Originally Posted by
Calsun
American drivers tend to be a lot more aggressive and less accommodating of other vehicles on the road and it has gotten much worse over the years. Areas where it was safe to ride 40 years ago or even 20 years ago are now very dangerous for bicyclists. This is by design with the transportation "system" dominated by the motor vehicle and oil industries. Most highways lack a shoulder of any kind and many highways have been turned into freeways.
U.S. city streets have a third of their space dedicated to parking for cars making them more perilous for bicyclists. Schools are forced to pay for buses to bring children to school from kindergarten through high schoo as it is not safe for them to walk or bike to and from their homes. Recently 8 cities had their plans for light rail service killed by people in debt to the auto and oil industries. Unless one has traveled to Europe or Asia they do not realize how different it is in the USA.
Some grains of truth embedded in an otherwise over-generalized summary. Cycling safety and infrastructure in the US is as varied as the states themselves, with many communities having made great forward strides in the last two decades.
I spend a lot of time in Europe. In fact, I've been living in Germany this year. There's no question that many places in Europe are far ahead of most places in the states. But cyclists are killed on the road here also. I've also spent a fair amount of time in Asia, and I have yet to see an Asian country where cycling infrastructure is superior to that in the better US cities. in most asian countries I've visited, the cycling infrastructure and awareness is pretty low. I was in India earlier this month - there's no way I'd ride on roads there. Cities in Japan and China are for the most part, not bike friendly. The Chinese city in which bicycles outnumbered cars is a phenomenon of the distant past. I'm curious about which Asian countries you think are far superior to say, Portland, Minneapolis, S.F., New York, etc. for road cycling safety?