personal safety & signed bike routes in residential neighbourhoods

[Eden]

totally agree....i've seen and ridden on many good designs and as already said would rather encourage than criticize.

Why shouldn't we criticize? Too many things just get tried without real in-depth thinking about their consequences- green bike boxes which were supposed to be this great panacea to prevent right hooks were found to have at times doubled the rate of collisions in Portland, OR…. I'm sure it was all very well intentioned, but it seems to me, the planners lack the real world cycling experience to know that what may look good on paper doesn't always translate to actual safety.

Why shouldn't I criticize, when some things seem super obvious to me? Take 2nd Ave - why in the world did they keep it on the left!? While I probably wouldn't be any more inclined to use it (I believe that visibility is #1 - and any lane that hides me behind parked cars is not an option), at least if the whole thing had been relocated to the right it would still be better in a number of ways. 1 - it is expected by motorists that if there is a bicycle lane it will be on the right. 2 - more motorists are trying to make left hand turns to access I-5 than are generally trying to make right hand turns to access sr-99 or the waterfront 3- fewer garage entrances on the right hand side as compared to the left.

But feeling good is being good eh… people feel safer so they must be… sigh…

I suppose the the steps that I think would make the streets actually safer (for all of us.. drivers, cyclists and pedestrians) would be too unpopular, unglamorous and not high visibility
1- no right hand turn on red *ever* in high density areas
2- road diets - narrow streets to discourage speeding and place center turn lanes to discourage lane weaving
3- more enforcement of speed limits
4- less on street parking on arterial streets and more enforcement of parking violations (keep intersections clear with good sight lines)
5- no cell phone usage period, even hands free, for drivers