Re: It's more than just a 'door lane'

Frank Krygowski <frkrygow@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

On 5/27/2025 12:56 PM, Roger Merriman wrote:

AMuzi <am@yellowjersey.org> wrote:

https://nypost.com/2025/05/26/us-news/shocking-video-shows-moment-e-bike-slams-into-girl-3-in-nyc-bike-lane/

 
Hmm looks to be a segregated bike lane with cars providing protection,
which seems to be a thing in the US and unwisely defended as good idea!
 
Have a very short one near Hampton Court which I personally think is iffy
as! Floating bus stops yup fine, but channel me into the door zone? I’ll
pass on that thanks!
 
<https://maps.app.goo.gl/rzKYeRMdEqXkmqa9A>
 
Aka it’s a compromise as political will isn’t there, ie the desire to keep
parking and so on. I’m not aware of any others at least in London doesn’t
mean they don’t exist though I suspect not!

 
At least your example is not bidirectional. That's the "innovation" that
worries me most. I'm astonished that it's become so trendy in the U.S.
Not that it's the default, mind you - but it's far more common than it
should be. Designers seem to have no awareness of the potential
conflicts, or of the instances that generated huge increases in car-bike
crashes.

It’s rather too narrow for bi directional!

London favours them for fairly good reasons, ie space, US roads are wider
generally and seem to have cars parked everywhere which isn’t the case in
London.

Bluntly US needs to look at it’s entire zoning laws and suburbs ie the car
centric system, as a few cones or even concrete blocks aren’t going to cut
it in terms of making such places walkable etc.

 
While we're on the subject, I recently observed a "protected bike lane"
that seemed somewhat less objectionable to me. It was on a street that
looked a bit unusual, a residential collector that was very wide and had
low traffic, at least in mid afternoon when I was there. One long
stretch had no intersections (a bike lane hazard) and a bike lane
"protected" by cars that were angle parked. At least that design removed
the dooring hazard.
 

Still is creating a conflict ie pedestrians crossing into the path of
cyclists it’s not as bad but still not good.

I rode in the main traffic lane anyway. That way I'd be free of unswept
road debris, and from confusion when the bike lane eventually ended -
which is often a weird complication.
 

Which is the other issue with such infrastructure tend to get the tyre
spray from cars, which isn’t the case if there is enough separation, which
certainly my old cycleway has bar the flyover, and the new Chiswick’s one
and so on.

Roger Merriman