Kinst_VonSterga

I'm sorry Mr. Doohickie, but as happily married man with 2 beautiful children, I'm not the least bit interested in your services, if that's what your soliciting here. Try some xxx forum as they may be more receptive to your offer ... counseling may help you if your personal vexations persist.

Doohickie

Ah, good comeback!

I-Like-To-Bike

Your scenario describes you as cycling left of a bike lane immediately prior to making a right turn; the right (bike) lane is wide and clear enough for a car to pass you on the right in this lane. I wouldn't be so quick to calling everybody else a jackass with such careless cycling technique.

I-Like-To-Bike

Are the requirements/regulations/design guidance codified anywhere for bike lane widening on curves, or six to eight feet minimum distance between bicyclists and passing vehicles? Or are these requirements to prevent "dangerous passing" and "CARnage" figments of your imagination/wishful thinking?

Kinst_VonSterga

I wish I had more time to meander around our city/county and take snapshot of bicycle lanes but it may have to wait until the weather improves as that is when my friends and I tear up the roads with our weekly bicycling excursions. When I ride with the local cycling club (Portland Velo), we seem to stay on certain/established routes so there is nof much inner-city cycling expeditions that occur as a group.

With that said, you pose a very good question (which I may ask our city to respond to as I can't find it online) and then verify if this code is being followed when we come across examples of complete failures to follow code ... at least it'll give me a feedback loop with the city based on their own standards of road construction/lane markings.

And if I take up Doohickie's advise, I may have a 3rd child in the making and in turn, I would have more kids that pester dad to go on bicycle rides ... which would not be a bad thing at all ;-) !

Digital_Cowboy

ILTB,

When you quoted me you left out a very important sentence:

The bike lane in question runs to the left of on street parking, which at the time was almost completely filled with parked cars. IF YOU wish to risk YOUR safety riding in the door zone that is your right. As with the cast majority of members here I will NOT do so. And exercised my legal option here in Fl to exit (well in this case I didn't even enter the bike lane because I would have had to exit it almost simultaneously) the bike lane. And before I was able to move into it after passing the last parked car Mr. or Miss JAM passes me on the right side. Driving totally in the bike path and partially in the on street parking.

I-Like-To-Bike

I understood and understand your concern about parked cars, however do you really need so much distance from every parked car that there is room for a car to pass you in that space?

B. Carfree

Codified since 2008 in response to the horrific killing of a local cyclist here in Lane County. The generally accepted story is one of the cyclists riding with her lost his line while she was wheel-crossed. She went down and a log truck crushed her. It was a two lane road with limited sight-lines and no shoulder. No citation was issued.

§
811.065ą
Unsafe passing of person operating bicycle

• • penalty

(1) A driver of a motor vehicle commits the offense of unsafe passing of a person operating a bicycle if the driver violates any of the following requirements:
(a) The driver of a motor vehicle may only pass a person operating a bicycle by driving to the left of the bicycle at a safe distance and returning to the lane of travel once the motor vehicle is safely clear of the overtaken bicycle. For the purposes of this paragraph, a "safe distance" means a distance that is sufficient to prevent contact with the person operating the bicycle if the person were to fall into the driver’s lane of traffic. This paragraph does not apply to a driver operating a motor vehicle:
(A) In a lane that is separate from and adjacent to a designated bicycle lane;
(B) At a speed not greater than 35 miles per hour; or
(C) When the driver is passing a person operating a bicycle on the person’s right side and the person operating the bicycle is turning left.




As far as I know, there has never been a citation for violating this statute issued in my county. This includes an incident that involved a motorist running over a cyclist.


Now as far as my imagination/wishful thinking: I imagine a place where motorists (and cyclists) obey the law so that we no longer have tens of thousands killed and millions injured annually on our public right-of-way. While I'm in imagination mode, maybe we could repair our infrastructure while we're at it (roads, bridges, dams, sewers); it has been fifty years since we did this sort of thing.

Digital_Cowboy

As I have said before even without the bike lane this road is substandard width lane. With the bike lane there isn't enough room for motorists who pass cyclists in the bike lane the 3' passing buffer as required by law. Leaving the bike lane and riding just to the right of the white line would still prevent motorists from being able to pass a cyclist.

On the day in question as I said had I entered the bike lane after making my initial turn on to 77th Ave. N. I would have had to leave it almost immediately as within just a second or two I would have been on the first parked car. I was prepared to move into the bike lane as soon as I passed the last parked car, if not for the fact that the JAM choose that exact same moment to pass me on the right.

I-Like-To-Bike

Your cited references do not address the issue of the source of your dreamy design requirements for bike lanes.

As I suspected you can't find any reference to any design or legal requirement for widening bike lanes on curves or requirements for a minimum of 6 to 8 feet distance between one vehicle passing another vehicle and/or bicycle.

Digital_Cowboy

ILTB,

If ya look at this map/picture you see where the bicycle stencil is just after the left turn? That is about where the first car was parked. And they continued to either just before or just after this 3-way intersection. As I said before I could move into the bike lane the JAM motorist had moved over into the bike lane and part of the on street parking. Making it impossible for me to safely enter the bike lane.

As you can see from the links this is a narrow i.e. substandard width lane road and according to Fl law I am NOT required (if there isn't a bike lane) to ride as FRAP.

I am allowed to move further to my left. Even with the bike lane and the new mandatory bike lane use amendment because in my opinion (and when it comes to my safety mine is the only one that counts) it was unsafe to proceed in the bike lane. Therefore I did not even enter the bike lane, choosing instead to ride in the travel lane. And again as I am sure that the links that I have provided show that particular road is so narrow that no matter where I ride in the travel lane there is not enough room for a motor vehicle to safely pass me.

Hell even when I am using the bike lane there is insufficient room for passing motorists to give the 3' passing buffer as required by law.

twobadfish

I was riding today and I saw a lot of what you guys are talking about. But none of it made me feel unsafe or like I was being put in a spot where I couldn't get myself out of. I asked earlier, what is the purpose of the complaining? I'm genuinely asking, like... what is the goal? To make the lanes friendlier for inexperienced cyclists?

DX-MAN

Originally Posted by DX-MAN
KVS, since I'm familiar with your posts in another thread about this subject, I won't call you a troll --
Doohickie:
But it probably wouldn't hurt if he got laid.

HAHAHAHHHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DX-MAN

ILTB:

Since I also have a smidgen of experience with FL traffic, I can assure you that his being passed like that by a car is not exceptional: the unofficial 'standard' for passing someone in FL is 1.01 car lengths, max. I was witness to(and recipient of) this on countless occasions, usually at 45mph when I was DRIVING! Would not have taken my life in my hands on FL roads like that one (2-way, 4-lane w/ center turn lane)!

Digital_Cowboy

To make the roads safer and friendlier period, regardless of how much experience a rider has.

Digital_Cowboy

Yep, we've got some very "nice" roads down here in the Sunshine State.

B. Carfree

Reread ORS811.065. take a typical male cyclist (six feet), add in the distance from the bottom bracket (or pedal) from the ground, add in any helmet height, add in arm length (yes, one's arms may go out when one falls) and if you don't get a distance of six to eight feet you are either dealing with an inability to add or an armless cyclist whose head mysteriously disappears. On roads without bike lanes in OR that have speed limits over 35 mph, a motorist passing a cyclist must give the cyclist that much room in order to not make contact should the cyclist fall, as called for under this OR law.

As far as widening lanes on curves, this has been standard practice for longer than bike lanes have existed. Considering that bikes increase their functional width by a much larger factor than cars on curves, it makes no sense to exclude bike lanes from standard design parameters in this instance. It is done because bike lanes are put in for a lot of reasons, but the safety of cyclists is often not one of them.

I-Like-To-Bike

Why limit YOUR interpretation of OR law to men only six foot tall and who don't bounce sideways after falling? You could add at least 3 or 4 more feet to your far fetched minimum passing distance standard.

Banking the grade on curves to account for the speed of vehicles I've seen, routinely widening lanes on street/road curves-nope, haven't seen it or heard of it either. Widening bike lanes on curves on a fixed width street will conversely narrow the other traffic lanes. Got written reference for this design scheme or is this another carfree brand pipe dream?

Pedaleur

Careful what you wish for: even the lousy bike lanes in many (most?) European countries are mandatory. Try riding your bike in the street in Copenhagen -- bikes are accepted, as long as they aren't in the way. (Nevertheless, I'd take Copenhagen over DC any day.)

By the way, are there any right-driving, English-speaking countries in Europe?