SF editor's note: This video features plenty of examples of San Francisco's stressful bicycling streets -- the kind that the SFMTA hopes to transform in its Bicycle Strategy. The agency has determined that only 10 percent of the city's bike network is "comfortable for most people."
Last December I traveled to Amsterdam for the first time. I don't ride a bike, but as a pedestrian, to be surrounded by human-oriented infrastructure (see these Streetfilms) was a little like visiting another planet. And the strangest part was how normal it was. In the Netherlands, bikes are about as controversial as umbrellas, and only once in eight days did I feel threatened by a driver.
From BicycleDutch, this critique of street conditions in the U.S. flips this dynamic on its head. You'll chuckle and cringe as the narrator calmly eviscerates typical American bike "infra." (See? Even their descriptors are more elegant.)
On the other hand, he seems impressed that American cyclists have the fortitude to ride the streets at all, and that bike lanes are "popping up everywhere."
Brad Aaron began writing for Streetsblog in 2007, after years as a reporter, editor, and publisher in the alternative weekly business. Brad adopted New York's dysfunctional traffic justice system as his primary beat for Streetsblog. He lives in Manhattan.
What happened in West Portal was entirely predictable and preventable. The city must now close Ulloa to through traffic and make sure it can never happen again
