However, it doesn't solve the problem of arrogant bike riders who believe that the rules of the road don't apply to them. There's an idiot in my neighborhood who insists on blowing thru the local stop sign at about 20 MPH. Much worse, he's taught his young daughter to blow thru the stop sign right behind him.
So what's the percentage of bike riders who get into accidents mainly because of their own stupidity? Is it 1%, is it 10%, is it 90%? I think it's a fairly big number, at least 20%.
I'm not trying to troll here. I'm trying to make the point that quite a few bike riders are dangerous. How do we protect bike riders but also protect the rest of us against that stupid minority?
It's easy to see the mistakes bikers make while in cars, but I think they pale in comparison to the mistakes drivers make, which are far more dangerous.
What we can do, however, is better design our streets so that this behavior from both people in cars, or bikes, or pedestrians doesn't end in serious injury or death as often as it does today.
You must get this message across in Drivers Ed class. That's really the only chance you have to influence the majority of drivers.
Unfortunately for bike riders, you then need to wait 50 years for all the inattentive drivers who didn't learn good habits in Drivers Ed to retire and move to Arizona or Florida.
Other than that, I can't see how you get drivers to pay attention. It just won't happen. Stuff like protected bike lanes is simpler.
But even nicer would be streets without any motor vehicles. Imagine Manhattan with the full length of Broadway reserved exclusively for bikes, pedestrians, pedicabs, etc.
