Quote Originally Posted by Eden View Post
hmmmm, how's the overall design of the bike lanes in Phoenix? We have a lot of bike lanes here in Seattle, but many of them are so poorly placed that they are more dangerous to use than the car lanes....

They put them right next to parked cars - in the door zone! (and then drivers get all bent out of shape if you don't ride there - its really awful - we'd be much better without those lanes!!) or they end suddenly without any warning. Sometimes its better to avoid them all together.

These days I've heard they are going to painting "sharrows" on the roads instead of striping discrete bike lanes, more of less to remind drivers that they need to share the lane with bikes.
I've read about this a bit. In the US, they put in bike lanes with absolutely no attention paid to actual practical safety of them. No cyclist in their right mind would ride in a bike lane alongside parked cars right in the door zone!!! And yet that's what they spend tons of money installing here. Stupid waste of taxpayers money. Plus, cars doublepark in the bike lanes everywhere.
If only they would get a clue from observing well designed European bike lanes! In many places in Europe, the bike lane runs alongside the sidewalk, separated by a curb and/or painted lines. Then there is a row of cement posts to keep cars from using the bike lane. Then next out is the parking lane, then the car traffic lanes. Cars are kept out of the bike and pedestrian paths altogether by cement or iron posts.