I Went to an Anti-Bike-Lane Revolt And Here’s What I Learned

Earlier this summer I was riding along a new bike lane under construction when I came across this poster: “Help save our neighbourhood. Big new bike path endangers schoolchildren, removes parking, and was imposed without neighbourhood consultation.” It advertised a meeting to take action and organize resistance at a local church, so I went to see what they had to say.

Keep Urbanity rolling:

References:

[speraomarco]

"it increases my trip from 0.7 to 2km"

Why on earth would you even drive for a 700 metre trip?

[speedydog]

Saying that you are afraid a cyclist could hit children and just ignoring a child potentially getting hit by a SUV is crazy

[isimerias]

“This bike path is ageist and ableist” is absolutely beyond satire

[mattdeblassmusic]

When I worked as a reporter I came across the acronym "CAVE." For "Citizens Against Virtually Everything."

[atomatopia]

“Not everyone can travel by [transportation mode]” goes both ways, my friend. Not everyone can travel by car either

[NyahProduction]

As an European this feels utterly distopian to me.

[christafranken]

I am disabled. Outside of the house, I use either my wheelchair or my handbike. Things that reduce my mobility are construction sites where accessibility wasn´t part of the consideration when providing alternate routes, bins on sidewalks of busy streets, greenery next to sidewalks that is growing over de sidewalk making it too narrow, lack of transit options, lack of short routes without busy trafic I can´t navigate when I have brain fog. For routes that are too long, not accessible enough and don´t have transit options, I need to arrange someone to drive me.
Bike lanes tend to make my life a lot less complicated.

[FoobAr-pq]

Gotta love how they turn "this is a mild inconvenience to me" into "this is a human rights violation"

[KarlSnarks]

The idea that bike-lanes endanger children more than a street with big metal vehicles that can go incredibly fast, is wild.

[TheCell-vxpk]

"Children are endangered by people that ride on a small frame of aluminium and two thin wheels! Let's instead push for more 2 ton blocks of steel with limited visibility in either direction!"

[Soepsliert]

Assuming that old people cannot use a bicycle is by itself pretty ageist. Here in the Netherlands I frequently see a large portion of all cyclists in some areas being seniors.

[rickwrites]

As an disabled American who uses a rollator walker and sometimes a wheelchair, my experience is that bike paths INCREASE my accessibility. I absolutely use them when the sidewalk is too crumbling /bumpy (80% the government doesn't fix it and 20% cobblestones, which I understand the need to preserve because of history). If it was not for bike lanes I'd be forced to walker out into the street alot.
The bicyclists are very cool about going around me. They can see me and I move slow and predictably. When its possible for me to anticipate them I move to the side. I've never had a problem on bike lanes.

[elizabethdavis]

Making school districts accessible for children to cycle to school should be a priority

[Alex-odnl]

Anti-bike and anti-pedestrian sentiment is entirely based on incorrect presumption that roads are the exclusive domain of motorists. This is why some motorists get triggered when they see bicycles on the road. They view them as trespassers. Meetings like this are basically an extension of road rage, where motorists are unable to comprehend that the reason they are stuck in traffic is because there are too many cars on the road---and not because of bicycles.

[LuizAlexPhoenix]

Wait, they said that bikes are a danger to children? Not parked cars blocking the view of crosswalks? Not kids having to bike amongst cars? Not the huge SUVs? That is insane.

[xx.isabella]

"this bike path is ableist"
ironically enough, i cant drive due to my disability lol

[tomselek]

That saying, “When you're accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression" strongly applies to this. Changes for mobility options other than cars will happen in time because they are better for more people.

[Nick-kzdg]

“I love bike paths, this one is wrong”

He forgot to say “because it goes through my neighbourhood”

[Arashmickey]

I used to be a proponent of space exploration, until a passing astronaut flipped me the bird. Now I'm filing an injunction against NASA.

[dawnpaap]

The Hasidic Jewish community here in NYC tried to pull the same thing when the city started adding bike lanes for cycling commuters. They even went as far as removing the painted bike lanes, completely determined to stop bikers, as well as constantly double parking in the bike lanes to frustrate bikers. At one point a group of cyclists would go out in the middle of the night repeatedly to repaint the bike lanes - so it was maddening to see them taken away over & over - BECAUSE it was so unsafe without them. Eventually the cyclists won and the naysayers had to learn to live with the fact that bike lanes are essential to our neighborhoods.