Bike Lane Only

Ask any citizen who has lived in a large city for a few consecutive years and you’ll find that most have strikingly similar complaints concerning transportation issues.  With every passing year, commuters in growing cities experience an increase in number of cars on the road, a need for greater concern for the plight of our polluted planet, and an unwelcome extension tacked on to the length of the daily rush hour.  Yet while we sulk in our bumper-to-bumper idling vehicles and curse the ever-growing population, we often disregard the bikes and pedestrians as they pass us up.  When presented with such situations, it’s surprising that more drivers haven’t been forced to question the efficiency of the beloved automobile.  In my opinion, it is equally illogical that those who partake in self-fueled transportation aren’t better accommodated on the roads, given the traffic congestion in large cities everywhere.  
 
In a recent editorial that he wrote for the L.A. Times, journalist Dan Turner describes the experiences he had while participating in an event known as CicLAvia.  During this event in Los Angeles, a fifteen-mile stretch of road is closed to cars and reserved exclusively for those that prefer human-powered transportation.  Turner, along with a crowd of 100,000 other self-propelled participants, enjoyed a bike ride free of the hassling typically received from drivers of motor vehicles while sharing the streets.  Turner presents some astonishing statistics, supported by first hand observations of the occasion.  Throughout his ride, he saw abundant police forces, who’s service costs confirm his statistic that shows the event to have cost an estimated $120,000 dollars.  He explains that CicLAvia is primarily funded by donation and charitable foundations who support the cause.  After presenting and supporting this evidence, Turner proposes a more logical use for the intended monthly funding for CicLAvia.  


Turner expresses his support for CicLAvia and it’s primary motives, but goes further to present a more direct method of obtaining the same outcomes the occasion hoped to encourage.  His suggestion seems to be intended for those in financial control of the issue, as well as other individuals like himself that consider efforts of this kind to be important.  Turner proposes that the substantial monetary support seen for CicLAvia’s cause be directly and efficiently applied to physical solutions.  He argues that building more bike lanes with improved accessibility and quality wouldn’t be much more difficult or costly than pulling of the feat that was CicLAvia.  Those that have the ability to fund such projects have already shown their support for the cause, and it is now up to Dan Turner’s target audience to apply this ample funding to a more long-term solution.  The logical benefits of expediting such improvements include less traffic congestion, safer means of bicycle commuting (which encourages switching to this mode of transportation), more individuals reaping the health benefits of self-fueled transport, and less environmental damage.  In my opinion, Turner's logic is hard to disagree with and all of his arguments are undeniably sound.        


A Day Without Cars - Dan Turner, L.A. Times
CycLAvia Information and Videos
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