<story><title>Roads with protected bike lanes make both cycling and driving safer: study</title><url>https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2019/06/protected-bike-lanes-safe-street-design-bicycle-road-safety/590722/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>wefarrell</author><text>In NYC I think they&amp;#x27;re counterproductive to safety. Cars use them for temporary parking and pedestrians use them as a sidewalk.&lt;p&gt;When I visit Europe and Japan they seem to be far more effective.&lt;p&gt;I think it comes down to etiquette and that goes both ways - non cyclists need to respect bike lanes and cyclists need to obey traffic laws. Admittedly I don&amp;#x27;t obey traffic laws when cycling, but I would if they were enforced.</text></item><item><author>jxcl</author><text>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&amp;#x27;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.&lt;p&gt;Unprotected bike lanes between traffic and parking are the worst though. It&amp;#x27;s terrifying riding past cars any of which might open their door without looking and either cause me to crash into them or swerve into traffic and be run over. On these streets I will frequently ride in the car lanes as well.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>amalcon</author><text>What factor do you believe explains the 78% drop in deaths and serious injuries per bicycle trip in NYC from 2000-2017?&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www1.nyc.gov&amp;#x2F;html&amp;#x2F;dot&amp;#x2F;downloads&amp;#x2F;pdf&amp;#x2F;nyc-cycling-risk.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www1.nyc.gov&amp;#x2F;html&amp;#x2F;dot&amp;#x2F;downloads&amp;#x2F;pdf&amp;#x2F;nyc-cycling-risk...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m legitimately curious.  I&amp;#x27;m not a New Yorker, so it&amp;#x27;s very plausible that there are factors involved that I&amp;#x27;m not aware of.  E.g. if the additional 130 million trips in 2017 are all in Central Park, that could explain it.</text></comment>
<story><title>Roads with protected bike lanes make both cycling and driving safer: study</title><url>https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2019/06/protected-bike-lanes-safe-street-design-bicycle-road-safety/590722/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>wefarrell</author><text>In NYC I think they&amp;#x27;re counterproductive to safety. Cars use them for temporary parking and pedestrians use them as a sidewalk.&lt;p&gt;When I visit Europe and Japan they seem to be far more effective.&lt;p&gt;I think it comes down to etiquette and that goes both ways - non cyclists need to respect bike lanes and cyclists need to obey traffic laws. Admittedly I don&amp;#x27;t obey traffic laws when cycling, but I would if they were enforced.</text></item><item><author>jxcl</author><text>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&amp;#x27;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.&lt;p&gt;Unprotected bike lanes between traffic and parking are the worst though. It&amp;#x27;s terrifying riding past cars any of which might open their door without looking and either cause me to crash into them or swerve into traffic and be run over. On these streets I will frequently ride in the car lanes as well.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>deanclatworthy</author><text>As a European I couldn&amp;#x27;t believe people cycled in the lanes I saw in NYC last year. I was there only a few days, but saw numerous close calls with drivers turning into the lanes. It&amp;#x27;s nuts. If you took away the parking inbetween the cycle lane and the road, you&amp;#x27;d probably take away 50% of accidents also.</text></comment>