4 ms·

> A lot of cars turn right without checking for bikes. What's up with that? Why are you to the right of the turning lane? If you are a vehicle, act like a (sl

by wtbob 10y ago

> A lot of cars turn right without checking for bikes. What's up with that? Why are you to the right of the turning lane? If you are a vehicle, act like a (slow-moving, natch) vehicle: get in the right-most through lane, and hold it.

jacquesm 10y ago
Because that forces you into car traffic, a place where a cyclist would rather not be. Straight through traffic on bicycles should not have to cross right turning cars, but should stay in the rightmost lane because that separates cycling traffic from car traffic the most.
deathanatos 10y ago
I see this all the time in SF: the car is turning right without being in the correct lane; the driver should be in bike lane (and partially still in the rightmost traffic lane) and should be signalling right, to indicate a turn. Inevitably, the driver isn't. As a biker, if I see a vehicle properly executing a right turn, I will of course either not pass the vehicle, or pass on the vehicle left in the space left in the traffic lane by the fact that the vehicle has moved in the bike lane, thereby not conflicting with the driver's right turn. But I have to know the driver is about to turn, and so many drivers just give no signal.
Tharkun 10y ago
That obviously depends on the infrastructure. If the bike lane is an actual bike lane, then cars turning right should wait until cyclist are done crossing the road. Please don't assume your system is universal: it's broken and it's not.
- wtbob 10y ago
  I think a system which relies on drivers to check blindspots for small, light vehicles while turning (when their attention is focussed on the large, heavy vehicles on the other side which can kill them) is broken. Bikes are vehicles: they belong on the road, just like cars. They are slow vehicles, so they should take the rightmost lane. Cars should pass them on the left (switch the sides if you're in a certain countries), just as they would pass tractors or slow cars. Putting cyclists where drivers are liable to miss them and doors are liable to strike them is madness.

by wtbob 10y ago

jacquesm 10y ago

Because that forces you into car traffic, a place where a cyclist would rather not be. Straight through traffic on bicycles should not have to cross right turning cars, but should stay in the rightmost lane because that separates cycling traffic from car traffic the most.

deathanatos 10y ago

I see this all the time in SF: the car is turning right without being in the correct lane; the driver should be in bike lane (and partially still in the rightmost traffic lane) and should be signalling right, to indicate a turn. Inevitably, the driver isn't. As a biker, if I see a vehicle properly executing a right turn, I will of course either not pass the vehicle, or pass on the vehicle left in the space left in the traffic lane by the fact that the vehicle has moved in the bike lane, thereby not conflicting with the driver's right turn. But I have to know the driver is about to turn, and so many drivers just give no signal.

Tharkun 10y ago

That obviously depends on the infrastructure. If the bike lane is an actual bike lane, then cars turning right should wait until cyclist are done crossing the road. Please don't assume your system is universal: it's broken and it's not.

wtbob 10y ago
I think a system which relies on drivers to check blindspots for small, light vehicles while turning (when their attention is focussed on the large, heavy vehicles on the other side which can kill them) is broken. Bikes are vehicles: they belong on the road, just like cars. They are slow vehicles, so they should take the rightmost lane. Cars should pass them on the left (switch the sides if you're in a certain countries), just as they would pass tractors or slow cars. Putting cyclists where drivers are liable to miss them and doors are liable to strike them is madness.