May is National Bike Month, and the League of American Bicyclists is partnering with hundreds of cities across the country to promote Bike-to-Work Week from May 17-21 and Bike to-Work Day on Friday, May 21.
If you grew up in Ojai fifty years ago, as I did, you’ll remember a time when you could safely walk and bicycle everywhere, even during peak hour traffic times. Ojai was naturally bicycle-and-pedestrian-friendly. Times have changed. According to the most recent (2008) Ojai Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan, 6,000 cars a day now travel on Grand Avenue.
Communities that are bicycle-and-pedestrian-friendly (the two go hand in hand) are seen as places with a high quality of life. Living where you can safely walk or bicycle usually translates into increased property values, business growth, and increased tourism. Bicycle-and-pedestrian-friendly communities are places where people of all ages, and especially more vulnerable groups like children, people with disabilities, or older citizens, feel safe and comfortable walking or riding their bicycles for enjoyment, for health and fitness, and for transportation to school, the store, or other everyday destination close to home.
More walking and bicycling results in reduced traffic demands (i.e., fewer cars on the road and more parking spaces), cleaner air and water, less reliance on petroleum, and improved public health. Studies show that using walking and bicycling as means of transportation helps assure a daily dose of exercise and reduces childhood and adult obesity.
Share the Road!
Before we get to the top ten benefits, motorists and cyclists alike need to be reminded that bicyclists are drivers of vehicles. Every day I cringe when I see bicycles on the wrong side of the street and disobeying every traffic law, including not arm/hand-signaling when approaching an intersection. But I cringe even more when I see kids and tourists forced onto the sidewalk or the dirt at the edge of the street to keep from getting run over. Traffic law in every state assigns bicycle riders all the rights and duties of other vehicles on the road. One of the most important things we can do here in Ojai to make all our streets bicycle-friendly, especially during peak-hour traffic, is to educate drivers to please slow down if a bicycle is in the car travel lane. Drivers do not have the right to force a bicyclist off the street. The moment a driver sees a bicycle or group of cyclists up ahead, that’s a cue to slow down and prepare to share the road.
In celebration of National Bike Month, here are the top ten good things about bicycles:
1. Bicycling enhances family-friendly communities. A recent survey of potential home buyers found that 93 percent said quiet, low-traffic areas were very or extremely important in selecting the type of community they want to live in. More than 70 percent of the home buyers cited bicycling facilities as important to their decision. Parents recognize that children are more independent in bicycle-friendly communities. Women ages 30 to 50 tend to make far more vehicle trips than men, largely due to the "chauffeur" role they play in delivering children to after-school destinations. Safe bicycle routes liberate both parents and children.
2. Bicycling increases property values. Studies have shown that property values climb in neighborhoods near bicycle and pedestrian trails. "Community designs that deliver low traffic and quiet streets," "Lots of natural, open space," and "Walking and biking paths" were the top three priorities among 39 features identified by home buyers as crucial factors in their home-purchasing decision.
3. Bicycling contributes to community safety. Streets full of cyclists have a calming effect on motorists. Communities with high rates of cycling tend to have reduced rates of traffic deaths and injuries among bicyclists and pedestrians. It’s estimated that, for every dollar invested in bicycle and pedestrian improvements, we save double that amount in medical costs from averted traffic accidents. The most successful community-policing program around the nation is the bicycle-mounted police squad. Placing cops on bikes has proved effective in fostering goodwill among residents of crime-plagued neighborhoods, while the crime-fighting virtues of the bicycle —stealth, speed, and all-terrain mobility—are well-established.
4. Bicycling improves air quality and the health of the community. Place any living creature in a closed system and turn on even a brand-new combustion engine and death will result. Our planet’s atmosphere is a closed system about ten miles high. The burning of fossil fuels, primarily from cars, buses and trucks, contaminates the single most important element of human health: clean air. An average four-mile round-trip bike trip prevents nearly fifteen pounds of air pollutants from contaminating the air.
5. Bicycling conserves energy and resources. One quarter of our waking lives is spent in performing the involuntary activities associated with the automobile-transportation system. Bike trips are most likely to displace short car trips, which are less fuel-efficient than longer trips. Bicycle transportation saves an estimated 700 million gallons of fuel annually. By making our communities safe and practical for cycling, bicyclists can save the United States as much as three billion gallons of fuel each year, plus countless hours of time.
6. Bicycling helps relieve traffic congestion. Bicycle improvements can encourage motorists to shift some of their short automotive trips to cycling. About 40 percent of all car trips are less than two miles in length.
7. Bicycling is economical. Bicycling is the most cost-effective mode of transportation. As the cost of operating a car has climbed over 300 percent in the last twenty-five years, growing numbers of families have found that the replacement of a commuter car with a commuter bike can restore thousands of dollars to the annual household budget.
8. Bicycling is good for the economy. Besides increasing property values, we can’t afford to overlook that Ojai has a tourist-based economy. Tourists love to visit places where they can conveniently park and forget the stress of driving. "Car-Free Vacations," destinations known as a "Bicycle-Pedestrian Paradise," or "Walkable Cities" are recognized as desirable for both visitors and local residents who find noise and congestion from traffic to be the single most annoying side effect of tourism. Retailers are recognizing that healthy revenues don’t depend on heavy car traffic and lots of parking. Cars don't shop—people do! Studies show that bicycle-and-pedestrian-friendly street designs create a shopper-friendly atmosphere that increases retail business. Plus, bicycles free up valuable parking spaces for those who must drive.
9. Bicycling promotes health and fitness for people of all ages, including our older population. Bicycling is a lifelong, low-impact aerobic activity available to almost anyone. Modern gearing and electric-assist equipment allow all users to find their own level of effort. Older adults riding for the first time can use three-wheelers with large baskets. (And one study suggests that if one quarter of the nation’s sedentary adults—twenty million people—would exercise moderately on a regular basis, savings to the healthcare system would exceed $5 billion.)
10. Bicycling is fun! Riding your bike connects you to the earth and everything you see all around you. And May is a perfect month to get out and ride with your family, co-workers, and friends!
Guest Editorial by Suza Francina, Ojai Valley News, May 12, 2010.
Related articles:
VISIT BICYCLE CITY: http://www.bicyclecity.com/
http://www.ojaivalleygreencoalition.org/2010/05/pedaling_toward_a_greener_ojai.shtml
Source: http://www.bikeleague.org/programs/bikemonth/
Suza Francina is Chair of the Transportation Committee of the Ojai Valley Green Coalition
