Ignorant or Acceptable?

[VeganBikeChick]

I'll "chime back in" as I was the one to start the post. It was on 2nd Ave, downtown, which is a one-way, three lanes wide, with a painted bike lane on the left. The bike lane was wide open although yes, cars do park next to it at the far left. It was typical rush hour commute, busy but steady flow.

It was irritating, because, although traffic wasn't jammed, not going slower than a bicycle's speed, it was busy enough that it was hard to merge into the right lane to pass the cyclist taking up the whole left lane. So yes, it was irritating, even if he was allowed to take the lane. He and his partner were riding at a very leisurely pace.

I don't know if this adds to the discussion or fuels the fire.

[lph]

I've found that it's often very hard to judge if somebody has behaved "acceptably" in traffic from hearing a story told, precisely because there are so many small details that affect the situation. Like how fast were the bikes going, did they change position, were they aware of the situation, were they blocking cars, how long did this go on, what were the road conditions like. I could probably defend either viewpoint quite sensibly. So I try just to be aware and flexible in my riding, help traffic flow but still stay safe, and not think much about what others are doing.

[ultraviolet]

It was on 2nd Ave, downtown, which is a one-way, three lanes wide, with a painted bike lane on the left. The bike lane was wide open although yes, cars do park next to it at the far left. It was typical rush hour commute, busy but steady flow.

Just speaking for myself, I rarely use the bike lane on 2nd. The combination of cars parked to the left side of the bike lane and cars making left hand turns from the right side of the bike lane make it a less than safe feeling to ride there. I take a proper traffic lane whenever possible on that particular road.

[Eden]

Thank you LPH - that is what I've been trying to say... short of someone clearly noodling down the middle of of a busy street aimlessly, you weren't in their shoes. They may have had a legitimate reason. If what they are doing isn't illegal, then don't judge.

As for 2nd Ave, yeah - I've only used it two or three times and I'd say that bike lane on 2nd is a bad one. With the bike lane unusually on the left, though opening doors are not as big an issue (but still there) drivers really forget that it is there and especially during rush hour there are lots of people who are pulling out of the parking lane that is next to it. Add to that the large number of people who want to turn left to get up to the freeway ramps and its a quite un-nerving place to be. Ironically in serious rush hour traffic, cars on 2nd get pretty gridlocked, so you can move through downtown a lot quicker on a bike if you do use it... (which is the only reason I have used it... I was with a bunch of other people, and had I used the far right traffic lane as I would have if I was alone, they would have left me far behind) but you really have to be on your toes - because if parked drivers see an opening in the cars they will shoot out of that parking lane without looking for bikes.

Could he have been piddling around a bit, maybe - but, there are definite reasons why on that particular street one might choose to not use the bike lane.