Comments on: 11/13/2012 – Concrete Waste

By: malenki

malenki — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 21:20:35 +0000

Hm. I remember having read around here K’Tesh being right-hooked by a car…
Are there statistics of bicycle accidents caused by cars for the US?

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 03:10:20 +0000

Bikes and cars have more differences than similarities. Treating them identically is what is beyond stupid. The best research also suggests there are safer ways to cycle than throwing bikes and motor vehicles together in the same lanes.

By: HCA

HCA — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 08:21:17 +0000

I live in Germany and “enjoy the benefits” of bike lanes, they are objectiv more dangerous than mixed traffic as University of Lund or BASt (Federal Bureau of Road research, Germany) have shown. German Newspapers report many a time of seriously injured or killed cyclists run over by right turning cars or trucks (2008: 456, 2009: 462, 2010: 381, 2009: 462; killed cyclists in total, Germany). But there was no cyclist run over from behind and killed in the last two years (most of streets in Germany don’t have bike lanes, it’s just common at main streets). Drivers see cyclists in front and won’t run them over deliberately. Turning drivers are busy with traffic lights, pedestrians etc. and can’t seek cyclist, who are hided by parked cars, hedges, walls or whatever is between bike lane and road, so they crash accidentally.

The Netherlands’ cyclists profit by safety in numbers (search for more) more than by bike lanes. The more cyclists ride, the more drivers mind them, the less drivers run them over inattentively.

By: Opus the Poet

Opus the Poet — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 00:09:46 +0000

Study was published in 1984 which means the infrastructure studied was built years prior to that, this is 2012. In the intervening 28 years much has been learned about how to integrate bicycle and motor vehicle infrastructure, including separate phases for traffic lights at intersections. Talk about using old data…

By: JaFO

JaFO — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 00:02:34 +0000

bike infrastructure consists of many things.
Separate bike paths are a tiny fraction of that.

I’d even argue that proper parking spaces for bikes (ones that don’t assume all bikes are equal … ) should be at the top of a list of things to have.
Treating bikes as a separate vehicle category is beyond stupid.
What’s next ? Separate lanes for ‘slow’ cars and ‘fast’ supercars ?

By: dr2chase

dr2chase — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 22:39:31 +0000

Bikes were once part of US culture, too, and as I understand it their use in the Netherlands was in decline until the late 1970s — when policies changed, including the introduction of more bicycle-specific infrastructure. I believe one of the campaigns used the slogan “stop the child murder”, so I infer that there was a notable safety problem.

Bikes were once part of UK culture, but they have mostly pursued a bikes-as-vehicles policy, resulting in reduced ride share and reduced safety.

Your claim seems to assume that you can have both the alleged safety of non-path cycling, AND a very high ride share with the accompanying safety-in-numbers effects. That’s never happened anywhere that people can afford to buy cars.

By: troiker

troiker — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 21:01:48 +0000

Like.

Also, my son tells me his normal habit when a car rolls forward into the cycle advance stop line area is to motion the driver to open his window, look admiringly at the car and say “Nice bike!”

By: dr2chase

dr2chase — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 20:36:08 +0000

Perhaps if drivers were required to put a foot on the ground to show that they were stopped, intersections would be safer .

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 18:58:28 +0000

Academic research strongly suggests that dedicated bicycle infrastructure does, in fact, make cycling safer.

By: BHNelson

BHNelson — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 18:14:24 +0000

Bike lanes work when there is no intersection and this is why: there’s a line. Drivers respect the line, not necessarily the fact that we’re in the lane. That subtle separation creates a false sense of security, for both driver and rider, but that sense (false or otherwise) gets both individuals to relax: we, and they, believe the other’s actions are now predictable, and the tension drops. That in itself is safer. Intersections, yes, are a whole other story, and no, I don’t like the fact that the presence of a bike lane suggests we shouldn’t be allowed on the roadway, but I do think bike lanes ease driver tension/aggression where they exist.