traffic & sidewalk use question
 

On my route home each day one section of road sometimes gets backed up for about .3-.5 of a mile.
I have three options and I'm just curious for some feedback. I probably split 50-50 between options 2 & 3.

First is to stay on the road with the cars and filter through between them and the curb.
I never do this because I have to go so slowly and despite the fact that I have decent skills I don't like that if I goof I could hit and scratch up a car something fierce. It's a narrow lane to begin with. I don't like it when they buzz me, so why do it to them?

Second option is a parallel street.
This is just a neighborhood street which parallels the main road. The upside is no traffic. The downside is that I generally take the lane when I do it and motorists that try to bypass traffic (usually the jams) aren't happy when they can't pass me. The motorists that use it are already too impatient to sit in traffic. The upside is that it's a nice road. Well a crumy riding surface, but through a nice neighborhood.

Third option is to ride the sidewalk.
The sidewalk almost never has anyone on it. When there is someone I slow down and exercise extreme caution and yield right of way to the pedestrians. I like this for a childish reason. Passing all the cars stuck in traffic makes me feel good. A kind of nah nah nah nah thing when they see that a bike can go faster than they can.


What would you do?

umm, with the second option there, why are you taking the lane? You say there is no traffic yet motorists are angry because they can't get around you? none of this makes sense.

I am all for riding on the sidewalk if it is the safest option. I always feel I would rather get yelled at by a pedestrian than hit by a car!

Option two. Longer traveling motorists should not use neighborhood streets to cut traffic. They will learn it doesn't buy them any time trying to use this short cut.

(I, once a week have a similar situation. I use a 25mph posted street that is a designated bicycle route, heavily used by cyclists, speed humps with 20mph posted. I take the lane and ride 20-25mph. The only way motorists find this back way faster than the parallel arterials is if they speed at 35mph, which is inappropriate on this road. They can travel at 20mph behind me. When I occassionally motor this same route (as it leads to my home, not as a short cut) I also drive 25mph and lines of want to be speeders pile up behind me - if they are in such a hurry they should take the 45mph arterial)

Or modified option one which is to filter to the left of the line of cars, if this is possible.

Al

I'd do either the side street or the sidewalk, depending on a couple of things. My preference would be the side street, but I'd go for the sidewalk if (1) the side street was not well lit and/or had a lot of uncontrolled intersections, (2) the side street was in really terrible shape and I'd have a hard time rinding the surface and/or have to constantly dodge potholes, bumps, and other stuff or (3) the drivers on that street really were so clueless that they weren't giving me room and/or the street was so narrow that I couldn't get the room.

Doing the nah nah to the drivers on the main street may make you feel better, but if there are pedestrians there, you really are putting them and you at risk. If pedestrians are doing the iPod Zombie thing, which a lot of them do around here, they might not know you're coming until you're literally on top of them. In this case, you might either run into them or simply scare them to death. Either way, you'd probably feel at least a little badly for them.

because it's too narrow at some points for both of us...due to parked cars I'd be weaving in and out.

If there's anyone on this sidewalk, I slow down to pace that's barely faster than walking.

The other issue is that I'm potentially showing motorists that cyclists should be on the sidewalk rather than in the street.

I was once backed up in traffic on a very narrow lane, about 3-4 light cycles to get thru light, no space left or right to filter, but a sidewalk with many side intersections and lots of tilted/damaged sections. I was patiently waiting, relaxed, in no hurry.

Moments later a motorcycle police came up behind me, waited about 15 seconds in line, then hopped up on the sidewalk and passed us all.

Al

Riding on the sidewalk is never a good idea because cars often will not look in the direction you are traveling , and you may have to dodge a lot of cars exiting driveways and parking lots. If there are peds then you are being an ass and putting them at risk. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle2599595.ece

again..there are no peds on this stretch. I see maybe one or two a week. There is no safety issue on this section either in terms of cars exiting driveways. It's not so much a safety issue as it is a perception issue.

Cyclist riding on the sidewalk is a pet peeve of mine, so you can ignore me if you want. I will never condone sidewalk riding even when there are no peds.
Personally i would split the lane and filter through the traffic.
Or just take the residential street and ignore those motorists behind you.

I'd take the alternate route if your primary is too dangerous. As it is I take an alternate route that makes my ride 2.5 times longer than normal.

It's illegal to ride on the sidewalk here.

No one is talking about any route being 'too dangerous'
The only issue it seems to me is the primary route is jammed up.

Al

Based on what you described, I'd ride on the sidewalk.

I would wait or go down the other street.

Two. Definitely two.

Walking the bike down a sidewalk is always a safer option. For you and for the pedestrian.

Take the alternate route. If a JAM gets mad at you just remember that you have a right to be there. You don't need to leave a safety zone just so they can pass immediately, wait til it is safe to let them pass. I do this all the time.

Two. I do the same thing and take the lane on a narrow street I use as an alternate. Occasionally. a motorist may get annoyed but I can do 25mph and there are stop signs every few blocks. This is the same street I had a motorist pass me 100 feet before a stop sign. Stupid fool sat in the other lane going the opposite direction at the sign.

I try to avoid riding on the sidewalk whenever possible. For the purposes of avoiding traffic jams, I only do it if the traffic jam is really really long, and impossible to filter/lane-split through. Even then I usually only ride the sidewalk to the closest intersection, and then turn off the jammed up road and go for parallel routes. That only happens to me maybe once in three months or so (in general I do ride on the sidewalks more often than that, but for other reasons, such as to bypass construction or to avoid doing two left turns in quick succession).

In a situation when I know a road is likely going to be backed up for a long stretch, I'd probably just ride the parallel street by default. If it's going to piss off motorists... oh well. You can't avoid pissing off North American motorists; they're such an irritable bunch!

BTW, as others asked, can you split lanes? Often there is not enough space between the curb and the cars in the curb lane, but there is sufficient space between the two lanes of cars.

Waiting is an option too, of course, but I won't condemn any cyclist for not wanting to wait in a half-mile long jam. :lol: Even if you're in no hurry, you'll have to sit there breathing in exhaust fumes.

How many lanes of traffic in each direction?

three lanes in each direction on the main road that gets tied up.

on the parallel road it's probably three and a half cars wide, but cars park on both sides of the street. Getting two cars going opposite ways means someone has to pull to the side.

How long does it take to wait in line for the .3 to .5 mi back up. Not saying you should, just wondering what the extra time really is - some lights let thru quite a long line of traffic per cycle.

Al

Even if you have room to filter between the lines of traffic (on the left of the rightmost lane) it doesn't mean that it is legal in MD.

I really don't see what the issue is with taking the residential street. Seems preferable even if the traffic was not backed up on what sounds like an arterial. Is the real problem that it is slower due to more intersections?

Al

Never done it, although I wait at all lights and never filter there.

That backup? I'd be standing/straddling the bike for ten-fifteen minutes, which defeats a primary purpose and capability of the bike.

Filtering isn't possible. It's too tight and eventually I'd scrape a car or catch a mirror with my courier bag.