“Bike riding shouldn’t be an act of bravery, and transportation leaders should redesign their streets so that they don’t depend on armor or surrender to survive. Arguing that streets are built for cars and are too dangerous to bike on is an argument for a safety intervention to upgrade those streets”
– from Streetfight: Handbook for an Urban Revolution,
by Janette Sadik-Khan and Seth Solomonow
All I can add to this is that right now, unironically, is quite the time to be alive, as more transportation professionals have either gotten a clue or replaced those that refused to. What this means is that stubborn, car-centric decision makers in any particular town will increasingly find themselves challenged by better leaders in nearby cities who aren’t too cowardly to install bike lanes and bus lanes, and do other radical things which begin to de-center the private automobile.
Climate Possibilities is a series about climate mitigation, along with resilience, resistance, and restoration. It’s about human habitat preservation. It’s about loving nature and planet Earth, and demanding the kind of change that gives future generations the opportunity for vibrant lives. Doomers will be eaten alive, figuratively. All photographs are taken in Hartford, Connecticut unless stated otherwise.
Jim Head
I was noticing this past couple weeks how many cyclists I see on the roads – even in the cold, mildly snow-covered winter. It’s more than past years and that’s reassuring. Naysayers have less and less credibility as they argue no one bikes.
Kerri Ana Provost
Absolutely! I’m sure some of this is connected to people forming healthier habits during the pandemic, and some is because we’ve gained more bike lanes over the past few years. Plus, those e-bike vouchers . . . definitely seeing more e-bikes around.