[*BCM*] Why Bike Lanes Suck

[Marq Maru]

Almost all bike-lanes are set up between parking and traffic.  We're not 
terribly worried about the traffic.  That, we can deal with.  The problem is 
that the entire bike lane is in the "dooring-area", "door-zone", 
"kill-zone".  Even if you take cars out of the equation, who's more 
dangerous to bikes than pedestrians?  Just about every pedestrain puts one 
foot in the road before they look.  Bike lanes are a death trap, period.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jason Orach" <jorach at gmail.com>
To: <list at bostoncriticalmass.org>
Sent: Friday, October 28, 2005 7:03 PM
Subject: [*BCM*] Why Bike Lanes Suck


"Yes the stripe of paint is powerful.  It perhaps does what you asked the 
BTD
to do for us.  It creates a boundary that defines a space, the space is
reserved for, say, HPV's.  The line appears before the motorist well BEFORE
the bicyclist does.  It sets up an image for the driver that the space to
the right is a no-no for the cars."

Except it can't create that image as long as there's on street parking
to the right of the bike lane. As long as one side of the road looks
like this:
|       road          |     bike lane   |   parking |

having a bike lane won't send any message other than "cut through this
lane to park". Bike lanes suck because they put you dead center in the
door zone, and because you have your own lane cars fly past you. If
someone flings their door open you probably can't dodge because there
are cars screaming by you on your left.

Having our own lane also makes car drivers think that we can only ride
there. Forcing ourselves off the road is the same as giving up our
right to ride on the road. Every driver who doesn't know any better
thinks that we can only ride on the road in bike lanes, and otherwise
we should get on the sidewalk.


--
"I have always been a  quarter of an hour before my time, and it has
made a man  of me." - Lord Admiral Horatio Nelson
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