[SDCBC] Curb bicyclists? NO! RE: OC Register Fwd: Mr. Dillow comment letter to all

[Jim Baross]

Jim Krause is certainly entitled to his opinion, but based on my 
training and experience, his recommendation for a curb to divide the 
roadway between bicycling and motoring doesn't work for bicycling. It 
is so inefficient and dangerous that such a treatment is specifically 
specified as undesirable in the Calif Highway Design Manual, Chapter 
1000 and in the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices from the 
Federal Highway Administration.

The closest example we have of such a curb in San Diego is the south 
side section of Friars Rd between Fashion Valley Rd almost all the 
way to Napa St. But, note the difference in that along Friars Rd 
bicyclists are not required to use this curbed off area; a bike lane 
is striped outside the curbed off area... thank goodness!

A problem with the curbing off of bicycling from other traffic, other 
than of course that such a curb will not stop a motor vehicle from 
crossing and colliding with anyone and that with the variety and 
directions of travel of users in the narrow area only slow travel 
speeds are safe, is that at any intersecting opportunity along such a 
segregated route the intersecting driver - bicyclist or motorist - 
has to now deal with too sets of crossing traffic, the roadway with 
motorists and the curbed area with bicyclists - and the bicyclists 
will be coming from two directions. When the complexity of the 
additional travel-way is coupled with a very real and frequent belief 
and behavior of many bicyclists (sometimes called "weekend cyclists") 
using the curbed off "safe" area that they are "out of the way of 
traffic" and therefore feeling so safe that they are not vigilant to 
potential crossing traffic situations.

Most bike versus car collisions - and by the way most injuries to 
bicyclists occur from crashes that do not involve cars - occur at 
intersections; cross streets, merges, driveways, etc., not from being 
hit-from-behind. The curb-segregation approach benefits the motorist 
by forcing us out of their way, but hurts us by further removing us 
from consideration and accommodation by motorists, and forces us at 
intersections into locations and situations where the only safe 
passage is to travel very slowly and/or walk our bikes.

People who want to travel fast unimpeded by people using bicycles are 
offered limited access roads called Freeways. On ALL other roads all 
of us are supposed to operate properly and slow enough not to collide 
with or impinge upon the right to travel of everyone else. 
Bicyclists, motorists and pedestrians are to use the publics roadways 
legally and courteously. Sometimes we all must wait patiently, take 
turns, etc. All behaviors that Mr. Dillow was supposed to have 
learned in Kindergarten; these apply to roadway behavior too. He and 
other folks who want to drive in a manner that is dangerous to the 
rest of us must learn to "deal with it"; we're here and I for one am 
not going away.

Jim (an everyday everywhere cyclist) Baross

Chair, SANDAG Bicycle Pedestrian Working Group
Vice Chair, Calif. Bicycle Advisory Committee
President, Calif. Association of Bicycle Organizations
Board Member, Calif. Bicycle Coalition
Chair, Strategic Highway Safety Plan, Bicycling Safety
Spokesperson, San Diego County Bicycle Coalition
League LCI Trainer & Effective Cycling Instructor #185 K-C

At 01:58 PM 5/31/2007, Jim Krause wrote:
>
>The following is an email I sent to Mr. Dillow:
>
>
>While I agree that there is a problem in having bikes close to cars 
>where the car speed limit is above 30 miles per hours, I think you 
>miss the obvious solution.
>
>Clearly bikers have the same right as autos to ride on our 
>streets.  The reasonable solution is to use tax dollars to build a 
>curb between the riders and cars on those streets frequently shared 
>by bikers and autos and where the typical speeds of the autos is 
>over 30 miles per hour.
>
>In the spirit of full disclosure, I am a weekend cyclist.
>
>Jim Krause
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