Bicycling in Richmond, VA | Design the Future You Want

Notes de l'éditeur

1. I grew up in Northern Virginia – I hate traffic. The title of this presentation is very deliberate. I want you thinking about what you want your future to look like. Forget about what you think the authorities will allow. I’m going to be presumptuous and assume you’d like to live happily ever after. If so, you’re in the right place.
2. In some ways I’m the same guy I was in the 1st grade. I’m not a cyclist. I haven’t assembled an adult bike since college. On Tuesday my bike had 2 flat tires and panic set in. I’m just a regular guy with a family who wants convenience.
3. Imagine a street network that didn’t force you to drive a car. Freedom of mobility. For me, freedom would be taking 45 minutes to ride my bike between Bon Air and Shockoe Bottom.
4. Imagine an environment where everyone sees bicycling as a viable form of transportation. A safe and convenient way to get around where you can be social along the way. Be human.
5. Imagine the freedom to ride to lunch with friends in your normal clothes, and not worry about parking.
6. Imagine quality infrastructure that didn’t treat local streets like highways. Where bicycling accommodations are a given.
7. Imagine a future where kids feel completely normal riding on streets. This stuff isn’t fantasy. It’s happening all over the world. It can happen here – in the Richmond region.
8. Almost 20 years ago I learned how to be a traffic engineer. You know why the traffic engineer crossed the road? Because that’s what he did last year. The status quo didn’t lead me to design streets for people. Only one thing matters to the status quo: preserve high-speed car traffic. Convenience is measured in a nonsensical way: average delay – IN SECONDS – at a stop light. Good traffic engineers are like bad parents. If the kids are whining I WANT THAT NOW NOW NOW, are you really just going to cave? No. But when it comes to car traffic, that’s exactly what happens. “You don’t want to wait 12 seconds? Ok.” And what’s the consequence?
9. It’s not as though only the lowly people riding bikes are suffering. 30-40,000 dead Americans every year. Motorists. These aren’t accidents. They’re crashes. Because infrastructure is dangerous by design. Modern infrastructure is horrible for everyone.
10. Bon Air. This is down the street from where I live. All summer long people walk to the pool or library or the old village area.
11. There are professional engineers who insist that adults don’t ride bikes. They’re the same people who think NASA faked the moon landing.
12. This exploitation got me so fired up that I made a short film about it. Car-oriented engineering came with a huge promise: FREEDOM. We LOST our freedom of mobility while they promised more freedom.
13. How can you expect to follow the herd and make a dent in the universe? You HAVE to stand out. Start with a blank canvas and an open mind, NOT with the nervous borrowings of other people’s mediocrities. (George Lois) Sceptics will say “Oh I suppose you want us to be Copenhagen.” YES. Yes I do. Guess what – Copenhagen wasn’t always Copenhagen. They used to look as bad as Central Virginia.
14. Progress requires disruption. Don’t apologize for wanting safer streets. Don’t apologize for reducing the space for cars. And don’t ever apologize for adding 8 seconds of delay to cars during rush hour! When leaders have the willpower, what you see here is possible. Taking back the streets for people – without stealing private property.
15. I’m not going to talk about parking. I’m just proud of this poster and wanted to share it.
16. You might say “Andy, if the solution is so obvious, wouldn’t it be mainstream? Wouldn’t we have streets like this in Henrico and Chesterfield?” No. Here’s why.
17. This is the guy who created some of the first computers.
18. You have the internet in your pocket. Google this stuff. It’s not hard to find great infrastructure. Send pictures and links to your local government and demand this stuff. And politicians. Don’t your elected leaders work for you?
19. People generally aren’t sensitive to abstract facts about traffic deaths. Everyone has a tipping point. I hope you’ve reached yours. For me, it was the comparison to deaths on 9/11. Imagine if all traffic deaths in America occurred on a single day. 35,000 people. Dead. In one day. Would you take back your streets then?
20. If you only remember one thing about tonight – please remember this. There IS NO BALANCED transportation network. The network will either accommodate human beings or it won’t. It’s that simple.
21. Will we ALL have better lives if streets are designed for people? YES. Is it practical to design streets for people? YES. Will it happen if you stay quiet and let the professionals do all the work? NO. You have truth and common sense on your side. Cars aren’t your enemy. Silence is the enemy. Make. A. Ruckus.