Originally Posted by
I_bRAD
Somebody should tell the average sun reader that David miller doesn't really have anything to do with biking or it's promotion in the city. Aside from the bike week promo shots, of course.
I don't think it's a popular position with advocates, but I think bike lanes promote the attitude that bikes belong in bike lanes, and only in bike lanes. I think education for both drivers and cyclists is needed to use the roads safely. If I had a nickel for every time I saw someone turning right in their cars from the car lane, while cyclists ride past the same car on the right I'd have enough money to build 1.2kms of useless, expensive bike lanes (and I'd design them so that when you come to a bridge or an intersection, they dissapear- 'cause you really don't need bike lanes in the most likely places to get in an accident). Bike lanes just add another level of complexity to a task that few seem to have mastered as it is.
Agree totally. I don't really feel any safer in bike lanes and FWIW the only purpose they serve that I can tell is that it prevents drivers from pulling up behind you and insisting you get out of their way. I ride Danforth every day and it's got no bike lanes and I've got no issues with it, I just ride on the right when I've got room, take the lane when I don't, and move in and out of traffic when it's appropriate. If you can keep up with 30kph traffic you can ride in it and feel pretty safe (which I'm sure is redundant to tell anyone on BF) the issue I think is in accomodating slower cyclists who don't want to ride that way. While it'd be easy for a quick cyclist to move into the left lane to get around hazards or make a left turn, it's dangerous as all hell for a person on a bike doing 10kph to pull in front of traffic and bike lanes don't really address that. The only bike lane I'd think of as useful to the average cyclist would be something seperate from roadways where a cyclist CAN'T get a right hook, or won't have to merge out into traffic to get past an obstruction.
Personally the transit plan scares the hell out of me because the only thing that makes me feel unsafe on the road is street car tracks and apparently they're planning on installing a whole lot more
