Notably, Europe doesn't just accommodate bicycles in cities: it's also much more comfortable to bike on rural roads, thanks to lower speed limits, smaller cars, better drivers, and more conscious design when it comes to designating roads vs. streets vs. highways. Bicycle routes (sometimes called byways) are also a hell of a lot better, and are actually viable ways to travel between nearby cities in many cases.
I just spent a month bicycling around the UK. I knew the infrastructure was better than in the USA, but it blew my mind to see how even motorways often had bicycle & pedestrian paths off to the side. And almost all bridges seem to have a sidewalk, often one big enough to comfortably fit bikes and pedestrians. That's something we don't even get in the most pedestrian friendly US cities (citation: the Queensborough bridge in NYC).
And the funniest part? People in the UK complain about their infrastructure constantly, and frequently asked me why I was cycling there instead of the Netherlands, or France, or Spain, or Italy, or any other European country.
Infrastructure in the USA is a nightmare and an absolute embarrassment. I fear for my life every time I walk or bike here in shared space with drivers. I suspect a lot of this stems from the fact that around half of Americans have never left the continent of North America [1]. It's hard to realize just how bad our infrastructure is when you have no point of comparison and all of our infra sucks.
It's so frustrating because it's so simple: I just want to ride my bike and walk around. That requires very little infrastructure. I shouldn't have to wrap up my entire identity up in bicycling and walking just because most of our country doesn't bother with those activities.
>Infrastructure in the USA is a nightmare and an absolute embarrassment
And in the US, that will never change. An example from 2023 (yes this year).
The State where I live has a law all road construction/repairs is suppose to allow for what here in the US is called a "Bike Path". That really means a 2 feet (2/3 meter) wide shoulder on each side of the road. It is delimited by white paint that will be allowed to fade. On this "path" is painted a bicycle every so often, that will also fade and never be maintained.
So, a road near where I live, a bridge was replaced. The Plans called for construction of this "path" to accommodate cycling on this road. Construction completed a week ago, no white line was even painted. The plans only mentioned it so construction would be allowed to start. Since it is complete, the excuse is "Oh we forgot".
This is in a State that is pushing Cycling as an alternative to Driving to work. So in the US, do not hold your breath, we will continue with doing all we can to increase the average global temperature until no one will be able to go outside in the deep South during the Summer.
Our roadways are a mess, our healthcare is a mess, our K-12 education is a mess, a lot of our food is unfit for consumption in Europe - what are we doing? As the United States continues to crumble from within its citizens keep thinking it's the best place in the world and refuse to acknowledge there are serious issues needing addressed. It's become quite insane.
>I suspect a lot of this stems from the fact that around half of Americans have never left the continent of North America
Some Americans have this world European fetish and think all Europeans are so well traveled and worldly. 40% of Europeans have never been to another country let alone another continent.
>> blew my mind to see how even motorways often had bicycle & pedestrian paths off to the side
Unless something changed recently I don't think this is true of the UK. You can't ride anything under 125CC on a UK motorway and cycling/walking is illegal. Maybe you mean dual carriageways?
Lower speed limits? 100km/h on rural roads here in Austria and drivers just don't care enough to keep to those limits. Smaller cars? Thanks to the SUV it has become a nightmare with those massive cars that cause a lot of wind turbulence when they overtake you on your bike.
Cycling in European cities is basically just pure luck and depends far to much on the local legislation and the major. The last local election in Spain has put a lot of conservative and right-wing majors into office, many openly campaigning with turn-backs on all the work Spain has put into creating cycling infrastructure. Here in Austria the neofascists Freedom Party interprets freedom and being able to drive and park everywhere by car, same for the convservative Bundeskanzler who is in a coalition with a toothless Green party.
Being a cycling advocate is a fight for each and every cycling path and even then the local city planners can still mess up and build the worst possible solution.
It is hard to describe the utter freedom I feel from being able to get on my bike and safely go... Anywhere. Even with my kids as passengers. It feels like I've escaped prison. Too bad I had to move to the Netherlands for it. But it's wonderful.
Living in the US, I often fantasize about living somewhere I can bike freely in the sense the article describes. Somewhere bikes are actually prioritized over cars, not just accommodated. Preferably no cars at all. So far, my search had come up dry.
NYC is honestly great for cycling. Say what you will about Bloomberg (or, allow me: scum), but his transportation secretary Janette Sadik-Khan did so much to turn this into a cycling city. If De Blasio and Adams had followed that lead, our cycling infrastructure would be second only to Amsterdam by now.
Much of a city in China I have spent a lot of time in (Hangzhou) has protected bike lanes with their own signals and crossings. They do still interact with traffic at the crossings but the lanes are wide and well protected from vehicles. I really like using them and wish we had something like that where I live in the US.
Portland is probably the best biking city. It’s not perfect but in many neighborhoods it’s very cumbersome to drive and easy to bike. Drivers are also much less hostile in general.
> In America, a bicyclist is usually not envisioned as being on par with someone who drives a car. They are stereotyped as either a rich hobbyist in spandex or as drunks who lost their driver’s license and have to rely on a lesser form of transport.
So they acknowledge this but expect it to change somehow?
That’s one of those comparisons where the goal is to underestimate the greater Chicago area’s population, but it’s not even an accurate statistic.
From 2005 to 2016 Chicago with a population of 2.7 million had between 3 and 8 cycles deaths per year vs 27 to 65 pedestrian deaths and 282 to 487 motorists. https://activetrans.org/sites/files/crash%20report%202018%20... Edit: The closest to 1/3 days I could find was 13 bicycle deaths and 95 pedestrian fatalities totaling to 108 for the region. Which is 1 cyclist death per 28 days out of ~10 million people.
The streets of the greater Chicago area are full of frustrated drivers in a pointless pissing contest seemingly all on the fringe of a road-rage incident. It's like they're all fighting over scraps and the roads are the arena.
I could write a short novel describing my childhood bmx experiences there through the 80s-90s, and in 2022 I rode an mtb around all summer during an extended visit.
It's just insanity. People there are miserable and angry. It's palpable in how they drive.
It among other fun things only goes up to 2016 and was published in mid 2018 (thus could not cover 2018). It also says that only 18 bicyclists were killed in 2016.
There are 2-3 fatalities in cars per day in Chicago from what I can see. Both are useless stats without more context. A good comparison might be another city. For example there are approx < 10 cycling deaths per year in London which has decent cycling infrastructure these days.
As a commuter cyclist and former member of the 'bicycle industry', I'm going to propose an alternate view. Call this the 'libertarian theory of bike commuting' perhaps.
I love the bicycle situation in the United States. Why? Because freedom.
With increased investment in bicycle infrastructure comes increasing oversight and enforcement. This is something I cannot abide. I love riding a bicycle because I can, with reasonable caution and situational awareness, ride anywhere I choose (almost entirely) unburdened by bureaucratic annoyances such as speed cameras, parking garage gates, signals, signage, pedestrian areas, traffic and lurking police officers.
Appreciate what you have, or else we're all going to have to start wearing running clothes and doing shenanigans like joggers... because you know a properly attired and sweating jogger is ultimate stealth mode. It is just slow and makes you smell even worse + carrying cargo sort of breaks the facade.
There is a road near my house with a wide, shaded bike lane. It's very nice, I use and enjoy it regularly. But regularly bikers decide, for no discernible reason at all, to use the main road anyway, slowing down traffic. What's the point of investing in bike infrastructure if (some) bikers refuse to use it?
> But regularly bikers decide, for no discernible reason at all, to use the main road anyway, slowing down traffic.
Bicycles are vehicles. They have the same right to use the road as cars. Cars have no right to a minimum speed on surface streets. Cars have an exclusive right to freeways. High rates of speed are poor etiquette on bicycle routes, in my neighborhood only the fast cyclists ride in the street but at speeds that would be inappropriate on the bike path in that area.
Bicycle infrastructure tends to be an afterthought, even in the best cases. Can you describe this bike lane in more detail? Is it completely isolated from traffic? Is it mixed use with pedestrians?
Here in Seattle the divided bike lanes run parallel to roads with a curb and parking between. This seems good but at intersections bike lanes still cross side streets. That creates an opportunity for (especially right) turning traffic to not see cyclists and turn into them when the bicycle is crossing, even with dedicated bicycle lights. Riding in the street is your best chance to be seen, and on a bicycle being seen is your best chance to stay alive.
Maybe those riders live on that street, or need to use the larger road briefly to access a turn that isn't safe to access via the bike lane? Or maybe they're riding faster than is comfortable on a shared path (kudos to them -- racing is not safe in an environment shared with pedestrians). Bicycles have every right to the road that cars do, so those bikes are perfectly entitled to use that road. Do they really slow down traffic that much? If that stretch of road has traffic lights, it probably doesn't make much of a difference.
A few reasons come to mind, mostly that bike infrastructure often seems designed by people who have never ridden a bike in traffic.
First, those involving cars.
- Turning Left while a bike lane is on a right.
- Cars don't yield to the bike lane before turning right
- Car occupants don't check a bike lane before opening door.
- Car parked ahead in the bike lane.
- Cars squeeze bikes next to the curb because the car can't maintain a lane / 3 foot is a really small distance at 30mph.
Next, those involving infrastructure
- Bike lane is made of segmented concrete; creating a thump and loss of traction every 3 feet, at 30mph.
- Bike lane is the gutter of the street, and street sweepers never come so it has much trash to be dodged
- Bike lane is shared with water infrastructure, where modifications lead to a longitudinal groove that is easy to get a small tire stuck in, get a flat, throw you unexpectedly.
- Bike lane is shared with storm infrastructure, so it is sloping, or has drain grates that cause bumps, loss of traction, potential to throw you -- again at 30mph
- Bike lane is "designed" for "recreation" with curves such that it is less efficient at getting from point a to b as quickly as the road.
I'd be interested to see the specific road you are referencing? My gut shot would be that it isn't necessarily obvious that it could be used to avoid some parts of a road? (That is, you almost certainly had to be on the road for other parts of your ride. Not always obvious when there was a path you could do that got you off the road. And, of course, if it is a detour to get to the route...)
There's a stretch of road I ride regularly where I take the car lane despite there being a bike lane for reasons that are probably opaque to drivers:
* It is a long, straight, very slightly downhill segment with long sight lines and no intersections; one of the few safe sprint opportunities on my rides
* The bike lane surface is sloped slightly towards the outside of the road
* The outside half of the bike lane has several storm drains, and often some dry leaves in it
* The car speed limit is 30 mph.
All this combines to make it a fast segment where it really only feels safe to go that fast in the car lane. I'm going the car speed limit so in theory it's not slowing traffic.
In practice drivers perceive the speed limit to be the minimum they are entitled to and I get punish passed all the time there.
The point is that the bikers that decide to use it are safe. That it can encourage more bikers and take cars off the road. The fact that some bikers so not use it does not invalidate the usefullnes of a bikelane
[+] [-] vanilla_nut|2 years ago|reply
I just spent a month bicycling around the UK. I knew the infrastructure was better than in the USA, but it blew my mind to see how even motorways often had bicycle & pedestrian paths off to the side. And almost all bridges seem to have a sidewalk, often one big enough to comfortably fit bikes and pedestrians. That's something we don't even get in the most pedestrian friendly US cities (citation: the Queensborough bridge in NYC).
And the funniest part? People in the UK complain about their infrastructure constantly, and frequently asked me why I was cycling there instead of the Netherlands, or France, or Spain, or Italy, or any other European country.
Infrastructure in the USA is a nightmare and an absolute embarrassment. I fear for my life every time I walk or bike here in shared space with drivers. I suspect a lot of this stems from the fact that around half of Americans have never left the continent of North America [1]. It's hard to realize just how bad our infrastructure is when you have no point of comparison and all of our infra sucks.
It's so frustrating because it's so simple: I just want to ride my bike and walk around. That requires very little infrastructure. I shouldn't have to wrap up my entire identity up in bicycling and walking just because most of our country doesn't bother with those activities.
[1](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lealane/2019/05/02/percentage-o...).
[+] [-] jmclnx|2 years ago|reply
And in the US, that will never change. An example from 2023 (yes this year).
The State where I live has a law all road construction/repairs is suppose to allow for what here in the US is called a "Bike Path". That really means a 2 feet (2/3 meter) wide shoulder on each side of the road. It is delimited by white paint that will be allowed to fade. On this "path" is painted a bicycle every so often, that will also fade and never be maintained.
So, a road near where I live, a bridge was replaced. The Plans called for construction of this "path" to accommodate cycling on this road. Construction completed a week ago, no white line was even painted. The plans only mentioned it so construction would be allowed to start. Since it is complete, the excuse is "Oh we forgot".
This is in a State that is pushing Cycling as an alternative to Driving to work. So in the US, do not hold your breath, we will continue with doing all we can to increase the average global temperature until no one will be able to go outside in the deep South during the Summer.
[+] [-] taylodl|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] autokad|2 years ago|reply
Some Americans have this world European fetish and think all Europeans are so well traveled and worldly. 40% of Europeans have never been to another country let alone another continent.
[+] [-] marcinzm|2 years ago|reply
It may also have something to do with the UK having almost 10x the population density of the US.
[+] [-] basisword|2 years ago|reply
Unless something changed recently I don't think this is true of the UK. You can't ride anything under 125CC on a UK motorway and cycling/walking is illegal. Maybe you mean dual carriageways?
[+] [-] TomK32|2 years ago|reply
Cycling in European cities is basically just pure luck and depends far to much on the local legislation and the major. The last local election in Spain has put a lot of conservative and right-wing majors into office, many openly campaigning with turn-backs on all the work Spain has put into creating cycling infrastructure. Here in Austria the neofascists Freedom Party interprets freedom and being able to drive and park everywhere by car, same for the convservative Bundeskanzler who is in a coalition with a toothless Green party. Being a cycling advocate is a fight for each and every cycling path and even then the local city planners can still mess up and build the worst possible solution.
[+] [-] CalRobert|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] errantmind|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Eric_WVGG|2 years ago|reply
(and yeah I lived in Portland too)
[+] [-] gaoshan|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ipnon|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] CalRobert|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ftxbro|2 years ago|reply
So they acknowledge this but expect it to change somehow?
[+] [-] mcmcmc|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] etrautmann|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Tiktaalik|2 years ago|reply
Completely insane horrifying stat. The incredible amount of injury and death has been so normalized.
[+] [-] Retric|2 years ago|reply
From 2005 to 2016 Chicago with a population of 2.7 million had between 3 and 8 cycles deaths per year vs 27 to 65 pedestrian deaths and 282 to 487 motorists. https://activetrans.org/sites/files/crash%20report%202018%20... Edit: The closest to 1/3 days I could find was 13 bicycle deaths and 95 pedestrian fatalities totaling to 108 for the region. Which is 1 cyclist death per 28 days out of ~10 million people.
[+] [-] pengaru|2 years ago|reply
I could write a short novel describing my childhood bmx experiences there through the 80s-90s, and in 2022 I rode an mtb around all summer during an extended visit.
It's just insanity. People there are miserable and angry. It's palpable in how they drive.
[+] [-] marcinzm|2 years ago|reply
https://activetrans.org/sites/files/crash%20report%202018%20...
It among other fun things only goes up to 2016 and was published in mid 2018 (thus could not cover 2018). It also says that only 18 bicyclists were killed in 2016.
[+] [-] basisword|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] taeric|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] throw9away6|2 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] unknown|2 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] veavo|2 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] korse|2 years ago|reply
As a commuter cyclist and former member of the 'bicycle industry', I'm going to propose an alternate view. Call this the 'libertarian theory of bike commuting' perhaps.
I love the bicycle situation in the United States. Why? Because freedom.
With increased investment in bicycle infrastructure comes increasing oversight and enforcement. This is something I cannot abide. I love riding a bicycle because I can, with reasonable caution and situational awareness, ride anywhere I choose (almost entirely) unburdened by bureaucratic annoyances such as speed cameras, parking garage gates, signals, signage, pedestrian areas, traffic and lurking police officers.
Appreciate what you have, or else we're all going to have to start wearing running clothes and doing shenanigans like joggers... because you know a properly attired and sweating jogger is ultimate stealth mode. It is just slow and makes you smell even worse + carrying cargo sort of breaks the facade.
Keep the USA weird.
[+] [-] Georgelemental|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mulmen|2 years ago|reply
Bicycles are vehicles. They have the same right to use the road as cars. Cars have no right to a minimum speed on surface streets. Cars have an exclusive right to freeways. High rates of speed are poor etiquette on bicycle routes, in my neighborhood only the fast cyclists ride in the street but at speeds that would be inappropriate on the bike path in that area.
Bicycle infrastructure tends to be an afterthought, even in the best cases. Can you describe this bike lane in more detail? Is it completely isolated from traffic? Is it mixed use with pedestrians?
Here in Seattle the divided bike lanes run parallel to roads with a curb and parking between. This seems good but at intersections bike lanes still cross side streets. That creates an opportunity for (especially right) turning traffic to not see cyclists and turn into them when the bicycle is crossing, even with dedicated bicycle lights. Riding in the street is your best chance to be seen, and on a bicycle being seen is your best chance to stay alive.
[+] [-] vanilla_nut|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] smileysteve|2 years ago|reply
First, those involving cars.
- Turning Left while a bike lane is on a right.
- Cars don't yield to the bike lane before turning right
- Car occupants don't check a bike lane before opening door.
- Car parked ahead in the bike lane.
- Cars squeeze bikes next to the curb because the car can't maintain a lane / 3 foot is a really small distance at 30mph.
Next, those involving infrastructure
- Bike lane is made of segmented concrete; creating a thump and loss of traction every 3 feet, at 30mph.
- Bike lane is the gutter of the street, and street sweepers never come so it has much trash to be dodged
- Bike lane is shared with water infrastructure, where modifications lead to a longitudinal groove that is easy to get a small tire stuck in, get a flat, throw you unexpectedly.
- Bike lane is shared with storm infrastructure, so it is sloping, or has drain grates that cause bumps, loss of traction, potential to throw you -- again at 30mph
- Bike lane is "designed" for "recreation" with curves such that it is less efficient at getting from point a to b as quickly as the road.
[+] [-] jkaptur|2 years ago|reply
Are you asking? Post the location and I'd be happy to weigh in from a cyclist's point of view.
[+] [-] concam|2 years ago|reply
The same reason we might invest in traffic lights or stop signs even though cars regularly ignore them.
[+] [-] taeric|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] throw9away6|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] giraffe_lady|2 years ago|reply
* It is a long, straight, very slightly downhill segment with long sight lines and no intersections; one of the few safe sprint opportunities on my rides
* The bike lane surface is sloped slightly towards the outside of the road
* The outside half of the bike lane has several storm drains, and often some dry leaves in it
* The car speed limit is 30 mph.
All this combines to make it a fast segment where it really only feels safe to go that fast in the car lane. I'm going the car speed limit so in theory it's not slowing traffic.
In practice drivers perceive the speed limit to be the minimum they are entitled to and I get punish passed all the time there.
[+] [-] Yujf|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] matsemann|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] colpabar|2 years ago|reply