[SDCBC] What were they thinking? (Camino del Norte)

[Serge Issakov]

On Wed, Apr 30, 2008 at 3:04 PM, <tobin at broadcom.com> wrote:

> (update to thread by Tom L circa March 27-29, inland north Co.)
>
> The median work in area of I-15 at CdN is done.  Yesterday, I noticed
> a new bike lane has been painted for e/b Camino del Norte just west of
> I-15 (Caltrans dominion).
>
> Today, I noticed the bike lane for w/b CdN just east of I-15 has been
> reconfigured.  We may never know what they were thinking, but apparently
> someone's input has done some good here.
>
> I opine the w/b reconfiguration is an improvement over:
>
>  http://www.tfl.net/MyPhotoAlbums/CaminoDelNorteApproachingI15FromEast/
>
> I find the new e/b configuration, setup as the w/b configuration was
> before the reconfiguration (i.e. merge across two high speed traffic
> lanes) more scary because of the increased speed differential.  I've only
> taken it once, and I am still contemplating how to deal with this new
> situation safely.  It is on my every-day commute.
>
> Roy


If you're confident with your ability to maintain a straight course while
looking back and signaling with your arm,
this sounds like a good place to use negotiation.  What you're trying to do
is find one good Samaritan per lane
change to slow down for you in order to let you in.  Even in RB the ratio of
good Samaritans should be at least
1 out of 4... ;-).

Negotiation
>
> The concept of *negotiation* is an important part of traversing across one
> or more lanes of traffic. The basic idea is to negotiate for the
> right-of-way<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic#Priority_.28right_of_way.29>in the adjacent lane, move into that lane, and then repeat the process for
> any additional lanes. This is an important vehicular cycling skill, because
> it allows the cyclist to merge in with the flow of other traffic instead of
> cutting across at a right-angle (as a pedestrian would).
>
> The first step in traversing across a lane is *looking back* for traffic
> that may be overtaking in that lane. When there is overtaking traffic which
> will arrive too soon for the cyclist to merge out into the lane (i.e., there
> is an insufficient gap), the cyclist needs to either wait until traffic has
> passed and a sufficient gap becomes available, or request that someone in
> that traffic explicitly yield the right-of-way by slowing down to let the
> cyclist in. Simply looking back is often all that is required to signal the
> cyclist's intent, but sometimes a hand signal is helpful in getting a driver
> in overtaking traffic to yield right-of-way by slowing down to the cyclist's
> speed in order to allow the cyclist to move in front of the driver. Once
> right-of-way has been acquired in the adjacent lane, the second step is for
> the cyclist to move into that lane<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicular_cycling#Lane_control>
> .
>
> If there is another lane to traverse, the cyclist repeats the steps until
> there are no more lanes to traverse. The key to the process is that the
> cyclist merges into traffic lanes as per the rules of the road<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rules_of_the_road#Rules_of_the_road>,
> one lane at a time, either when there is a natural gap to move into, or
> after someone slows down explicitly to allow the cyclist to move over.
>
> The higher the relative speed of the overtaking vehicles, the more time
> and space a willing motorist needs to notice the cyclist's request and to
> safely slow down enough to allow the cyclist in. An assertive arm signal
> coupled with a timely look back is usually sufficient to accomplish this,
> even in very dense and fast traffic. When the relative speed is large and
> the gaps are too small for merging, the cyclist who is unwilling to use
> negotiation either has to wait for traffic conditions to improve or find
> another route.
>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicular_cycling#Negotiation

Serge
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