I don’t think cities have anything to do with it. I live in an area with nearly a million people that has bike lanes people regularly use as turn lanes despite the signs.
I think it has to do more with multimodality, i.e., using multiple modes of transportation. I use the car for some things, the bike for others, transit for others. That makes me appreciate the dangers and frustrations of each whenever I use each. For example, when I cycle, I know what a driver can’t see; when I drive I know that a cyclist can be startled or that a bus should go ahead of me at a light. A city has a higher chance to give people the opportunity to experience multimodality, that’s all. Depends where of course, but on average, city means more options than not city.
I live in the Philly suburbs and drivers around here are great about bikes, very respectful and safe and generally giving us cyclists a wide berth. The problem is with that “generally” qualification - I’d say that 99.9% of all drivers are very careful around bikes, but that means 1 driver out of every 1000 cars is a dickhead. Since I’m passed by probably 200 cars during a 25 mile ride, that means I can expect about one risky road incident a week, which seems about right given my experience as a cyclist.
Ironically enough, I’m a school bus driver and a highly disproportionate number of my near-death experiences on a bicycle have involved school buses.
As a person in the USA the hate seems regional. Large cities and more urban suburbs tend to be better about it.
I don’t think cities have anything to do with it. I live in an area with nearly a million people that has bike lanes people regularly use as turn lanes despite the signs.
I think it has to do more with multimodality, i.e., using multiple modes of transportation. I use the car for some things, the bike for others, transit for others. That makes me appreciate the dangers and frustrations of each whenever I use each. For example, when I cycle, I know what a driver can’t see; when I drive I know that a cyclist can be startled or that a bus should go ahead of me at a light. A city has a higher chance to give people the opportunity to experience multimodality, that’s all. Depends where of course, but on average, city means more options than not city.
I live in the Philly suburbs and drivers around here are great about bikes, very respectful and safe and generally giving us cyclists a wide berth. The problem is with that “generally” qualification - I’d say that 99.9% of all drivers are very careful around bikes, but that means 1 driver out of every 1000 cars is a dickhead. Since I’m passed by probably 200 cars during a 25 mile ride, that means I can expect about one risky road incident a week, which seems about right given my experience as a cyclist.
Ironically enough, I’m a school bus driver and a highly disproportionate number of my near-death experiences on a bicycle have involved school buses.