Time.com reports on NYC's "Bicycle War" in preparation for their new bike share program

See the article on Time Science July 3rd 

Here's what sparked my interest:

Last month New York City Comptroller John Liu released a report warning that the bike share program could lead to more accidents, injuries and potentially lawsuits against the city. (In 2010, there were 368 crashes reported by bicyclists and 19 cyclists died — up from 286 injuries and 12 deaths in 2009.) Liu called for helmets to be made mandatory for all Citi Bike riders — and there are no such plans now — and stoked the fears that the new cyclists would be a danger to themselves and others. "In the rush to place ten thousand bicycles on our streets, City Hall may have pedaled past safety measures," Liu said in a statement.

But look at the numbers more closely, and you'll see that cyclists are much more threatened than threatening — even in New York. The number of people who've been killed in traffic accidents in New York has declined over the past decade, and the number of bikers is growing faster than the number of bike accidents. And despite the public perceptions of out of control cyclists, bikers are rarely at fault for accidents — especially with cars.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2118668,00.html#ixzz...

The journalist then quotes studies from Australia and Barcelona and talks about public opinions and mores in Amsterdam. 

What do you think we should expect from the bicyclist community and from our local political officials when our own bike share program kicks off (sometime in 2013)? I'm not convinced by the "more is better" argument when it comes to bicyclist/pedestrian safety in large cities in the US. 

I'm new to the scene, perhaps there already are media campaigns or other types of preparations in place? I don't want to hype this as a "Bicycle War" but I do want to know how to help ease Chicago's growing pains as bike ridership is increasing.