Advocacy & Safety - Bike Lane Advocacy in Australia

http://www.abc.dotars.gov.au/Publications_Resources/green_bicycle_lanes.aspx

- Check it out. Does this look like it would be safer to ride in these than VC style riding? The green paint the cities down there use is supposed to increase traction by a lot...

It looks really really tempting...

Yeah, green makes the blood stand out a bit more. ;)

I've seen a few of these around, but I'm still waiting for someone to tell me what all the fuss is about. I still hold that if the lane is wide enough to share with the green paint, it's wide enough to share without it.

The prominent problem with bike lanes is that you are not readily visible to cars entering the roadway from the right as they are conditioned to look for oncoming traffic in the travel lane. I have no problem changing lanes (bike lane/travel lane; when its safe to do so and well in advance of when I need to change lanes) as long as it is not too frequent. If crossings are at a minimum (or if traffic is very heavy) I generally find bike lanes a good place to ride. It’s a lot like what you see auto traffic doing on highways, with lots of ramp traffic the main safe flow is in the center lane. Once you get out to the country with little ramp traffic the main flow moves to the right.

I often use these where appropriate. It is one place where I have never had any sort of conflict with drivers regardless of how congested the road is, they seem to recognise and accept (if not respect) that space as for cyclists only. That's still no reason to get complacent, though.

Here in Sydney we have the most agressive cager culture in the country, and one of the most agressive in the world. If this segragation technique engenders tolerance above and beyond just sharing the WOL then it clearly improves safety. On similar roads which have the width but not the paint the level of active agression towards cyclists is significantly higher (in my experience).

I have not seen any painted lanes here in the US, but I think it may help somewhat. It certainly stands out at first. But, like as was stated, at night, and sometimes when it rains, it looks the same as the rest of the road. There is some paint however, that absorbes light, and then glows when it gets darker. I don't know. I think something other than just the white stripes is a good idea.

It would make those riding a full Bianchi kit invisible. :)

What cracks me up about these bike lanes is how narrow they are. If the rider had to dodge a pebble, he would be out of the lane. It would be impossible for one cyclist to pass another and stay in the lane.

Ahhh so that explains it. I'm from Brisbane and I have just noticed these green things on the road appearing in the last week. Trouble is.....so far I have yet to see one that goes for longer than about 20 metres.
The ones around the city I have seen are across intersections and rather than leading all away along the side of the road, lead up onto the footpath! Others appear and dissapear just as quickly. For example there is another one that appears just before a roundabout and stops just before entry into the roundabout. This gives me the impression of two lanes going in becomming one, and more possibility of car drivers trying to overtake while on the roundabout (dangerous).

The paint is made out of the sandpaper like stuff that is used a lot for road markers, including school zones and some speed bumps for visibility. Becuase it's sandpapery it gets worn away...quite quickly with cars as a matter of fact, we'll see how it goes with bikes I suppose.