Is urban cycling worth the risk? (2016)

Washington DC is split on the issue lately and the tension is growing rapidly as incidents are not going down after years of introducing road changes that are meant to protect riders and pedestrians.

As someone who only had a bike when I first moved to the city, it was a great way to get around, because the population was not booming, and back then, it was pretty clear that roads were dangerous because there weren't bike lanes, the roads were for vehicles quite obviously...

Now novice riders can use their credit card, share the street with all kinds of vehicles, and just wobble along, learning how to ride on streets near to dangerous heavy machinery. Car people in a rush to make a doctor's appointment or work also drive irresponsibly without understanding the danger involved, when there are better answers to keeping everyone commuting together flowing and safe. Slowing traffic down does not work in a city, it's a costly fact, this is why safety is not improving, and why there are many weekly bicyclist/pedestrian deaths reported in DC every year.

1. Bicyclists in DC do not pay taxes, and don't contribute to the vast infrastructure spending that they benefit from regularly. The more a city spends on bike lanes ETC

2. In DC, we have months of winter and rainy weather that make consistent riding not feasible, unless riders don't have a choice financially but to ride a bike to work.

3. Road updates in DC have been very frustrating to drivers, as traffic lanes in an already congested city are reduced and dedicated to transit lanes, and as speed limits are reduced to account for more bicyclists.

4. Traffic light technology in DC has not been updated in many decades to account for better traffic flow and signals that cue everyone properly about safety... I personally am bewildered at why lights don't project lines on roads at this point to signal which lanes are to stop and proceed, especially downtown... Somehow revenue generating technology like speed and stop sign cameras don't really help people, but they are being deployed more and more (also covertly) each year.

There are relatively inexpensive, much more effective, and efficient technology changes that could happen than increasing speed cameras, especially to stop lights and in properly marking roads, but year after year cities like DC choose profit generating activity that does not reduce frustration nor increase safety for drivers nor bicyclists.

Talking about the issue with people in DC is always contentious, many law makers live close to their work and don't understand that living uptown is different from commuting a few blocks to work on a bike. People are all trapped in their own personal perspectives, and not willing to consider the different perspectives involved in order to improve outcomes... DC is a political city in every way.