Page 14 RAIN January 1979 CYCLATERAL THINKING by John E. Williams I find it hard to believe that there could be any real controversy over cyclists' place on the roads. Perhaps I'm naive. But consider this: an average bicycle is two or so feet wide; an average car (Detroit iron, I'm talking about) is about six or seven feet wide; motor homes look to be about eight or nine feet wide; and in some states, twelve and fourteen foot wide mobile homes can be towed on freeways. Now, what are average lane widths? Depends on where you .live. Narrow lanes are about nine feet. Ten feet is considered a good minimum for collector streets. Twelve is standard on arterials, and it goes up from there. Therefore, at most a cyclist takes on the order of 22 percent of the lane width. Of course, shy distance takes up some more but let's just consider physical width. A motor home, on the other hand, may take up all of a narrow lane (9'), 100 percent. Why, then are arguments about use of traffic lanes directed at the most narrow of the vehicles and not at the road hogs? Has anyone ever thought of banning extra wide motor vehicles from those narrow scenic corridors? I'm thinking of Highway 1 in California in particular. It's a narrow winding coastal highway that is a popular cycling route. The problem is it's also a popular Winnebago route. Yet I have heard of cyclists being stopped and told to get off the road because it is too narrow and dangerous. The reason it is too narrow and dangerous for two-foot wide vehicles and not for nine foot wide vehicles has yet to be brought out. It's politics, pure and simple. No other argument can account for the presence of 14-foot wide trailers on highways from which cyclists are banned. The mobile home industry takes care of its own. As do the motor home folks. Unfortunately, cyclists are not protected from undue regulation by a benevolent industry. We don't have a big brother. 0 Reprinted by permission from Cyclateral Thinking. __._____,--__ Cyclateral Thinking, edited by John E. Williams, 6 pp., $5/4 issues annually, from: John E. Williams Cyclateral Thinking c/o The Bicycle Federation P.O. Box 68 Silver Spring, MD 20907 301/587-6100 "An irreverent do-it-yourself 'journal' of cycle planning," creatively informative to anyone who's on two wheels. -LS WHEELING ABOUT WHEELING ~BOUT WHEELI:t, Boston Bikemap, by Urban Bikeway Design Collaborative, 1978, free from: UBDC-USER P.O. Box 19112 20th Street Station Washington, DC 20036 Best map of an urban area I've seen yet, although I wish Erwin Raisz was around to hand-draw it. Check out the flip side of the map, the adventures of "Alice B. Toeclips Rides." The last panel in that comic strip refers to our blizzards of '78 when many young and not so young people were out on the stopped streets, on foot, on skis, on their own. It pointed out for many of us the advantages of a human-scaled transport (you may read that any way you like) -George Mokray, Cambridge, Massachusetts. This wonderfully useful map includes locations of co-ops, recycling centers, museums, bike shops, train stations, and access to boat service, bus, carpools, weather info, other bike books, organizations, accident info and rules of the road! Thanks to George Mokray for sending us this terrific map! -LS Cycle and Recycle, 1979 Calendar (and 1990 and 2001), 11"xl7" B&W, $3 .00 airmail, $4.00 airmail overseas, from: Greater Philadelphia Bicycle Coalition P.O. Box 8194 Philadelphia, PA 19101 True to its name, this bike calendar will be usable three times on the way to 2001-by which time more of us will undoubtedly be out there peddling again. A cooperative, transnational edition with·texts in French, Spanish and English, Cycle and Recycle is available to movement groups throughout the Americas as a fundraising tool. Plenty of photos of bikers of all nations pushing for the "velorution," and an up-to-date listing of bicycle advocacy groups at home and overseas. Directory updates and other ideas for future calendars and efforts can be forwarded in any language to: The Bicycle Network 14 Oak Street Brattleboro, VT 05301 -SA While we're at it, bike people everywhere should secure themselves an August 17, 1978, issue of WIN Magazine, which features articles and notes on the efforts of GM and other large corporations to destroy urban mass. transit systems, news of the worldwide bicycle movement, training sessions for transportation activists, bicycle-drama, and goals for a viable bicycle/mass transit future. Very pithy. Single copies are available at 40i from: WIN 503 Atlantic Ave., 5th floor Brooklyn, NY 11217 -SA Seattle has begun a 6-month pilot program testing the feasibility of using bike racks on buses. Bus riding bicyclists can now load their bikes aboard buses traveling across the bridge between Seattle and Bellevue. For information, contact Metro/Bicycles, 821 Second Avenue, Seattle, WA 98104. (From Ways and Means, $10/year for 6 issues, $20 institutions, 1901 Que Street N.W., Washington, DC 20009.) San Diego buses also have racks (see WIN issue reviewed above, for more information). -LS
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