Sunday, February 10, 2008

On Efficiency and Safety - Part 2

"Auto racing, bull fighting, and mountain climbing are the only real sports ... all others are games." - Ernest Hemingway

I'd be a little more inclusive than ol' Hemingway, but I think you get the idea. Sports have the risk of injury or death. That's what makes a sport different from a game of monopoly or driving the minivan to the store. That's why people don't take bicycles and motorcycles seriously as transportation. People who commute to work on bicycles and motorcycles are hardcore enthusiasts who assume the increased risk over driving. Motor scooters have a friendlier image and are more accepted as transportation, but in reality, they're about as safe as motorcycles- you share the road with all that traffic just like a motorcycle, but you don't have the challenge of controlling a high performance vehicle. Sometimes, image is everything.

It doesn't have to be that way. In Europe and Asia, lots of people ride bicycles and motor scooters for trips around town, but I'm still cracking the code of how to encourage that culture here.