America Hates Bikes

A kid on my team went through a stop sign once.

Sources & Citations

Citations reference first appearance, without repeating for subsequent usage:

• The League of American Bicyclists: National Rates of Biking and Walking (2022)

• Making the Modern World: Rover Safety Bicycle 1885 (accessed 2026)

• Mercedes-Benz Group: The First Automobile (accessed 2026)

• Smithsonian Magazine: American Drivers Have Bicyclists to Thank for a Smooth Ride to Work (2016)

• The New York World: Nellie Bly Interviews Susan B. Anthony “Champion of Her Sex” (1896) 

• Madderns: Bicycle IP – Cranking in the 1890s (2014)

• The New York Times: The Bicycle and the Ride to Modern America (2015)

• Statista: Number of passenger cars and commercial motor vehicles in use in the United States from 1900 to 1988 (2022)

• The New York Times: 1 Car to 5 Persons Owned in America (1927)

• Traffic Safety Facts Annual Report Portal: Motor Vehicle Traffic Fatalities and Fatality Rates, 1899-2024 (2026)

• Smithsonian Magazine: When Pedestrians Ruled the Streets (2014)

• Vox: The forgotten history of how automakers invented the crime of “jaywalking” (2015)

• Bike Battles: A History of Sharing the American Road (2017)

• Holocaust Encyclopedia: Antisemitism and Henry Ford’s “The International Jew” (2026)

• Automobile Manufacturers Association: 100 Million Motor Vehicles (1948)

• The Dutch Bicycle Master Plan (1999)

• The Guardian: How Amsterdam became the bicycle capital of the world (2015)

• BBC: Car-free Sundays during the global oil crisis (2026)

• Rutgers Sustain: Sustainable Communities (2010)

• Scholarly Community Encyclopedia: Bike Boom (Accessed 2026)

• Bicycle Manufacturers Association: Annual bicycle sales from 1955 through 1977 (1978)

• Federal Highway Administration: Public Roads (1996)

• American Association of State Highway Officials: Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (1935)

• US DOT: Miscellaneous Interstate Facts (1998)

• Outside Magazine: The Small California City Responsible for America's First Bike Lane (2017)

• City of Davis: First Bicycle Lanes in Davis

• Cool Davis: Davis Pioneered Dedicated Bike Lanes 50 Years Ago (2017)

• Time: Business: Corporations: The 500 & How They Fared (1968)

• Streetsblog US: How American Transportation Engineers Resisted Bike Lanes (2018)

• Toole Design: A Historical Perspective on the AASHTO Guide for the Development of Bicycle Facilities and the Impact of the Vehicular Cycling Movement (2018)

• John S. Allen - AASHTO Guide for Development of New Bicycle Facilities 1981

• The Atlantic: The Design Bible That Changed How Americans Bike in Cities (2018)

• Transportation Alternatives: The New Bicycle Blueprint - A Plan to Make New York a World-Class Bicycling City

• NYC DOT Bike Network and Ridership

• The 15-Year Transformation That Made Paris a Cycling City (2026)

• 5th Edition AASHTO Guide (2024)

Episode Credits

Creator/Host: Rollie Williams

Not Just Bikes: Jason Slaughter

Writers: Rollie Williams, Matt Nelsen, & Irene Plagianos

Director: Matt Nelsen

Editors: Rollie Williams & Paul Ramsdell

Executive Producers: Rollie Williams, Matt Nelsen & Daniella Philipson

Cinematography: Matt Nelsen

Producer: Daniella Philipson

Assistant Editor: Ryan Martin Brown

Colorist: Nicholas Lareau

Desk Production Design: Caity Birmingham ( http://caitybirmingham.com )

Intro Animator: Hamzah Khan ( https://ianhasawebsite.com/ )

Theme music by: Gratis ( https://www.youtube.com/@gratis3241 )

Special thanks: Charles Komanoff & Jon Orcutt

Special thanks to the Civil Liberties Defense Center ( https://cldc.org/ ) for their continued support.

Copyright Climate Town 2026. All rights reserved.