Advocacy & Safety - The Random Venting Thread

In Minneapolis we have those bike lanes that are between lanes of traffic. You know - the bike lanes between the northbound and southbound lanes?

Here's why they make me nervous:

1. This lane is not meant to be a left turn lane for automobiles! I feel like I'm risking my life by riding in these lanes. It's only a matter of time before someone decides that they'll just signal left and cut me off as they move into my lane.

2. On a single lane road, the lane is not there so forward bound drivers can go around a car turning right! Thereby saving themselves a few seconds? Bus drivers of all people do this all the time.

One more thing. I'm riding to work this morning, doing maybe 25 and there's a guy a half-block away crossing the road in the middle of the block. He looks right at me when I'm maybe 50 feet from him and of course continues to cross. Only a last second swerve saved both of us from a trip to ER. How many of you have had someone look you right in the eyes and then step out in front of you?

Thanks for listening.

In Minneapolis we have those bike lanes that are between lanes of traffic. You know - the bike lanes between the northbound and southbound lanes?

That's just plain nuts!!! You should contact whoever designed this and tell them your cyclist's point of view. Be polite and constructive.

We have one of those bike lanes in the middle of the road here in Eugene. It only goes for one block, because it's two way there, then goes over to the "left" side of the street. That gets scary because people are turning left, sometimes right in front of you. That goes for two block, then there's a parking lane on the left. I've never been doored (knock on wood) but that's unnerving too. Good luck to you.

1. This lane is not meant to be a left turn lane for automobiles! I feel like I'm risking my life by riding in these lanes. It's only a matter of time before someone decides that they'll just signal left and cut me off as they move into my lane.

Easy solution -- don't ride in those lanes.


2. On a single lane road, the lane is not there so forward bound drivers can go around a car turning right! Thereby saving themselves a few seconds? Bus drivers of all people do this all the time.

Another reason to be in the so-called "traffic lane". Let's be honest about bike lanes -- well intentioned they are, but they are not always designed by people who actually ride that stretch of road everyday.


How many of you have had someone look you right in the eyes and then step out in front of you?


What's worse is when they step out in front of you and then stop right in the middle of the freaking road. Mind you, I don't expect very much intelligence from people generally these days, so I'm usually prepared for it.

One more thing. I'm riding to work this morning, doing maybe 25 and there's a guy a half-block away crossing the road in the middle of the block. He looks right at me when I'm maybe 50 feet from him and of course continues to cross. Only a last second swerve saved both of us from a trip to ER. How many of you have had someone look you right in the eyes and then step out in front of you? All the time. Just like with car drivers who do the same after we've obviously made eye contact. Two words: loud horn. I would never operate a vehicle at these speeds without an audible signaling device capable of being heard thru a closed car window. Yeah, I know, in this case it seems anachronistic that you should have to blast noise at someone after they've seen you, esp. a jay-walking pedestrian. But it's that notion that you're not a car, so you're not going to "run them over", that leads to this behavior. If the person hears a loud warning noise accompanying your approach, I think it shifts their thinking, so they might just realize, "oh yeah, that is a vehicle, and oh yeah, I am crossing mid-block".

I can think of many instances in which we are far better off with conventional road design than with homicidal bicycle-specific facilities such as the one described.

We don't even have bike lanes! Or shoulders for that matter!!!