[SDCBC] Gilman / I-5 interchange

[JonIsaacs at aol.com]

> >>I believe if you wait until the right most lane has become two 
> right-turn-only lanes, then you've probably waited too long to merge left.  Waiting 
> that long might also explain why motorists approaching from behind might not 
> have sufficient time to deal with the cyclist's sudden presence reasonably (and 
> why they might swerve into the center median to pass).  
> 
> Effective lane-control often requires early lane-control.
> 
> Serge
> 
> -----

Serge:  Indeed, that is how I try to address that region.  If I wait until 
the bicycle lane merges across the traffic lane then it is problematic though if 
I just ride along with my arm out, and wait for a spot, it is normally not an 
issue.  But I normally wait for an open spot much further up the road, make a 
break and go for it.   Again, I stay to the left so that if an impatient 
driver pulls out from the right turn lane (which is how one friend in the bike 
lane was hit) I have room.

Kathy et. al.:  As far as making the intersection safer,  it is a problem.  

But I have to ask this question:  Do you or Jim or Serge or John E. or John 
F. or anyone think that riding in the bike lane in the region where motorist 
frequently make that illegal right across the bike lane is a reasonable thing to 
do??  This is not a retorical question.  

Sometimes i just stop and watch that intersection, how the motorists and 
bicycles interact.  I see a lot of near misses, cars cutting off bikes, city 
buses, school buses, large and small vehicles making that illegal right.  Sometimes 
only about 1 in 5 vehicles make the illegal right, sometimes it is 1 in 2 or 
even 2 out of 3.  Some times I call the SDPD.  A few years ago I dealt with 
the school district about a bus driver who repeated made the illegal right.

Since the straight through lane exists as a quasi-turn right turn lane, I 
believe it is necessary to treat it as such and ride in the far left lane.

Does this seem reasonable to everyone???  

Of course the next question is, if the proper place to ride, at least in 
heavy traffic, is the not the bike lane, then why have the bike lane??

I know this is long and drawn out and repetitive but it is important to me as 
I ride through that area probably 100 evenings a year and it seems like a 
particularly poorly marked region.  

Jon

 






**************************************
 Check out free AOL at 
http://free.aol.com/thenewaol/index.adp.  Most comprehensive set of free safety and security 
tools, millions of free high-quality videos from across the web, free AOL Mail 
and much more.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.bikesandiego.org/pipermail/sdcbc/attachments/20070220/29d1aeee/attachment.html