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Permalink Reply by Tom A.K. on September 2, 2016 at 6:50am

Ugly! This can happen at any time with these F*#%÷n' trucks parked in the bike lanes. You even have to be careful on the right side of the truck because the 'helper' can jump out at anytime. Damn, look before you 'fling' the door open you a**hole!

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Permalink Reply by Jim Reho on September 2, 2016 at 10:48am

Wow, that's a bad one.  I'm glad the cyclist wasn't even more seriously injured.  

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Permalink Reply by Tom A.K. on September 5, 2016 at 11:51am

"That guy wouldn't have 'flung' open his door so carelessly on the traffic side."

I don't know for sure about that. I believe certain people do it carelessly over and over. I call them 'the door flingers'. I watch out for them because they do it mindlessly. No lane configuration or traffic training matters to them, they just keep forgetting to look.

Sorry, I have to disagree with you on this. Just keep me further away from those speeding multi-ton SUV's out there and things will be mostly fine. I'll go slower around parked vehicles and stay out of the door-zone so I don't get doored by a 'flinger'.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Lazzaro on September 5, 2016 at 12:20pm

The bike lanes in Evanston are adjacent to the curb, and they're awful.  At intersections, drivers are instructed (by signage) to yield to cyclists when they make a right turn.  They never do this.  Also, drivers tend to want to park as far from moving cars as possible, so they often park over the painted buffer, so that the usable bike lane is quite narrow and cyclists are very susceptible to dooring.

This configuration works much better with curb separation (which ends prior to intersections), as on Clybourn, which IMO is pretty good.

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Permalink Reply by David Barish on September 6, 2016 at 2:50am

I completely agree.  I find  so-called protected bike lanes which are to the right of the parked cars to be more dangerous than  doing  nothing at all.  I strongly prefer a marked lane to the left of parked cars.  I have been doored by a driver but I will take my chances with the driver over the passenger any time.  The  driver is more likely to look, to be an  adult and to avoid you.   Also, such lanes make the bikes invisible to traffic and  more susceptible to the right hook. I realize our two posts have somewhat hijacked this thread but feel compelled to agree.  The video is about a truck in a bike lane and a dooring that should not have occurred but it still illustrates the danger of passenger side dooring.  This weekend I had a long  conversation with a thoughtful non-rider about her confusion encountering such lanes  in Evanston. I  told  her the that I  feel the lanes spring  from good intention  but do not add to safety.  My $.02. End  thread drift...

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Permalink Reply by Yasmeen on September 6, 2016 at 3:04am

In the course of a weekend, I was nearly doored (by a driver) when pulling up to a spot I was meeting friends. I'm normally over to the left of the lane but since I was nearing my destination, I moved over to the right. Luckily, I veered out of the way in time to avoid the door. 

On my ride up to Highland Park, they've turned a long stretch of California into protected bike lanes in Evanston. And then had 2-3 spots in which it was completely blocked by construction horses which makes for difficult maneuvering to get around it in a very tight spot. One of the horses was put there because a walk (sidewalk) had been paved and was long since dry. That made no sense as a reason to block the bike lane and leave 2x4s lying around.

Considering this is a very popular cyclist training route, protected bike lanes are an awkward addition if you are riding up with a group of people. I'm not sure how well the groups are managing this safety addition in Evanston. 

It gave me pause about planning and infrastructure. Mostly, I think we are happy and grateful about any concessions we get but if the majority of cyclists using that particular route don't match up with the type of infrastructure that's been built, is it truly a success? I appreciate the building infrastructure is frantically trying to keep up with the recent increase in cyclists on the road but I do believe we'll need to circle back and fix what isn't working (or rethink the plans and build it thoughtfully the first time). 

Either way, my point is that no matter what infrastructure (or lack of) is in place, we still have to be super careful because doorings and construction and mismatched infrastructure happens.

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