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I’ve admitted before that I drive an SUV. Odd choice for a person who advocates going green. However, where I live dictates that I have to drive a 4WD vehicle. What I paid for my 2001 Dodge Durango dictates that I have to pay it off before I can buy something more efficient and eco-friendly. Until then, I try to keep my trips to a minimum and do what I can in other areas to help the environment.
When I can afford it, I intend to buy a small, fuel-efficient car, maybe even an alternative energy powered vehicle. At any rate, my next vehicle will be much smaller than the one I have now, and if I can sell my house, I’ll be living somewhere close enough to town so that I don’t have to drive most of the time. Since my house and acreage isn’t exactly the residence of choice for Mr. and Mrs. Homebuyer right now, moving might be far in the future.
So, if I stay here, I’ll be driving my little car into the city on narrow roads which also host huge log trucks, SUVs and pickups the size of mobile homes, oil delivery trucks, UPS vans, dump trucks and snow plows. Maine roads are a scary place to drive a small car. As are highways almost anywhere in the US, because we share them with trailer trucks, buses and delivery trucks.
In other parts of the world, there are truck lanes which are separated from car lanes by a real barrier. I doubt very much that there’s a chance of the US adopting that approach, but I think it’s a great idea. So are bike lanes. Almost every time I drive down the main route that leads to the city, I have to almost stop because someone is riding a bike in the travel lane, because there’s no other place to ride it.
I’m totally in agreement that bikes are a great mode of transportation, but I wouldn’t ride one in this part of Maine if you paid me to. True, by law, they have just as much right to be on the road as cars do. Unfortunately, the reality is that this isn’t going to protect you as you ride in the inside lane that isn’t wide enough for your bike and a car. When both lanes have cars in them, there’s no way they can pass you without hitting your bike. This leads to many near-accidents and sometimes a bicyclist’s injury or even death.
My point in all this, is that we don’t just need more fuel-efficient cars and alternative modes of transportation. We need the infrastructure to support them and encourage more people to adopt them. If there were bike lanes, more people would choose to ride their bikes to work, school and for errands. If trucks and buses were separated from cars on the highway, small cars would be a safer option for new vehicle buyers. If every road had sidewalks – something that very few rural roads have around here – more people would walk, which is the best way to get from one place to the other.
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by Riding bikes at college, on August 18 2008 @ 1:23 pm
I went to Amsterdam two years ago, and their bike lane system is amazing. I would love it if some big U.S. cities would implement something like it; I don’t think it would work for most people, though, since many Americans have to drive so far to get from their house to their work. It will cost a lot to change our infrastructure, but I think if it’s done smartly, then it’d be very much worth it.