Pretty mixed responses regarding the BL on Broadway in Portland...
The comments about BL being best used on high speed arterials really hits home for me. I also tend to agree that BL in downtown 25MPH areas, ESPECIALLY along parked cars, are both useless and a hazard.
But I feel that if the city is going to put in BL, they should also look at the overall picture... how do BL effect all traffic, how usable are the BL. What things are preventing cyclists use of the BL?
Consider this post from
http://bikeportland.org/2006/08/03/a...n-or-a-hazard/
I think we might want to consider a new direction instead of debating the safety of bike lanes and the ticketing of those of us that choose not to ride in them. Perhaps we should focus our attention towards getting the police to issue citations for drivers that interfere with bike lanes. I have more than once watched a driver block the bike lane in plan sight of an officer and seen nothing done about it. If the police want to write tickets, I say they should focus on making our bike lanes safer by trying to “educate” by way of a citation drivers who illegally use these lanes.
Imagine putting in a street somewhere and having it always full of pedestrians.... so much pedestrian traffic that an auto would have to crawl down the lane to ensure not hitting anyone... motorists would think that outragous... but it seems like that is exactly what they have done with the BL on Broadway. Doesn't make much sense when you look at it from the standpoint of a user, does it?
I also find it interesting the issues that another poster brought up... reguarding the "crackdown." If 95% of the users of the road are motorists... shouldn't at least half the tickets go to motorist violators? Are the cops being fair in their enforcement of the laws?