If you’ve been riding your bike for a while, you’ve probably heard some variant of “Get off the road!” coming from an irate driver more than a few times. (There are a lot of links out there that try to answer the question, “Why do people shout at cyclists?”) Though it can be at best unpleasant to hear, I do wish that it was easier to ride on a dedicated path that’s not shared by automobiles. Reducing the idea of bicycling to solely a recreational activity has made it harder for people to safely ride as a mode of transportation. And without a network of routes to reach areas where people can ride bikes for recreation, people often need to put their bikes in or on their cars, and drive to a destination. I think that many people want to […]
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Riding bikes with children: Talking about cars
In the USA, at least, I found that talking to kids about bike safety meant talking a lot about cars. Dedicated bike paths (in the USA) don’t always take you where you need to go When our child started riding with us on their own bike, I realized that 90% of our communication was about riding safely with cars on the road. It wasn’t about kids bike safety gear, helmets, proper clothing or anything else like that. Dedicated bike paths to the library, the playground, to school or wherever else for running errands usually don’t exist in the States. So, we had to ride in the street, and this meant sharing the road with cars. This is a little scary when riding with a young child. Though there are bike lanes near me, a layer of paint doesn’t feel like […]
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