BICYCLES ARE NOT FUTURE OF TRANSPORTATION

The bicycle is an ingenious mobility device. It gets you from A to B and lets you observe your surroundings at a leisurely pace.
It is usually lightweight, and it provides an intimate visual, aromatic, and auditory connection to the world around you. In dense urban environments, riding a bicycle for short distances is often faster than traversing the same distance via car.
While the bicycle has many virtues, it also prompts people to go overboard. It’s often lauded as the transportation of tomorrow and the savior of cities. It is not. It is called transportation. It is not. That’s because the bicycle is not, strictly defined, a transport device. Ever try to carry a watermelon on a bicycle? (Yes, it can be done, but how much else could you carry?)
The bicycle is a biomechanical device that depends on the rider for balance and propulsion. It therefore operates under rigid limitations: the physical condition (and therefore age) of the rider, seasons and weather conditions, and terrain. If bicycles are used for multilane travel, particularly in urban context, their riders are seriously endangered. Cars making right turns are a particular threat.
Today, there is an almost messianic insistence that bicycles should be a part of the urban transit mix. Bicycle marathons in cities tie up traffic to celebrate liberation from the automobile...

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