<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></parent_chain><comment><author>ben7799</author><text>As a long time long distance cyclist an awfully lot of these lanes, both protected and painted&amp;#x2F;&amp;quot;sharrow&amp;quot; are really frightening.&lt;p&gt;There is an anti-car&amp;#x2F;pro-bike lane group of researchers who want to push this style of road design super hard right now at all costs.&lt;p&gt;There are still major problems with their designs though, they are working from the assumption cyclists won&amp;#x27;t learn to follow the rules of the road.&lt;p&gt;Tell me how I&amp;#x27;m supposed to safely take a left out of one of these protected bike lanes in any way that is safe and time&amp;#x2F;distance effective?   They&amp;#x27;ve stuck me in a &amp;quot;protected&amp;quot; lane on the far right side of the road and I can&amp;#x27;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&amp;#x27;t require mountain bike skills to exit.&lt;p&gt;Also how do they expect me to safely go straight through the intersection when they&amp;#x27;ve locked me into a protected bike lane that is to the right of the &amp;quot;right hand turn lane&amp;quot; for the motor vehicles?  If I was riding in the road I would signal left and move left into the &amp;quot;go straight&amp;quot; lane.&lt;p&gt;It seems they think all cyclists need to dismount and become pedestrians in the crosswalk at all intersections.  That&amp;#x27;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.&lt;p&gt;This stuff is plainly obvious when you&amp;#x27;ve rode 10s or 100s of times more miles than the researchers.  If they put more effort into educational programs it&amp;#x27;d go a long way since city riders tend to break every law they can constantly and pull incredibly bone headed moves.&lt;p&gt;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.</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></parent_chain><comment><author>godelski</author><text>I bike commute all the time and I want to share an experience from yesterday that EVERY cyclist will get. (I live in the PNW, so there are a lot of people that bike here)&lt;p&gt;I was sitting at a stop sign, in a lane that has sharrows. Waiting for a car to go by I feel a push from behind and get almost pushed into the car I&amp;#x27;m waiting for (my hands aren&amp;#x27;t on the breaks, by feet are on the ground). Adrenaline skyrockets, I look back see this guy not really concerned, I look down at my bike, then back up at him, and just say &amp;quot;Dude, what the fuck?&amp;quot; (not really yelling, trying to stay calm). The guy&amp;#x27;s response &amp;quot;Chill out, it was an accident.&amp;quot; Of course at this point I flip out.&lt;p&gt;To be honest, this is one of the better experiences I&amp;#x27;ve had when cars almost seriously injure me.[0] There is a frequent challenge of avoiding doors being opened on you while also not pissing off the car following you in the sharrow road. Of getting out of intersections as fast as possible (because getting hit at a stop sign is pretty common). Avoiding pedestrians that step right off the curb into you. I ride without headphones because I have to be aware.&lt;p&gt;I have found that riding in protected bike lanes, a lot of this decreases. There is extra space for me at stop signs&amp;#x2F;lights, drivers have to stop sooner. Cars are parking out, and are more likely to look before they open their door. Pedestrians notice something is off and actually look both ways before stepping off the curb. I think the green painting helps too. Honestly I feel A LOT safer in a protected bike lane.&lt;p&gt;[0] worst experience is that this guy cut me off, almost hitting me, I flipped him off and he proceeded to try to hit me with his car. As in he got behind me and came over into the bike lane. I bailed into the sidewalk and he hit the curb, then he drives off.</text></comment>