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Roads with protected bike lanes make both cycling and driving safer: study

citylab.com

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Re: Roads with protected bike lanes make both cycling and driving safer: study

#31

Post by dougmany »

fhbdukfrh wrote: post #10
amalcon wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The stats are quite clear that protected bicycle lanes improve bicyclist safety. The article literally cites such a study.

The study supports safety for cyclists but i missed any reference to the safety for drivers that the article purports it found

There is a link to another article that states:

>“Bike facilities end up slowing cars down, even when a driver hits another driver, it’s less likely to be a fatality because it’s happening at a slower speed,” Marshall said.

https://usa.streetsblog.org/2019/05/29/protect-yourself-sepa...

Re: Roads with protected bike lanes make both cycling and driving safer: study

#32

Post by hannasanarion »

fhbdukfrh wrote: post #8
WhompingWindows wrote: post #3

I ride extensively around the Providence, RI area. Cars are simply a scourge to biking here, at a time when we need less global and local pollution and we need to improve health via air quality and exercise. We have VERY few protected lanes, mostly there are "sharrows" aka faded pictures of bikes on the road that do absolutely zilch. I am routinely honked at and ignorant/rude people yell things out of their car windo…

I agree with your general sentiment, but don't think people on electric bikes are going to improve the situation, rather make it much, much worse based on the electric bike share pilot in my city. Someone who owns their ebike might be better, but those on shared bikes are a danger to everyone and never wear a helmet.

Electric bikes enable more people to participate in biking when they would have driven otherwise. It takes time to build up the leg strength it takes to bike well enough for commuting, most people don't have the time to train for weeks so that they can comfortably conquer the hill on the way to work or whatever.

More bikes on the road means more pressure on drivers to keep an eye out, and more pressure on politicians to make infrastructure safe for cyclists.

Re: Roads with protected bike lanes make both cycling and driving safer: study

#33

Post by matsemann »

chuckgreenman wrote: post #16

In Cincinnati, it's illegal to ride a bike on a sidewalk, which makes sense, it's not very pleasant for the cyclist or pedestrians. The result is that bicyclers ride in the street. You'll regularly get harassed for riding in the street, even when you're all the way to the right, or people will just open their door right into the lane when they street park. It's really difficult to travel with bicycles safely in a med…

> You'll regularly get harassed for riding in the street, even when you're all the way to the right

I don't even understand the hate for riding in the middle. If a driver were to pass someone riding on the right, he would (should) have to move so far over that the next lane has to be empty. That is the same as if the bicyclist was in the middle.

Riding to the right only invites cars to squeeze past. Take the lane, it's safer.

Re: Roads with protected bike lanes make both cycling and driving safer: study

#34

Post by Johnny555 »

gpm wrote: post #20
fhbdukfrh wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with your general sentiment, but don't think people on electric bikes are going to improve the situation, rather make it much, much worse based on the electric bike share pilot in my city. Someone who owns their ebike might be better, but those on shared bikes are a danger to everyone and never wear a helmet.

Wearing a helmet increases your chance of death on a bike according to the statistics. I personally don't, I feel less safe wearing one. I can't locate cars as accurately with audio with one on my head, the extra weight makesy head turn slower, and I think subconsciously left often. Drivers pass more aggressively and illegally (most drivers passing break the law here that requires a meter seperation when passing a cy…

Are you wearing a motorcycle helmet? My bike helmet doesn't touch my ears and weighs around 300g, about 5% of the 5 kg weight of a human head -- I can't tell the difference between turning my head with and without a helmet, but it doesn't matter much on the road since I use a rear-view mirror on my glasses so I look behind me much more often than if I had to turn my head every time.

Re: Roads with protected bike lanes make both cycling and driving safer: study

#35

Post by hannasanarion »

jtms wrote: post #19
fhbdukfrh wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The study supports safety for cyclists but i missed any reference to the safety for drivers that the article purports it found

Is collision with a cyclist really a safety risk for an automobile driver? A minor ding for a car is a fatality for a cyclist

As measured in a reduction of damage from accidents, yeah. If cars travel at lower speed, they're less likely to crash and when they do, it won't be as expensive to fix.

Re: Roads with protected bike lanes make both cycling and driving safer: study

#36

Post by cbm-vic-20 »

fhbdukfrh wrote: post #8
WhompingWindows wrote: post #3

I ride extensively around the Providence, RI area. Cars are simply a scourge to biking here, at a time when we need less global and local pollution and we need to improve health via air quality and exercise. We have VERY few protected lanes, mostly there are "sharrows" aka faded pictures of bikes on the road that do absolutely zilch. I am routinely honked at and ignorant/rude people yell things out of their car windo…

I agree with your general sentiment, but don't think people on electric bikes are going to improve the situation, rather make it much, much worse based on the electric bike share pilot in my city. Someone who owns their ebike might be better, but those on shared bikes are a danger to everyone and never wear a helmet.

Providence is one such city with an electric bikeshare fleet. The people who ride them appear to be in much more danger, as they rarely wear helmets and seem to be even less aware of traffic regulations than traditional cyclists.

Re: Roads with protected bike lanes make both cycling and driving safer: study

#37

Post by gjs278 »

WhompingWindows wrote: post #3

I ride extensively around the Providence, RI area. Cars are simply a scourge to biking here, at a time when we need less global and local pollution and we need to improve health via air quality and exercise. We have VERY few protected lanes, mostly there are "sharrows" aka faded pictures of bikes on the road that do absolutely zilch. I am routinely honked at and ignorant/rude people yell things out of their car windo…

biking is a scourge to cars. there are plenty of zero emission vehicles out there. I doubt anyone is yelling ignorant things at you. people who drive cars know you are annoying. you’re in the way and it’s impossible to pass you. we’re not going to expand every road because it would be impractical.

if you get electric bikes you can just go 35mph and nobody will care. motorcycles do it fine.

Re: Roads with protected bike lanes make both cycling and driving safer: study

#38

Post by 6cd6beb »

jxcl wrote: post #2

As a commuting cyclist I usually prefer to ride in the street than in a bike lane. Protected cycle lanes are great only so long as nobody turns to the right directly in front of you. When there are cars parked in between the cycle lane and the car lane it's much easier for the driver to miss the cyclist, and few people check the cycle lane before turning right. I was definitely guilty of this until I started cycling.…

>When there are cars parked in between the cycle lane and the car lane it's much easier for the driver to miss the cyclist, and few people check the cycle lane before turning right. I was definitely guilty of this until I started cycling.

Happened to me. I t-boned the car, flipped up and over it, landed on outstretched arms and damn near broke them. She drove off. Still haven't fully recovered after a few years.

Honestly you just have to be fast enough to keep up with cars or take roads where cars are sparse. I find that drivers get more aggressive and careless the more of them there are on the road. Anecdotally if you drive a car in a rural road, if you happen to see another car on your trip you're getting a smile and a wave. This does not happen in downtown Austin.

Re: Roads with protected bike lanes make both cycling and driving safer: study

#39

Post by cobbzilla »

duncan-donuts wrote: post #30
gpm wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wearing a helmet increases your chance of death on a bike according to the statistics. I personally don't, I feel less safe wearing one. I can't locate cars as accurately with audio with one on my head, the extra weight makesy head turn slower, and I think subconsciously left often. Drivers pass more aggressively and illegally (most drivers passing break the law here that requires a meter seperation when passing a cy…

I’ve never heard anyone say it’s actually less safe to wear a helmet. What kind of helmet are you wearing? Most helmets are so light you’d hardly even notice. I’m just confused about this comment.

I am trying to find the study, but iirc it was that in the US cars drive more carefully when they see a cyclist w/o a helmet, resulting in fewer collisions.

Doubtless in case of a collision you’d be better off with the helmet, but at a high enough speed it won’t matter anyway.

I used to play basketball with a personal injury lawyer who flat-out stated that the % of situations he’s seen where a helmet actually helped was very small.

I don’t wear one for many reasons; and I don’t judge anyone else’s decision.

Re: Roads with protected bike lanes make both cycling and driving safer: study

#40

Post by ben7799 »

As a long time long distance cyclist an awfully lot of these lanes, both protected and painted/"sharrow" are really frightening.

There is an anti-car/pro-bike lane group of researchers who want to push this style of road design super hard right now at all costs.

There are still major problems with their designs though, they are working from the assumption cyclists won't learn to follow the rules of the road.

Tell me how I'm supposed to safely take a left out of one of these protected bike lanes in any way that is safe and time/distance effective? They've stuck me in a "protected" lane on the far right side of the road and I can't signal and get over to the left side turn lane without jumping a curb or plowing through some grass. Or they expect me to take a left from the far right side of multiple lanes of traffic? At least an unprotected lane doesn't require mountain bike skills to exit.

Also how do they expect me to safely go straight through the intersection when they've locked me into a protected bike lane that is to the right of the "right hand turn lane" for the motor vehicles? If I was riding in the road I would signal left and move left into the "go straight" lane.

It seems they think all cyclists need to dismount and become pedestrians in the crosswalk at all intersections. That's the only way to use these bike lanes safely. That is hardly time efficient compared to learning how to ride in the lanes. And most places outside of the city core there are no crosswalks anyway.

This stuff is plainly obvious when you've rode 10s or 100s of times more miles than the researchers. If they put more effort into educational programs it'd go a long way since city riders tend to break every law they can constantly and pull incredibly bone headed moves.

All their work is dedicated towards reducing the chances you get hit from behind by a car, which is the irrational fear. The real danger is getting hit from the side or the front at intersections.

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