Last week for class we cycled around Atlanta for 3ish hours. In my two years of city cycling I've grown uncomfortably comfortable with driving in traffic. Of the infra (infrastructure) we saw, the separated cycletracks seemed the most Dutch and comfortable. The "sharrows" seem to exist only to let the cyclists know that, yes they are in fact allowed to be on the road. In the US I've always been amazed at any sort of cycling infra. My perception of cycling in the US has always been measured in speed, agility, and distance. My ideal bike needs to able to take on any terrain and be geared for 15+ mph speeds. Wagenbuur's videos paint a different light. Yes, I am cycling in spite of good infra and I always ride like I'm racing all the cars. And this is why cycling isn't a bigger mode of transport. The Dutch create biking infra that demonstrates permanence and separation. Instead of having to match car speeds, cyclists can go at their own pace. Because of this much less aggressive environment, the need for high performance bikes and gear goes away.
Even the cycletracks of Atlanta aren't the best designed. I've always had an issue with merging onto the 10th street cycletrack coming east down 10th street. At the entrance to the cycletrack is this crosswalk with blinking lights, signaling cars to yield. I know some people who will stop at the crosswalk and wait for cars to stop. For some reason cars are always really hesitant to stop at this crosswalk. It's not nearly effective as those yield to pedestrians signs in the middle of the road.
My method for getting onto the cycletrack involves continuing down 10th in the left lane until I see a break in oncoming traffic. Only then will I merge onto the cycletrack. Doing so of course means yielding to anything in the cycletrack and dodging those plastic poles. It is a lot faster (and less confusing for cars), but the maneuver also carries more risk, thus requiring more experience. And this pretty much summarizes US traffic laws. Follow them explicitly as a cyclist and it'll take twice the time and involve more interactions with vehicles. Or, take a new interpretation and approach every moment thinking how to minimize interactions with traffic.
In Wagenbuur's videos, he tells of the Dutch "Vision Zero" which aims to systematically mitigating risks using engineering rather than reacting to them like the US does.
