Which Cycling Politics: Doom or Possibility?

I like the "possibility" attitude... as probably do most regular bikers... but we feel we have to protect and patronize "beginner bikers" by supporting "hazard reduction measures", even though most of us learned through a series of spills and slides, and probably a few vehicle encounters that were our own darn fault.

This attitude is actually widely prevalent in all modern transportation engineering: "Protection increases safe travel." It is false, after a certain point. (just finished reading "Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do", by Tom Vanderbilt. Good insights into all common tranport modes.) Post-modern European traffic engineers are finding that the safest combination of cars, bikes, and pedestrians is a village downtown or even a major round-about WITHOUT A LOT OF HAZARD SIGNAGE. After everyone has learned over time to be responsible, watchful and defensive, things have a way of working themselves out. When engineers try to hard to protect us from each other, we lose the ability to quickly select for correct behavior in critical situations.

Those of us who bike regularly in the Bay Area know it is a true joy, under almost any foreseeable conditions... why are we scared to evangelize it in those terms?

best regards!!