[lovemenot]

>> The golden rule is to segregate. Give cars, bicycles, and feet their own space. DO NOT mix.

This seems too emphatic, given the counter-example of Japanese cities, which have few dedicated bicycle lanes, yet remarkably high rates of cycle usage.

[buro9]

Insurance solves that.

The Japanese shifted liability onto larger vehicles. Just as most places will always treat a rear-shunt as being the fault of the car behind, hitting a cyclist is always the fault of the larger/motorised vehicle.

[ptaipale]

Well, it's no magic bullet. Here (Finland) the insurance of motor vehicles always covers damages to bicyclists, even when the bicyclist is at fault (breaking a traffic rule) but that hasn't removed all car/bike collisions.

Having segregated (and physically separated) paths for bikes works well though. They remove the fear that when you're riding straight, a lorry comes from behind and kills you outright. Here the paths are usually shared with pedestrians, and while pedestrians are annoying, they are few (compared to Japan...) and it works reasonably. Intersections are a bit of a problem, but the mistakes by car drivers are quite predictable (and being also a driver myself, I know why they happen), so I can watch out.

[LoSboccacc]

same in Italy, but it just increases the chance of the driver just running off the scene.

I guess one needs to match effectiveness of incentives with the local culture.

[widdershins]

I was in Tokyo recently - I found it very annoying having cyclists sharing the pavement with pedestrians.

[Quppa]

Speaking as an occasional pedestrian in Japan, it would be nice not to have to deal with cyclists hurtling down the sidewalk at great speeds as happens today.

[akgerber]

Japan is a very different country— one is not able to own a car without a certificate demonstrating they have an off-street place to park it (resulting in lower car ownership), and, more importantly, very narrow streets that largely preclude the kind of high speed motoring that's dangerous to cyclists.