Fabulous bike lanes!

[KnottedYet]

Check out these physically separated and traffic-lighted bike lanes!

Sure could use some of those around here...

http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2007/5/18/12579/3294

I don't mind riding on low-volume roads, but separate bike lanes on the main roads with their own traffic lights and such would be pretty darn cool.

[quint41]

Wow. I am so jealous!!!

[RoseC]

Nice! I remember seeing those in some areas in Germany when I was stationed over there - essentially a second mini-road for bikes. I was envious then, and I'm envious now.

I'm starting to toy with the idea of riding to work, though it'd be a haul. There are wide lanes and bike lanes almost every inch of the way, but it isn't enough to make me feel good. If I slip and fall down, what happens if I fall in the wrong direction? *shudder*

The physical separation of these bike roads just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy...it's like having a whole other dimension just for bike people!

[KnottedYet]

And it looked like the physical "gap" between the bike lane and the car lane was wide enough that a pedestrian crossing the lanes could use it as a buffer zone.

Nice transportation planning!
(I want some!)

[northstar]

Looks very exciting.

I wonder, though...is this going to be any safer than the bike paths we have that currently run parallel to roads? Are there any statistics on accidents? Or would they be skewed by the difference in awareness/driving habits between Europe and the U.S.?

It looks like something I would be thrilled to ride on...but I'm wondering if it would REALLY be safer...sad, huh?

[Python]

Northstar. Considering the amount of cyclists in Holland I doubt there would be that many serious or fatal accidents. Look how many car accidents there are every day with 4 or more people killed. Coming home tonight, in the middle of town, there had been a serious car crash. By the look of it, it was a fatality. Someone had obviously come down the dual carriageway far too fast, lost it at the roundabout and ploughed head-on into a signpost, flattened that and bounced off the barriers which are about 1 ft behind the signpost, spun off and came to rest about 50 yards up the road. The accident couldn't have happened more than about 20-30 minutes (or less) before we came past. The Police, Fire Brigade (who I think had cut the roof off the car to get the occupants out) and the Ambulance Service were all there. I didn't see it but my son said there was a body bag on the ground - and there was a body in it:( Heartbreak for someone tonight:(

I don't know what cycling's like in America but over here we so badly need a system like they have in Holland. Our government has been banging on for a long time about people being overweight, global warming etc. etc. yet it does nothing to get people onto bikes. Any new roads that are constructed should be constructed with completely separate bike lanes as we have seen in the videos and I think it's high time various cycling groups lobbied the governments of our respective countries for this.

At the end of the day, bicycles are going to be around long after cars have become a thing of the past.

[northstar]

I'm most certainly NOT against designating bike lanes. I did not intend to come off that way. There's just so many different schools of thought on what the safest way to get people from point A to point B on bikes is. There are people who won't commute unless they have an off road path. There are people who won't use those paths because they don't feel they are visible to cars when they approach intersections. The research I've seen showed that there were actually more accidents when people rode on bike paths that were off-road mostly due to cars cutting in front of them at intersections. If I recall correctly, it ran second only to the number of accidents when people ride on sidewalks.

I *personally* feel safest when I am in a clearly striped bike lane that runs next to traffic, not up on the side of the road or separated from traffic with a barrier. I was just curious about the stats on this, that's all.

I am not a defender of car culture, believe me Python!

[Torrilin]

I started biking to get around (again) about two weeks ago. I'm in Madison, WI which is supposedly a bike friendly city. There are separate, traffic controlled bike paths. There are bike lanes on many streets. There is extensive bike parking. My prior bike experience was in a definately bike unfriendy city (Harrisburg, PA). No bike paths, no bike lanes, no parking. But... the streets were often wide enough to take bike or pedestrian traffic safely, without disrupting car traffic.

I'd be a lot more in favor of bike lanes and bike paths if they were not just signed as if they were roads but if they were *treated* like roads. Over the last two weeks, I've found that roads get treated like roads, and bike lanes or paths are somewhere below a sidewalk. I'd rather not get stuck with being a 3rd class citizen. Most of my adult transportation has been my feet, so I've spent a lot of time as a second class citizen. On a regular road, I get to be a first class citizen again, even if I'm on a bike. My lane doesn't disappear without a sign. Other vehicles don't try to hit me. I have to stop for pedestrians, like everyone else.

Bike paths and bike lanes are confusing, because the signage is not consistent with normal roads. The usage "rules" aren't consistent with normal roads. The maintenance isn't consistent either. Traffic enforcement? Don't make me laugh. At least on a regular road in Harrisburg, a cyclist had to follow the rules of the road. Failure to do so meant you risked death, same as if a pedestrian didn't follow the rules. Never heard of a cyclist getting a ticket in Harrisburg, because running a red light was a good way to die. Same for a lot of the other dangerous behavior I've seen in Madison. And well, it's hard to ride on the sidewalk when a large chunk of the roads don't have any (see also, second class citizen).

I understand why someone would feel unsafe on a bike without a lane or enough space. It feels like all the cars are aiming at you at first. Gradually, you learn that the other driver wants to hit you about as much as you want to hit them. And if you can't signal reliably, or stop safely, you're too unsteady to be on the roads. You wouldn't drive a car with no brakes. Don't ride a bike that you can't stop with either. It's ok to say you're not ready for roads. You didn't get your learner's permit and hit the roads right away either. Big empty parking lots and quiet residential streets are your friends, just like they were with a learner's permit.

[Geonz]

Amen!

Our campus bike path system looks great on the surface... it's only when you actually try to use it that you realize how nutty it is... if 90% of the time a path is okay, and you only endanger your life 10% of the time (sudden merges with the wrong side of a road, places you have to swerve around hazards, places where you're suddenly supposed to cross to the other side of a four-lane road - not to mention the "usual" conflicts of crossroads and driveways, trucks parking in the lane, that bus stop that's in the middle of it...) , that's still NUTS but it looks great from your car window and it means you can holler at the cyclists to get on their sidewalks/paths where they belong.

It's a complicated topic, though, and to top it all off so much depends on the specific traffic dynamics and culture of a given community.

[fikustree]

I also live in a *supposedly* bike friendly town. To me, the barriers make a lot of sense. The bike lanes that we have seem to be worse than riding in traffic because of all the parked cars, parking cars, turning cars, lack of bike lanes in intersections (!) and that they don't connect to each other. Even the roads here don't connect to each other so all the traffic, bikes, peds, and cars get on these major roads. It is scary. I take the sidewalk sometimes because that seems safest.

northstar- How do people get in accidents on the sidewalk?

[Torrilin]

Hit a pedestrian. Get hit by a car pulling out of a driveway. Hit another bike. Hit/be hit by a tree. Same deal as a road really, only people don't expect you on the sidewalk.

Sidewalks are a bad place to ride. No line of sight if you're on a bike. You may have unexpected 6" (15 cm) jumps in pavement height. There may be low hanging tree branches, or obstacles like kids' toys or a store's sidewalk display. If I've gotta be on a sidewalk, I walk my bike. Then drivers understand what I'm doing. Other pedestrians understand, *and* I'm moving at a speed sidewalks are designed for.