Originally Posted by
Daniel4
The question isn't or shouldn't be about bike lanes. The question should be what to do about all the bad driving? If, in one form or another, the answer is "nothing", then the subject of separated bike lanes inevitably appears.
For the United States, you have posed the $200-billion-a-year question. More importantly, it is the 30,000 lives/year question.
Our road culture values speed and convenience over life and limb and accepts that "accidents will happen."
How do we achieve safe driving? We believe the prime objective is "no one gets hurt on my trip" and act accordingly.
I've worked in the petroleum industry since 1980. In that time, I've been part of a cultural shift from "it is a dangerous business" to "everyone goes home safely" in a significant portion of the industry. Many organizations now recognize that safety adds value. Change in culture can happen.
What I learned from that experience is:
First, each individual has to undergo a conversion, which is an emotional, not rational, process. I’ve found personal stories, one-on-one, to be an effective way to effect conversion.
Then, each individual needs to take concrete actions to improve their road strategy and skills, then embark on a lifetime journey to continue improving.
I’ll give you some examples.
A good series of motorcycle safety videos is at
MCrider: Online Motorcycle Safety Course, which deals with strategy and skills. I think about half his content applies to all road users, not just motorcyclists. A great example video is
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qR8C...s#action=share.
For me, the Smith System is very helpful in improving my driving.
https://www.drivedifferent.com/
As a cyclist, I’ve taken the “Smart Cycling” class twice. And I’ll take it again in a few years because I’ll need a refresher. It keeps me thinking about how to be a safer cyclist.
There are a lot more resources out there.
What we have to do is first accept that we have a problem and then we need to take solid, concrete actions to improve our safe driving skills.
How do we get to a road culture of "no one gets hurt on my trip"? Our political leaders aren’t going to get us there…
…but suppose you convert two people, and those two convert two more, and …
We’re seeing the power of exponential growth systems right now. Why can’t we have a Ponzi scheme that finally fizzles out when we have a safe road culture? No one left to be converted. Herd immunity to “I’m in a hurry and accidents will happen.”
That’s what we can do about unsafe road users.