12 Sep Why bikes and cars breed conflict

Felix Solomon, a blogger for Reuters, proposes a Unified Theory of New York Biking that Halifax cyclists would do well to heed:

Bikes can and should behave much more like cars than pedestrians. They should ride on the road, not the sidewalk. They should stop at lights, and pedestrians should be able to trust them to do so.

They should use lights at night. And — of course, duh — they should ride in the right direction on one-way streets. None of this is a question of being polite; it’s the law. But in stark contrast to motorists, nearly all of whom follow nearly all the rules, most cyclists seem to treat the rules of the road as strictly optional. They’re still in the human-powered mindset of pedestrians, who feel pretty much completely unconstrained by rules.

The result is decidedly suboptimal for all concerned, but mostly for the bicyclists themselves. New York needs to make a collective quantum leap, from treating bicyclists like pedestrians to treating bicyclists like motorists. And unless and until it does, bike relations will continue to be marked by hostility and mistrust.

Fearing an onslaught from militant bikists, I hasten to add that I like bikes, I hope to see more of them on Halifax streets, and I wish HRM would do more to welcome their use. But I think cyclists hurt their cause every time they flip, at will and without warning, from street to sidewalk to crosswalk. Be fish, not fowl, and mos def not both.

Via Kottke.org and Daily Dish.