Posted by chris on September 27th, 2008 | No Comments »

I was recently taking my negotiations class through the basics of Power (can someone make you do something?), Rights (am I allowed to do this?), and Interests (what do I want out of this?). In my presentation of the information, I was preoccupied with the previous days events. The issue that was on my mind was transportation in cities, specifically bicycling in Toronto.

When it comes to cars versus bicycles, there is not much confusion about who holds the power when the rubber hits the road…or the shoulder blade hits the sidewalk, which happened to be the case. In terms of rights, I think I had every right to be biking along side the snake of traffic that crawled south on Mount Pleasant last week. Although the conversation that I had that evening with one of Toronto’s finest suggested maybe I can’t pass cars on the right… Hmmm.

Like most of these situations, Interests are the highest leverage place to start. From the cyclist’s prospective, they enjoy physical exercise, dodging gas prices and parking rates, and all the other counter-culture benefits they seek. Stepping away from the issue, the ability for more people to bike in the city would reduce the number of cars on the street and the demand on downtown parking spots, both of which would be in the interest of drivers. It is a tough one but part of the solution will be convincing drivers that cyclists should be welcome on the streets, which means you have to look for them when you are making that last-minute right hand turn.

 

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