4 ms·

I'm in Japan at the moment and bikes are already fairly strictly controlled. You have to register it with the authorities when you buy it and there are several

by redcap 17y ago

I'm in Japan at the moment and bikes are already fairly strictly controlled. You have to register it with the authorities when you buy it and there are several places near major train stations where you are specifically not allowed to park your bike. In addition, while there are often bikes lying around the place, you can get stopped by the police to show that the bike you're riding belongs to you. With the inner city crowding you get in places such as Tokyo this should come as no surprise. However, there isn't much of a bike infrastructure - you have to share the same narrow roads that cars and pedestrians take.

barrkel 17y ago
I believe bike infrastructure, in terms of road markings, can increase danger to cyclists in many situations. Navigating junctions from bike lanes is often inconvenient, leading practiced cyclists to leave them for the main road, but the lanes increase car drivers' perceived sense of ownership of the road, and they can end up more aggressive towards cyclists. With respect to red lights: my (albeit short) experience cycling in California has been strongly affected by so-called smart lights, which have vehicle detectors built into the junction approach roads and help control signaling. The trouble is, bikes usually don't have enough metallic mass to affect these detectors, and early on in my CA biking career I once spent about 15 minutes in the middle of the road vainly waiting for a red light to turn green. It never did.
- lucumo 17y ago
  Those are the markings of a society that hasn't (yet?) adapted to cycling and cyclists. Here in The Netherlands cycling lanes makes drivers more aware of the fact that cyclists can use the road. The lanes are done in red asphalt, while the normal road is done in black. Drivers tend to steer clear of the lanes. As for the "smart lights", they are pretty much the norm here for all intersections. Cyclists usually have a button which they can press.
  - barrkel 17y ago
    When one is cycling along the road and needs to turn left (assuming right-hand driving), one will want to be near the middle of the road, so that when the way becomes clear, there isn't multiple lanes of traffic to cross. If the junction is also controlled by traffic lights, where is the button they must press? Is it in the road itself? Or is it another one of those situations where cyclists can't go the same route that cars do, and must cross using multiple signals, possibly taking several minutes?
- stcredzero 17y ago
  early on in my CA biking career I once spent about 15 minutes in the middle of the road vainly waiting for a red light to turn green. It never did. I used to have that same problem with my Honda CRX! (Only once in a blue moon, though.)
- swolchok 17y ago
  When I was in Redmond, the detectors had a visible rectangular outline on the roadway. Running a bike along the edge of this outline seemed to make them happy.
- philwelch 17y ago
  In a lot of intersections you can join together right turns and turnarounds to get around those, but that's a pretty ugly hack. Awhile ago I read a series of posts (http://daily.sightline.org/daily_score/series/bicycle-neglect http://daily.sightline.org/daily_score/series/bicycle-neglec...) that make important points about this kind of stuff, albeit from a Pacific NW perspective. I submitted it here http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=740679 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=740679 if you're interested in discussing the merits of that article.

by redcap 17y ago

barrkel 17y ago

I believe bike infrastructure, in terms of road markings, can increase danger to cyclists in many situations. Navigating junctions from bike lanes is often inconvenient, leading practiced cyclists to leave them for the main road, but the lanes increase car drivers' perceived sense of ownership of the road, and they can end up more aggressive towards cyclists. With respect to red lights: my (albeit short) experience cycling in California has been strongly affected by so-called smart lights, which have vehicle detectors built into the junction approach roads and help control signaling. The trouble is, bikes usually don't have enough metallic mass to affect these detectors, and early on in my CA biking career I once spent about 15 minutes in the middle of the road vainly waiting for a red light to turn green. It never did.

lucumo 17y ago
Those are the markings of a society that hasn't (yet?) adapted to cycling and cyclists. Here in The Netherlands cycling lanes makes drivers more aware of the fact that cyclists can use the road. The lanes are done in red asphalt, while the normal road is done in black. Drivers tend to steer clear of the lanes. As for the "smart lights", they are pretty much the norm here for all intersections. Cyclists usually have a button which they can press.
- barrkel 17y ago
  When one is cycling along the road and needs to turn left (assuming right-hand driving), one will want to be near the middle of the road, so that when the way becomes clear, there isn't multiple lanes of traffic to cross. If the junction is also controlled by traffic lights, where is the button they must press? Is it in the road itself? Or is it another one of those situations where cyclists can't go the same route that cars do, and must cross using multiple signals, possibly taking several minutes?
stcredzero 17y ago
early on in my CA biking career I once spent about 15 minutes in the middle of the road vainly waiting for a red light to turn green. It never did. I used to have that same problem with my Honda CRX! (Only once in a blue moon, though.)
swolchok 17y ago
When I was in Redmond, the detectors had a visible rectangular outline on the roadway. Running a bike along the edge of this outline seemed to make them happy.
philwelch 17y ago
In a lot of intersections you can join together right turns and turnarounds to get around those, but that's a pretty ugly hack. Awhile ago I read a series of posts (http://daily.sightline.org/daily_score/series/bicycle-neglect http://daily.sightline.org/daily_score/series/bicycle-neglec...) that make important points about this kind of stuff, albeit from a Pacific NW perspective. I submitted it here http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=740679 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=740679 if you're interested in discussing the merits of that article.