4 ms·

Some European countries put the bike lane on the sidewalk next to pedestrians, instead of on the side of the road next to all the cars. This always seemed to me

Some European countries put the bike lane on the sidewalk next to pedestrians, instead of on the side of the road next to all the cars. This always seemed to me the safer option.

mbillie1 12y ago
A few places in Salt Lake City, the side-of-the-road parking is in between traffic and the bike lane, shielding the bike lane from cars. I'd be curious to see if it makes a statistical difference in accident rates.
- eric_h 12y ago
  There are a couple of bike lanes like this in NYC, they are by far my preferred bike routes.
DanBC 12y ago
Have a look at this road junction. The red stripe is a cycle lane. Dropped pin near 2 Kingsmead Ave, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire GL51 0AZ http://goo.gl/maps/Fd77g http://goo.gl/maps/Fd77g Note how the cycle lane is explicitly given right of way - vehicles turning off the main road must give way to cyclists here. (Drivers are supposed to give way for pedestrians who have started to cross but, well, they don't.) https://www.gov.uk/using-the-road-159-to-203/road-junctions-170-to-183 https://www.gov.uk/using-the-road-159-to-203/road-junctions-...
mxfh 12y ago
I can assure you as a commute cyclist in Berlin that it's not. The less car drivers see you as traffic the more dangerous it gets. Also the surface maintenance there is just horrible compared to a proper road. The single biggest threat to cyclists are right turning vehicles that either don't see you at all or worse underestimate your velocity and try to overtake you on the non- turning bike lane shortly before a crossing turning right (just happened to me on Monday). So driving in the actual straight lane is the safest option.
- ahomescu1 12y ago
  Why would you care if cars see you as traffic, if you have to follow the same rules pedestrians do? If they're on the sidewalk, bicycles cross the street at the pedestrian green and have to stop at pedestrian red. The only safety problem might be accidents between bicycles and people.
  - soneil 12y ago
    Slight confusion here - A bicycle lane that's sharing the same surface as the sidewalk isn't a sidewalk, it's a bicycle lane. How you cross the road follows the rules of the road - ours have stop/yield markings at signalled junctions, and the lane carries on across the road on an unsignalled junction. In the later case, I have right of way crossing the road you're waiting to turn into - because I'm not leaving my lane, and you are. A bicycle in a bike lane is not a pedestrian. It's not on a footpath. It's a vehicle on a surface designated for vehicles. We're still traffic.
- thaumasiotes 12y ago
  > I can assure you as a commute cyclist in Berlin that it's not [safer to bike on the sidewalk than in the street]. The less car drivers see you as traffic the more dangerous it gets. I don't get this. Are they going to drive up on the sidewalk and hit you because they don't see you as traffic? How do the pedestrians survive?
  - DanBC 12y ago
    Even with mostly seperate lanes for cycles and cars there are so e places where they meet. Junctions is one example. A car turning off the road into another road may cross a cycle path. In that example the car is probably supposed to give way to pedestrians and cyclists on the cycle path / pavement.

Some European countries put the bike lane on the sidewalk next to pedestrians, instead of on the side of the road next to all the cars. This always seemed to me the safer option.

mbillie1 12y ago

A few places in Salt Lake City, the side-of-the-road parking is in between traffic and the bike lane, shielding the bike lane from cars. I'd be curious to see if it makes a statistical difference in accident rates.

eric_h 12y ago
There are a couple of bike lanes like this in NYC, they are by far my preferred bike routes.

DanBC 12y ago

Have a look at this road junction. The red stripe is a cycle lane. Dropped pin near 2 Kingsmead Ave, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire GL51 0AZ http://goo.gl/maps/Fd77g http://goo.gl/maps/Fd77g Note how the cycle lane is explicitly given right of way - vehicles turning off the main road must give way to cyclists here. (Drivers are supposed to give way for pedestrians who have started to cross but, well, they don't.) https://www.gov.uk/using-the-road-159-to-203/road-junctions-170-to-183 https://www.gov.uk/using-the-road-159-to-203/road-junctions-...

mxfh 12y ago

I can assure you as a commute cyclist in Berlin that it's not. The less car drivers see you as traffic the more dangerous it gets. Also the surface maintenance there is just horrible compared to a proper road. The single biggest threat to cyclists are right turning vehicles that either don't see you at all or worse underestimate your velocity and try to overtake you on the non- turning bike lane shortly before a crossing turning right (just happened to me on Monday). So driving in the actual straight lane is the safest option.

ahomescu1 12y ago
Why would you care if cars see you as traffic, if you have to follow the same rules pedestrians do? If they're on the sidewalk, bicycles cross the street at the pedestrian green and have to stop at pedestrian red. The only safety problem might be accidents between bicycles and people.
- soneil 12y ago
  Slight confusion here - A bicycle lane that's sharing the same surface as the sidewalk isn't a sidewalk, it's a bicycle lane. How you cross the road follows the rules of the road - ours have stop/yield markings at signalled junctions, and the lane carries on across the road on an unsignalled junction. In the later case, I have right of way crossing the road you're waiting to turn into - because I'm not leaving my lane, and you are. A bicycle in a bike lane is not a pedestrian. It's not on a footpath. It's a vehicle on a surface designated for vehicles. We're still traffic.
thaumasiotes 12y ago
> I can assure you as a commute cyclist in Berlin that it's not [safer to bike on the sidewalk than in the street]. The less car drivers see you as traffic the more dangerous it gets. I don't get this. Are they going to drive up on the sidewalk and hit you because they don't see you as traffic? How do the pedestrians survive?
- DanBC 12y ago
  Even with mostly seperate lanes for cycles and cars there are so e places where they meet. Junctions is one example. A car turning off the road into another road may cross a cycle path. In that example the car is probably supposed to give way to pedestrians and cyclists on the cycle path / pavement.