[*BCM*] The movement that divides us

[Pete Stidman]

Anne and Turtle, I think you were picking at side arguments instead of the central one, that in order to create change it has to be cars first, bicycles second. This isn't because of a predisposition I have towards bikes, but because of the nature of systems. It's like a natural law. 

The weaker of two parties has less chance of changing the system than the stronger does. In this case, cars are the overwhelmingly stronger and dominant party. Only by adjusting their behaviour can you have an impact on bicyclists obeying what you are calling "the laws of the road." 

The fact that those laws are rarely obeyed points to the fact that the system is broken. And here several people are telling you why, because they feel disrespected. Change that disrespect and you can change the system. 

There's a lot of books out there on this "systems theory" stuff. I like Peter Senge's the Fifth Element. 

I've interviewed the folks in Boulder that made that town a bike haven, like the ex-mayor Will Toor, the GOBoulder people and even the bike messenger co. where you can get fired for busting a red. The bikes obeying traffic laws came after the bike lanes, crossing signals, and paths. Not before. 

This is documented I think, in Spenser Havlick and Will Toor's Transportation                & Sustainable Campus Communities: Issues, Examples, & Solutions. 

-Pete



Adam Rosi-Kessel <adam at rosi-kessel.org> wrote: turtle wrote:
> The reason that England ultimately wasn't defeated by Hitler and his
> Nazis wasn't because they were bigger or more aggressive, it was
> because they were more compassionate and worked together for a more
> moral and loving goal.

Sorry, I must invoke Godwin's Law.
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