About Bike Lanes...

[Eden]

I am a little bit afraid of bike lanes -- the older ones are all basically one door's width away from where the cars park -- and will usually take the lane instead....

First - at least in the States (and I would guess elsewhere as well) NEVER ride against traffic. Yes this probably goes against what you were taught as a child, but riding against traffic is very dangerous.

I have to second xeney's opinion too. It is nice to have a place on the road set aside for me, but the more I ride the more I feel that I am actually safer when I am truly a part of traffic and cars expect me to act like it, so I have pretty mixed feelings about bike lanes even when they are done right. Seattle has a fair number of bike lanes, but much too often they have been poorly planned (even new ones), with parking to the right that places the rider directly in the door zone, and no clear path marked out when they come to intersections with right turn lanes (basically the bike lane ends short of the intersection and the cyclists are left to their own devices to figure out whether or not to move over into the straight lane or proceed straight through the turn lane - my personal preference is to move to the straight lane, but many motorist do not like this at all). It does little to help cyclists or our relations with drivers when the bike lanes provided are in themselves very dangerous and cyclists must choose to ignore them. Note that it is not a law in WA that you have to use trails or bike lanes when provided. Our law states you should stay to the righ as much as possible, but may ride in the safest place, which is very nice. Drivers however often do not understand why these bike lanes are inappropriate and get very defensive - well they (the cyclists) should be in the bike lane! that's what it is there for! I've had at least one scary person use their car to try to force me over into the bike lane (with car parking on its right....)

I agree with the person who yesterday said to me no one should be able to get a drivers license without first having ridden a bike around the city for a month - if it were only possible....(and you should never ever be able to design a bike lane without having ridden a bike, which it seems pretty clear to me has not happened.)

[Bluetree]

Seattle has a fair number of bike lanes, but much too often they have been poorly planned (even new ones), with parking to the right that places the rider directly in the door zone...

I had a near-miss this morning on exactly that type of lane, except it wasn't with a door, it was a dog. I was cruising about 16-17 mph and keeping my eye on the parked cars to my right when a woman with a dog came out between two SUVs (she couldn't see me coming over the big cars). Her English Spaniel walked out into the bike lane just as a mass of cars came up on my left.
My options were: Go straight, hit the dog; Go left, go hit by a car; Go right, go right through the dog's outstretched leash.
As soon as I saw it, I started braking and screamed, "Outa the way!" Luckily, the woman heard me and yanked her dog out of the bike lane in the nick of time. The poor critter went sailing through the air backwards as she reeled him in.
I don't think drivers see this space as a "bike lane" no matter how many bicycle logos are painted on the asphalt. They see it as their own private driveway or something. I agree with Eden. Most times I prefer to take up the driving lane on smaller street, despite the honkers... at least they can see you!

[xeney]

I don't think drivers see this space as a "bike lane" no matter how many bicycle logos are painted on the asphalt. They see it as their own private driveway or something.

That is 100 percent true. A non-cycling friend of mine, who has lived for the past fifteen years on a street that is a designated bike route, told me last week that she nearly hit a cyclist with her door when she was getting out of her car in front of her house, and the cyclist had the nerve to yell at her. My friend was very taken aback because she thought the cyclist should have been on the sidewalk if there were cars parked on the street. "What am I supposed to do, check for bicycles every time I want to open my car door?"

I confess that I got a little snappy with her, just because I can't imagine that somebody got to be 50 years old, living in a bike-friendly part of town, without ever thinking that she ought to maybe look around for cyclists. Plus she is a lawyer and ought to know that bikes aren't allowed on sidewalks. (We're criminal defense lawyers and it is one of the excuses that police sometimes give for detaining our clients!)