06-28-2016, 08:56 AM
I don’t see how it adds a lot of value to say things like “I never see any cyclists on this road [while I’m spending a minute driving 65 km/h down it].” Pheidippides provided some real data: that’s useful. The information is out there. We have traffic counts for many streets, and case studies on many actual changes that have been made.
It’s not always possible, but when it is, we should talk about real facts. I’m happy to be proven wrong if I had an assumption about a certain change being good, and data show the change didn’t make much difference. But when we say that something is a waste of money because it means we had to drive a bit slower, and we don’t see anyone biking down it anyway, I’m not sure what that’s adding.
It’s not always possible, but when it is, we should talk about real facts. I’m happy to be proven wrong if I had an assumption about a certain change being good, and data show the change didn’t make much difference. But when we say that something is a waste of money because it means we had to drive a bit slower, and we don’t see anyone biking down it anyway, I’m not sure what that’s adding.