Bike Lanes, C/D?

See I much prefer that to when cars swerve halfway into the other lane to give me a wide berth.

yeah but i try to be positive to anyone who shows me consideration, even if it is unnecessary or irritating. for instance, NOT passing me when it is completely reasonable for them to do so. they just follow and follow and follow, and OH JUST. FUCKING. PASS. ME, PLEASE. then i think, this fool is trying to do the right thing and is probly annoyed at me. i'll even pull over for them and try to be happy about it.

^^^ i am trying to do this more.

It really is worth doing this if you can, I think, especially if you've just had an encounter which has left you fuming. The problem is, that if you are fuming, you are more likely to ride dangerously (at least I am). Trying to catch up with people who've done something stupid to shout 'oi!' (or worse) at them, shooting lights to get away from an altercation because you're so pumped. You stop thinking about the road because you're so busy thinking about the asshole who tried to shit you up.

Letting someone go over at a pedestrian crossing, waving at a car that doesn't pull out in front of you when it might have, I find helps restore some equilibrium and refocuses me on the road and sensible ideas of shared space.

Aggression on the road makes things less safe for everyone - and not necessarily in just the obvious ways. A driver threatened to kill me recently, after having smashed my face in, it seems, for having had the temerity (and good sense) not to ride in the gutter but in the middle of the lane, as one should if there isn't space for a car to pass safely. Anyway, at the next lights, I thought he was going to get out of his car and carry out of his threats, so instead of queuing safely, I had to filter down a narrow gap on the inside of a bus, a dangerous manoeuvre I would not have otherwise performed.

I was shaking and not really focused on what I was doing. Fortunately all was well, but that sort of behaviour, whether by cyclists or drivers, should be avoided at all costs. Of course, you're going to shout vile names at someone you feel has endangered you, but it's worth returning to as much of a state of zen like calm as quickly possible.

Guilty.

fantastic

No bail.

saw this on cyclingtipsblog o_O
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPtA3Ng6-n8

^^baffling

saw a new bike lane downtown

traffic  |  parking  |  bike lane  |  sidewalk

i like the idea in principal, but i feel like the dooring potential has skyrocketed.

thats what is going on in NYC

http://www.streetsblog.org/wp-content/uploads/2006/11/IMG_0199-bike-lane_1.jpg

this is the ideal execution of that idea imo, this is from copenhagen.

there's one major copenhagen-style lane in melbourne that i use sometimes. my main observations:

• it goes past a major university on one side and you get idiot students milling around in the bike lane part like it's part of the footpath.
• pedestrians tend to stroll out into the bike lane without looking - they only switch to 'danger!' mode when cars are involved.
• quite thick concrete reservation area between the bike lane and the car parks, where they exist, makes it really hard to get doored, which is a plus.

pedestrians tend to stroll out into the bike lane without looking - they only switch to 'danger!' mode when cars are involved.

god, yes! almost ran some fool over yesterday for this exact same reason.

also what is up with cars overtaking you just so that they can cut across you inside ten yards? again almost ran into the side of a car yesterday who overtook me so she could get access to her driveway 10 metres in front of me. had to slam the brakes hard

also what is up with cars overtaking you just so that they can cut across you inside ten yards?

This happens all the bloody time. With buses as well. Overtaking you and immediately pulling into the bus stop in front of you.

That Copenhagen lane does look nice, but as haitch pointed out, pedestrians do seem to mill into it fairly frequently. I'm not sure I really blame them, nobody's really switched on for it, which suggests slightly counterintuitive design.

coming from a city where the bike lane is a three foot wide strip running between parked cars and the street, demarcated by a sometimes barely visible pair of lines, that looks ideal. i can see how pedestrians would mill about but it looks to be so much more ideal and i think with a few tweaks in safety measures it would be perfect.

munich bike lanes are like that too. it works well, but i think the bike lanes and pedestrian lanes could afford to be a little bit more visually distinct, perhaps seperated by a low curb like in copenhagen.

what is the country that clearly and distinctly paints bike lanes red (i think?)

kudos

britain?

Portland paints em green I think? So does Chi in some areas

nyc green now

mix of green lanes and red lanes in glasgow

PDX has a few randomly interspersed green boxes, and their adjoining lanes are green, but that's it, they're mostly just standard-issue US bike lanes, just more of them.

Love seeing those euro lanes in part because they look like you'd feel fucking ridiculous pulling some urban-bike-warrior bullshit in them, whereas a lot of the lanes here feel like said bullshit is neccessary for survival.

also what is up with cars overtaking you just so that they can cut across you inside ten yards?

Yeah, this. Have clipped someone's bumper w my front tire before, can't believe I didn't eat it. Special place in hell for these people because it's so UNNECESSARY.

This is quite rare in Oxford. One of the benefits of bikes outnumbering cars.

The one time it happened to me, I was extremely lucky to do this kind eccentric bail over the back wheel maneuver, while my bike carried on at full speed into the car's near side as it turned left (UK). My front wheel needed replacing, which her insurance paid for. So, apparently, did her passenger door. I like to think she lost her no claim bonus, but she didn't seem like the kind of driver who would have one.

I was wearing a nice dress & slip-on shoes and going to a social event, so bailing was a bad option -- just held on and braked for dear life. This is really the most assholish thing I can think of -- other stupid shit drivers do might be carelessness or just bad driving...whereas cutting you off is putting you in danger on purpose.

That said, I freaked out a driver last week by switching sides and passing her as she came up to an intersection. She was sawing back and forth in her lane but generally pulling left into the bike lane and I wasn't sure it was going to be safe to pass her on that side, so I went to her right. Except at the last second she turned right and was surprised to see me there. No signal, of course. But as infuriating as that was, it was just her own poor driving.

yea i hate that when drivers get all bent out of shape as to how you pass them when they don't indicate their intended direction with their turn signal. i am not afraid to make stupid faces and yell at these people.

also wtf is up with the bus drivers overtaking you and pulling up at the next bus stop? is it b/c the person who wanted to get off hasn't rang the bell yet?

this morning i was actually put off by a busdriver WAITING for me to pass the stop and not overtaking me, until i realized what she was doing. i said wassup to her at the next stop light. she just gave a cowboy nod.

Not only did she not signal but she was weaving all over the road, cutting left and then right, like she was getting something out of the glove box or otherwise not at the wheel?? I passed her on the side she DIDN'T seem to be going to. Turned out she was just hanging out in the left part of the lane, she wasn't actually TURNING LEFT. Whatever, lady.

did you make a stupid face at her and yell something?

Yep.

also i have never seen a green bike lane in chicago
all the ones i have seen are 2 white lines spaced about 2-2.5' apart just to the left of the car park.

used to be a green one on MKE

there's some green ones down here but rumor has it that the city council ran out of paint.

http://vimeo.com/25037336

cycling LOLz