Yet there are so many of them that they’re running down pedestrians and therefore shouldn’t ride on sidewalks. They shouldn’t have their own lanes because there aren’t enough of them to take away space from cars. They shouldn’t ride in streets, which are hostile, car-only zones. They look ridiculous riding around in those helmets and reflective bike gear, more like Mad Max marauders than human beings. They don’t wear helmets or reflective bike gear, jeopardizing themselves. They ride too slow, dangerously obstructing drivers. They ride too fast, terrorizing pedestrians. Never underestimate the anger directed at bicyclists. “An advanced city is not one where poor people drive cars,” Peñalosa says, “but where rich people take public transportation.” It’s like dealing with obesity by loosening your belt. You can’t build your way out of congestion. If building roads actually resulted in less traffic, then surely after sixty years of interstate highway construction we would all be cruising at highway speed. It wasn’t really about the engineering of the space, the real battle was about the culture - about changing the hearts and minds of New Yorkers, of changing their minds about who their streets were for.
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