, serious injury, and fatality rates among bicyclists. Just based on some other studies I am aware of, I'd personally bet on Amsterdam.BrianTHnoreply@blogger.com