Bike Lanes

[Sprinter]

At the risk of losing ALL of my cycling friends here's a piece I wrote for today's Adelaide Advertiser newspaper - all about how much I hate bike lanes. (The usual "pay road tax" response in the comments section)

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/opin ... 6621014359

[stella-azzurra]

Believe it or not I am for bike lanes but if you saw me ride in NYC you would think that I could not be further from the truth.

In many large cities bike lanes:

- do not always exist in the place you ride
- are placed in the wrong place
- are placed in the right place but hard to keep cleared
- are kept separate from traffic but that costs a lot of money so they say

The best thing cyclists can do is be alert at all times.

Ride offensively not defensively (that right you need to be proactive with where you are on the road)

Obey traffic laws but be prepared to break them at any time to avoid accidents.

This sounds hard to believe but if you think about it traffic laws are made for cars. When 2 cars collide in the city there is a pretty good chance that both parties will be OK. But with a bike the changes of you not getting seriously injured get pretty slim fast. So even though you the cyclist had the right of way and were obeying the traffic law you still got rolled. This gets back to you being alert at all times and avoid collisions on a bike by any means necessary. Even if it means breaking the traffic law.

[aerozy]

Funny enough I just had an argument yesterday with a driver that was bullying me with his "car weapon" telling me to get off his road and use the bike line. Bike lines in Norway (Scandinavia in general) at this time of year are full of pebbles and mud so not the place you want to ride on. I tried to explain this to him, but no figures, he had no reasoning, no brains.

Anyways Ive stopped using bike lines after two separate incidents. One time an old lady turned in front of me and i collided with her at around 30km/h. She was lucky that she just broke her arm. Second incident, some two year olds just jumped out of a bush on to the bike lane. I was going much faster then, had I collided with the any of the children Im afraid I could have seriously injured them. So I said, f[]ck this, I will ride at my own risk on roads ONLY.

During a recent trip to Lisbon I noticed the city has built several useless bike lanes all over town. They are the most dangerous booby traps Ive ever seen. They are narrow, include 20cm side walk steps, blind spots, pedestrians use it, and I could go on forever. Why anyone would consider wasting precious tax money on these things makes angry to say the least... Here's one pic. Now imagine if you lose control of your bike and fall and hit your head on one of those poles. What are they even for?









Who ever designed these things NEVER road a bike.

[Tapeworm]

I like bike lanes. I don't like the alternatives. Bike paths, shared paths, wide roads without markings all suck. If there is anything where the car has to deviate to go around the cyclist then there are problems. Well, there are always problems.

[aerozy]

Out of all the bike lane systems Ive tried I thought the danish one was the best. The road has a bike lane marked with white paint and thats it. Cars dont go on them, neither do pedestrians. In Finland for example they have all exclusive bike lanes everywhere (including country side roads) and they can be quite dangerous because pedestrians just use them as sidewalks.

EDIT: The ones in Melbourne definitely were not good either. Very narrow and people park their cars on them haha

[Fiery]

Most bike lanes are not really made for cyclists moving at an excess of 20-25 km/h. If you are faster than that, more often than not you are safer on the road - but, at the same time, don't forget that there are a lot of cyclists who ride at a much slower pace and for whom bike lanes are the safer option.

[stella-azzurra]

That is correct. Bike lanes are not where you will do your TT intervals.
Learn how to ride on the road with traffic or take your bike where there is little traffic.

[aerozy]

^Agreed... Typical bike lanes are made for commuters, and definitely not fit for roadbike training purposes. Try explaining that to drivers though. As a road cyclist it seems you always get told off, if you ride on the roads drivers tell you to go to the bike lane, if you ride on the bike lane, commuters tell you to go to the road

[tranquilo]

During a recent trip to Lisbon I noticed the city has built several useless bike lanes all over town. They are the most dangerous booby traps Ive ever seen. They are narrow, include 20cm side walk steps, blind spots, pedestrians use it, and I could go on forever. Why anyone would consider wasting precious tax money on these things makes angry to say the least... Here's one pic. Now imagine if you lose control of your bike and fall and hit your head on one of those poles. What are they even for?

They are build so that the president of the city council can say that they have built bike lanes "just like Nordic countries" .
It's a shame really, I never ever use them because of pedestrians. Most of them are horrible and only a handful are actually safe to ride because, you guessed it, they lead to nowhere.
The only good thing here is that cyclists (not legally, mind you, but the police is very relaxed about it) can ride the bus lanes and usually the bus drivers are not very aggressive and they are a spot where cars rarely go because of heavy fines. The down side is that in bus lanes the tarmac is never in good condition.
But hey, at least they are expanding the bike lanes. Maybe somewhere in the future I can actually use them.

[taina]

I spoke once with my town's director of public works about bike lanes. She's a cyclist and an engineer. She understands what works and what doesn't. Apparently the system is set up so that what's practical isn't always what gets done. The town has both usable and unusable bike lanes.

[CarlosFerreiro]

I'm a roads engineer, and hoping to get some mix of provision on a new school project.
It's not going to cover as wide an area as I'd like, and it's going to have to be compromised towards 12+ kids and recreational use but, assuming I can get even that pushed through, it'll be a starting point for something that might be able to expand over the years. Bit by bit

[Dalai]

If bike lanes are required to get more people riding who otherwise think (incorrectly IMO) that riding on the road is too dangerous then they are beneficial. Personally feel money would be better spent educating motorists that bikes are entitled to be on the roads and drivers be more aware and respectful around cyclists.

[taina]

Bike lanes can be beneficial. I live near a 2 lane road with heavy traffic, including big trucks. Posted limit is 35 mph. Most drivers go 45 mph. A roughly 10 mile stretch has bike lanes in both directions. It's popular with cyclists. Some ride slow. Others ride fast. Without the bike lanes it would be a lot more dangerous. Educating motorists can only go so far. Many motorists are set in anti-cycling attitudes.

[elviento]

Bike lanes are good, if:

1. they are sufficiently wide; and
2. they are respected.

[Devon]

The issue isn't bike lanes, or the road system. The issue is the law, and training provided to drivers.