The League of American Bicyclists has a bike-friendly community (BFC) ranking and award system based on criteria grouped under 5 "Es": Engineering, Education, Encouragement, Enforcement, and Evaluation & Planning. The top ranking is platinum and the City of Davis, California is one of three cities in 2010 with that ranking, the others Boulder, Colorado and Portland, Oregon. Canada has yet to develop a similar system, although the Share the Road Coalition in Ontario recently announced efforts to use LAB's BFC system for Ontario communities.
Rather than read about what constitutes platinum, gold, silver or bronze BFC status, we wanted to see and feel what it was like by visiting and biking in cities in California with different rankings. Visiting Davis also provided the opportunity for Clare to meet Dr. Susan Handy, who is one of the leading academics on urban cycling and is Director of the Centre for Sustainable Transportation at UC-Davis (FYI there is also a sustainable transportation center at the University of Winnipeg: CST). Susan met us for coffee in the morning and one of her research assistants, Amy Lee, very generously took us on a guided bike tour of the city.
The images that follow show but a few of the innovations and common sights that confirmed to us why Davis is considered a place that is safe and encouraging for cycling. We didn't see many cyclists wearing helmets, but that reflects the high level of safety and respect that drivers in Davis extend to cyclists. To fit in, we rented comfort bikes and rode helmet-free in sandals and street clothes.
 |
| Mike on a "comfort bike" and not wearing a helmet |
Among the bike infrastructure innovations that we were seeing for the first time were bike tunnels, roundabouts, special bike lights at intersections and bike lanes that are outside parking space for cars.
 | |
| Special lights for bicycles at intersections |
 | |
| bike zone at intersection |
 | |
| bike tunnel, Davis, Cal |
 | |
| bike lane outside parking area for cars |
 | |
| Press button for bike signal |
 | |
| Bike Barn at UC-Davis |
No comments:
Post a Comment