While I was in the Amherst/Northampton, MA area last week for the holiday I did some biking around. Aside from the gorgeous scenery, wow, what a difference in car culture. Even though most roads are country lanes, they drive slower than around here (esp Loudon County), give cyclists wide berth when passing, stop at crosswalks, often give cyclists the right of way even when they don’t have to, etc. With the exception of one pick up truck, all cars that I interacted with were unfailingly courteous, careful and non-aggressive. I even got into a “you go, no you go” waving argument with a driver who had the right of way but who stopped to let me go through an intersection. I checked out some of their bike trails and more often than not cars would stop to let me cross where the trail bissected the road even though there wasn’t a crosswalk. I went to grad school in the Valley eons ago and don’t recall ever having a negative incident with a driver while biking.
I think a lot of the difference is due to the fact that it is a rural area with only one major strip mall thoroughfare so little traffic congestion, the high density of students (thus lots of cyclists), and the relaxed way of life (they don’t call it the “Happy Valley” for nothin’). I also noticed that most bikes were secured with a simple cable lock though I’ll grant you that most bikes aren’t nearly as nice as those on this group.
Lastly, I noted that the main intersections in the heart of Amherst and Northampton have changed their light signalling. These intersections are your standard four way square with lights. For pedestrians to cross, all the lights turn red at the same time, right turns on red are not allowed, and the walking man signal comes on for all sides at the same time. This means peds on all sides walk at the same time and can cross on the diagonal. It worked out very well except that the walking signal didn’t stay on long enough IMHO. You really have to hustle if you’re doing a diagonol cross.
It’s such a nice area to visit and bike that I’m planning on going back in October when the leaves have changed and it is cooler (it was ungodly hot when I was in there – quite unusual).
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