Originally Posted by
randya
This is actually a more universal problem than you might think.
Portland has the same problem.
The DOT attitude seems to be that engineering is all you need and that everyone will intuitively know and understand how to interact on whatever infrastructure you provide.
After that, they seem to think that enforcement will solve all the remaining problems.
The HUGE missing piece, IMHO, is education; of cyclists certainly, but first and foremost of motorists.
I think what any DOT type engineer is thinking (and here I also consider John Forester and his insistence that everything for cyclists would be just fine... if...) is that motorists will obey the speed limits, follow the lines, markings and signs, and slow down and evaluate all that is before them.
The reality is that far too many motorists consider the front seat on par with their living room couch, and that habit will get them home each evening... and that they are the best driver on the road at any speed.
It is that dichotomy between that reality of what motorists really do, compared to what engineers expect them to do, that is the real head slapper for anyone watching traffic.