By Richard Risemberg, September 23, 2015
Now that Mobility Plan 2035
has been voted into law by the city council, the bikelash bozos are
prancing around again blowing their rubber-bulb horns and shouting out
all kinds of invented “facts” (technically called “lies”) to support
their contention that it’s impossible—impossible, I tell you!—to live any semblance of a normal life if bike lanes are striped and cars have to slow down to the speed limit.
There are spurious claims that road diets will keep emergency vehicles from rushing to the scenes of the crashes that won’t happen as much anymore—yet it is cars that blockade firetrucks and ambulances right now; cyclists can pull off to the parking lane or even on to the sidewalk when the sirens howl. With road diets in place, there is more room for motorheads to get out of the way of serious drivers hurrying to save lives endangered by recreational drivers hurrying to show off.
There’s the even more spurious claim that road diets will “kill business.” This one’s been debunked by actual real-world observation so many times that it hardly bears repeating that No, road diets are good for business. Its been proven over and over again.
The latest favorite to float up in the swamp of disinformation is that “You can’t go grocery shopping on a bicycle.”
I can disprove that one myself: for over ten years, I did all the grocery shopping for a family of three, plus pets, by bicycle. I didn’t use a trailer, a cargo bike, or an e-bike either, just a normal everyday standard bicycle with two folding boxes attached to the rear rack. A full large bag of groceries in each one, and a big sack of potatoes or cat litter (or both) on top of the rack. Two trips a week to the supermarket, one to the Trader Joe’s. Easy enough. I still shop by bike, though less so now that I live a two-minute walk from two groceries.
I’m not alone. Here are a few of the photos I’ve snapped recently of bikes parked in front of grocery stores.
Yes, you can shop by bike.
Trader Joe’s in Hancock Park
Trader Joe’s in Hancock Park—another day
Trader Joe’s in Silver Lake (near the Rowena road diet)
Trader Joe’s in Silver Lake—another day
Grand Central Market on Broadway—I’ve started grocery shopping there myself
Shopping by bike in Osaka, Japan
There are spurious claims that road diets will keep emergency vehicles from rushing to the scenes of the crashes that won’t happen as much anymore—yet it is cars that blockade firetrucks and ambulances right now; cyclists can pull off to the parking lane or even on to the sidewalk when the sirens howl. With road diets in place, there is more room for motorheads to get out of the way of serious drivers hurrying to save lives endangered by recreational drivers hurrying to show off.
There’s the even more spurious claim that road diets will “kill business.” This one’s been debunked by actual real-world observation so many times that it hardly bears repeating that No, road diets are good for business. Its been proven over and over again.
The latest favorite to float up in the swamp of disinformation is that “You can’t go grocery shopping on a bicycle.”
I can disprove that one myself: for over ten years, I did all the grocery shopping for a family of three, plus pets, by bicycle. I didn’t use a trailer, a cargo bike, or an e-bike either, just a normal everyday standard bicycle with two folding boxes attached to the rear rack. A full large bag of groceries in each one, and a big sack of potatoes or cat litter (or both) on top of the rack. Two trips a week to the supermarket, one to the Trader Joe’s. Easy enough. I still shop by bike, though less so now that I live a two-minute walk from two groceries.
I’m not alone. Here are a few of the photos I’ve snapped recently of bikes parked in front of grocery stores.
Yes, you can shop by bike.
Trader Joe’s in Hancock Park
Trader Joe’s in Hancock Park—another day
Trader Joe’s in Silver Lake (near the Rowena road diet)
Trader Joe’s in Silver Lake—another day
Grand Central Market on Broadway—I’ve started grocery shopping there myself
Shopping by bike in Osaka, Japan