"RIGHT TURN ONLY EXCEPT BIKES"- what's a VC to do? ;)
03-03-08, 08:30 PM
#51
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One more scenario. You're moving towards a series of right turn only lanes spaced close enough together that merging right then left in between them would be worthless. About the same time you reach the lanes, a pack of traffic will have caught up with you. You have chosen a default position in the right hand lane in the absence of faster same direction traffic.
Do you move right and proceed to go straight from a series of turn lanes while the pack passes or do you stay in the lane and allow traffic to pass you in the left lane? Do you expect a ticket for staying in the right lane?
Do you move right and proceed to go straight from a series of turn lanes while the pack passes or do you stay in the lane and allow traffic to pass you in the left lane? Do you expect a ticket for staying in the right lane?
-D
03-03-08, 08:36 PM
#52
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03-26-08, 09:01 AM
#53
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If the cylist chooses to proceed straight from the right hand lane, the cyclist should use the left side of the lane, treating it like a multiple-destination lane, since that is essentially what it is for a mixture of through bicycle and right-turning traffic, and this positioning is required to avoid traveling straight at a position right of right-turning traffic.
The cyclist might choose to use the same through lane that the other traffic uses. I cannot say exactly what I would do without seeing the traffic and road conditions.
My city has an unfortunately large number of new right-turn-only lanes that were built very wide as part of incremental road widening. Eventually the widened roads will feature wide outside through lanes, but for now they are very wide RTOLs next to 11' or 12' through lanes. When proceeding straight at these lanes I usually proceed on the lane line to facilitate passing on either side. I have tried riding straight in the left side of the RTOL but this sometimes confuses right-turning drivers and often puts me in the wrong position for the other side of the intersection. I don't want to have to move laterally in the middle of the intersection like many cyclists do, creating the potential for surprises. Presumably a lane designed for through-bicycle traffic will have someplace for the cyclist to go on the other side of the intersection, and hopefully it won't be strewn with debris due to a lack of use by motor traffic. But I'd have to see it before doing something different from my default operation of going with the same destination positioning as other drivers.
The cyclist might choose to use the same through lane that the other traffic uses. I cannot say exactly what I would do without seeing the traffic and road conditions.
My city has an unfortunately large number of new right-turn-only lanes that were built very wide as part of incremental road widening. Eventually the widened roads will feature wide outside through lanes, but for now they are very wide RTOLs next to 11' or 12' through lanes. When proceeding straight at these lanes I usually proceed on the lane line to facilitate passing on either side. I have tried riding straight in the left side of the RTOL but this sometimes confuses right-turning drivers and often puts me in the wrong position for the other side of the intersection. I don't want to have to move laterally in the middle of the intersection like many cyclists do, creating the potential for surprises. Presumably a lane designed for through-bicycle traffic will have someplace for the cyclist to go on the other side of the intersection, and hopefully it won't be strewn with debris due to a lack of use by motor traffic. But I'd have to see it before doing something different from my default operation of going with the same destination positioning as other drivers.
03-26-08, 11:50 AM
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Bek - I think this is a better treatment than the Bike Boxes that Portland is installing.
Another of my criticisms of the Portland Program is that the cyclist mode split has grown large enough that four to five foot wide door zone / drainage grate bike lanes are no longer sufficient to carry the bike traffic in certain locations like east-bound lower Hawthorne. I think that cyclists need more space and have suggested eliminating the existing bike lane and converting the bike lane plus right-most travel lane to a bike-bus-right turn only lane. But I'm thinking the city is not going to jump on that, they seem more intent on creating a completely separated Amsterdam-style system, which in my opinion they will never be able to achieve for a variety of reasons, including the complicating presence of the interstate highway system, with all of its dangerous entrances and exits, overlayed onto the street grid.
Another of my criticisms of the Portland Program is that the cyclist mode split has grown large enough that four to five foot wide door zone / drainage grate bike lanes are no longer sufficient to carry the bike traffic in certain locations like east-bound lower Hawthorne. I think that cyclists need more space and have suggested eliminating the existing bike lane and converting the bike lane plus right-most travel lane to a bike-bus-right turn only lane. But I'm thinking the city is not going to jump on that, they seem more intent on creating a completely separated Amsterdam-style system, which in my opinion they will never be able to achieve for a variety of reasons, including the complicating presence of the interstate highway system, with all of its dangerous entrances and exits, overlayed onto the street grid.
