Nice Piece from NYT on Dangers of Bike Riding...

She was doing all the right things in the morning commute, traveling in the
bike lane, wearing a helmet, following the rules of the road. In an instant,
Sher Kung — new mother, brilliant attorney, avid cyclist — was struck and
killed by a vehicle making a turn in downtown Seattle last month.
At the scene, the truck driver wept and swore he never saw her.

Death on a Bike http://nyti.ms/1r5nWiw

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Permalink Reply by Shawn Evans on September 20, 2014 at 12:00pm

A Seattle newspaper story on the S Kung death said she was riding in a bike lane on the left side of a one way street and it was called 'the lane of death'. Why do transportation planners think this is a good idea? People are creatures of habit. Cars in the left (road) lane on a one way street ASSUME they're in the left lane and can turn. They're not going to think another vehicle is coming from behind. This is less of a problem on the right side because cars park on the right, and a motorist would be aware that a car could be coming up behind them, so they check. This is all commonly anticipated behavior, which a left bike lane goes against. You can say it's the motorist's fault all day & night, but it doesn't change anything. Then Chicago puts in a 2-way bike lane on a one way street (Dearborn) on the left side. How can that not cause problems? They had the decency to give priority to bikes (green northbound at Wacker before cars), but as soon as you cross the bridge there are many cars/taxis that turn left right into the hotel! Have fun (not) biking there.

Tricolor said:

Particularly the nasty stretch of Dearborn north of the river with a left side bike lane and lots of left turning traffic. When's State Street going to be finished, by the way? I really don't like going in to work down Wabash in the morning.