From: John_-_Forester@cup.portal.com
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles
Subject: False Political Poll Data
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 92 15:17:29 PDT
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Distribution: na






                     FALSE PUBLIC OPINION POLL ENDANGERS CYCLISTS

             A  combination of politicians and magazines that sell bicycles
          and  running shoes has commissioned and publicized a deliberately
          misleading  poll of public  opinion that endangers  cyclists. The
          offenders  are  Representatives  Joseph  Kennedy  (D-MA),   Peter
          DeFazio (D-OR) and James Oberstar (D-MN), editors Chuck McCullagh
          of Bicycling and George Hirsch of Runner's World. They  intend to
          use this false information to further their program of  paths and
          lanes.

             Here  are the deliberately misleading questions and the answer
          proportions:

          Do  you think you would sometimes commute  to work by bicycle, or
          commute more often, if ...
          there were safe bike lanes on roads and highways? 
          Yes 46%     No 49%     Don't work 4%    Not sure 1%

          there were safe, separate designated bike paths to use?
          Yes 53%     No 43%     Don't work 4%    Not sure 1%

          In  your town  or  city, are  there safe,  secure  paths designed
          specifically for ...

          pedestrians?
          Yes 55%     No 43%     Not sure 2%

          cyclists?
          Yes 46%     No 51%     Not sure 3%


          Would you like your  government to devote more funds specifically
          for safe and secure bike and pedestrian paths in your area?
          Yes 59%     No 40%     Not sure 2%

          Would you  like  to see  your town  or  locale adopt  an  overall
          planning structure that would make walking, running and bicycling
          a safe and integral part of the area's transportation system?
          Yes 72%     No 26%     Not sure 2% 

          The Louis  Harris organization,  which conducted  the poll,  says
          that the maximum sampling error is +/- 3%. 

             The actual error rate on these questions is 100% because these
          questions have  no correct answer. There are two  errors that are
          so elementary that they must be considered deliberate.

             The first error is that there are no "safe" bike paths or bike
          lanes anywhere, we have no designs for such, and such designs are
          probably  not possible.  Lest  Rodale Press's  attorneys want  to
          quibble about the meaning  of "safe" in this context,  I say that
          the  meaning that those  who answered the  question gave  to that
          word was "much safer than roads." Otherwise, the word  would have
          no meaning in the context of these questions.
 



                                                                          2

             The second error  is mixing cyclists and  pedestrians together
          on  one  facility. All  state traffic  laws classify  cyclists as
          drivers of vehicles and put pedestrians in a class of their  own,
          requiring  the  two  classes  to  obey  different  rules.  Mixing
          cyclists and  pedestrians is one of the most  dangerous errors in
          traffic engineering.

             It  is difficult to  believe that the  staff of  Bicycling are
          ignorant of  these facts.  They  may  be advocating  the  bikeway
          campaign to serve either the  environmentalists who form so  many
          of  their readers  or  the bicycle  manufacturers who  are  their
          clients.  Either  way,  they  have  proved  themselves thoroughly
          untrustworthy.

             The politicians  have proved  themselves to  be irresponsible.
          Either  they  don't  know  what  they  are  doing  and  they  are
          ignorantly  irresponsible for doing what they don't understand or
          they  understand  and they  are  deliberately  irresponsible  for
          catering  to public  superstition  rather than  the public  good.
          Kennedy, at least, has had the truth demonstrated to him while on
          a Boston bikepath but has not reformed. 

          JForester@cup.portal.com               John Forester
                                                 726 Madrone Ave
          408-734-9426                           Sunnyvale CA 94086 USA
 
Xref: sparky rec.bicycles:18927 sci.med:14733