Public Road Riding

[dudsb4u]

I live in a small New England College town but riding on the public road, to me, seems dangerous now because they have changed the bicycle lane to the center of the road. How do you ride safely in this situation?

Regards,
Brian

[Chris L]

If you find the bike lane to be in a more dangerous position than some other part of the road, ride outside the bike lane.

[djbowen1]

it's in the middle of the road??

[Allister]

I live in a small New England College town but riding on the public road, to me, seems dangerous now because they have changed the bicycle lane to the center of the road.

What an odd thing to do. Can you give a more detailed description of the lane arragement?

If it is as you say it sounds like folly of the highest order. The local advocacy group must have been napping when this one went through.

[Chris L]

What an odd thing to do. Can you give a more detailed description of the lane arragement?

It sounds like it could be similar to one or two I've seen around here. It isn't so much in the "middle of the road", as in simply being on the "road" side of a parking "lane". It's actually useful in one respect in that you don't have cars parked across the bike lane the way I've seen in a lot of situations. Of course, the problem is that the bike lane is often in prime "dooring" territory.

[nathank]

I live in a small New England College town but riding on the public road, to me, seems dangerous now because they have changed the bicycle lane to the center of the road. How do you ride safely in this situation?

well, as Chris suggests, i _think_ "center of the road" means a typical bike lane directly NEXT to the normal traffic lanes...

if this is the case, i would say the PERCEPTION that it is unsafe is MUCH higher than the reality --- and riding in the bike lane next to cars OR on the shoulder next to cars or in the lane WITH cars is generally safer than riding on the sidewalk or multi-use path. there are many other threads about bike paths vs riding on the road --- almost all experienced cyclists prefer roads and/or bike lanes to sidewalks/bike paths. plus, statistics also show bike lane/road to be safer than sidewalk/multipath...

i lived in Worcester Mass for 9 months 3 years ago and rode a lot in Central Mass highways and country roads and drivers are in general a little more friendly than the average American driver - moreso as you get further from Boston - and you should be far enough away to avoid most of the "big city" aggressiveness... try and find roads with less traffic. but in general, just learn how to ride safely -- make yourself visible, ride predictable, etc - and ride on the road and/or bike lane - stay off the sidewalk!

if the bike lane is really in the CENTER of the road, i'd really like to see the design, but seems like it would be a really BAD idea --- primarily b/c of cars turning left... andin Mass i have only seen "normal" bike lanes and never anything really weird...

[Rich Clark]

if this is the case, i would say the PERCEPTION that it is unsafe is MUCH higher than the reality.

Disagree. Bike lanes placed between full-width thru lanes and parking lanes are the most dangerous kind. A woman was killed in Boston not long ago when she was doored while riding in such a lane, and flung into the path of a bus.

Parking lanes frequently become right-turn lanes when they reach an intersection, and so these bike lanes suddenly (usually without warning) simply disappear, or become some sort of indecipherable dotted-line thingie that no driver understands, and the cyclist is hung out to dry.

These sorts of bike lanes are inherently dangerous because they try to force traffic into non-standard patterns, and they're particularly nasty because they're common in high-density areas like city centers where, during rush hour, they put cyclists directly into the path of turning vehicles at intersections.

Personally, I ride outside the door zone at all times. If that puts me outside the bike lane, so be it.

RichC

[John E]

Rich is correct about dooring. Irrespective of lines on the road, always position yourself a meter away from parked cars. In practice, this often means riding near the traffic-side edge of a bike lane.

At every driveway cut or intersection, you are far better off with a bike lane between traffic and parked cars (e.g. most of California), rather than between parked cars and the curb (e.g. much of Europe).