I’m on the plane on my way home from the annual Lifesavers Conference: 2,500 of my closest, newest, friends. It’s a national meeting: the largest gathering of highway safety professionals in the US. Attendees comprise law enforcement, EMS, planners, engineers, and advocates. Never heard of it? Neither had I until a friend said he wanted me to speak at it several months ago.

The goal of the organization is to reduce the number of fatalities and injuries nationwide. So, as you may imagine, Vision Zero was mentioned often by leadership and workshop speakers. In case you don’t know, Vision Zero in 25 words or less is the idea that any number of traffic deaths other than zero is unacceptable. Last year, there were 35,092. A tough goal to reach, no doubt, but many at the conference are aware that something’s got to change.

I spent most of my time following the “Pedestrian/Bicycle Safety” track. You’re not surprised, I’m sure. The Ped/Bike track comprised talks on bicycling and motorist enforcement, community engagement, engineering, pedestrian enforcement, safety campaign ideas, and technology. Detective (Ret.) Arnold Anderson (Essex County Public Safety Academy) invited Cyndi Steiner (New Jersey Bike & Walk Coalition) and me to join him in conducting a workshop on the law enforcement program I created and implemented, and our efforts to improve conditions for road users in New Jersey.

Attendees in our workshop came from all over the country, and from multiple disciplines. The majority were law enforcement officers, and there was considerable interest in the subject. The audience had many thoughtful questions, and was genuinely interested and concerned about how to balance protection and enforcement. It turns out that the consensus of the group was much the same as our premise: enforcement of motor vehicle law, for both motorists and bicyclists, does not need to be about writing citations. It needs to be about educating people about expectations. It needs to be about opening people’s eyes to the fact that VEHICLES don’t use the road; PEOPLE do. Roads are not built for cars (or for bikes), but for PEOPLE to travel from one place to another.

Throughout the sessions, there was an awareness that we need to stop thinking about roads solely as a means for carrying vehicles at ever-increasing speeds to ever-more-distant places. In one engineering session the presenters admitted that their views are rather heretical among their peers…they espoused the idea that in too many cases to mention, it was ROAD DESIGN FAULT that causes so many of the deaths we see on our roads.

A common theme emerged, almost as if all of us speakers had planned it, but we didn’t – we need political will and community engagement to stop the killing on our nation’s roads. We need to do a better job at engineering. We need to educate drivers. We need to enforce the law. And unless we talk to each other, and do ALL THREE, it won’t get better.

If this conference was any indication, it’s going to get better.

“For the city bike to catch on we need a revolution in our society’s infrastructure. Right now a city rider needs to be a road warrior, and the bike needs to be cheap and ugly so it won’t get stolen. That’s not a bike-friendly culture.”

Gary Fisher, mountain bike pioneer

Three sentences. That’s all. Just three sentences. But oh, so much is in those three sentences. Let’s take it apart and talk briefly about each part. By the way, there are way more than three topics in those sentences.

“For the city bike to catch on…”
It has caught on, in a big way. It’s true that it has caught on more in some places than in others, but people enjoy being able to ride bikes to go places. Many in younger generations are even opting out of getting drivers’ licenses! People are moving back to cities, fed up with the culture that says driving everywhere is the only way to go. That was certainly one of the factors my wife and I considered in our recent move.

“…we need a revolution in our society’s infrastructure.”
And the change we see in the young requires a change in our infrastructure. With cycling “catching on,” we need to catch up. It’s not only physical infrastructure that needs to be changed, but also our “mental infrastructure.” Roads can be redesigned and cycling-specific accommodations can be included in new projects…but these require those who contract, approve, design, and implement those changes to think differently. Motorists need to think about ALL road users, not just themselves. Politicians need to consider solutions that include everyone, and not just the select few.

“Right now a city rider needs to be a road warrior…”
Yep. While most motorists are perfectly willing to share the road, most if not all bicycle riders can recount stories of blaring horns, being yelled at, maybe even having things thrown at them, or drivers intentionally intimidating them with their motor vehicles.
I’m one of what are called the “strong and fearless” riders. I’ll ride just about anywhere. But many don’t feel comfortable riding on streets with wide lanes and fast-moving cars. In my home city, bike lanes were just installed on a major road. The parking lane was narrowed so much that in some spots, even a small sedan parked RIGHT up against the curb sticks out into the bike lane. And then there’s the bike lane: It is in the no-man’s land between the parked cars and the right lane…the perfect spot for someone to open a car door and slam right into a bike rider.
The city touts the cycling infrastructure. Meanwhile, many bicyclists are uncomfortable using the (inadequate) bike lanes and motorists get angry when a bicyclist rides in the right lane instead of the bike lane.

“…the bike needs to be cheap and ugly so it won’t get stolen.”
Bicycle theft is real in my city. There is a group hard at work that regularly reunites bikes with lawful owners. But it’s crazy. Most days I open up facebook and see a picture of another stolen bike. Sometimes it’s the story of the theft, and sometimes it’s the finding of the thief, or at least the bike. If you intend to rely on your bicycle as a vehicle, this is a huge concern. Many people move to a city so that they can be close to the things they need and want to do. The ability to use a bike on a routine basis enhances that choice. The fear of theft discourages some from even trying.

“That’s not a bike-friendly culture.”
What he said. Let’s change that.