The rules of the road state that faster drivers are obliged to overtake slower drivers only when it is safe to do so (there are a few exceptions, of course). That's the law. If the road happens to be such that the combination of width, sight distance, and opposite-direction traffic prevents safe overtaking, then those drivers who intend to go faster have to wait behind the slower driver until conditions change to make safe overtaking possible. Therefore, to accommodate faster drivers, which by the nature of the case are generally motorists, society can widen the road to allow these faster drivers to overtake slower drivers without delay.
That's not accommodating cyclists, it is accommodating motorists. Furthermore, this has nothing at all to do with different "classes" of cyclists, for all cyclists would equally be unaffected by this situation, which matters not in the least to them. If motorists have to wait for the opportunity to operate safely, so what? Safety trumps convenience.
If society finds that roads are more congested and traffic is more delayed than it likes, then society as a whole has the ability to increase the capacity of the road system, which should be for all users equally. Cyclists should not be discriminated against by preferentially allocating the delays to them for the convenience of motorists.
-- John Forester, M.S., P.E., from a posting on an on-line forum
1 comments:
Hmm, the picture is distracting. Sally's blithely walking along a MUP & about to zig into a CIC cyclist's path. Jane's gonna get a ticket for having two occupants on a tricycle built for one. Spot's chasing a cyclist so he can create a spectacular diversion fall. Dick's jangling the keys to his dad's Cadillac Escalade. Puff's in there to throw us off the track. I think I've been reading these blogs too much!
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