Bike lanes are designed with the intent that cyclists be riding near the center of the bike lane. Most (not ALL) bike lanes are 4-5 feet wide. If you are riding in the center of a 4 foot lane, your wheels are two feet from the stripe. That means your body is inches from the stripe. If a driver is operating a vehicle that is passing you "as close as the bike lane allows", that means he is right up against the stripe too, so the right edge of his vehicle is inches from your body. Now, an experienced cyclist like you might feel safe in your knowledge that you can ride a straight line, and your confidence in the driver keeping his car from crossing the stripe, and I understand that. For almost 30 years I too didn't find that to be a problem. But I realize now what a precarious situation it is.

One rock. One hole. One blow out. One dog. That's all that has to happen to cause the cyclist to swerve left just a few inches, and put her body outside of the bike lane and in the path of a passing motorist. Maybe you feel confident that will never happen to you, but for a less experienced cyclist it is even more likely.


No matter how you slice it, no matter how much you educate, you cannot escape the reasonable conclusion most drivers and cyclists make and will always make about bike lanes: the bike lane (when there is one) is where bikes are supposed to be. Otherwise, why call it a BIKE lane? It is unreasonable to expect anyone to think otherwise. Driver intolerance of cyclists riding their BIKEs outside of BIKE lanes is perfectly reasonable and understandable, something education cannot fix. The only solution to driver intolerance of cyclists riding outside of bike lanes is elimination of bike lanes.


Yes, debris, door-zones and lane changes are issues for cyclists regardless of the presence or absence of bike lanes. No one is debating that. However, the point is that the presence of bike lanes exacerbates and complicates these issues for cyclists:

• Debris, in particular, is hardly an issue for cyclists anywhere except in bike lanes. Everywhere else, traffic constantly and continually sweeps away the debris. No affordable street sweeping program could come close to providing the effectivity and efficiency of traffic sweeping that comes for free.
• Getting cultural acceptance of the concept that cyclists should ride 5 feet or more away from parked cars is made much more difficult by door zone bike lanes that are painted within 5 feet of parked cars, indicating that that's where cyclists are supposed to be riding.
• Getting cultural acceptance of the concept that cyclists should leave the right side and position themselves, often involving lane changes, according to destination at intersections and their approaches, is made much more difficult by the presence of bike lanes that inherently imply cyclists should be riding there and not anywhere else.