Too much environmentally-friendly transport in this place

Yesterday the mayor of Freiburg, the city where I work, met with environmental groups and company representatives who support environmentally-friendly commutes. Companies were honored for providing discounted bus/train tickets, roofed bicycle parking, showers. One company actually gives free bike repair to their employees, and this is not a bicycle shop !

I learned that today, 30% of all trips in Freiburg are done by bicycle, and well, with it goes a relatively high rate of bicycle accidents. The advice was to always wear a helmet.

Another issue is parking. The city used to be littered with bikes, many of them defunct and abandoned, but still locked to lamp poles and fences. I realized that bicycle parking is now prohibited in the inner city and it looks so much better.

The bicycle trails in Freiburg are a general issue of discussion, they never seem to be enough and always seem to lack safety. Lots of cyclists do not use them, as they consider the road safer. This leads to more discussion.

One more issue is bike theft. For the mayor's speech, a room with a glass front had been chosen, so that all attendants were able to see their bicycles that were parked outside. Some riders use foldable bicycles and take them inside.

Bikes would be really cool if there weren't all these nasty side effects.

I bike to work most of the time. I'll take the car if it's exceptionally nasty out or if I have long errands right after work. In the suburban US town that I live in, way more people could cycle but don't for various reasons. I think too many people have a stigma that if you're taking your bike it's because you can't afford to use your car or you lost your license due to DUI's or other problems. This perception needs to be overcome. Personally, I just don't care about what people say about me riding my bike.

Bike safety on the roads is something that needs to be addressed, though. I ride on the street 98% of the time. I believe it's way more dangerous to ride on the sidewalks as cars don't expect traffic to come from there near intersections. Additionally, sidewalks are for foot traffic... period. Yesterday, I was doing 23mph in a 25mph zone, near a park. The road isn't very wide there. I was passed with inches to spare by a man in his fifties and his wife. First of all, I was nearly doing the limit. Secondly, the light ahead was red and he would have to stop anyway. Thirdly, so what if he had to wait an extra 20 seconds in his air-conditioned car to pass me safely.

So when I got up to the light I stopped next to their van and waited for the wife to roll down the window. I informed the driver that it was unacceptable how closely he passed me, that at least 3 feet is required as a zone of safety. I'm not sure what the law is in Indiana, but many states have a 3-foot law. He informed me that I was "five feet out into the road" and that as a bike, I shouldn't be on the road. I informed him that 1) he was exaggerating and 2) even if he weren't I had a right to be on the road. The wife apologized while the husband had a dirty look on his face and the light changed.

This type of thing happens all the time. People are so impatient and inconsiderate. Oh, well. At the end of the week I used about a gallon of gas for miscellaneous errands while those folks probably used considerably more. I'm trying to do my part to lower demand which, in turn, helps people who choose to drive more by lowering gas prices, even if only by a little.

While in Thailand, I have come across this behavior frequently - and Thailand has for years happily adopted US ways of thinking. People have the perception that pushbikes - unlike bikes (=motorbikes) should not be played on the road because these are toys and not vehicles. This thinking is in the heads of everyone, so much that bicycles are sold in the toys section of shops and police has to think twice who is to blame if a car hits a bicycle. Bicycle fans survive by riding off road, while transporting their bikes on cars if this isn't possible.

Things are a lot nicer in Germany, the German drivers understand that bicycles are allowed on most roads and that they are good for the environment and help to reduce traffic congestion. But well, not too few people driving here have come from countries where it's different or they live in a parallel society where everyone thinks differently, so it happens once or twice a week that someone passes me at high speed and close distance and sometimes horns or yells at me. Yesterday it was an ambulance who saw the need to do this on a wide and empty road..
On such a day, it helps thinking of the poor folks riding horseback (I see some every day on my commute). These guys must really stay out of the way of everyone to avoid the horses going crazy.