[SDCBC] Pet peeve: cyclists have "no choice" but to be unsafe/crazy

[Gene Carman]

I wholeheartedly disagree...  While indeed roadways narrow, and often 
there are signs indicating so, often the narrowing of roads which 
diminish bike lanes is NOT noted by any signs.  Cyclist riding along 
may indeed be suddenly thrust into the other traffic without either 
that traffic understanding why or the cyclist having any warning.

Such is the case on at least two bike lanes I ride...  one is Miramar 
Road, where the bike lane suddenly reverts to a Bike Route without 
warning and the extra space on the road is gone and cyclists are left 
with "taking the lane" in 50MPH traffic.  That 50MPH traffic has no 
idea why cyclists are now "in their lane," when just moments before 
there was a usable Bike Lane.   In spite of signaling, I have been 
buzzed by local trash trucks while taking the right most lane in that 
area on a quiet Saturday morning when there was more than adequate 
empty space for said trucks to move left.

Another area I am aware of is on Camino Ruiz.  While not quite the 
traffic crush of Miramar road, again, as one heads north near 
Capricorn way, the Bike Lane disappears; cyclists must take the lane 
and there is no warning for either motorists or cyclists that this 
situation is about to occur.  The road DOES NOT NARROW...  no, the 
curbside space is dedicated to local transit short buses...  cyclists 
have no choice but to take the lane.  Curbside space could be 
dedicated to these buses on the less busy perpendicular streets, but 
no, it is right on the main street.

Now bear in mind that when a main traveled lane is about to 
dissappear, there is usually a sign or arrow, some indicator that 
traffic must move left.  But in the case of bike lanes, no such 
warning appears...  thus cyclists must negotiate with fast passing 
traffic without the usual warning that other traffic would have in 
similar situations.

In the case of Miramar road...  I know the hazard exists, and I am 
still often caught by surprise.

A similar situation also occurs on Genesee going south at 
Nobel.  Only in this case, I commute it often enough to remember and 
recall exactly where it occurs.  I take the middle lane in this case, 
as both the right lane and the bike lane are dropped as Genesee 
crosses Nobel.  In this situation there is no warning for either 
motorists nor cyclists.    Motorists are often upset by my relative 
slow progress in the right lane as I go from Nobel to Decoro, well 
out in the right most lane, to avoid the potential hazard of parked 
cars along Genesee.  (and this in spite of the 20+MPH that I move in 
this area).  Their frustration is often expressed in some manner.

While Trevor is right that looking ahead is vital to a cyclist's 
safety, the road changes happen in such a way that one may not have 
enough road space to negotiate with fast heavy traffic...  which when 
moving fast, takes longer to respond to cyclists' signals.

Even John Forester has noted that a 15MPH difference between cyclist 
and motorist can make lateral negotiation a bit more difficult.

At 09:42 PM 2/24/2008, Trevor Bourget wrote:
>At 02:18 PM 2/19/2008, Serge Issakov wrote:
>>    * Sometimes the bike lane just vanishes and a bicyclist is 
>> caught in the "gauntlet."  It reminds me of the crazy 
>> motorcyclists flying in between lanes.  Yet I have no choice and 
>> am put in a crazy motorcycle type position.
>
>Bicyclists who don't notice what's happening in the roadway ahead 
>aren't paying enough attention. It's one of my issues with traveling 
>in groups, especially those in which the leaders of the group aren't 
>informed traffic cyclists. Bike lanes don't "suddenly" disappear. 
>Roadways narrow, but that is usually even easier to predict by 
>looking ahead than the random wanderings of an irrelevant stripe of paint.
>
>With all due respect, mtorcyclists who share roadway space between 
>motor vehicles don't do it because they are crazy, and your 
>judgement of them as being crazy to do it is really not much 
>different than how motor vehicle operators probably feel about your 
>presence anywhere in the roadway on a flimsy bicycle.
>
>I do both, and the only practical difference in how I drive my 
>motorcycle is that I am never anywhere near the bike lane except for 
>making a right turn. Unfortunately this is only partly due to the 
>fact that I'm usually going faster on a motorcycle. My considered 
>opinion is that far right is rarely the safest place for a cyclist 
>of either motored or human-powered kind.
>
>-- Trevor
>_______________________________________________
>
>You are subscribed to the SDCBC mailing list as gcarman at san.rr.com
>To unsubscribe or change mailing options, go to 
>http://www.bikesandiego.org/mailman/listinfo/sdcbc
>List privacy information is located at http://www.stickman-computing.org/aup
>For help or to talk with someone other than the mail robot, send 
>e-mail to postmaster at stickman-computing.org
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.bikesandiego.org/pipermail/sdcbc/attachments/20080225/8ba0e10a/attachment-0001.html