4 ms·

Not sure of your familiarity with biking in major metro's, but separated bike lanes are getting more and more common. These bike lanes put you on the right side

Not sure of your familiarity with biking in major metro's, but separated bike lanes are getting more and more common. These bike lanes put you on the right side of the road and cars often times turn right into the path of the bike lane without looking for bikers.

GrantS 12y ago
My city is getting more of these and I always check before turning right. But last week I witnessed a car-bike collision that I'm unsure how to ever avoid: traffic in my lane was backed up to a standstill, but oncoming cars were flowing freely and one took a left into a restaurant parking entrance (between two stopped cars in my lane) just as a bike was passing the stopped cars in my lane on the right (NOT in a designated bike lane but even if it was, the left-turning car would have had no way of seeing the bike coming because all cars were stopped and blocking view.) Bike hit side of turning car at full speed. Neither saw each other coming. Bicyclist was seemingly ok and kept riding after 30 seconds. Do you just outlaw left turns in the presence of bike lanes? As I said in this case there was no bike lane and my understanding is that this is a known danger and the cyclist should not have been passing all the stopped cars on the right. See example #8 on this page: http://bicyclesafe.com/ http://bicyclesafe.com/
- judk 12y ago
  Indeed, passing on the right is unsafe for bikers and for car-on-car scenarios as well
i_am_ralpht 12y ago
In the bay area the bike lane becomes dashed at intersections meaning anyone can go anywhere. The disadvantage with going into the lane is that cars have much shorter stopping distances. I had an accident a few months ago where I had just managed to merge into the lane (had to be going at the speed of traffic to do this) when all the cars in front of me slammed on their brakes and skidded to a halt -- I hit the back of the car with my head and smashed my helmet (and got cuts in my head where the helmet cracked; but I'd have been severely worse off without it!). But right hooks are much more common than what happened to me. We just have a really bad road infrastructure in the US (even for driving -- I'm amazed every time I go back to the UK and can drive for miles through densely populated areas without stopping, all because of the roundabout -- the lockless n-way intersection).
alphapapa 12y ago
How are drivers supposed to see bikers behind them when there's a lane of parked cars between them? This makes no sense. Bikers should act as if they're invisible and should come to a full stop at every intersection. Bikers on public roads should also be licensed and insured just like car drivers. Equal rights, equal responsibilities.
jessaustin 12y ago
I've lived and bike-commuted in Denver, Los Angeles, and Honolulu, so I'm somewhat familiar. I don't mind bike lanes when they're just another strip of road right next to the other ones. One must be mindful that other vehicles will unlawfully enter/occupy the bike lane, but that doesn't seem to require a different sort of awareness than cycling in general. Also one should ride to the extreme left of the bike lane to avoid the door zone. As you imply, "separated" bike lanes are another matter. It's as if one is on a pleasant jaunt through bucolic parkland, punctuated repeatedly by intersections with angry vehicular traffic that can't possibly see the cyclist before she enters the intersection. It's probably possible to design these so that don't have problems at every intersection, but the concept in general doesn't lend itself to that. My suspicion is that separated lanes are an attempt to turn cyclists into pedestrians: stop at every intersection, never enter the street, stay the !#@% out of the way of red-blooded American car drivers. No thanks! When I want to travel as slow as a pedestrian (and in many cases I do) I just leave the bike at home.

GrantS 12y ago

My city is getting more of these and I always check before turning right. But last week I witnessed a car-bike collision that I'm unsure how to ever avoid: traffic in my lane was backed up to a standstill, but oncoming cars were flowing freely and one took a left into a restaurant parking entrance (between two stopped cars in my lane) just as a bike was passing the stopped cars in my lane on the right (NOT in a designated bike lane but even if it was, the left-turning car would have had no way of seeing the bike coming because all cars were stopped and blocking view.) Bike hit side of turning car at full speed. Neither saw each other coming. Bicyclist was seemingly ok and kept riding after 30 seconds. Do you just outlaw left turns in the presence of bike lanes? As I said in this case there was no bike lane and my understanding is that this is a known danger and the cyclist should not have been passing all the stopped cars on the right. See example #8 on this page: http://bicyclesafe.com/ http://bicyclesafe.com/

judk 12y ago
Indeed, passing on the right is unsafe for bikers and for car-on-car scenarios as well

i_am_ralpht 12y ago

In the bay area the bike lane becomes dashed at intersections meaning anyone can go anywhere. The disadvantage with going into the lane is that cars have much shorter stopping distances. I had an accident a few months ago where I had just managed to merge into the lane (had to be going at the speed of traffic to do this) when all the cars in front of me slammed on their brakes and skidded to a halt -- I hit the back of the car with my head and smashed my helmet (and got cuts in my head where the helmet cracked; but I'd have been severely worse off without it!). But right hooks are much more common than what happened to me. We just have a really bad road infrastructure in the US (even for driving -- I'm amazed every time I go back to the UK and can drive for miles through densely populated areas without stopping, all because of the roundabout -- the lockless n-way intersection).

alphapapa 12y ago

How are drivers supposed to see bikers behind them when there's a lane of parked cars between them? This makes no sense. Bikers should act as if they're invisible and should come to a full stop at every intersection. Bikers on public roads should also be licensed and insured just like car drivers. Equal rights, equal responsibilities.

jessaustin 12y ago

I've lived and bike-commuted in Denver, Los Angeles, and Honolulu, so I'm somewhat familiar. I don't mind bike lanes when they're just another strip of road right next to the other ones. One must be mindful that other vehicles will unlawfully enter/occupy the bike lane, but that doesn't seem to require a different sort of awareness than cycling in general. Also one should ride to the extreme left of the bike lane to avoid the door zone. As you imply, "separated" bike lanes are another matter. It's as if one is on a pleasant jaunt through bucolic parkland, punctuated repeatedly by intersections with angry vehicular traffic that can't possibly see the cyclist before she enters the intersection. It's probably possible to design these so that don't have problems at every intersection, but the concept in general doesn't lend itself to that. My suspicion is that separated lanes are an attempt to turn cyclists into pedestrians: stop at every intersection, never enter the street, stay the !#@% out of the way of red-blooded American car drivers. No thanks! When I want to travel as slow as a pedestrian (and in many cases I do) I just leave the bike at home.