[SDCBC] Speed limit setting, was Re: Friars Road Bike Lane Street Sweep

[Serge Issakov]

On 5/11/07, Bill Matella <bmatella at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>
>
> In the parlance of traffic engineering, side friction is the presence of
> physical features from the side of the roadway that tends to reduce the
> speed of traffic.  This would include cross streets, driveways, traffic
> calming measures, etc.


In that case, bike lanes seem to reduce side friction.

For example, since they recently repaved Torrey Pines Road coming up the
hill out of La Jolla towards UCSD, we had one blissful day of no bike
lanes.   For the first and last time, I could actually hear the pitch of car
tires lower as they approached from behind and slowed down upon seeing me up
ahead, and I could see them in my mirror adjust left to pass me with more
clearance, and then hear and see them speed up and move right again after
they passed me.

The next day the bike lane stripes were back, and so were the motorists
speeding by me faster than ever thanks to the new smooth pavement, as if I
was not even there.

On a bright note, the door zone bike lanes on the upper and lower sections
are not painted yet, and the drivers are still uncharacteristically cautious
as they pass.  The bike lanes will be back soon enough, however the good
news is that they will be painting them wide enough so that we could ride
fully within the bike lane, and still be outside of the door zone, a marked
improvement over the situation in the past where riding on the stripe, or
even to the left of it, was required to be out of the door zone.

Serge
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