One of the biggest internal dilemmas at motorman is how to balance advocating between the right for bicycles to use all public rights-of-way and the necessity for the construction of bicycle facilities separated from general traffic. Today I learned from a thread on MplsBikeLove where Mn Rando Guy shared the video below that NYC’s Transportation Alternatives is pushing for separated facilities. After watching this video I began to think about my true position on this issue, and I am 100-percent behind a bicycle policy that is both for separate facilities and for equal bicycle rights. Here is why.

First, I fully support separate facilities for bicyclists. This support comes from a basic belief that if the only other vehicles you have to deal with on your journey have the same risks as you then everyone acts on a mutually beneficial plane. Think about it, if you are out on a self-propelled 20-pound-vehicle with two pounds of foam and plastic holding down your head would you rather be with others propelling themselves or someone pushing a pedal onto the floor of a 2,000-pound-vehicle that might or might not be downloading a ring tone and regardless he or she is most likely seeing you as an illegitimate user of the street.

If I can find a separate facility I use it, as I previously wrote on this site. In addition to avoiding the run-in with the Hummer, separate facilities increase the likelihood of new riders. If a novice bicyclist has never ridden on a street with other traffic is he or she likely that the ride in the perceived uncontrolled environment of the street or on a controlled environment of a lake or parkway loop. Our American upbringing tells use that cars rule the road so stay out of their way! Therefore, as we add separate bicycle facilities into our transportation system we gain more riders, because these new riders need a safe controlled environment in which to ride.

Second, I do not, and will not, relinquish my right to ride on the road. We are all vehicles on the road and need to respect each other. I have the right to travel on all streets and will do so. Unlike access to the street, driving is a privilege. As a privilege, it is incumbent on all of us to stand up to selfish acts that many of us perform on our roadway every hour of every day. I have not yet found the inscription on my driver’s license that gives me permission to put my interests in front of others. State law allow me protections to be on the roadway and I think it is time for those in motor vehicles to suck it up, act your age, and get over it. We belong – so BACK OFF and let us ride!

Overall I will fight for increasing people riding bicycles when they can, to where they want to go, and at the time they want to go. I can only see fulfilling this position by fighting for separate and for equal as the platform for bicycle advocacy.