Earlier this summer I was riding along a new bike lane under construction when I came across this poster: “Help save our neighbourhood. Big new bike path end...
I never heard the argument “have bike path is discriminatory to elders”, and the guy in the video rightfully say “Not having bike path is discriminatory to children” (because they can’t drive and put themself in danger in shared road)
There are some scenarios, where biking can have negative effects on elderly people: Those cases where there is no explicit cycling infrastructure and foot and bike traffic is squeezed together. Or when elderly people are in need of a parking spot near to their homes and have no possibilities to park on their own property. But the real problem in those cases is bad planning.
But those dickheads in the video had clearly no interest to speak about real problems.
My area’s mall is pretty nice and like most malls it’s got plenty of area to walk, stores to explore, enough security to deter people from doing anything too crazy. It’s a great spot for middle school and high school kids! But if you don’t have a car how do you even get there?
There’s suburbs all around so it should be in easy biking distance and moderate walking distance. But it’s surrounded by 4 lane roads without a single crosswalk or even sidewalks. Busses don’t run there either.
So thanks to decades of car only design best non motorized way to get there is to take a kayak…yes a kayak…and use a creek to get to the area behind the mall and walk in from there. I only know that because my parents did it once to see if it could be done.
I never heard the argument “have bike path is discriminatory to elders”, and the guy in the video rightfully say “Not having bike path is discriminatory to children” (because they can’t drive and put themself in danger in shared road)
There are some scenarios, where biking can have negative effects on elderly people: Those cases where there is no explicit cycling infrastructure and foot and bike traffic is squeezed together. Or when elderly people are in need of a parking spot near to their homes and have no possibilities to park on their own property. But the real problem in those cases is bad planning.
But those dickheads in the video had clearly no interest to speak about real problems.
My area’s mall is pretty nice and like most malls it’s got plenty of area to walk, stores to explore, enough security to deter people from doing anything too crazy. It’s a great spot for middle school and high school kids! But if you don’t have a car how do you even get there?
There’s suburbs all around so it should be in easy biking distance and moderate walking distance. But it’s surrounded by 4 lane roads without a single crosswalk or even sidewalks. Busses don’t run there either.
So thanks to decades of car only design best non motorized way to get there is to take a kayak…yes a kayak…and use a creek to get to the area behind the mall and walk in from there. I only know that because my parents did it once to see if it could be done.