[sustran] Re: Local cycling environment indicators: More on . . .

[Chris Bradshaw]

Todd wrote about my concern that bikes and racks on buses could increase
injuries to pedestrians if struck:

> SEEMS dangerous perhaps but in the over-litigious USA there has not been
> ONE lawsuit etc. against maker of the rack or the bus operators which use
> them. In 14 years of use, hundreds of thousands of trips per month. I
> think basically it is not good to get hit by a bus, and, statistically at
> least, the racks dont seem to make it worse. Emergency rooms dont record
> special info about the racks making things worse, emergency doctors assoc.
> is not concerned. But talk to a European traffic expert and they will tell
> you there are no problems in the USA or Canada because NO one walks.

It is only now that there is an awareness of how to design vehicles so as to
reduce injuries to the human body in a collision.  Although I mention
pedestrians, I also should have mentioned cases where a cyclist is the
collision 'partner.'  It takes only one innovative lawyer -- or one 
legislator on a 'cause,' to change that legal reality.

Up until now, there also probably have been no law suits over motor-vehicle
design as a factor in worsening injuries or contributing to a death, even 
though Ralph Nader caused a revolution, via _Unsafe at Any Speed_, when he 
pointed out that hood ornaments, door handles, and even tail fins can filet 
the human body very easily.  The manufactures quickly dropped these 
features.

With my vision of widespread carsharing in the future, the motor vehicles 
used in cities
on roads shared with pedestians and cyclists will be designed differently
from those primarily used outside cities.  The former can be geared for slow
speeds and have more 'crush-ability' in their outer 'skin,' while highway
vehicles can be pretty much as they are now, with crushability being
_behind_ their outer shell.  The city vehicle can also be much lighter,
since the crash protection is mainly geared to those _outside_ the vehicle.

This reduced crushabilty will be practical due to a) the governors that
shared cars will probably have (either set to a fixed speed, or to speeds
set by roadside transpondere), and b) the fact that local populations will
gladly limit the right to drive to those in cars that have to governors and
have 'people-friendly' exteriors.

Chris Bradshaw
Ottawa