Further to the item below, you know attitudes are changing when The Province runs something like this:
Can’t we all just get along? When it comes to cyclists vs. drivers, Vancouver is in ‘infant stages,’ says avid rider Trevor Linden
Trevor Linden has seen the organized chaos of bikes successfully living together with pedestrians and cars in amazing precision in Europe’s epicentre of cycling, Amsterdam. He knows it will be a long journey for Vancouver to get there, but sees some small steps in that direction.
“We’re so far behind (Europe), we’re in the infant stages,” said the Vancouver Canucks president, an avid cyclist.
“I think in our lifetime we’ll see a big improvement. In Amsterdam, the drivers are so used to bikes that the drivers just mesh with the bikes. To get to that point you have to have the infrastructure to allow that to happen. I think we’ve created that, we’re miles away, but it’s a good start.
“I know it was unpopular to some and it was hard to get used to, but I think it makes our city more interesting and better.”
Richard Campbell, president of the B.C. Cycling Coalition, said separated bike lanes is one piece of the puzzle to making cycling safer and more compatible with cars, but education on both sides is also important.
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On a tragic note, the imperative for protected lanes just became more urgent in Seattle: Cyclist killed days before city to upgrade notorious bike lane.
Less than two weeks before Seattle’s dangerous Second Avenue bike lane was to be fixed, a 31-year-old woman was killed there Friday when a left-turning truck hit her bicycle. …
The Seattle Department of Transportation is to convert the bike lane into a more protected route Sept. 8, from Pike Place Market to Pioneer Square. Left-turning cars and trucks then may proceed only on a green arrow — to reduce conflicts with bikes and pedestrians. Bicyclists will see a separate, bike-shaped green light, telling them when to proceed straight through the intersection.
