DreamRider85

I just have dreams. I am starting to believe that bikes are very healthy and cars aren't very healthy. I have a vision in the future where there will be plenty of infrastructure and less cars on the roads. Maybe I am just a dreamer. But considering that car accidents are the biggest causes of accidental deaths and that heart diseases is the most common type of mortality, doesn't it make sense that the world needs more bikes and less cars? Aren't we doing something terribly wrong? Wouldn't it be better to have more people on bikes and getting fit? I believe that everyone should be riding their bike to work if they are within a reasonable distance. That's just how it should be. What good are these cars doing if they are causing more and more deaths?

Now I'm not saying that cars should be banned. But there should be less of them. Plus there are things like pollution. Bikes are just better for the environment. I never realized it, but I've opened up my eyes. Sure, cars have their place, but something is wrong when we have all these people texting in daily traffic jams. Maybe I'm just crazy, but I don't think the world is better off with all these cars. I think change needs to happen. Do you agree?

Machka 

Keep dreaming.

calamarichris

No offense intended, but you sound either a little young, or new to cycling.
I have realistic optimism about cycling. It's going to get better, but it's going to take time.
I've been riding in Southern California for a little over 30 years and it's gotten MUCH better, but it's taken time. I remember the air quality in the time before the catalytic converter, and I rode in the time before bike lanes.
The better the cycling conditions get, the more people will find cycling an acceptable means of transportation. I rode my bicycle from Santa Barbara along coast back to San Diego County, and it made me downright patriotic about my home state.
Sure we have a long way to go, but we've come a long way too.

It's better than it was, and it continues to get better and better. But it's going to take time. Ride safely until then.

CliffordK

MLK had a dream too.... and a few decades later we got our first African American President.

I think people inherently know they need better exercise programs, but seem to prefer convenience rather than incorporating exercise into their daily routines.

What will need to happen is something that makes cars much less convenient. I.E. TOO EXPENSIVE or no parking, or no more fuel.

Cities will work on the infrastructure a bit, but perhaps only to the benefit of a few mavericks.

Doctor Morbius

I think the future is going to be about how humanity is going to allocate scarce and limited resources to an overpopulated planet. In other words, I don't have faith in the future.

Machka 

Didn't you already start this thread in Living Car Free?

https://www.bikeforums.net/living-car...d-cycling.html

DreamRider85

Oh very good of you. I couldn't find that. Machka, why is it bad to think positive when I see in my own city they are planning 100 miles of bike lanes?

Nermal

I would be happy just to see enough bikes on the street that drivers would be constantly aware of us. With gasoline prices where they are at this time, I am not optimistic.

chasm54

Starting virtually identical threads in multiple forums is this particular troll's modus operandi

MMLC

^^^This

Phil_gretz

OP also cannot identify own strengths, is not employed, and likely pays no taxes. Dreaming is free, though...

mrFreel

There must be dreams to aspire towards otherwise things never get better. As has been mentioned the urban bike scene has gotten better. Some cities are better than others. Regardless we must dream of what the future could be and work in that direction
Mike

SpeshulEd 

Ride your bike more and stop worrying about cars.

bakes1

This

rydabent

Why is this a bad thing. Not everyone is on every biking forum?

bmxer84

In the city where I live there's 65km of trails for bikes in 30 streets.. Unfortunately there's only one skate park where can i get "wild" with my BMX

BillyD

Moved from General Cycling.

indyfabz

By multiple forums he means multiple subforums within Bikeforums, not on different forums. For example, the OP started this thread in General Cycling after starting a very similar thread in Advocacy & Safety (later moved to Living Car Free) only two days ago. And @chasm54 is correct about M.O.

genec

I think over time... like say the next 40 years or so, we are going to see a shift in both energy technology, and automotive technology... such that the US will stop using 25% of the WORLD's resources for primarily selfish reasons, such as to use the the single passenger automobile and stop waging "wars" over these limited resources. (that alone would be a huge change in national economy... but that's another isssue)

The advent of autonomous self driving cars, solar charging stations, and an "uber car" like use model will combine to first reduce the number of cars on the roads, and make cars more law abiding (yes cars, not drivers... as the latter will not change) and make vehicular cycling more popular... this due to the cars actually watching for cyclists.

The use model will be something like this... if you need to go a longer distance or carry a load or go with others... etc (something you might not find convenient to bike... so this is very situation dependent) you use your smartphone app to call a smart car that will come to you from a local parking lot where it has been waiting on a solar charger with other similar vehicles. The car will take you to your destination and then go find another charging station. You will call another car when you want to go somewhere else or home or you've finished shopping or whatever.

But if you want to go a short distance... you simply hop on your ever present bike... and simply zoom on over... knowing that the other vehicles on the road are watching and are aware of you. (other cyclists might be your biggest potential for collisions).

Yeah, all this is going to take some time... and no doubt I am overly optimistic. But there are trends moving in that direction already... and people far wiser than myself that see this sort of thing working out.

Look at this link for one future situation... The Whistlecar Vision move about his web page to see more on Robocars (his preferred term)

I-Like-To-Bike

Yes I agree with your assessment of yourself.

Phil_gretz

I can foresee autonomously directed vehicles with hidden software errors.

[dream sequence]"...as we go forward with the video from the scene, a stream of van-bots began merging across the bicycle transit zone and striking the line of riders..."

I hope that there's a robust testing protocol beforehand...

SpeshulEd 

I can honestly say, I will feel safer with a pile of google cars driving around than the current world of distracted drivers.

genec

They have been testing already for years, and cyclist and pedestrian detection are very very high on the list of things that must work properly. There have even been videos made of the detection systems showing cyclists both obeying the rules of the road and not obeying the rules of the road and the vehicle responding beautifully...

You and every other human is vastly concerned that the robot overlords do not target the soft fleshy things... oddly we don't seem to have that same level of concern when we depend on mere human drivers... go figure.

Dave Cutter

Are you dreaming, or thinking? And where are YOU... in ether you dreaming or thinking. Most people look in the mirror when trying to decide on or create a future for themselves or anyone else.

You seem to be looking outward and wondering (dreaming/thinking) what can everyone else do for me. And how should they best be instructed to create the world I dream of.

Maybe if you organized your thoughts. Made lists of things YOU should accomplish towards YOUR goals. Get up in the morning and make efforts towards where you wish to be.

My thoughts about urban cycling!

I believe only the neophobic and confirmed luddites still see urban areas as being of a major importance or value ether today or in the future. Old-world style "cities" serve no real function in the modern world.

SpeshulEd 

This is my favorite story about the google cars so far...
A Cyclist's Track Stand Befuddled One of Google's Self-Driving Cars