Dang, that's nice. Depicted in the video are several shots of Berkeley, CA where I live. I gave up owning a car a few years back and use a bike for most every

Dang, that's nice. Depicted in the video are several shots of Berkeley, CA where I live. I gave up owning a car a few years back and use a bike for most everything. I make pretty heavy use of our Bicycle Boulevards. FWIW, here are some observations of things that commonly go wrong with these systems: One of the most important Bicycle Boulevards (hereafter, B.B.s) in Berkeley is shared by spill-over traffic from a car boulevard because of the absence of traffic-calming diverters. The absence of diverters occurs because the self-same street is the main car route to the high school and to City gov't offices. One of the huge negative side effects is that, because of the heavy car traffic (no matter how polite the cars and bus traffic is) the pavement is perpetually in horrible, life-threatening shape for cyclists. Either that street needs diverters or the B.B. needs pushed aside one block. Another weird problem with the B.B. concept is that on the one hand we teach drivers that cycles are subject to the same rules of the road as cars.... and on the other hand, B.B.s create situations where, for example, bikes can turn left but cars can not. In my experience, this upsets and confuses a small but significant subset of drivers. In one recent encounter a couple (otherwise quite nice, I'm sure) went out of their way to menace me with their car, roll down their windows, and shout at me about traffic law after I made an otherwise perfectly safe and legal turn. In a similar incident, I was once balled out by a driver for not using the "bike lane" on a B.B., for one block, where there was distinctly no bike lane. I probably delayed her trip by about 15 seconds. She doubled that in the time she paused to chew me out. More commonly, there angry drivers who will tailgate and menace cyclists on B.B.s, looking for a chance to edge around the cyclist and cut them off at close quarters. If I could afford it, I would probably ride with a video camera mounted on my bike to have these folks cited. That said, the B.B. situation in Berkeley mostly works and I want to give some of the other side of the story: One phenomenon that really, really hurts the B.B. infrastructure yet is far too common are Idiot Cyclists who, themselves, abruptly cut off cars, blow off stop signs or red lights, and menace pedestrians. The I.C.s have what's coming to them but its the fall-out impact of them on responsible riders that really bugs me. One trick I've learned that sounds ever so obvious in retrospect yet that not enough people do? If you are a cyclist, LEARN AND USE HAND SIGNALS and BE LIBERAL WITH FRIENDLY NODS / WAVES OF THANKS TO CONSIDERATE DRIVERS. Many, many (maybe most) drivers seem to greatly appreciate the cyclist who is both unsurprising and appreciative of common courtesy. If you think cycling in urban environments is important, go out of your way to socially reinforce good car driving. Another trick I've learned is that, when it matters for your safety (really matters) - don't be shy about "taking the lane". Sometimes, shoving yourself towards the side of the road is far too risky compared to putting up with an annoyed driver behind you for a block or two. Another trick - amazingly under-practiced by cyclists in Berkeley - is RIDE WITH AMPLE LIGHTING AND REFLECTION from dusk to dawn. The number of uncomfortable near accidents I've had with cars is comparable to the number of uncomfortable near accidents I've had with Idiot Cyclists who speed, ignore stops, dress in dark clothes, and ride in poor lighting with no lights. Also, wear a damn helmet!