Golf cart brain

I’m just glad you made it

I’m just glad you made it back to tell the tale. Did you find the missing girl? 
 

Perhaps people feel more

Perhaps people feel more comforable when the wheels are to their sides, not directly in front?

Interesting.  Sounds like a

Interesting.  Sounds like a “residential recreational” kind of place.  So all bets are off!

In general I think people will just go with the prevailing culture.  Unless of course there are pretty strong motivations for doing otherwise e.g. it is tradition / local law that you can’t have a car / drive at all there, it’s a place which is “for” cycling and walking.

Population density is important.  Or rather the ability for you to get to a wide range of amenities / connect to transport going further afield.  In many places in the US this is rather low – sometimes by law! – and Americans do drive a lot (in a feedback loop with availability of car infra and low density places).

However I don’t think it’s necessarily the most significant factor* in transport choices.  Many US (and certainly UK) urban centres would be very suitable for less vehicular traffic… but most people still drive.  I think it is the uncontrolled use of private motorised transport that does it.  From history we know that once that genie is out of the bottle it will take over at the expense of all other modes.

For example: the Dutch still have a ton of cars, driving etc.  They’ve had to put extra effort and money into reversing the trend of having lots of motor vehicles everywhere.  They’ve needed to both increase convenience for cycling and walking (combined with public transport) AND reclaim space from motorised traffic (and not just for cycling), plus add restrictions to make this less convenient e.g. fairer times at traffic lights, reduced speeds around other modes, less parking etc.

* It may be slightly ahead of “weather” and “hills” though – counter examples for those in Seville (heat), some cities in Finland (snow), NL (wind and rain), Switzerland (hills)…

Like Peachtree City, Georgia?
Like Peachtree City, Georgia?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peachtree_City,_Georgia

Parallel network of paved “paths”, where from 15 you can drive a golf cart by yourself. Max speed 20mph.

How many people choose to cycle, d’you think?

Well – US, so very 4-wheel focussed and it seems everything is designed for easy access by 4 wheels big or small. That’s probably a lot of it, any other reason?

Similar population to Stirling here. Yes, Stirling has more lumps, it’s cooler (and I suspect has places you couldn’t safely leave a golf cart…)

However something stands out – population density is about 4 times higher in Stirling (mediaeval obviously). (I’m a little dubious about the figures (Wikipedia) as Peachtree looks more leafy than another similar place here with apparently same density, Dunfermline – not leafy!)

Stirling isn’t a “cycling city” either though. Looking across the North Sea we have the unremarkable Dutch Town of Weesp. About half the population of Peachtree, 1.5 times as dense, flat and often a bit warmer than Stirling. I know nothing about this place but I’m pretty confident that has more cycling and less driving than the other places mentioned. One other thing of note is the frequency of public transport here – smallest of the three but very well connected.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weesp