I have not a clue as to how to stop cyclists from riding the wrong way in a bike lane. I deal with this CONSTANTLY on my commute in the Rockaway's of Queens, with what I call the "Rockaway Wrongways", numbnuts on beach cruisers who come around a corner directly into oncoming bike traffic. They NEVER look !. I have had way too many near misses.

I also question the City's design of a bike lane directly against the curb. I've seen 2 versions, one that is simply a protected lane, painted as such, with no barricades separating the bike lane from the car lane, the other the kind you see in Manhattan, with a parking lane, then a bike lane against the curb.

With the former, the inclination is to NOT ride in the actual lane as that area of the road surface tends (as any roadie knows and has experienced) to attract and collect the most debris and glass. The other issue is related to how you learn the rules of staying "Visible". One of the tricks experienced road riders learn is to not ride as far to the right of the shoulder as is possible, but instead to ride nearer the edge of the marked lane, so as to be noticed. The same holds true for riding a bike lane dead against the curb. To pedestrians, you are not as noticed as when you are 3 ft. into the roadway. Thus with the current City design, you are more likely to have a collision with pedestrians.

The Manhattan isolated lanes scare me even more. They are set right against the curb, where pedestrians are likely to use the bike lane if the sidewalk is crowded. They often are set against parked cars and you can believe that not a car passenger on this planet is going to have the awareness to look rearward or into the mirror before opening a car door into the path of oncoming cyclists. An absolutely dumb idea and I'm surprised nobody has been killed yet as a result.

Here's a link to the NYC brochure on cycling in the city and some of what I consider problems with lane designs are apparant.

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/download...t_brochure.pdf

SB