The College Crowd Isn't Representative

> First, being near a major university was mentioned as an
> indication that our college-age bicyclist population comes
> from all over the U.S., so the typical behavior we see here
> is pretty much representative of elsewhere.

=v= I don't think that's quite true.  The college-age population
is often made up of people who abandoned the bike at age 16 to
move "up" to the car.  Many college towns (as opposed to, say,
a commuter campus) have local density, with amenities for the
college-aged within walking distance.  Having a car in this sort
of environment could be expensive.

=v= So what you get is a population that's resuming use of what
they may see as a toy they'd abandoned.  They're going to ride
differently from, say, working-class kids and adults who've
always used bikes for utility, middle-class city bike commuters
or weekend warriors, etc.  While they may represent geographical
diversity, they're not a representative sample.

> And as far as I'm concerned, anyone who denies that lots of
> people in the U.S. who ride bicycles run stop signs and red
> lights really must be a loon or otherwise completely out of
> touch with reality.

=v= Agreed.  However, anyone who thinks motorists as a group
behave better is also completely out of touch with reality.
    <_Jym_>