Originally Posted by genec
Hey no one died in this incident... Yes, a BL was involved, but would the outcome have been any different if there were no stripe on the road, and the cyclist just continued as they were, with the motorist aggressivly making that right turn?
Blaming bike lanes for cycling accidents is like blaming hiways for drunk driving.
How many times have we talked about the need to end bike lane stripes at least 100 feet before any intersection that has no right only lane (assuming, of course, the BL is to the left of the RTOL at the intersections with RTOLs)? I thought you agreed with this, no? The reason for this, of course, is that the bike lane sets up the through cyclist and right-turning motorist on a collision course at the intersection.
Right hooks happen at intersections without BL stripes, to be sure. Ultimately it is the behavior that causes the crashes. The contributory behavioral factors include:
- The cyclist is going straight from "right turn space" if you will - the space normally used by drivers who are not going straight but turning right.
- The motorist is not "as far right as practicable" as he approaches the intersection and makes his turn.
- After the motorist passes the cyclist and slows down, the cyclist does not slow down, and, instead, commences passing the slowing motorist on the right.
Ultimately, it is those three behaviorial factors that have nothing to do with the stripe that cause the collision. But to the extent that the bike lane stripe, even if it is dashed at that point, encourages any or all of this behavior, it is a secondary but significant contributory factor as well.
And, as I pointed out many times before, to the extent that the BL stripe at intersection approaches "trains" right-turning motorists and through cyclists to behave in accordance to (1) and (2) at intersections with bike lanes, bike lanes in general are even contributory factors when these learned behaviors are transferred to intersections
without bike lanes.
Even on this forum despite all my pontificating very few (including even you apparently) can seem to apply this understanding to real world situations. Note the original thread on the particular incident we're discussing, and how few noted the relevance of the cyclist's positioning as a contributory factor (with notable exceptions like Stephen Goodridge who of course noted it right away). This illustrates how few really understand the mechanics and safety purpose of destination positioning, and how bike lanes (except those to the left of RTOLs) contradict it.