A word about bike lanes.
A friend recently expressed her desire for more bike lanes in her city. She wonders about the kind of arguments that would convince governments to invest in them.
Physical fitness is a great investment!
Canadian born Dr. Peter Attia is the author of the New York Times best seller, ‘Outlive’. He is a world class expert in human health, performance and longevity.
Regular exercise is Peter’s #1 recommendation.
Physical fitness improves the human immune system among its many other benefits. The advantages to individuals, and collectively, to government services are clear and unambiguous.
Optimal levels of physical fitness, attained through regular exercise involving weight lifting and “zone 2” aerobic conditioning, is the goal. It wards off many diseases that are associated with metabolic syndrome suffered by ~60% of all Americans (about 200 million citizens) and likely comparable levels in Canada. It most cases, they are not aware of it.
According to Dr. Attia, a healthy metabolism is known to decrease the incidence of diabetes, heart disease, cancers and even neurogenic afflictions like Alzheimer’s disease. Besides his book, Peter’s weekly podcast, The Drive, is a treasure trove of facts, expertise and advice for anyone who is serious about improving the quality of their life and health.
Back to bike lanes.
I can think of three ways that bike lanes are a good public investment.
Bike lanes encourage exercise. Read ‘Outlive’ and you will have no doubts that a regimen of regular cycling can improve the health and even the productivity of our citizens.
Physically fit people make fewer trips to the doctor’s office and the hospital, and rely less on prescription drugs. The cost of health care in Canada’s is at unsustainable levels. Any investment that can reduce the demand on public health costs should be encouraged.
Energy security is the availability of reliable and affordable energy for everyone. It is a serious concern for home owners and business operators. Cycling requires no energy from fossil fuels or access to the electricity grid which faces growing and unsustainable demands from EVs, digital devices, AI assistants, and more. Unfortunately, all levels of government are irresponsibly pushing Canada towards future dependence on “green energy” which cannot meet our current energy needs let alone the future tsunami of demand that is building .
The return on investment (ROI) for bike lanes.
Forward thinking public officials and politicians will support the investment in bike lanes because it makes “good business sense” and is “in the public interest”.
The above three suggestions fall under the planning category of Risk Mitigation.
There are few public risk mitigation options than are better than investing in cycling to suppress future demands on publicly-funded medical services while protecting the energy security of all citizens.
The political calculus.
Promoting visions of communities with healthy, happy and productive citizens is always a good strategy to attract votes during an election. Building more bike lanes is a political “no-brainer”.
The medical prescription.
Dr. Attia would surely prescribe cycling lanes as good public policy.
Canadians are often advised by our public officials to “listen to the experts” and “trust the science’. In this case, the expert is Dr. Peter Attia and the science is well documented in Outlive and explained very effectively on The Drive.
So what you are suggesting is that if government wasn't providing 'free' medical care for all, they probably couldn't justify them.
I like Anthony Furey's suggestions that bike lanes should not be on main arteries but on parallel side roads instead.
yes indeed, all good for about 6 months in most parts of Canada... but there are some hardy ones who put studded tires on their bicycles in the winter... but their is a point when those cold cells really affect the lungs!
Looking at Berlin for example a place I traveled one winter, it is soooo bike-centric I completely loved that flat for most part cycling arena! Even the car drivers had to give way to the 'bicyclist priority rules' there. Here in most of Canada it's a gamble for your life still... drivers are NOT bike savvy so therein I support segregating bike lanes!
I believe the EV's battery usage also drops significantly in the cold.
I DO REALLY like the idea of not just telling our municipalities and up how F'd up the Great Reset plan is, right down to scooping houses and then "you'll own nothing but be happy" into the conversations around what we as a people CAN do to improve our natural surroundings and balance it with our energy needs and economic surety.
I think our government needs to stop bleeding out and start applying withing all the resources we can to develop these things. But then I also believe that Helga Zepp LaRouche has laid out the best Global way out of this!
https://schillerinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/20221222-ten-principles.pdf?x67618