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There seems to be much confusion on the part of both motorists and cyclist as to bike lane markings. One improvement would be to do what I understand is done in Portland, paint the bike lanes blue, not white. They also have bike zones marked at traffic signals. In Portland, a motorist will get a pretty good ticket if he stops at a light inside the bike zone.
One route that I ride regularly bugs me: south bound San Jacinto and north bound Trinity from 5th/6th up to 10th or so. The bike lanes change their alignment and cars drive in them ALL THE TIME. I am sure most who ride San Jacinto are familiar with the way the cars drive illegally straight ahead into the bike lane instead of turning onto 6th. At the intersection of 7th and Trinity, cars go across the bike lane to turn onto 7th off of Trinity. I have seen a policeman instruct people to turn from the lane and not cross the solid white bike-line. Who knows if any tickets are ever given out. I believe if the lanes were painted blue (or some other color) motorists would "read" them better.
Of course, one problem is the police themselves. I see the bicycle police regularly ride on sidewalks, through red-lights and wrong way on one-way streets. Great example for all of us.
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Just today, Trinity at 9th St, there was a motorist making her way up the hill fully in the bike lane while talking on her cell phone. I stopped in the lane and signaled she should move over...took her awhile, but she moved, passed me while I yelled "bike lane" through her open window. She immediately went back into the bike lane. Now I wonder if we need some of those orange/white striped spring poles (like in the left turn lane on S. Congress) to force cars to stay in their lane, but allow bikes to pass easily. I know all this costs money, but...
Do motorists think that they can drive in bike lanes because bikes can drive in car lanes?
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Do motorists think that they can drive in bike lanes because bikes can drive in car lanes?
I've never seen a motorist ticketed for driving in the bike lane so that may be an issue. Kind of like when motorists baja it over grass right of ways on highways that are backed up to get to access roads.
I agree with the idea. There is something psychological about colored in boxes the reduce vehicle traffic.
The only issue I have is when it is wet road paint is very slippery for bike tires. Do you know if they use a different kind of paint in Portland?
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Don't know about special paint, but I wouldn't be surprised. Portland is very progressive in many things. Austin is as well, but has some catching up to do in regard to bicycles.
One step at a time, I guess.
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My business partner also suggested painting the lane through the intersections so there is a visual cute that the lane continues. This might help with motorists turning right at the intersection in front of you as you are entering the intersection.
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This is a reason why bike lanes downtown are almost always a bad idea - you will likely never achieve compliance when the markings are this unusual/confusing, even with all the paint in your arsenal.
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Perhaps if you apply some of the paint directly to the cars found parking in the wrong place?
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Blue paint would not show up very well at night. Orange maybe. I love the idea of painting over the cars:-)
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This is a reason why bike lanes downtown are almost always a bad idea - you will likely never achieve compliance when the markings are this unusual/confusing, even with all the paint in your arsenal.
Actually, I just got back from Portland where painted bike lanes are ubiquitous, and I did not see cars driving in the lanes while I was there. I do think painted lanes do send a psychological signal to driver that reduces the number of cars driving their ( it won't every eliminate it.) In addition, a decent education and ticketing campaign would do a lot to reduce the number of people driving in those lanes. We had a problem with people parking in carshare spots at AustinCarShare but once we had the spaces painted and towed without mercy, the problem was greatly reduced.
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There are plenty of folks who hate the Portland painted bike lanes with a passion (they promote wrong positioning in many cases). They aren't the silver bullet by any means.
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I'm dreamin.' A question for our city fathers: How much can this infrastructure cost for an entire city compared to, say, one mixmaster interchange? http://vimeo.com/2018745?pg=embed&sec=2018745
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I noticed they painted the intersection of Shoal Creek blvd southbound at Anderson Lane in green paint where bikes are to have their own space. I think it may help a little. When I stop at the light, I stay next to the curb since many cars are usually turning right and I rather not block them.
It's still a narrow area though.
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