When Bike Lanes Hurt More Than Help

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Permalink Reply by Mark on October 13, 2010 at 2:15pm

I may not be a traffic engineer, but I am an experienced commuter who has learned to expect the unexpected in order to stay safe. The video does a great job of showing how what might look good on paper doesn't always work out so well in the real world.

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Permalink Reply by gadgetguy on October 13, 2010 at 2:40pm

I think the key to solving all these problems will be reversible high speed bike lanes to cover the rush hour traffic.

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Permalink Reply by pjc jr on October 13, 2010 at 2:48pm

I love it! Express Lanes for cyclist....I want to live in your city!



gadgetguy said:

I think the key to solving all these problems will be reversible high speed bike lanes to cover the rush hour traffic.

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Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on October 13, 2010 at 3:02pm

I think that's a very relevant perspective on the video and the issue.

Mark said:

I may not be a traffic engineer, but I am an experienced commuter who has learned to expect the unexpected in order to stay safe. The video does a great job of showing how what might look good on paper doesn't always work out so well in the real world.

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Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on October 13, 2010 at 5:17pm

OK, I'll try to respond, at the risk of repeating myself:
-I watched the film and made judgments based on what I saw, what the people said, how they said it, and made my own assessment. Not sure what's so personal about that that you need to insult me by repeatedly insinuating that I'm just an uneducated, uncritical tabula rasa waiting to be told what to think by anyone with a camera and access to a computer, but clearly I hit some sort of nerve.
-on planners/advocacy types. Seen it happen. It seems to me to be a likely explanation of how a style of lane that doesn't seem to match the context or the needs of a good percentage of users could come to be reality. I think I was clear that this is something that happens to =some= planners and advocacy types-- I can't say I'd be any better and I have the utmost of respect and admiration for the folks who can "do" bicycles professionally within some sort of restrictive institutional setting and not lose their own enthusiasm for the cause.


David said:

Oh, I was just wondering what it was in the video that convinced you that the bike lane was so obviously poorly designed. You seemed to have accepted the thesis of the filmmakers as truth, even to the degree of suggesting their position was so obvious that the lane designers must not have cared. I was wondering if there were specific points made in the film that convinced you that this particular group of cyclists was correct and others were wrong. I haven't done or seen any polls, but it's my impression from visiting and talking with friends there that the 1st Ave. bike lane is extremely popular in most biking circles in NYC (certainly not all, but *nothing* is popular in all biking circles).

It was mostly your thinly-veiled personal attacks on the designers that led to my question. I was wondering whether you found something in the film to be overwhelmingly convincing or if you had some inside knowledge or additional information about the designers.

No, I'm not David Gleason.



H3N3 said:

David,
there are a variety of perspectives offered in this video, by people of obviously diverse experience and knowledge-- and also a variety of specific problems outlined.
Of course I watch it critically and make a judgment as to the veracity of each claim just like you do-- no idea why you're trying to reduce this to one or two points of minutia, and/or present things as if I would just swallow what any random person who gets in front of a camera might say, uncritically.
There's a clear theme that comes across-- the bike lane does not work for the riding style of the majority of people interviewed, who are just interested in passing through the space quickly on their way from A to B.
Curious-- are you David Gleason?


David said:

I'm curious, what exactly do you think is poorly-designed about this particular lane? The separated bike lane, with bikes between the car and the sidewalk, is pretty common in Europe, so it's not a new idea. The claim is made by one person in the video that the lane should have been on the right because more cars turn left on 1st ave., but there's no solid numbers to back up that claim. And city officials have reported that there's been a 50% reduction in injuries to street users with the new bike lane, a pretty significant spike in safety.

The fact that somebody is complaining just isn't evidence that the planners are "half-awake bean counters." That's a pretty harsh charge against people who are working hard for cyclists.

H3N3 said:

Glad someone took the time to speak out about this.
I would not take it as a condemnation of all bike lanes but of one poorly-designed example.
Two problems jump out here:
1) Where bike lanes and bike paths are placed, driver intolerance of any cyclist not in that lane or on that path spikes to dangerous levels.
2) When bicyclists get planning or advocacy jobs, they frequently lose their enthusiasm for the cause of bicycling and morph into the type of half-awake bean counters that let this particular mistake happen.

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Permalink Reply by James Lovell on October 14, 2010 at 12:04am

I'll say this, riding in Chicago through traffic was awesome, but I was seriously leery about being in the door zone.

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