The Seattle P-I posted this article regarding upcoming bike box installation.
It’s a generally positive article explaining what a bike box is, how a bike box is used, what other cities use them, how they are installed and where they will be located. The article focuses on how bike boxes help cyclists navigate traffic signals, especially those at which cyclists tend to be put in right-hook (vehicle making a right crosses into the path of a cyclist traveling straight with the Right of Way) situation. But you wouldn’t know if from the hook line on the PI website front page: “New Bike Boxes: $15,000 to make the street green?” The actual title is “SDOT tries bike boxes to protect cyclists.” As Michael points out in his article “Reflections on the Bicycle Master Plan“ public perception plays a big part in making cycling a normal mode of travel within this city. The media generally goes for the hyperbole like the Seattle Times article “Danger in the bike lane“ which does nothing to promote cycling; rather it may actually discourage people from riding.
What the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) needs to do is actively promote cycling and get the word out to the public in a systemized manner. SDOT, the Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board (SBAB), and Walk and Bike Seattle Pedestrian programs let the general media get away with publishing misleading tag lines and articles slanted in an anti-bike manner that only give incentive to those who are against cyclists in general. Where is the promotion of cycling from anyone but the Mayor McGinn? Councilmember Tom Rasmussen recently dedicated himself to riding to work one week in July and wrote about it on his blog which is a start, but still, unless you read the West Seattle Blog did you even know about it? Did you even know there was a Walk/Bike/Ride Challenge recently? The more cycling is marginalized by the media the more cyclists will have to fight for infrastructure, equality on the streets, and understanding from their fellow road-users.
It’s not just the media that marginalizes cycling. Cycling is marginalized and discounted in many ways. For example, if you visit Westlake Mall on a bike, the only evidence you will see that the Mall expects bicyclists to show up is a sign stating that bicycles must NOT be attached to the railing. There is no suggestion about where one might otherwise attach a bicycle – no visible bike racks, no signage indicating where to find bike parking. I emailed Westlake administration and received a terse reply: “We have bicycle parking in our garage.” But how in the world would a person arriving at Westlake on a bike ever figure that out? I checked it out – in fact they have excellent bike parking, a number of racks, all in view of the parking lot attendant – but you have to ride down a steep, unwelcoming ramp to discover this.
What a difference it would make, both to bicyclists and the skeptical general public, if there were a little sign on each entry door: “Bicycle parking in the garage!” This story can be repeated over, and over, and over…
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