Lexus in the bike lane

[Lise]

I rode down and back up Elston today, perfecting the route. It's a mostly industrial city street, but there's one patch with a Kohl's, BestBuy, etc. Traffic was a little tight. A Lexus SUV driver decided that the bike lane would be a good way to go. Traffic's standing still, and I'm zipping along at 18 mph. He felt the need to zip, too, I guess. So he pulled into the bike lane, far enough ahead of me that I could brake and stay well behind him. Sort of like a pea in a straw, he could only go so far. (Bike lanes being considerably narrower than car lanes... ) My sleek and beautiful Bianchi Veloche slipped easily around him and off I went. Now he was stuck in the bike lane, and the other drivers weren't eager to let him back in! I was very glad to be on my bike.

[KnottedYet]

WhoooHooooo!

Big, friendly smile and wave to Mr. Testosterone-Poisoning Lexus driver!

(wonder how long it was before anyone let him back in? Hee hee!)

[uk elephant]

Your bike lanes must be wider than the ones here. There is a stretch of bike lane down the hill to the station where I go in the mornings. It is just barely the width of a bike. Cars here are not keen on letting bikes past, even in the bike lane and will pull over as far left as they possibly can so that even bikes have trouble slipping past in the bike lane. And although it is a one lane road, cars will double up into two lanes well before the t-intersection at the bottom of the hill so that I end up having to go on the sidewalk to get past. And I find that the big SUV's are the most eager to squeeze bikes off the road. They even inch further over when they see you coming so you have no way of passing.

sorry for the rant, but drivers here are terribly inconsiderate.

[maillotpois]

What an idiot. If course, he was entitled to drive there because he has a Lexus (no offense to anyone here who has one).

[Googlie Wooglie]

I used to wonder why cars cared if I was passing them in a bike lane. My theory is they're jealous/ashamed ... they see us out there doing something fun and physical and outside, and they're in their cars, eating and on the phone and know deep down inside they should be exercising too! So I changed my anger to pity, and now I find it easier to do those squeeze-by maneuvers with a smile.

[Deanna]

I see cars using the bike lane quite a bit as my commute is along an alternate route to the main highway. I'm sure it doesn't do much for goodwill between cyclists and motorists, but I take a devious kind-of joy in slowing WAY down when I see them coming up behind me in the bike lane.

[CorsairMac]

Never underestimate the power of a bike in it's lane!! LOL

Deanna - I loved your idea. It's your lane, if they don't like your speed, they need to move back over to Their lane!

I can say - very proudly I might add - Albuquerque has started posting No Parking in the Bike Lane signs! Now I have not a clue if any officers are actually Enforcing that law, but there are at least signs posted!

[Lise]

Cars here are not keen on letting bikes past, even in the bike lane and will pull over as far left as they possibly can so that even bikes have trouble slipping past in the bike lane.

I forgot you are in the UK, and thought, but if they pull over left, that gives the bikes more room! Ha! I would have a heck of a time remembering to ride on the left...for about a day, until I got it why all the cars were driving directly at me!

The bike lanes here are decent, although they sometimes disappear mid-block. This guy took up all of the bike lane, and half of the parking lane.

My favorite crazy ending point for a bike lane is on the hill up Roosevelt Rd, going west. The bike lane is about 1/3 of the way into traffic already, because there's a bus lane on the far right. As one ascends the hill, the bike lane gets narrower, and narrower, ending in a point. When you're supposed to...what? Start flying, like ET? I just cut into the bus lane and ride by the curb. It is wierd. I mean, who says, oh, yeah, we'll just have the bike lane END right here, leaving the cyclists out in the middle of traffic with busses on the right and cars on the left?!? Urban adventures! L.

[Duck on Wheels]

I used to wonder why cars cared if I was passing them in a bike lane. My theory is they're jealous/ashamed ... they see us out there doing something fun and physical and outside, and they're in their cars, eating and on the phone and know deep down inside they should be exercising too! So I changed my anger to pity, and now I find it easier to do those squeeze-by maneuvers with a smile.

Maybe it's like all those guys on another bike forum. They had a thread about "most embarrassing moment" and just about every guy said his MEM was the time he got "chicked" -- i.e. a woman sped past him. So maybe that's it, that cars (and their drivers) feel ashamed that they're not the fastest, because that's what they've been led to expect they ought to be.

[colby]

Maybe it's like all those guys on another bike forum. They had a thread about "most embarrassing moment" and just about every guy said his MEM was the time he got "chicked" -- i.e. a woman sped past him.

Good lord, what children. Wah wah, the girl passed me, wah wah. That sure says a lot about their insecurity.

On cars in the bike lane: the one thing that scares me the most is the "wandering" car. If you're coming to a stoplight, you can usually see them -- spacing out, trying to figure out what's in front of them, whatever. If they are BEHIND you... eek! I always see them when I am driving, the type of people who don't give the bicyclist ANY room (while I'm almost all the way in the other lane when I drive around anyone on a bike). Scary.

[KnottedYet]

Effective Cycling by John Forester

While I find his writing to be bitter and disillusioned and combative, he does have some good points.

Cars don't like us passing on the right because that makes us unpredictable. We are breaking a "rule" if we do this at an intersection, so they get pissy just like they would if a car did this. If I'm in a road with just a few cars, I take my place in a lane with the other traffic to hold my spot through the intersection, then get back onto the shoulder once I'm through. If there is a ton of traffic and other bikes around, I treat the shoulder like an HOV lane.... see ya, suckers! And if it's a real bike lane all the way, I'm treating it like an HOV lane.

The disappearing bike lane (whittling down to a point) is an attempt to FORCE bike to take their rightful place in the line of traffic, and hold it through the intersection until the bike lane miraculously reappears on the other side.

According to Forester (and in my experience he's been right) it is terribly dangerous to be to the right of vehicles while going through an intersection.

[Lise]

I agree about staying in the lane of traffic through an intersection. I'll have to stay in the lane on Roosevelt Rd. next time and see where the bike lane reappears. To tell the truth, I was so freaked out by it ending in a point that I just got over.

[DirtDiva]

Ha! I can't tell you how many times I have uttered the words "Get out of my f***ing bike lane, you moron!" I usually don't utter 'em to lound though, just in case said moron is bigger and angrier than I am...

Although, I have to say, the drivers in London aren't too bad, on the whole. They're much more likely to let you in or stop for you when you're crossing a road or whatever than the ones in my home town. My theory is that they're so used to not going anywhere in a hurry that they actually get it that the extra twenty seconds it might add to their journey time really is irrelevant.

[betagirl]

Heh, I know exactly where you're talking about. I've seen cars take the bike lane there before too. I couldn't imagine trying to stick a Lexis SUV in there though. That rules.

[plantluvver]

A few blocks from me, there is a bike lane to the left of a parking lane. There is an extra lane at the intersection for right turns only. It is accomadated by the gradual narrowing of the parking lane. But the stupid cars try to fit in the lane, first one car just has his front tire just on the line, the next car, it just a smidge over. But everyone wants to be able to cram their car in, so eventually the whole lane is almost blocked. and you are being overtaken by the traffic turning right.

The city has not marked the curb as no parking. (Well, I guess someone could park a motorcycle there okay.)