Just read this: “It’s not always a matter of being afraid, especially for someone who has any experience with urban biking. For me anyway, it’s the constant abuse you get from drivers–tons of honking and being yelled and cursed at. Combine that with the general bike-hating that goes on in the major media outlets and it leads to cowering. I think segregating bike lanes is the only solution that makes sense.“

Bicycles are a form of transportation. Like Pedestrians and Automobiles, do they require and deserve their own set of rules and pathways?

Many of us nearly die (get killed, that is) every day, in our hometowns. And every other week, I read of a new fallen crushed citizen, somewhere. Week after week after week.

In my case, I nearly die every day on 9th Street, a pretty essential throughway, in downtown Boulder. No bike lane on the downhill side. And Boulder’s always among “top bikable cities/towns.” There’s dozens of vital roads that don’t have bike lanes.

Biking down 9th, there’s a few lame, unseen bicycle symbols in the middle of the lane instructing bikes (and cars) that cyclists are supposed to ride in the “full lane.”

Riiiight.

1. Do that and you’ll get honked and and passed, dangerously, the cars going into the other lane.

2. Ride on the shoulder, as I usually do, and you’re hitting holes, in the gutter (often unplowed or broken-glass-full or sandy or snow-filled from plow) and nearly getting hit anyways by the car. Not a week doesn’t go by when I can practically hear the sideview mirror fly past my left ear.

3. Ride on the sidewalk (which is illegal downtown, but not here), and we’re in the way of the relatively few and far between peds, and we’re prey for cars turning into or out of alleys or driveways.

I tell all my friends that if I die before my time, it’ll most likely be on 9th, on my 6x daily commute from my home to downtown. Say hello to my mother for me, willya? Seriously?

Or: add a bike lane instead of another row of parked cars on a major throughway.

PS: think my experience is strange, or unique? Read the comments on just this one little blog post. Search the word “lane,” or “GoPro,” and see how many times it comes up.

Relephant Bonus: