BIKE: Bike Lanes vs WCLs (and longer than some bike lanes, I'm sorry to say)

[Joel Sumner]

On Apr 2, 2005, at 4:04 PM, Thorne wrote:
> [Whom do you want to attract to ride roads like Jollyville?  A 10-year 
> old and
> her little brother?  The truly novice rider?  If that's not your 
> target, think
> about whether they'll be attracted anyway and think about what 
> direction the
> inexperienced rider may want to go in that lane and how well they'll do
> negotiating with Jollyvillian traffic.

As someone who rides Jollyville often and has ridden in traffic for 
over 10 years, I can say that bike lanes on Jollyville are 
unquestionably good.  Cars stay much further away from me now that the 
bike lanes are there.  For at least three years, I avoided that road at 
all costs because it simply wasn't safe to be in the "wide" (ahem) 
outside lane while people were whizzing by you at 50 mph.  Now, I never 
see cars get their wheels anywhere near that white stripe. This isn't 
about attracting 10 year olds, this is about protecting 30 year old 
roadies.  A 10 year old is not stupid enough to ride Jollyville and 
his/her parents are not going to be afraid to tell the child "don't 
ride there".  Parents are pretty protective of their children.

> [Does the bike lane on Jollyville contribute to safe operation at
> intersections?  How many points of conflict does the cyclist riding in 
> the
> lane cross?]
>

Riding through intersections on Jollyville is no different if you are 
in the old "wide outside lane" or in the new bike lane.  You're still 
planted on the far right side of the road until you need to take a 
left.  Before the bike lane was there, you sure as heck weren't going 
to "take the lane" with a  30 MPH (minimum) speed differential. The 
dangers from the front are no greater on Jollyville than they were 
before and they are substantially lessened from the rear.

> "4. Sometimes cyclists will stay in a bike lane when they should be
> leaving it to turn (the "turn left out of the far right lane"
> phenomenon). The problem here is that I see this happen on wide curb
> lanes fairly often as well. The only solution here is heavy 
> enforcement."
>
> [There is a real problem of riders on both types of roadways.  It 
> seems to me
> that the stripe increases the problem, however.
>   The solid stripe is a traffic
> control device whose first and plainest meaning is "do not deviate 
> from this
> lane."  With a solid striped bike lane leading right up to an 
> intersection,
> the overtaking driver is justified in presuming that the cyclist will 
> not pull
> left and the inexperienced cyclist is justified to presume that she is 
> not
> allowed or is discouraged from moving left.  From where does she turn 
> left,
> then?


This will just never happen on Jollyville.  If it were a two lane road 
without a center turn lane... Maybe.  Never on a 4 lane road with a 
center turn lane.  If we're so petrified of this case, then let's make 
bike lanes have a dashed line and move on to other things.
...
>   You just
> attracted someone, but we can't tell who just yet, to her death.  Bike 
> lane to
> the right of right turning traffic?  Same deal.  Does the bike lane 
> encourage
> one to pass on the right slower or stopped automobile traffic?  The 
> stripe is
> telling the inexperienced cyclist that's proper without educating her 
> why it's
> dangerous.  Hell, I do that when in a hurry, but I recognize and watch 
> for the
> danger.  What about the new cyclist it's built for?  Bad design can be
> overcome?  Maybe so.]

Yep, you may see the "red light of death" (http://bicyclesafe.com/) 
because cyclists now feel more comfortable pulling up along the side of 
a line of cars stopped at a light.  I'll take the red light of death 
over a 50 mph "The rear end" pt 1 or pt 2 (http://bicyclesafe.com/) any 
day if I had to choose thank you.  The danger is coming from the front 
and I can take action or, if you are in the least bit experienced, 
avoid it by not putting yourself in that position...   I would much 
rather be in positions where my experience is a benefit rather than 
ones over which I have no control.


Anyway, I'm purely arguing for bike lanes on one particular road 
against your argument which seemed to be against having a bike lane on 
any road (and mentioning Jollyville in particular).  My feelings would 
possibly be different on other roads in Austin so don't try and extend 
my arguments to other roads.

-Joel