kalliergo 

Yup. And it's usually perfectly legal, including, probably, at the spot where Joey nearly got clobbered.

I really like those strobes. Be careful out there.

njkayaker

It's usually not legal for motor vehicle drivers to cross the fog line to pass on the right (I believe TX is one exception).

Bekologist

not only that, if the white van wasn't parked in the first photo, a motorist could easily try to pass a left turner.

I'm surprised this humdrum traffic danger threw Joey for a loop to the degree he wanted to post about it here. It's really an inditement of poor situational awareness, regardless of the stripes on the road.

It's really a no-brainer - watch out approaching a line of cars with a left turner at the front of the line.

Be doubly cautious, especially so, if there's enough room for the stopped cars to try to get around.

JoeyBike

Auto traffic is de-prioritizing itself in NOLA. Any major event such as a Superbowl or Final Four in town completely shuts down about 50 square blocks (not huge NYC type blocks) to auto traffic. Locals and folks parking cars at hotels inside this grid get a pass as do delivery drivers very early a.m. but casual driving around is shut down all through the event. Otherwise, during morning and evening rush hour things get pretty ugly, especially if something goes wrong, like one traffic signal failing.

B. Carfree

If you're surprised, then you haven't been watching enough of Joey's videos. In order to do what he does, he has to assess what's going on rather quickly and can't always double-check. That leaves him vulnerable to a motorist who sends one signal, like initiating a stop behind a left-turning vehicle, who then suddenly changes his mind. It's not like Joey ignored the possibility of a car pulling into the bike lane; he checked and was given one signal that turned out to be wrong when the motorist changed his/her mind.

JoeyBike

No, it's really an indictment of MOMENTARY poor situational awareness. This could happen to anyone, especially any of the hordes of newbies who are now biking in NOLA due to all of the new cycling features springing up all over. If it almost got me, God help the rest of them. I think the newly painted stripes invite cars to pass on the right - something that was not possible (or very unlikely) at that intersection for a hundred years previous. There was never 30 seconds when those old parking places were left empty which effectively kept the stream of traffic corralled into one neat line.

It's obvious looking at the photos that I rolled into a trap and could have done any number of things better.

I am surprised you took the time to comment on my humdrum experience. The point is, this is a "bike safety" forum. My actions - and knowledge of the design of that bit of roadway - might save someone else reading this, who may be considering commuting by bicycle from making the same mistake I made. And any time a BFer almost gets maimed for whatever reason, I hope they push aside any pride and post about it here so others may either learn, or become inspired to take it easy for a few days.

Ask any dead Hollywood stuntman how they died. It wasn't some complicated stunt that killed them but some humdrum no-brainer that gets them.

JoeyBike

There is the irony. Everyone expects me to crash and burn blasting through an 8-lane highway against a red light. But I was just minding my own business tooling along in a bike lane about to proceed through a green light. My awareness may have lapsed as Bek keeps railing me about, but I wasn't doing anything "wrong" out there. Just putting along in the bike lane when a "piano" almost falls on me.

kalliergo 

Lots of exceptions in various places. Here's the current California provision:

In Louisiana:

Note that Louisiana, but not California, prohibits leaving the pavement or traveled portion. Joey's close encounter was with a driver who might well have been making a legal move, except that he forgot the part about safe conditions. . .

Bekologist

spare me; Joey tried to pass a vehicle behind a left turner with room for that driver to move right and pass- a place to watch out for, no matter the stripes on a road. i'd be confident this happens more on roads without bikelanes than with, and for Joey to pass the buck onto the pavement markings - which the driver may not have been even able to see - shrouds where the danger multiplier resides in this scenario.

That same bikelane has probably been used by Joey to his great advantage passing stopped cars - just got to watch the intersections, no matter the stripes.

A rider must always be on guard anytime they're attempting to pass a vehicle and there's room for that vehicle to occupy the same space.

-Any traffic jammer knows this.

B. Carfree

Be fair, Bek. Joey has totally owned what mistakes he made here. The bike lane was just a feature that was present. The only "blame" he laid on it was really laid on the removal of the parking places as it approaches the intersection.

JoeyBike

It actually makes sense to let cars pass on the right in that location. However, that bike lane starts at a point that literally forces cars in the right lane (of two) into the bike lane (see the photo I posted above with several cars trapped in the bike lane), then forces bikes into a trap where cars will be passing on the right without proper markings on the roadway - like: END BIKE LANE which is precisely what is happening there. But instead there is a happy bicycle with a freaking arrow guiding cyclists into a trap (visible in photo above). The bike lane does not continue beyond that intersection. The road becomes one shared lane with parallel parking on the right and eventually a curb on the left after a short bit of double-yellow line.

Bekologist

maybe a bollard or two, keep those killers on their side of time line, eh? keep the mad assassins at bay from those with slowed reflexes.

i'm confident riders by and large find the bikelanes a boon at passing all the congested traffic in old town.

kalliergo 

I guess we're looking at different photos or something. The bike lane I see is so bad even you ought to hate it, Bek.

njkayaker

It's the wrong provision. California prohibits it (using the same words that LA does). I don't believe there are "lots" of exceptions (there may be some).

???? "Legal move"? Louisiana prohibits it (including using bicycle lanes or shoulders).

============

https://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d11/vc21755.htm

https://www.legis.state.la.us/lss/lss.asp?doc=88556

As I said, there could be exceptions. CA and LA are not exceptions.

Bekologist

yeah, everyone should simply ride their bikes in big crowded cities like New Orleans expecting motorists to simply follow the law. it's that simple.



traffic jammers should know better. This is a paltry, blame the pavement game.

njkayaker

Not what I was saying. You should stop putting words into other people's mouths.

sudo bike

It's because none of us can match your cycling prowess. Go easy on us unwashed masses, Bek... we can't all be as perfect as you.

Bekologist

dude - it's a simple safety suggestion. it's not MY 'prowess'. Joeys the one always posting about his traffic prowess so this post seems out of character. This is a shame and blame the pavement game.

for those of you riding into scenarios like this - stopped traffic, left turner, space for cars to pass, do not let your guard down simply because you think the driver isn't going to try to get around!

basic situational awareness for riding in cities or anywhere you encounter a line of backed up traffic.

Don't tell the forum you too, Sudo, recommend the 'ignorance is bliss' technique when you approach a line of stopped traffic with a left turner at the front of the line, and space for the second to move around?

Bekologist

it seems that's what more than a few of you are suggesting. quoting the legal restrictions against it makes it seem like you think the laws provide a magic shield against motorists flubbing exacting traffic interaction.


sorry you can't entertain conversational repartee; the OP is suggesting because of the striping on the road, he shouldn't have had this happen to him, how dare the motorist 'break the law'.

sudo bike

And here I thought you were just down-talking to people with phrases like:

But I guess these were all just harmless safety suggestions. Could've fooled me.

njkayaker

No. It appears that many things "seem" to you that are not real.

Anybody for whom this "seems" has comprehension problems. No one is suggesting what you are imagining they "seem" to be suggesting.

You can't deal with people talking about topics you don't approve of.

??? He isn't suggesting any such thing.

dynodonn 

"i'm confident riders by and large find the bikelanes a boon at passing all the congested traffic in old town."

I agree, and one should operate at a speed parameter that fits their reflexes and traffic conditions at the time.

kalliergo 

That's just silly. Regardless of the legality of leaving the pavement or main traveled portion of the roadway, or crossing the fog line, neither of those situations is applicable to the situation Joey shared.

What do you think those dashed lines are intended to indicate?

njkayaker

The thing that happened to Joey doesn't only occur in places with dashed lines.

I rather-clearly wasn't talking about the dashed-line situation.

Anyway, the interest (according to Joey) of his particular situation is what it says generally about similar situations (not just in the situation where there are dashed lines).

Note that it wouldn't be legal if the lane was a right-turn lane (even with the dashed lines). (Because you are easlily confused, I'll point out that it appears there wasn't a right-turn only lane in Joey's particular situation.)

kalliergo 

Well, it wasn't clear to me, probably because Joey's thread is about what happened in that particular situation.

As for the common passing-left-turning-traffic-on-the-right procedure, almost nobody in America hesitates to do so, whether it requires leaving the main roadway, using a paved or unpaved shoulder, or not. It's SOP.

The lesson for cyclists is the same in both cases: Passing traffic that may move right, on the right, is dangerous.